Is it a good idea to build a database of molesters and rapists in India? Yes, but with essential safeguards.
In the backdrop of impending release of the juvenile confined for three years for his role in the 16 December 2012 gangrape in Delhi, the government seems to have caved in to public opinion and come up with a plan to have in place a sex-offender registry in order to keep a tab on, and protect society from possibly murderous predators.
Nothing Wrong With Govt Position
There is nothing wrong with the government’s decision, which it communicated to the Supreme Court in an affidavit, because such registries are commonplace in many countries. Unless of course, it goes on a head-on collision course with constitutionally-mandated fundamental rights and inviolable tenets of criminal jurisprudence. But this is precisely what the government’s plan is doing, and hence it must be subjected to strong criticism and minute scrutiny.