Rape in India
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Rape in India has been described by Radha Kumar as one of India's most common crimes against women[1] and by the UN’s human-rights chief as a “national problem”.[2] In the 1980s, women's rights groups lobbied for marital rape to be declared unlawful, as until 1983, the criminal law (amendment) act stated that "sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age is not rape". Marital rape is now illegal in India but is still widespread.[3]
While per-capita reported incidents are quite low compared to other countries, even developed countries,[4][5] a new case is reported every 20 minutes.[6][7] New Delhi has the highest rate of rape-reports among Indian cities.[8] Sources show that rape cases in India have doubled between 1990 and 2008.[9] According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 24,206 rape cases were registered in India in 2011, although experts agree that the number of unreported cases is much higher.[10]Penal provisions for rape are often being misused by women as "weapon for vengeance and vendetta" to harass and blackmail their male friends by filing false cases to extort money and to force them get married, the Delhi High Court has said.[11]
Rape in Auto(three wheeler)
[12] Autos are a popular means of communication for urban Indians.Its common for single women in India and school girls,college girls and working women to use an auto to reach their destination.But lots of times they have to face harassment.There are several incidents of rape , molestation,sexual harassment by auto drivers.Women don't have any alternative but bear the risk.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]...[23][24][25][26]
School bus rape cases
[27].Working parents in the metros don't have time to take their kids to school.School bus drivers and helpers are trusted by the parents to take their kids from home to school and return. School bus driver and helpers find school girls easy target for sex.As these girls are vulnerable the drivers make full use of the opportunity.[28]....[29]....[30]....[31]....[32]....
Notable incidents
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/Bangalore_protests_following_Delhi_gang-rape_%28photo_-_Jim_Ankan_Deka%29.jpg/220px-Bangalore_protests_following_Delhi_gang-rape_%28photo_-_Jim_Ankan_Deka%29.jpg)
The rape and murder of English teenager Scarlett Keeling, on 18 February 2008, brought international attention to cases of rape in India.[33][34][35]
A Russian national working in India claimed that she was raped by a Goan politician on 1 December 2009 after having dinner with him that evening.[36] Shantaram Naik, an MP of the Indian National Congress, occasioned widespread disapproval, when he said, "...an alleged rape of a lady who moves with strangers for days together even beyond middle of the night is to be treated on a different footing."[36][37] Mamata Banerji stated[38] that free interaction between men and women today has led to these crimes.
The gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a public bus, on 16 December 2012, sparked large protests across the capital Delhi.[39] She was with a male friend who was severely beaten with an iron rod during the incident.[40] This same rod was used to penetrate her so severely that the victim's intestines had to be surgically removed, before her death thirteen days after the attack.[41] In the 24-hour period after the gang rape of the victim, at least two girls under the age of 18 were gang raped and one of them was murdered.[42]
The following day, there was an uproar in the Indian parliament over the incident. MPs in both houses had set aside their regular business to discuss the gruesome rape case and demanded strict punishment for those who carried out the attack. Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, demanded that "the rapists should be hanged".[43] Thousands of people, mostly young, participated in a massive demonstration in 22 December in protest. Police announced that six men suspected of rape had been arrested.[44] As a result of this incident, the government has promised speedy trials in cases of violations. It will improve the lighting of roads and public transport and there will be more police patrols to ensure the safety of women.[44] Software engineer nayana pujari was raped and murdered by her escort driver in Pune in 2009.Her murderer is still absconding.[45][46]
In 2012 Bikram Singh Brahma was accused of raping a woman in the Chirang district of Assam. He was caught by villagers who heard the woman's screams. He was stripped of his shirt and beaten by locals and was suspended from the ruling Congress party.[47]
State | Case Name | Year |
---|---|---|
Kashmir | Kunan Poshpora incident | 1991 |
Shopian rape and murder case | 2009 | |
Delhi | Delhi gang-rape case | 2012 |
Kerala | Suryanelli rape case | 1996 |
Kiliroor Sex Scandal | 2003 | |
Soumya rape and murder case | 2012 | |
Maharashtra | Aruna Shanbaug case | 1973 |
Jalgaon rape case | 1982 - 1994 | |
Mathura rape case | 1974 - 1981 | |
Tulasa Thapa | 1982 | |
Manipur | Thangjam Manorama | 2004 |
Orissa | Anjana Mishra rape case | 1999 |
Rajasthan | Ajmer rape case | ? - 1992 |
Bhanwari Devi | 1992 | |
Uttar Pradesh | Imrana rape case | 2005 |
Tamil Nadu | Vachathi case | 1992 |
During partition
During the partition of India, rape was an extensive issue.[48] It is estimated that during the partition, up to 100,000 women were kidnapped and raped.[49]
Jammu and Kashmir
There have been allegations of rape and mass rape in Jammu and Kashmir being carried out by both Indian armed forces and militant groups.[50][51] In 1991, the 4 Rajputana Rifles unit are alleged to have entered the village of Kunan Poshpora and raped between 30 and 100 women aged between 13 and 70.[52][53] The Indian government carried out three inquiries into the allegations and concluded that it had been a hoax.[54]
The International Commission of Jurists have stated that though the attacks had not been proven beyond a doubt, there was credible evidence that it had happened.[55] In 2011, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) asked for the reopening of the case.[56]
Islamist groups
Groups such has Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen and Harkat ul-Ansar have all been accused of carrying out rapes.[50] The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front have been accused of ethnic cleansing by using murder, arson and rape as a weapon of war to drive out hundreds of thousands of Hindu pandits from the region.[57][58]
Madhya Pradesh
In March 2013 a Swiss couple who were cycling from Orchha to Agra, were physically assailed by 8 locals, the man was overpowered and tied up while the 39-year-old woman was gang-raped in front of her husband at a village in Datia District where they decided to camp for a night.[59][60][61]
Northeast India
Human rights groups allege that the Indian armed forces under the protection of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 have carried out a large amount of rapes in the Nagaland, Assam and Manipur provinces.[62]
Uttar Pradesh
In 2011 number of brutal assaults on women were reported in Uttar Pradesh and according to the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), the majority of those assaulted were poor women from remote areas and Dalits. SR Darapuri vice president of the PUCL stated, "I analysed the rape figures for 2007 and I found that 90% of victims were Dalits and 85% of Dalit rape victims were underage girls."[63]
Crime Against Children
According to a BBC report in February 2013, more than 7,200 children are raped each year in India. Underage victims who do report the assaults are often subjected to mistreatment and humiliation from the police.[64] A landmark government survey in 2007 revealed that the vast majority of children in India are physically abused and that such occurrences are ″disturbingly common″.[64][65] In January 2013, a 7 year old girl was raped in the school toilet while studying at school in Goa.[66][67]
Minor girls are trafficked into prostitution in India, often by those women who have been trafficked themselves. As adults they use personal relationships and trust in their villages of origin to recruit additional girls.[68] India is categorized as one of the ‘extreme risk' countries for trafficking children.[68]
Legal position
The legal principle of reliance on the sole testimony of the victim had become "an easy weapon" for women to implicate any man in a case of rape. [69]Indian Parliament introduced amendments to the Indian Penal Code making various changes to the anti-rape laws in India.[70] The offence of rape under Section 375, have made both penile and non-penile insertion into bodily orifices of a woman by a man an offence. The definition is broadly defined in some aspect, with acts like penetration of penis, or any object or any part of body to any extent, into the vagina, mouth, urethra or anus of a woman or making her to do so with another person or applying of mouth to sexual organs without the consent or will of the woman constitutes the offence of rape.[71]
The section has also clarified that penetration means "penetration to any extent", and lack of physical resistance is immaterial for constituting an offence. Except in certain aggravated situation the punishment will be imprisonment not less than seven years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine. In aggravated situations, punishment will be rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.[71]
A new section, 376A has been added which states that if a person committing the offence of sexual assault, "inflicts an injury which causes the death of the person or causes the person to be in a persistent vegetative state, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than twenty years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life, which shall mean the remainder of that person’s natural life, or with death."[71] In case of "gang rape", persons involved regardless of their gender shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than twenty years, but which may extend to life and shall pay compensation to the victim which shall be reasonable to meet the medical expenses and rehabilitation of the victim.
Certain changes has been introduced in the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 and Indian Evidence Act, like the recording of statement of the victim has been made more friendly and easy, character of the victim is irrelevant for consideration, presumption of no consent where sexual intercourse is proved and the victim states in the court that there has been no consent, etc.
The age of consent in India has been increased to 18 years, which means any sexual activity irrespective of presence of consent with a woman below the age of 18 will constitute statutory rape. Although, the decision of death penalty for the most extreme rape cases was approved by the Indian parliament, marital rape is still not accepted as a criminal offense within Indian legal framework,[72] except during the period of judicial separation of the partners. The government officials argued that the contract of marriage presumes consent to sex and that criminalising marital rape in turn would weaken family values in India.[72]
The marital rape victims easily use Section 498-A of the IPC ("perverse sexual conduct by the husband") to jail men for 3 years, or the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (PWDVA) to evict husband from his own home.Around 75% of such cases are false[73] The PWDVA, which came into force in 2006, effectively provides protection against marital rape or other forms of sexual perversions and domestic violence.[74] However, it offers only a civil remedy for the offence.[75]
See also
General:
Regional:
Notes
References
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(help) - ^ Morris, Chris (19. March 2010). "Can the Goa Trial Untangle the Scarlett Keeling Case". The BBC.
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(help) - ^ a b "Goa MP Shantaram Naik says some women invite rape - India - DNA". Dnaindia.com. 2009-12-15. Retrieved 2012-12-24.
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- ^ "Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013" (PDF). Government of India. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
- ^ a b c Section 376A, Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013
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Further reading
- "The rapes that India forgot". BBC. 5 January 2013.
- Vutz, Cornelia. "The situation of women and gender-specific violence in India" (PDF). Library Briefing. Library of the European Parliament. Retrieved 7 March 2013.