Process of chemical castration

The Supreme Court advised Parliament on January 11 Parliament could consider amending the penal provisions to award harsh punishments to persons convicted of raping a girl child and also define the term 'child' in respect of rape as the offence. The court, which refused to entertain a plea of a women lawyers' body seeking castration of those convicted for raping toddlers, left the issue for the legislature to dwell upon and decide.

In October, a Madras High Court bench in Madurai suggested to the Centre to consider castrating those who abused children sexually as the present law is “ineffective” in dealing with such criminals. “The suggestion to castrate may look barbaric. But barbaric criminals needed barbaric punishment. The very thought of punishment should deter the criminal from committing the offence,” the judge observed.

Meanwhile Indonesia is set to join a small group of nations that allows such punishment, including Poland, Russia, and Estonia, as well as some US states. In 2011, South Korea became the first Asian country to use chemical castration as a punishment. Chemical castration is castration via drugs, whether to reduce libido and sexual activity, to treat cancer, or otherwise.

Unlike surgical castration, where the gonads are removed through an incision in the body, chemical castration does not remove organs, nor is it a form of sterilization.[ Chemical castration is generally considered reversible when treatment is discontinued, although permanent effects in body chemistry can sometimes be seen, as in the case of bone density loss increasing with length of use of DMPA.

Historically chemical castration has been forced on a wide range of groups such as homosexuals, transgender people, rapists and pedophiles often in return for reduced sentences. Chemical castration involves the administration of antiandrogen drugs, such as cyproterone acetate or the birth-control drug DMPA, which is given as an injection every three months, making compliance easier to track.

A major medical use of chemical castration is in the treatment of hormone-dependent cancers, such as some prostate cancer, where it has largely replaced the practice of surgical castration. The antipsychotic agent benperidol is sometimes used to diminish sexual urges in people who display inappropriate sexual behavior, and can likewise be given by depot injection. But benperidol does not affect testosterone and is therefore not a castration agent.