Should rapists go unpunished?

Today, in Nigeria, particularly the north, rape has become something almost inevitable, more often than you always expect it at one point or the other. I’m not exaggerating the fact that at least one experienced such an uncouth act or attempted rape in her life. Our society considers it as a minor offense; this is in the sense that many rapists- revealed and unrevealed are left to go unpunished.

According to National Bureau of Statistics, more than 2,200 cases of rape and other sexual assault were reported in 2017. However, some experts say that the true number of rapes is likely higher than the number of cases reported.

Going forward, a rapist, whoever he is, should never go unpunished and unexposed to undergo the same social shame as do the victim and pay the price of his crime. The penalty for rape in the 1999 constitution as amended is up to 14 years imprisonment.

Nonetheless, the critical issue under this point is the phenomenon of setting the rapist free after interrogation and investigation to continue living free in society. If justice should reign, then rapists must be punished and even killed.

Jemimah Ezekiel,

Department of Mass Communication,

University of Maiduguri

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