PRESENTED BY:

ZUBIN VIJAY MEHTA

PGDM COMMUNICATION 2013-2015

KJ SOMAIYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES AND RESEARCH

CRIME AGAINST WOMEN: CAUSE AND PREVENTION

In the ancient Indian women held a high place of respect in the society as mentioned in Rigveda and other scriptures like our Bhagvad Gita. Volumes can be written about the status of our women and their heroic deeds from the Vedic period to the modern times. But later on, because of social, political and economic changes, women lost their status and were relegated to the background. Many evil customs and traditions stepped in which enslaved the women and tied them to the boundaries of the house. The official statistics showed a declining sex-ratio, health status, literacy rate, work participation rate and political participation among women. While on the other hand the spread of social evils like dowry deaths, child marriage, domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, illegal women trafficking, exploitation of women workers are rampant in different parts of India. Humiliation, rape, kidnapping, molestation, dowry death, torture, wife-beating have grown up over the years.

The principle of gender equality is stated in the Indian Constitution in its Preamble and Fundamental Rights. The Constitution not only grants equality to women, but also empowers the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of women for neutralizing the socio economic, education and political disadvantages faced by them. India has also ratified various international and human rights instruments committing to secure equal rights of women. Key among them is the ratification of the “Convention on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) “.

Delhi UT has reported the highest crime rate at 12.4 as compared to the National average of 2.9. Around 27% of the total dowry cases reported in the country were reported from Uttar Pradesh cases alone followed by Bihar. Torture cases in the country have increased approx. 6% over the previous year. Madhya Pradesh has reported the highest number of molestation cases. Though, sexual harassment has been declining but it persists in many of the

workplaces in India despite stringent legislation enforced against it. Recently, the increasing importing of girls has shocked the nation where people tend to sell their daughters to earn their bread. Amongst all the crimes what has kept the nation thinking is the sati case registered in Jammu and Kashmir. In a country like India which has shown signs of growth has been hampered by such heinous crimes which has forced more stringent laws as that of deployed in Dubai forms the need of the hour.

There has been unending demand for justice of Delhi students protesting outside the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Among the protestors’ demands the accused in the recent Delhi gangrape case be hanged to death or his private parts to be amputated have been wildspread. The 23-year-old woman paramedic who was gangraped in a moving bus and then dumped almost naked on a street in Delhi may or may not survive the ordeal in the Intensive Care Unit of Safdarjung Hospital. In Mumbai, meanwhile, another young woman is fighting for survival after being knifed by a man in broad daylight. It was a case of mistaken identity; the man wanted to attack his wife with the knife he carried with him to the bus stop from where she frequently boarded her bus. Instead, he attacked a stranger who was wearing a scarf and facing the other way. The show “crime patrol”, SONY TV, had aired the Delhi gangrape case last month, but the irony continues, more rapes have been registered.Though Delhi retains its tag of ‘India’s rape capital’, Mumbai is fast losing its reputation as a city that is significantly safer for women. Trends in other big cities are also dismaying. Crimes against women are on the rise in all metros.

An analysis of figures laid out in the Lok Sabha on 18 December by the Ministry of Home Affairs shows a sharp increase in rapes

and every other conceivable crime against women in Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata. Over a three-year span starting 2009, rapes rose in these cities by between 12 and nearly 90 per cent (see accompanying graph, ‘Sex Crime Capital’). But these statistics are inaccurate reflection of reality since a significant proportion of rapes go unreported. The actual number of rapes is likely to be higher, though the increase in recorded cases could be distorted either way—up or down—by fluctuating trends in reporting. Notably, only one in every four rape cases in India leads to conviction of the accused and that too after a prolonged judicial process. The agony of victims cannot be overstated.

The rise in cases of sexual harassment is sharper in many areas. Such cases recorded in Mumbai have risen dramatically in recent years. Those in the news have included an acid attack on a physiotherapist in Worli, the rape of an expatriate in Bandra, and the harassment of a girl in Dombivli. These are not stray incidents. They are highly shocking and traumatic.Today, an Indian woman prefers to stay back at office after a night shift than try getting home. About two years ago, she would have gone back home with her colleagues, but have stopped doing it after they realised that some males in the car would be drunk.

Though Maharashtra’s Home Minister RR Patil has proved himself incapable of making Mumbai safe for women, the government shows no sign of relieving him of his charge. Hearing lewd comments are a matter of routine for women in India’s biggest cities. In Delhi and Mumbai, the irony is the heightened security presence on the streets, both cities being prime targets of terror attacks. Extra men in uniform have done nothing for the safety of women in public places. An even bigger complaint against the police is their lack of competence in handling such cases. Shoddy investigations often make it easy for culprits to get bail and walk

away at the end of a trial. In many cases of acquittal, the State has been seen to make only half-hearted attempts to petition a higher court for review.

Political attitudes matter. Taking the case in Mumbai about seven years ago: On New Year’s Eve, two girls were molested by a group of boys outside a JW MARRIOT, Juhu. Caught on camera, the incident caused an uproar but MNS Chief Raj Thackeray said that the culprits of the crime were all Marathi boys and thus could not have done something so heinous. They all got bail. It’s just not crime that has been prevailing but also favouritism which has been hard to digest. While politicians and the police in Mumbai conveniently dub the large-scale influx of outsiders as the prime reason for these increasing crimes, locals are involved in more cases than they admit. In other cities, there are other political factors at play. In August this year, an unknown outfit, the Jharkhand Mukti Sangh, put up posters in Ranchi threatening acid attacks on girls and women who dare wear jeans or salwar kameez without a dupatta. The police dismissed it as a prank, but it certainly changed equations for Ranchi’s women. On the other hand, women have long been blamed for their allegedly ‘provocative’ dressing sense, behaviour and attitudes .So much so that there have even been instances of high court judges raising questions about the suitability of a woman’s clothing. This to an extent is catering to crime and abolishing the freedom to live and the freedom of speech.

In rural India, local politics often remains worse than just patriarchal. Khap panchayats and Taliban-style fatwas issued by religious groups have meant “hell” for many of India’s rural women. A panchayat in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh recently banned love marriages, unescorted visits to the market by women, and even the use of mobile phones by women under 40.

Few politicians have ever led an effective campaign against gender violence or taken measures that could tackle the scourge. Despite their awareness that violence against women is rife in vast parts of India with poor and lower-caste women are the most vulnerable. Not that there have been no legislative attempts at all in the country. There is the Criminal Law Bill, 2012, for example, which aims at stricter penalties for crimes against women . At the moment, it is hard to argue that politicians at the Centre do not sense the national outcry against the horrific state of affairs. In New Delhi, the bus gangrape has had MPs screaming themselves hoarse, demanding stiff action against the culprits. Many have also asked for the current set of laws against gender crimes to be revised.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj has demanded the death penalty for rapists in a country where doing away with capital punishment is under debate. Chairperson of the National Women’s Commission Mamta Sharma seems to believe that only life imprisonment or death penalty can deter rapists. The main counter argument to this is that the culprit would then rather kill the victim than just rape her.Last year, the court had suggested that the State make molestation a non-bailable offence under Section 354 of the IPC. The Justice Dharmadhikari Committee had also recommended the same. As a result, a three-member Commission, headed by former Chief Justice of India, Justice J.S. Verma have laid down the following rules:

Punishment for Rape: The panel has not recommended the death penalty for rapists. It suggests that the punishment for rape should be rigorous imprisonment or RI for seven years to life. For gang-rape, it suggests should entail punishment of not less than 20 years, which may also extend to life and gang-rape followed by death, should be punished with life imprisonment.

Punishment for other sexual offences: The panel recognised the need to curb all forms of sexual offences, Voyeurism should be punished with upto seven years in jail, stalking or attempts to

contact a person repeatedly by up to three years and acid attacks would be punished by up to seven years of imprisonment.

CONCLUSION: Only legislation and law enforcement agencies cannot prevent the incident of crime against women. There is need of social awakening and change in the attitude of masses, so that due respect and equal status is given to women. It’s a time when the women need to be given her due. This awakening can be brought by education campaign among youth making them aware of existing social evils and the means to eradicate same. Mass media can play an active role here as in the present days it has reached every corner of the nation. Various NGOs and organizations like National Organization for Women (NOW) can hold a responsible position here by assigning them with the task of highlighting socio-economic causes leading to such crimes and by disseminating information about their catastrophic effect on the womanhood and the society at large. Lastly, national television shows like Crime Patrol, Saavdhan India, Satyamev Jayate can help to solve the problems of the nation.