News10 January 18, 2013 • www.easterneye.eu • Like us on www.facebook.com/easterneye

‘Blame culture’ behind low UK rape conviction rateby ARJUN KHARPAL and NADEEM BADSHAH

ASIAN rape victims are afraid to contact the police because of a “blame culture” and the lack of family support, a lawyer who has represented rape suspects has claimed.

As six men go on trial in Delhi accused of gang-rape on a bus in a case that has made headlines around the world, senior defence lawyer Nilpa Shah Saund told Eastern Eye the case has highlighted the trend of blaming the victim.

The lawyers of the men accused in India say their clients are innocent and allege police coercion forced them to confess.

Saund (pictured below right), who has represented eight men accused of rape, said attitudes in India of blaming victims are mirrored among many British Asians.

The defence lawyer at Hanson Woods Solicitors said: “I be-lieve the fear of a lack of support from the family, the shame of the community finding out and the blame culture that is prevalent in the Asian community is the biggest drawback to victims reporting a rape.

“This, added to the humiliation of undertaking forensic ex-aminations, giving evidence at court and the previous sexual history of the victim being discussed in court, means that Asian victims are less likely to get justice.

“In Delhi, it was encouraging to see the protests following the tragic rape incident, but would there have been such a public show of outrage if the victim was the wife of the accused?

“In the Delhi rape case, members of the community com-mented on how girls should go home straight after classes. This attitude shifts the blame from the perpetrator to the victim.”

Figures released in Britain last week revealed that fewer than one in 30 rape victims sees their attacker convicted. Around 78,000 victims are raped each year, but just 1,070 rapists are convicted. In addition, at least four in five rapes are not re-ported to the police.

Saund insists she has never suffered a backlash or had a moral dilemma in defending a suspected rapist. “I am unlikely to have a moral dilemma because if the client has told me he is guilty, then unless he is willing to plead guilty in court, I am unlikely to be in the position that I continue to represent him.

“So the only time I will really be in-volved in a case is when the defen dant is maintaining their innocence.

“People may not appreciate the role of a criminal defence solicitor, but ask yourself, if your brother was charged with such an offence and was maintaining his innocence, would you not want a solicitor to represent him? How would you feel if he had been judged before he had his say?”

Figures released by the Ministry of Justice last week also showed that com-pared with the number of cases for the of-fences of rape and sexual assault of a female, proportionally fewer white offenders than Asians were sentenced.

Around 877 Asian defendants were in court for sexual of-fences in 2011, and about 476 were convicted.

Saund believes the higher proportion of Asian offenders is down to their “lack of appreciation for the law”.

She added: “I have found that some defendants truly do be-lieve that there can be no rape in marriage or they minimise the impact of this. This arrogance and lack of respect for the victim obviously makes it difficult for me to get them to un-derstand the elements of the case.”

Nazir Afzal (pictured below), chief crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in the North West, told EE the CPS is seeing more convictions for rape, with 62.5 per cent of cases resulting in conviction.

“This is down to the hard work of CPS prosecu-tors and better liaison with police forces. But the director of public prosecutions has now said new guidance will be issued to encourage po-lice and prosecutors to build stronger cases which more effec tively test the suspect’s account as well as the complainant’s.”

Justice minister Jeremy Wright said: “Very tough sentences are available to the courts for those who commit the most serious offences, including a new mandatory life sentence which we have introduced for anyone convicted of a second very serious sexual or violent crime.

“We are already looking into how police cautions are being used.”

CRITICISM OF VICTIMS AMONG REASONS FOR ASIANS NOT GETTING JUSTICE