INTRODUCTION
Recently on 9th August, the whole country came across an incident where a 31-year-old female PGT Doctor was brutally raped and murdered in the hospital where she was working. The brutality and the devastating nature of the act have shocked everyone. The incident was followed by a large number of protests across India demanding stringent punishment of all the accused and that justice should be served without undue delay. The matter is currently sub-judice under The Supreme Court.
Incidents of rape are rampant across the country. Every day one or the other women are becoming victims of sexual harassment. Out of which just a minimal number of cases we get know. According to a government report in 2018 on average one woman reported a rape every 15 minutes across the country.[1] Now despite having legal recourse and stringent punishment for this type of pervasive act, why such cases are happening more savagely? This is the question the answer of which is still unknown to many of us.
BODY
When any despicable and heinous incident like rape came into the news some people in society first put their finger on the woman they start to dissect their character, their conduct, and their dressing sense even having an opinion that women should not come out of their home after evening. But, putting different restrictions on women and keeping them at home at night is the only solution to prevent this type of barbarous act. Are they even safe in their home or their workplace?
Let’s look at the recent crime report of our country.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) 2022 report, a total of 4,45,256 cases of crimes against women were registered across India in 2022, marking a 4% increase from the previous year, which translates to nearly 51 FIRs every hour. The rate of crimes against women per lakh population stood at 66.4, while the charge sheet filing rate was recorded at 75.8.
The majority of crimes against women were categorized as cruelty by husbands or relatives, making up 31.4% of cases. Kidnapping and abduction of women constituted 19.2%, assault with intent to outrage modesty accounted for 18.7%, and rape was reported in 7.1% of cases.
Incidents of sexual violence against women peaked at nearly 39,000 in 2016, and in 2018 on average one woman was raped every 15 minutes across the country. India has seen over 400 cases of sexual harassment at work every year since 2018, with an average of 445 cases being reported yearly.[2]
Now the question is why the crime against women is increasing day by day
In India the situation is not that we don’t have specific legislation to prevent this type of crime there are various laws to protect women from different sexual violence, we have specific laws on domestic violence, and laws that will protect women in their workplace are also there. Then where is the lacuna?
- Today in this modern 21st century where women are outperforming men in every arena, the patriarchal mindset people still think that as women can never be equal to men they are subjected to violence.
- The Factories Act,1948 Contract Labour Act,1970 The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013 All these laws were enacted to ensure a safe working environment for women but they were still subjected to harassment.
The recent Justice Hema Committee report that has published a report on the pervading sexual exploitation in the Malayalam Film industry reveals inadequate workplace protection for women.
- In India sometimes justice gets delayed because the legal proceedings take so much time. Sometimes unnecessary delays in proceedings also happen. As the process is time-consuming the victim and her family sometimes decide to mitigate the matter among themselves. As a result, the severity of violence increases because the perpetrator thinks that he will not be punished for his act.
- In cases of domestic violence and sexual assault scarcity of proper evidence led to a low conviction rate. So, the offender becomes free easily. There is a chance that they might repeat the offence.
- In India, there are a very small number of female police officers. So whenever a female is exploited they are more likely to open up before a female police rather than their counterpart. Historically speaking New Delhi has just 7% of female police officers. Statistically speaking 161 district police stations in Delhi have only one female station house officer.[3]
- In India, public places are not up to the mark which increases the vulnerability of crime towards women. There is a lack of well-lit streets and the public transport system is not adequate.
- When any crime is being reported to any authority that leads to the blaming and stigmatization of the victim and her family. So, normal people to maintain their position in society silently tolerate the torture.
- The main reason is the lack of proper education and knowledge about their rights. When women become educated and are aware of their rights then the situation can change.
WAY FORWARD
Recently the State Government of the particular State where the recent brutal rape and murder case has happened passed a bill to fight against rape by providing stringent punishment and faster trial of the cases through fast track court. But, is it something new don’t we have stringent punishment against such heinous offences as rape already in our country. When a case comes under the ‘rarest of the rare case’ category death penalty is also given. Does that any way help to reduce the viciousness of the crime? The answer is known to everybody.
We don’t need new legislation every time a crime happens. The real need of the hour is to effectively implement the already existing provisions, the authorities should take steps as soon as the crime comes to their knowledge, and there should not be time for evidence tampering and victims should get justice without any undue delay.
CONCLUSION
Violence against women is a deep-rooted social illness that cannot be cured overnight. This is a continual problem that demands a wide-ranging, multi-faceted approach. The crime report presented by NCRB constantly reminds us that adequate steps have not been taken to ensure the safety and security of women for that goal to be achieved more needs to be done.
To transform society change should always come from the mind level because only law-enforcement agencies cannot uproot the problem society has to make headway itself. All the stakeholders should work jointly to create a safe and egalitarian environment for women. Proactive actions should be taken by using all the social, cultural, and economic factors of the society.
There should be proper education, gender-based sensitization programs and all-inclusive support should also be provided to the needy. Only ensuring stringent punishment like the death penalty is not going to help in the long run it can only pacify people for some time. Education and awareness only can achieve the goal of a society where every individual irrespective of gender will be treated equally.
Author(s) Name: Soumi Kundu (Calcutta University, Kolkata)
References:
[1] Shivam patel, ‘India struggles with high rape cases, low conviction rates’ (Reuters, 16 August,2024) </ https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-struggles-with-high-rape-cases-low-conviction-rates-2024-08-15/ >accessed 4 September,2024
[2] ‘Addressing Women’s Safety in India’ (Drishti IAS, 21 August,2024) </ https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/addressing-women-s-safety-in-india/> accessed 4 September,2024
[3] Gitika Jain, ‘Rapes in India: reasons and prevention’ (ipleaders, 15 August, 2020) </ https://blog.ipleaders.in/rapes-india-reasons-prevention/> accessed 4 September, 2024
