Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has questioned the delays by police in registering cases related to crime against women.

During the hearing of a PIL, the court, showing strictness, asked the state government to explain the delays.

Significantly, the grandmother of three minor grandchildren had filed a PIL, which was heard by the division bench of Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice J.J. Munir.

The court told the state government that sometimes it takes over six months to register a case. The court asked why such a situation was being created in the state.

On March 14, the maternal grandmother had accused Mukesh, who was living with her daughter, of raping the minor grandchildren.

The grandmother had tried to lodge an FIR in the Ghaziabad police station, but the police did not register the FIR.

After this, on April 6 after the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission and the Chief Justice, an FIR was registered.

The police registered a case against the accused Mukesh and Rajkumari in Tila Mor of Ghaziabad under IPC 376 506, but despite the victims being minors, the POCSO Act was not invoked.

After this, the grandmother had approached the court and demanded action against the guilty policemen through public interest litigation.

Courtesy: The Daily Siasat

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The report on ‘Atrocities and Crimes Against Women and Children’ was submitted in the Rajya Sabha by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs on March 15. The extensive report covers all themes on crimes against women including data on crimes, prevention of crimes and the criminal justice system for women and for each section provides recommendations that are worthy of paying attention to by not just the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) but also all the state governments for better implementation of prevention of crimes and for better handling of such cases.

The Committee was presided over by Congress MP in Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma comprised nine members of Rajya Sabha and 30 members of the Lok Sabha.

The comprehensive report touches upon various themes which can be divided into Criminal Justice system, prevention of crimes and Data on crimes against women and children. In a three-part series we will be going through the various elements covered in the report and the many recommendations of the Committee. In this second part we look at prevention of crimes which includes the various assistance and women safety schemes, safe city project, women police stations, one stop centres and how or whether these have impacted reporting or prevention of crimes and the Committee’s recommendations for the same.

The part-1 of the series may be read here

Assistance schemes

The state governments of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and West Bengal submitted before the committee the steps taken by them to ensure safety and security of women which included helpline numbers. On examining the data, the committee questioned the Uttar Pradesh government about the reason for abysmally low receipt of complaints (only 42,000 in 2020) received on the popular helpline number 1090 despite having a population of 23 crores. The response was that efforts are being made to create awareness about the helpline. Until June 2020, 3.05 lakh women were assisted through one-stop centres (OSC) and more than 54 lakh women were assisted through women helplines across the country.

The committee observed that the reason for receiving a very low number of calls to the helpline numbers is due to low publicity of the numbers and recommended the promotion of helplines in regional and local languages through mainstream print, electronic and digital media, public transports, advertisements, TV channels, social media etc. The committee said that all efforts should be made to ensure that response time for a distress call is minimal and help reaches in time to the victim.

The information on helplines and the calls received in the past year in 6 states is mentioned below:

Women’s safety

The Safe City project launched by MHA involves GIS-based crime mapping for identifying crime hot spots, conducting crime scene analysis and filling in gaps in the existing eco-system. Safe City project is presently undertaken in 8 cities – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai.

One-Stop Centres have been established across the country to strengthen mechanisms for addressing concerns of women affected by violence, facilitate access to an integrated range of services including medical aid, police assistance, legal aid/case management, psychosocial counselling, and temporary support services to women affected by violence. The committee observed that more such centres are required and they should be set up at every sub-divisional level.

The committee further observed that adequate investments and interventions should be made focusing on both prevention of violence and post-incident service provisions to adequately meet the requirements of the survivors that are highly sensitive in nature and emphasised upon the need for post-trauma counselling including proper medical attention, emotional assistance along with financial assistance to the victim for rehabilitation.

The Committee also expressed concerns towards the condition of sex workers and in response, MHA stated that safety of women in crime-prone areas such as those who are living in the red-light area or forced into prostitution is of utmost priority. Ministry of Women and Child Development informed that they do not support legal sanctity to sex work, neither do they endorse monetisation of women’s sexuality or sexual exploitation or abuse of women in any manner. The committee observed that, despite this, sex workers are faced with hardships, very much susceptible and more often the victims of violence. They are made to suffer in oblivion due to the apathy of law, authorities and society at large and are deprived of their fundamental and constitutional rights.

Women police stations

As per “Data on Police Organizations- 2020” published by BPR&D, out of the total of 16,955 sanctioned Police Stations for women, 9,705 Police Stations are located in rural areas, whereas 4,725 Police Stations are located in urban areas and the remaining 2,525 are the Special Purpose Police Stations. In 2020, MHA sanctioned Rs.100 crore to States/UTs for setting up women help desks in 10,000 Police Stations. The Committee was however, unsure of the impact women police stations had upon women coming forward with a complete and thus, recommended that a survey be conducted to determine among people to check whether all women Police Stations have actually helped in the ease of reporting of crimes.

The operational women and children help desks in 6 states:

In response to the Committee’s inquiry on performance of women’s help desks, NGO Action India stated that women help desk at Police Stations is found to be empty most of the time and are often found to be manned by male police officers who are largely insensitive and unsympathetic towards women.

Haryana has 33 all-women police stations and West Bengal has 48 such police stations, with Kolkata alone having 8 women police stations.

Apart from all-women police stations, it is also important to note the number of women personnel at police stations. The Committee stated that low representation of women in Police forces creates a barrier for women seeking to approach Police Stations. The representation of women in Police forces in the States/UTs has increased from 1.10 lakhs in the year 2014 to 2.15 lakhs in the year 2019. As per data submitted to the Committee, Bihar has the highest percentage of women in its police forces at 25.3% while the UT of Jammu and Kashmir has the lowest percentage at 3.31%. Other states with less than 6% women in their police force include Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya, Telangana and Tripura. At the outset, 20 states and 3 UTs have less than 10% women in their police forces. Also, not even one state complies with the MHA advisory of 2009 asking states to ensure that 33% of Police forces are women.

Role of NGOs

The Committee appreciated the role played by NGOs who are supplementing the efforts of the Government towards empowerment of women and in extending the benefits of the policies and schemes to women and children. The Committee took into consideration depositions made by three NGOs: All India Women’s Conference, Jagori, and Action India. The Committee emphasised upon engagement and involvement of the Government with the NGOs as they work at grassroot level and can feel the pulse of the community. The Committee was of the opinion that NGOs and community should be directly involved in all schemes particularly, those aiming at enhancing legal awareness, strengthening reporting mechanisms including helpline numbers, expediting justice delivery systems and designing of schemes and interventions of the Government meant for rescue, rehabilitation, counselling of the victims. This will help in instilling confidence among women and children and improve their overall safety.

Recommendations

In light of the data received by the Committee and the its observations made therefrom, the Committee has made the following recommendations for further augmenting measures to prevent crimes against women and to assist them when such crimes occur:

• MHA should advise all States/UTs to integrate their helpline numbers with 112 for creating a three-digit common Pan-India helpline number.

• MHA may ask States to conduct a comparative study on having all-women Police Stations vis-a-vis traditional Police Stations

• MHA may advise States/ UTs to install CCTV cameras equitably in urban and rural areas. detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) may be released by MHA regarding the installation of CCTV cameras, storage of recordings, quick and easy retrieval of the stored data to different law enforcing agencies

• Ministry of Home Affairs should take up with the Ministry of Women & Child Development to advise States to open at least one One-Stop Centre at every sub-divisional level.

• Panchayati Raj Institutions, local NGOs and State Women Commissions should be involved in conducting a periodic safety audit of the One-Stop Centres.

• Ministry should consult States/UTs and develop a uniform system of safety features in public transport in the country

• Prepare guidelines for mandatory installation and regular maintenance of CCTV cameras, GPS, panic button and controllers in public transport across the country in a time-bound manner.

• MHA should periodically publicize the outcome on the advisories that are being issued to the States/UTs and action taken thereon by them.

• NGOs should also be involved in Consultative Committees in the Government, Panels of schools and colleges and other institutions to create awareness and conduct programmes on gender sensitization.

• Ministry of Home Affairs should conduct mapping of the NGOs and identify the Schemes/Programmes/Projects for which their help can be used effectively

• MHA should take up with Ministry of Women and Child Development to arrange for legal aid, rehabilitation, adequate health care facilities, and education with hostel facilities for the children of sex workers and make efforts to bring the sex workers and their children to the mainstream of society.

• Inclusive policies should be framed for the transgender community so that they integrate themselves in the social mainstream, live a dignified life and contribute meaningfully to the society and economy.

The complete report may be read here.

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Hathras case: Victim’s family and lawyers threatened inside court premises
SC addresses paternalistic and misogynistic attitudes reflected in judicial orders; issues directions

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The Maharashtra cabinet has approved a proposed draft Bill for stricter penalties for crimes against women and children. The bill, reportedly, includes death penalty for specific crimes, life sentence as well as hefty fines and it will amend Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO), to facilitate the same.

The intention to bring about such an Act was expressed in February this year as Andhra Pradesh had passed the Disha Act in response to the heinous incident of rape and murder of a veterinarian in Hyderabad.

The draft bill will be tabled during the short-term winter session of 2 days which begins on December 14, in Mumbai. State’s Home Minister, Anil Deshmukh said that the bill will be sent to Central government and President for approval, once the Assembly passes the same. The changes are proposed through two legislations namely, the Maharashtra Shakti Criminal Law (Maharashtra Amendment) Act, 2020, and the Special Court and Machinery for Implementation of Maharashtra Shakti Criminal Law, 2020.

The bill also proposes setting up of special police teams and separate courts for investigation and trial of cases against women and children. It is also proposed that an acid attack survivor be given Rs. 10 lakh compensation for plastic surgery and facial reconstruction, to be recovered from the convict as penalty.

Speedy trial

The bill also provides a strict timeline for probe, of 15 days and a limit of 30 days to complete trial. The timeline for investigation may be extended by 7 days if reasons are provided in writing. After the chargesheet is filed, the trial is to be completed in 30 days by way of day-to-day hearing, with some cases being tried in-camera, with the recording of evidence from victims and witnesses who are vulnerable. The limitation time for appeal after trial has been reduced to 45 days, from the existing 6 months’ time period. It is proposed that 36 special courts be set up each having a special public prosecutor for trial of cases under Shakti Act.

According to the Shakti Act, threatening and intimidating women on social media, making false complaints of rape, molestation and acid attack, non-cooperation in the investigation, disclosure of victims’ identity in case of molestation and acid attack will also be considered crime, reported The Wire.

The Shakti Act is a result of the Homes Minister’s visit early this year to Andhra Pradesh which passed the Disha Act in 2019 to curb crimes against women and children. Thereafter, Director of the Maharashtra Police Academy, Ashwini Dorje, led a committee that studied the Disha Act and to prepare a similar law for Maharashtra.

How has Disha Act fared

At a review meeting held by CM Jagan Mohan Reddy with Home Minister M. Sucharitha, Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney and Director General of Police D. Gautam Sawang, in August, it was revealed that 390 cases were already registered under Disha Act and 74 had ended in conviction, three persons were sentenced to death, and life imprisonment was awarded to five persons.

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I recently came to know that my friend, who is in her first year of college was harassed by a man in full public view of the campus. He complimented her, held her hand and asked her to come with him in front of an entire crowd. When the girl opposed, the guy reminded her that everyone was watching them and if she didn’t comply, he would do something that would embarrass her. With no choice left, the girl had to agree and was taken to an empty classroom just for a “little chat”. There, the guy tried to kiss her, which left the girl completely shocked. He threatened to cut himself right there if she didn’t listen to him. As if this was not enough, he later tried to explain himself by saying that he had seen the girl talk to other guys all the time, so he thought she would be open to his overtures also! The girl did not speak to anyone about this incident for a long time, thinking “log kya kahenge” but the guy without the slightest remorse forgot about the incident as if he had done nothing wrong.

The question that arises here is that why do men feel it is okay to disrespect women and feel entitled to their bodies and consent? The answer lies in what is shown and celebrated by different forms of media. A man is openly allowed to flaunt his misdeeds of mistreating or using women in public, but whenever a woman tries to voice her opinions, she is either suppressed or judged by the society for what she said. Recently, in Sanjay Dutt’s biopic ‘Sanju’, it was said that he slept with more than 300 women in his life and the public watching this film hooted and hailed the man as a “hero”. No one ever thought that he was conning women to sleep with him.

Even in the real world, rapists or molesters are able to walk away scot-free after the incident has died down, but the women who fell prey to such men have to suffer for the rest of their lives. A few weeks back, the Bombay High Court set an acid attack culprit free since he agreed to help the victim for the surgery and marry her later. What they forgot was that he attacked her when the college romance went awry. The girl did not wish to marry the man back then but had to comply eight years later as she didn’t think she had another choice.

It is sad that most men don’t think that their advances toward women were unwanted or inappropriate, but what is worse is that women are expected to listen to such men in order to avoid being judged by the society. This is exactly why a recent global survey concluded that India is the most unsafe country in the world for women.

Since childhood, knowingly or unknowingly girls are taught to comply, be submissive in front of men and always remember that the elders(men) in the family are always right. Even in most of the modern households, it is still a sin for a girl to not listen to her father and argue with him. The patriarch of the house always has the final say and nobody is allowed to counter it no matter what.

Sadly, this is just the beginning. As the girl grows up, the family starts looking for a suitable boy for the girl to get married to. As soon as the parents think it is the right time, the girl is married off to a stranger and is expected to adjust to his house for the rest of her life. If she is lucky enough, her new family allows her to work, but not at the cost of the well being of her family. She has to take care of her husband’s needs, look after the family, serve her in-laws well and even bear children while struggling to balance work. If she fails in any of this, she is labelled as an incompetent wife or daughter in law and humiliated for the same.  If the girl tries to retaliate, she is made to think about “log kya kahenge” and she is forced to comply again.

Some men even go to the extent of publicly shaming women for non-compliance using techniques like acid attacks, sexual crimes or even triple talaq.

No matter what, a girl at some point in her life is forced to comply and listen to men under the pretext of societal pressure and by the fear of being labelled. This will only end when we stand up for each other and more importantly stand up for what is right instead of merely shielding our faces from the heat and saying that it happens with everyone. Women need not be apologetic for what they have not done, must learn to say NO, and we as a society must accept and respect their decisions instead of challenging them.

The author is an undergraduate student of Psychology at Modern College of Arts, Science and Commerce. (Savitribai Phule Pune University.)

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The rate of crime against women–crimes per 100,000 female population–was 55.2 in 2016, up from 41.7 in 2012.
 
“Cruelty by husband or his relatives” was the most reported crime against women, accounting for 33% of all crimes in 2016. Rape accounted for 11% of all crimes against women with 38,947 cases reported in 2016, or four every hour.
 
The year 2016 saw the lowest conviction rate (18.9%)–percentage of cases convicted to cases in which trials were completed by the courts–for crimes against women in a decade.
 
As many as 2.5 million crimes against women have been reported in India over the last decade. Reported cases of crime against women increased 83% from 185,312 in 2007 to 338,954 in 2016.
 
“More than the increase in crime rate, it is increase in reporting,” Flavia Agnes, women’s rights lawyer and co-founder of Majlis, a non-profit that provides legal services to women and children, told IndiaSpend.
 
“There are no mechanisms to analyse such events,” said Agnes. “I feel that due to media pressure on certain brutally violent incidents, there is greater awareness, and women are coming forward to report crimes.”

Source: National Crime Records Bureau 2016; Previous Publications

Note: Prior to 2012, the crime rate was calculated on the basis of the population of India and state/union territory. From 2012, it is calculated based on the female population (incidences of crimes against women/female population x 100,000 female population).
 
Delhi reported highest crime rate against women
 
The union territory of Delhi reported the highest crime rate–160.4 against the national average of 55.2. Delhi was followed by Assam (131.3), Odisha (84.5), Telangana (83.7) and Rajasthan (78.3).
 
Uttar Pradesh–India’s most populous state–reported the most (15%) crimes against women in 2016–49,262, or six every hour. UP was followed by West Bengal (32,513), Maharashtra (31,388), Rajasthan (27,422) and Madhya Pradesh (26,604).
 
As many as 13,803 crimes against women were reported in Delhi city, or 38 every day, topping the list among 19 cities with populations more than 2 million in 2016, IndiaSpend reported on December 1, 2017.
 
Delhi city had the worst crime rate, 182.1 crimes per 100,000 women, against the national average of 77.2.
 
Cruelty by husband/relatives most reported crime against women in 2016
 
“Cruelty by husband or his relatives” was the most reported crime against women, accounting for 33% of all crimes in 2016–110,378 cases or 13 crimes every hour. Cases reported under this crime head increased 45% from 75,930 in 2007.
 
Cruelty by husband/relatives was followed by cases reported under “assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty” (25%), “kidnaping & abduction of women” (19%) and “rape” (11%).
 
West Bengal reported the most cases of “cruelty by husband or his relatives” in 2016–19,302, or two every hour. Assam had the highest crime rate (58.7) in 2016 compared to the national average of 18.
 
As many as 84,746 cases of “assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty” were reported in 2016, or 10 cases every hour. Maharashtra reported the most cases in 2016–11,396, or one every hour. Delhi UT was the worst in crime rate (43.6), against the national average of 13.8.
 
Crimes covered under “assault on woman with intent to outrage her modesty” include relatively more serious crimes such as ‘sexual harassment’, ‘assault or use of criminal force to women with intent to disrobe,’ ‘voyeurism’ and ‘stalking.’
 
The most cases under “kidnaping & abduction of women” were registered in Uttar Pradesh (12,994) with 65,519 cases nationwide, Delhi reported the highest crime rate (40.7) in 2016.
 
Four rape cases reported every hour in 2016, from 2 nine years ago
 
Four rape cases were reported every hour in the country in 2016, up from two every hour in 2007. Madhya Pradesh registered the most cases (4,882), while Sikkim reported the highest crime rate for rape (30.3). The nationwide crime rate was 6.3.
 
Reported rape cases have increased 88% from 20,737 in 2007 to 38,947 in 2016.
 
Of 39,068 rape victims in 2016, 43% were girls below 18 years. Offenders were known to the victim in 95% reported cases. Of these, 29% were “neighbours”, “known persons on promise to marry the victim” (27%) and “other known persons” (30%).
 
Delhi topped the list for most rapes reported among 19 cities with populations more than two million in 2016–1,996, or five every day, IndiaSpend reported on December 1, 2017. The city also ranked first in terms of crime rate (26.3 cases per 100,000 women) for rape, against the national average of 9.1.
 
Conviction rate for crime against women lowest in decade
 
At 18.9%, the conviction rate for crimes against women in 2016, as we said, was the lowest in since 2007.
 

Source: National Crime Records Bureau 2016; Previous Publications
 
West Bengal, which registered the second most number of crimes in 2016, reported the lowest conviction rate (3.3%).
 
Mizoram reported the highest conviction rate (88.8%) in 2016, followed by Meghalaya (67.7%), Puducherry (62.5%), Uttar Pradesh (52.6%) and Uttarakhand (46.2%).
 
In 2016, one in four rape cases in India ended in conviction–the lowest since 2012, IndiaSpend reported on August 28, 2017.
 
“Greater reporting and a dismal conviction rate spells disaster for women,” Agnes said.
 
“This means that with great faith in the system, victims and/or their relatives come forward to report crimes. After a rigorous criminal trial, if the accused is convicted, the victim gets a closure that she has secured justice. But when she has to withdraw or the verdict is adverse, the victim experiences a sense of failure and she is stigmatised.”
 
Agnes said the conviction rate is low in cases of “cruelty by husband or relatives” because if the couple decide to file for divorce under mutual consent, the demand is usually that the wife should withdraw the case she has filed under section 498A (section that deals with cruelty by husband or relatives).
 
“This does not mean that the case was false but she withdrew it only to bring in closure and move ahead with her life. Despite this, what we read in the media is that women file false cases despite the fact that women experience high degree of domestic violence in marriages,” she added.
 
What is needed, Agnes said, is victim-support programmes so that once a case is filed, the survivor gets support to face the daunting criminal legal system. “If this is done, it will not be such a lonely battle for the victim. We need a provision in law so that victim support is built  into the statute. Only then can we see change as more cases get registered.”
 
(Mallapur is an analyst with IndiaSpend.)
 
Courtesy: India Spend
 

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