Indian medical experts shun chemical castration for rapists

The violent gang rape of a paramedical student in a moving bus in New Delhi and her subsequent death, resulting in widespread outrage around India, has led to calls for chemical castration as a punishment for rapists. Various political and civil society groups and reportedly the central government too are considering such a law, which they say would curb the rising rates of rape throughout the nation.

The gang rape sparked massive protests in New Delhi and outrage in parliament and led to a joint statement by the United Nations and Unicef condemning the incident.1 The government has increasingly been trying to calm public anger.2

Chemical castration, in which …