Rape Victims Free to Choose Lawyers at the Expense of State: Maharashtra Government

The Maharashtra Government decided facilitating each sexual assault victim with the lawyer of their choice at its own expense. The government declared that this would ensure putting behind the bars, each and every rapist who walked free because of prosecution inexpertness.

Home Minister of Maharashtra, R R Patil declared on 7 January 2013 that the choice of lawyers would not be limited to just the government attorneys but also the private lawyers. The Home Minister declared that this decision would help in securing higher rate of conviction in the rape cases.

Ineffectual prosecution is a cause of poor rate of conviction in sexual assault cases against the women. As per the National Crime Records Bureau, in 2011, 20576 men went through the trial in Maharashtra but merely 268 out of these were convicted by the end of 2011. This decision of the government could alter these figures.

However, it was believed that this decision would demand the best attorney from the system, thereby putting a lot of pressure on state treasury.