In response to increasing incidences of crimes against women judiciary in all nations are becoming stricter and more intolerant towards offenders, even if they are prominent politicians or rich businessmen.
A classic case relates to former Thai senator, Charlerm Promlert, who was accused of sex crimes against four underage girls about six years ago while he was in power. Promlert was sentenced to 36 years in prison on November 13 by the Supreme Court of Prathum Thani.
The supreme court to which he appealed to reduce his sentence actually increased the punishment citing the fact that the accused was in power at the time of committing the crime and was fully aware of what he was doing.
The case of Chalerm Promlert hit the national headlines six years ago and damaged the credibility of Thailand’s parliament. Promlert was the deputy speaker of the Senate when he was arrested in January 2001 after being accused of paying procurers to find him teenage girls for sex. He allegedly paid each teen 4,000 baht to have sex with him at a hotel in suburban Bangkok. All four girls were under 15 at the time.
The initial hearings in the lower court resulted in a sentence of 20 years in prison. But when Promlert appealed to the Supreme Court of Prathum Thani, his sentence was increased to 36 years and the court said that the presiding judge felt Chalerm should be punished more severely because he broke the law while he was a senator.
The defendant was well aware that what he did was a serious crime,
the statement said.
Compare the same scenario to India and we will find that there are thousands of cases of rape, sexual assault, wrongful confinement and even large scale sex scandals which have led to prominent politicians. But none of them have been arrested or convicted. Leave alone conviction, no cases have been filed against politicians in the Kerala sex scandal, the Anara Gupta case and other cases.
Hopefully this incident should teach Indian law enforcement authorities about how impartial law should be.
Source: TOI
