Is Castrating Pedophiles Justified?

(Disclaimer: this post is for Adults only- contains Strong language- so please read on only if you are 18+ yrs…all incidents and names are imaginary and fictional.)

Is Castration For Pedophiles And Rapists Justified?

Castration, def: Removal of the external genitals, especially the male sexual organ. Also known as bobitting after the famous American case.

Paedophile, def: a pervert who sexually abuses small children and even infants.

There was a lot of hue and cry over a recent high court judgement where the presiding judge offered his personal opinion that pedophiles deserved to be castrated and the law should be codified to that end. A lot of liberals and human rights activists made a lot of noise that the judge had exceeded his jurisdiction and his personal comments were uncalled for and against the principle of natural justice. I don’t know the facts of the case except for what I read in the newspapers, but I do have a problem with the liberals and activists who support so vigorously the convicted criminal and never speak up for the victim. The victim might get justice, however delayed from the majesty of the law and due legal process, but is that enough can they go back to living a normal life without absolutely no scars- either physical or psychological? Let me offer you a personal perspective on something which I have seen.

The medical profession of which I am a part- a small, miniscule part perhaps, is called the noble profession because it contains a lot of good being done to others who are in pain and suffering and the doctor gets a warm fuzzy feeling on recall when the patients turn up hale and hearty. But it also contains a lot of pain for the doctors themselves when they meet situations which they cannot handle despite all their degrees and training. It doesn’t happen often- its very, very rare- but it does happen and when it does- the doctor realizes that empathy with the patients is a curse rather than a blessing and being detached would probably help the doctor more in being an efficient person.

A few days back there was a patient who was waiting to see me when I walked into the department in the morning. An old lady with her granddaughter on her arms, a kid of around four or five years who as soon as she entered the department started bawling aloud. This was par for the course for me- children usually associate white coated people with injections and start crying in anticipation. But this seemed to be a bit different. The child absolutely refused to get down from her grandmothers arms and she refused to even look at me. The grandmother all apologetic, explained that she was afraid of men. I shrugged and said “look, she has obvious injuries all over her face and neck, that’s why she has been referred to me. If I cant examine her how can I cure her? Sometimes kids can fool you by crying- please put her down on the examining couch and stand near here” and then the grandmother started explaining what happened and I read the rest of the story in the case sheet accompanying the child.

It seems that the grandmother and mother of the child were living alone- both their men folk having disappeared long ago after just fathering- and they made their living as domestic help and cooks for neighboring houses. They alternated in going for work and taking care of the child. On the day in question, the grandmother had left the child playing in front of their house- mid morning and had gone to a nearby shop to but something to cook, planning to be back in a few minutes. When she returned the child was missing and on enquiry, she and a few neighbors’ finally discovered her inside the hut of the next door neighbor, a  man around 60yrs- retired as a watchman from a factory- who was discovered to have raped the child- for she was lying unconscious in a corner of the hut and the man had disappeared. On being brought to the hospital for immediate first aid, the attending doctors had found that the child’s genital’s were extensively torn and damaged by the brutal assault on her still undeveloped sexual organs – the savage attack had caused widespread injuries and severe bleeding from the torn tissues. The man had not stopped with that- to prevent the child from crying out and alerting others- he had forcibly twisted the child’s neck and pinned it to the ground till it went dumb with the pain of a broken jaw and neck. The child having been brought to the hospital had cried out in fright at the very sight of the male doctors on duty at the emergency ward. She had been scarred for life, I guess. 

Anyway after taking care of her immediate bleeding injuries by suturing all the torn parts together and putting her on sedatives for the time being- the emergency team had the next day referred her to me for the twisted neck, broken jaws and extensive facial injuries suffered. My attending nurse after hearing the story started blasting the grandmother about how careless she was in leaving a female child unattended but the grandmother defended herself saying that she had been absent for just a few minutes by going to the street corner shop and had never thought their next door neighbor would turn out to be such a beast, considering him as only a kind old grandfatherly gent till then. Anyhow, after seeing to that patient, I somehow didn’t feel well inside and couldn’t even eat lunch that day.

Later, when I was in the doctors room and we were all discussing the case, I asked one of the senior specialists there, a urologist what pleasure that man could have got from the act? Was it just like normal sex for him. The other doctors expressed the opinion that “no way” he could not have done it for any physical satisfaction it was purely for psychological pleasure as in rape cases. And the discussion deviated to rape. The consensus opinion of all the specialists there that along with the victim the rapist too doesn’t feel any pleasure in the act physically- but they enjoy it immensely psychologically because of their twisted warped minds because they are causing pain to their victims. Rapists and pedophiles are not normal- they don’t do it for their own pleasure- they do it for cruelty was the opinion of all. 

So in that case why is it wrong to castrate them to punish them? Even death would be too easy a penalty for them. I guess that the law has to be changed to make it more threatening to these psychopaths for only a fear of losing something important to them would make them hesitate to do such heinous acts in the future. 

So what do you think? Would you support castration for pedophiles? Please give your opinions and comments......

P.s. One of the physicians also added this interesting nugget. That in some cases of  alleged Rape, it is usually consensual sex - Adultery -with a married woman in her own house- when she is suddenly surprised by the unexpected appearance of  her husband/mother-in-law/father-in-law and to save her skin cries rape and abandons her illegal lover to the law feigning that she was the victim and had no choice. So the law has to be diligent in investigating the genuine cases from such cheating spouses.