Violence Against Women
Violence against women has many dimensions. It needs to be dealt with as economic, sociopathic, and legal problem. — Dr. Jaya Kakkar
The gang rape of ‘Nirbhaya’ in Delhi on December 2012 had jolted the collective conscience of our nation. It led to a rekindled discussion about crimes against women and how to deter them. Thus, the definition of sexual assault was expanded, the quantum of punishment for rape was enhanced, the ‘two finger’ test was sought to be discontinued (in practice, horror of horrors, it was never stopped!), police complaint was sought to be filed early. Reality is not much on ground has changed even after 10 years. Even in 2021 more than 4 lakh (4,28,278) cases of crimes against women were registered; the figure was less than 2.5 lakh (2,44,270) in 2012. And, in actual fact, many such perpetrated crimes go unreported due to multifarious reasons, like stigma attached to the reporting, police apathy or reluctance, fear of a long and unproductive trial, expenses involved in pursuing the case, and of course threats from those who committed the crime in the first place.
Law is hardly a deterrent. In Delhi, which being a small state and being the capital of the country is better governed, the conviction rate was only 5.46 percent for the total 13,614 cases of rape, dowry death, molestation, eve teasing, dowry and abduction. And for 2021, the percentage dropped to mere 1.65%!
Crimes Against Women
2019 2020 2021 2022
Case registered 13,614 9924 14,022 12,854
Cases worked out 9179 6820 9384 7943
Cases decided 2481 759 643 NA
Acquitted/discharge 1762 438 411 NA
Convictions 719 331 232 NA
The figures for 2021 are upto November 15, 2022.
The pathetic figures are pointers towards perfunctory investigations and lapses in filing charge sheets. Compare the worked out cases and those acquitted. Infact the existing justice delivery system (police, courts, laws, all put together) is so accused friendly that most victims don’t even come forward to register the case. And if they do, police don’t register it or records it faultily. Later the witnesses are likely t o turn hostile. After 2012 a Nirbhaya fund was created to get rape victims easy access to justice. 30% of this fund remains unutilized. And, surprise of surprise, in Maharashtra the money was used to provide security to legislators.
But the cause for poor conviction are not merely institutional. There is the attendant social regression. Now even the authorities some time suggest that the rapist marry the victim. In Bilkis Bano’s case there was even tacit and (sectional) societal support for transgression, when the convicted ones were recently released out of jail. Then there is popular sentiment for instant retribution which is an outcome of larger failures.
Worryingly to the state of crimes perpetrated against women now there is lately an addition in the form of the ferocity of the attacks. Only in very recent months, just to talk about a few, a woman was stabbed 51 times by her stalker with a screwdriver, a 17 year old girl was attacked with acid, and a 27 year old women hacked into 37 pieces by her partner. Rising brutality is a new (or is it new?) dimension to the crimes against women. This, along with the fact that, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, a crime against a woman was recorded nearly every minute in 2021.
Besides, violence is not merely physical. Many women face emotional abuse both at work and at home. For that matter, domestic violence is widely prevalent in Indian society. Thus, violence could be physical, emotional, economic – all due to iniquitous power sharing between men and women, husband and wife, in Indian home and society. Apart from physical violence, the other kinds of abuse of women may be difficult to recognize and acknowledge. But even if it is, there may not be effective legal remedies available to women. In this regard, one can draw some comfort from a recent court judgement (though only at sessions court level) which suggested that while physical violence is certainly a crime, domestic violence should include sexual, verbal, emotional and economic abuse as well.
The legal system has to perform its duty. But there are obvious limitations, as we have seen. Only with education, exposure, maturity, and confidence can the Indian women take recourse to this agonizingly slow system which in any case is not very victim friendly.
The landscape for women’s rights, including availability of sufficient protection and redressal against violence, is not much bromising after all these years. The Nirbhaya case did make society conscious about women rights, violence, harassment and abuse. It led to acknowledgement that ‘freedom’ for women needed to be put on a more equal pedestal in comparison with men. The legal system became more open to admitting these abuses. There was progress in legislation and prosecution relating to women related crimes. But just about.
In fact too much reliance on laws as deterrent has grace limitations. While the law is important it can do only as much. We need to focus on mindset. When many women are considered to be the properties’ of men, naturally there is a disconnect between efforts to fight violence against women and social realities of male dominated and misogynist mindsets. There is a very disturbing, added, discourse about giving these cases a communal colour, including interfaith relationships.
Education, awareness, and social conditioning – as against sensationalism coupled with even handed, reliable, speedy, and persistent law enforcement holds the key. Male entitlements need to be curtailed. The women don’t have to be defensive, even though they are victims.
Finally, in the passing, since we don’t have space available, we may mention that economic emancipation is equally important. Women are as vulnerable outside as they are to domestic violence. They have the right to be free of violence, the right to lead a dignified life, and the right to economic independence.
Share This
