Relevance: GS-1: Social Empowerment, Crime against Women.

Key Phrases: Incidence of rapes, case disposal, public safety, public confidence, education, reformative justice, ineffectiveness of Death Penalty.

Context:

• A country in which women are violated in broad daylight, thrown on streets after gory torture and muzzled and suffocated under the garb of sacrifice and societal obligations is nothing short of a failure to its very existence.
• India, unfortunately, is today at the center stage of the world's attention for this existential crisis that is casting its shadow upon over half its population. A flurry of laws, policies and mechanisms, over 70 years of amendment, re-amendment and judicial interventions have all failed to cater to women's inherent need for safety, at times within the confines of their own homes.

Key Facts About Crime Against Women:

• Crime against women in the Capital increased by 63.3% in the first six months of 2021 as compared to 2020.
• Rape cases saw an increase of 43% from 580 to 833 this year, molestation jumped by 39% from 733 to 1,022, kidnapping of women from 1,026 to 1,580, abduction of women from 46 to 159, and dowry deaths from 47 to 56.
• Heinous crime figure, has come down marginally from 2,436 to 2,315
• These crimes tend to create extreme revulsion in the minds of people.
• The number of non-heinous crimes has increased by 8.5%.

What did the IPC say about Rape?

• Section 375 of the IPC made punishable the act of sex by a man with a woman if it was done against her will or without her consent. The definition of rape also included sex when her consent has been obtained by putting her or any person in whom she is interested, in fear of death or of hurt.
• Also, sex with or without her consent, when she is under 18 years is considered rape. However, under the exception, sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his wife, the wife not being under 15 years of age, is not rape.
• Section 376 provided for seven years of jail term to life imprisonment to whoever commits the offence of rape.

Why there are rises in the cases of rapes in India?

Some reasons of rises in the cases of rapes are the followings:

• The tardy rate of case disposal.
• Sluggish court system of India and few convictions. India's court system is painfully slow and for rapes that do get reported, the conviction rate is not more than 26%.
• Lack of public safety: Foremost cause of increasing rape cases is the lack of public safety. Women are not safe outside their homes and why only outside they are not safe even inside their homes. A number of cases have been reported wherein the guilty has committed the crime in the very house of the victim.
• Discouragement of rape victims to compromise: None of the families in Indian society are ready to accept the fact that someone in their family has been raped and they often advise the victims to stay away from the haphazard caused after rape in the police station. This is the sole reason why most of the rapes are not even reported in India.
• Lack of public confidence.
• The unchecked abuse of the legal provisions are commonly understood as the causes of poor deterrence against rapes.
• Lack of Sex Education.
• Issue of the prevalence of rape myths attached to female and male sexuality in the legal machinery.
• Blatant ignorance of the ideals of reformative justice.

 

Meaures to achieve women’s safety:

Some interventions that must be made to assist the current legal framework in achieving the ends of women's safety. These are:

• Identifying and Eliminating Rape Myths: Rape myths refer to stereotyped or false beliefs about rape, rape victims and rapists which cast a shadow upon the formulation of law, dispensation of justice and societal perception at large.
• The UN Guidelines for Medico-Legal Care for victims of sexual violence has enlisted common myths and facts bringing out the falsehood in these averments. A few examples of the same are:

• It is for the courts to factor in these studies and adopt practices in terms of the conduct of court proceedings, victim or accused handling, evidence appraisal and judgment pronouncement by duly preventing any of these myths from being perpetuated or referred to even in the most trivial stages.
• Rethinking the Deterrence Measures (Ineffectiveness of Death Penalty):
  • Notably, from 2016 to 2019, a sharp increase in the conviction for death from 16% to 54.1 % by Sessions Courts has been observed. There seems to be a sharp departure from the rule of 'rarest of rare' and our ideals of reformative justice.
  • But, the cases of rape also have gone up from 176 cases in 2017 to 220 cases in 2019 to 292 cases in 2021.
  • From above, It can be inferred only a strict law is not sufficient to stop crime.
  • In the current scenario there is a need to bring some changes in the law.
• Recognising Sex Education as a Fundamental Right:
  • As per a UNESCO Report of 2009, comprehensive sexual education plays a significant role in preparing young people for a safe, productive, fulfilling life, especially to prevent them from HIV, AIDS, gender-based violence amongst other things.
  • Compulsory sex education in schools will help in understanding the significance concepts of consent, privacy, bodily integrity, safe use of information and communication technology and most importantly, biases and gender norms in order to reduced gender based violence. Therefore, sex education may be recognised as a Fundamental Right.

Way Forward:

• At a point in time when women's safety is witnessing its darkest phases in the country, the Judiciary, being the guardian of the constitution, can play a significant role in bringing a change in the functionality, ideology and perspective of the institutions and the masses.
• With the changing times, our institutions must also embrace a new approach. Acknowledging and weeding out the rape myths, focussing on prevention rather than punishment and transforming the ideals of gender equality are some crucial aspects needing immediate attention.
• In a bid to punish offenders, we seem to have undermined the real objective that we set out with- ensuring equality, justice and liberty for the womenfolk and reducing the incidence of crime. While the judiciary must focus on fast-tracking the proceedings during the trial, it must also usurp its duty at the pre-trial and pre-offence stage to actively reduce the crime rate.
• Furthermore, it is also necessary that the Criminal Justice system keeps up with the changes in society and constantly transforms and re-creates its approach to cater to the needs of all..

Source: Live-Law

Mains Question:

Q. Discuss the reasons for increasing rape cases in India and suggest measures to achieve the safety of women in the country.