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 Indias 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 wayup or downby
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 Maharashtras 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 Indias 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 Years 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. Its 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 Ranchis 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 womans 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 Indias 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 Womens 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. Its 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.