Advocate Ajay Prakash Singh shot into limelight for defending the rape accused in the Nirbhaya case. He also drew flak for making certain statements during the trial. Later, he earned notoriety as 'Devil's Advocate' for defending Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim, Sant Rampal and the accused in the Hathras rape incident. In conversation with Abhishek Srivastava of Outlook, he says that he also fights for the rights of the victims but is against the death penalty.
Ten years since Nirbhaya, rape cases are being reported every day from different parts of the country. The laws are not able to stop them. What can be the solution in your view?
POCSO came after the Nirbhaya case and the laws on rape were also amended. Fast-track courts and special courts were set up, and cameras were installed in Delhi, but such incidents did not stop. I think it was not needed. The law was already there in the form of Section 376 and its sub-sections. The provisions for punishments under those laws were already there. I think the new laws have been misused more and the number of fake cases also increased. The law was sufficient back then, and it is still sufficient. Unless we strengthen our social structure; unless people empower their boys and girls at the intellectual, physical and mental levels, incidents of rape will not stop.
Parents living in metros have turned cosmopolitan in sheer pursuit of wealth. They do not care for their children. All their efforts go into buying a flat of two to three rooms or buying a big car. In such a situation, their real wealth i.e. their children get neglected. As per the ancient wisdom of our society, if money is lost, nothing is lost, if health is lost, something is lost but if the character is lost, everything is lost. Such has been the thinking in this country and people have followed it in the past. But now, the situation has changed.
Who is responsible for that?
Technology, modernity, western civilisation, parents, schooling, to name a few. The day our media, godmen, leaders, public representatives, parents, school management will accept it, rapes will stop. Ours is a country of one-and-a-half billion people. Most of the rapes are happening in homes. Who is responsible? Our own willpower, our own character!
Technology cannot be reverted, nor is there an alternative to schooling...
There should be emphasis on moral education in school education. I think moral education in schools will lead to less crowds in the prisons. School is a means where you can strengthen the child. If schools are good, then crowds at the hospitals, courts, jails, police stations, etc. will all be reduced. It will create a good society.
Why has not anything changed in the past eight years under the current regime?
They don't have the willpower. They have the power to speak only, not to act. I wonder if preparations can get under way a year before the elections, why cannot preparations be done for the country’s welfare in the same way? Better postpone the election and say that we have not been able to do anything for the country yet, more time is needed to do so. People work only for two years in five years; the rest of the time is spent in preparation for the elections. Why do they have to waste public money?
Do you mean to say that the government is ideologically correct and it is only a matter of willpower?
Ideologically, everyone is correct. There are cases even against godmen. Are they ideologically wrong? Is anything wrong said at their satsang? Ideologically, everything is correct. It is the deeds of the people that are wrong.
Have you made any effort to make things better at your level?
We tried to get the wrong content on social media banned. If someone writes against the government, someone shows something on a YouTube channel, then he is accused of sedition, it is shut down and he is blocked. When I file PILs to stop anti-social content, the Attorney General says that we cannot stop it because it is operated from outside.
You are also against capital punishment like some feminists, but you also advocate for the criminals. What is the difference between your argument and theirs?
This country belongs to Mahatma Gandhi, who was the father of our nation. The world accepts his principle of non-violence. Death penalty is unnatural. It is violent. God gives life, only He should take it back. This is morality. The death penalty has been abolished in 198 countries. Death sentences have been awarded to terrorists, but has terrorism ended?
In cases such as Nirbhaya, Hathras and Baba Ram Rahim, you fight for the accused. What is the wisdom behind it?
No principle, just profession. I work for those who come to us. I also fight for the victims but such cases are not reported by the media. For example, in the Gayatri Mission rape case, I fought on behalf of the complainant Sadhvi. A girl child was raped in Dwarka. It was a case of POCSO. I went up to the Supreme Court after the judge said to get her married.
Do you have any data on the fake cases you lodged under POCSO and Nirbhaya Act that you have talked about?
The data of false entrapment of men will not be found anywhere. Who is speaking for men in this country? Is there anything written for men in any political agenda? About 150 to 200 men are committing suicide every day in this country. Unhappy men are dying every day in relationships, in offices, in marriages. Such people are soldiers, media, lawyers, businessmen. When a man commits suicide, his family members do not create any ruckus. No one gets an FIR registered. When the Constitution gives everyone the right to equality on the basis of gender, then why discrimination? Life has become very difficult for men.
