In #UttarPradesh‘s #Varanasi, a #Dalit student, resident of #Ahmedabad, #Gujarat, currently pursuing masters from #BHU, Varanasi was allegedly abused, assaulted and attempts of unnatural sex by pulling off his pant was made on him in the university hostel by two suspects on March… pic.twitter.com/kswRdrbbPP

— Hate Detector (@HateDetectors) April 1, 2024

On March 31, the written police complaint was filed at the Lanka Police Station in the said matter. As per the details of the incident provided in The Mooknayak, the said incident of physical and sexual abuse took place in Rajaram Hostel of BHU. The victim is enrolled in the MA course in Sociology.

The victim, while speaking to The Mooknayak, recounted the incident. He provided that the accused had forcefully grabbed him behind as there was a power outage in his room. As per the report, the victim stated “I am a student of MA Sociology. I hail from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. On Sunday night, around 02:45 a.m., there was a sudden power outage in one lobby of Rajaram Hostel, while the other lobby had electricity. I was studying in my room when suddenly the room plunged into darkness. Upon investigation, I found that the MCB had tripped. As I bent down to reset it, a student from the MPIMIR course grabbed me from behind.”

The victim further provided how he resisted the attempts made by the accused to remove the victim’s pants, as a result of which the accused smacked the victim’s head against the wall. Pursuant to the same, the victim fell. As per the victim, it was then that the accused tried to forcefully sodomize the victim. Upon facing resistance by the victim, the accused assaulted and abused him and even gave death threats.

“I somehow managed to escape, but he followed me into the room. He forcibly pulled down my pants while continuing to abuse me. When I resisted, he hit me with slaps and punches. He also snatched my phone and held me captive inside the room for an hour”, the victim stated while speaking to The Mooknayak.

Alerted by the cries of the victim, other students came to his rescue. Pursuant to the same, the hostel warden and the proctorial board were informed about the incident, as provided by the victim.

“The proctorial board team reached Rajaram Hostel and rescued me at 4 a.m. The warden and the proctorial board then took me to the trauma centre, where I received medical treatment.”

The victim has asserted that if adequate action is not taken in the said case, he will leave the campus. As per the report of The Mooknayak, the Victim provided that “I have filed a written complaint and am awaiting the filing of an FIR. If the FIR is not registered, I will leave the campus.”

Reaction of the police:

The police have assured that they will investigate the matter and take appropriate action. Speaking to The Mooknayak, Shivakant Mishra, the Station Officer of the Lanka police station, said, “This appears to be a case of physical assault. The police have interviewed the victim and other students at the hostel. The matter is under investigation.”

History of sexual violence cases at BHU:

In November of 2023, a case of alleged gang rape and sexual violence of a 20-year-old student was reported from the campus of Indian Institute of Technology- Banaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU). According to the complaint lodged by the victim on November 2, she was out with a friend on the IIT-BHU campus on the night of November 1 when the incident took place. The duo was near the Karman Baba temple when three men came there on a motorcycle and forcibly took her to a corner and gagged her after separating her from her friend. The three accused then stripped the victim, made a video of her and clicked photos. As per her complaint, she was let go after 15 minutes. The three accused took her phone number, the complaint stated. Based on the complaint, a FIR had been lodged. Later, on November 8, the survivor had recorded her statement before the magistrate and the police investigating officer, which resulted in charges pertaining to gang rape being added to the case. (For more details, read here and here) The survivor had also alleged that the incident had been carried out at gunpoint.

Notably, in January 2024, the state police had arrested the three accused. The three men arrested had been identified as Saksham Patel (aged 20) who had studied till class 10, Kunal Pandey (aged 28), who had studied till B. Com graduation course and ran a shop, and Abhishek Chauhan (aged 22), who failed his class 10 examination and worked at a saree shop. It is crucial to highlight here that at least two of the three men arrested are associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s IT cell in Varanasi.

In July 2023, two men were booked by the Varanasi police after a female student of BHU had alleged that she was sexually harassed and thrashed by a group of male students inside the BHU cyber library. As per her complaint, the group had also assaulted her on the route to the central library on the campus. As per the report of Times of India, in her complaint, the 28-year-student alleged that she was busy studying at the cyber library on Saturday afternoon when accused Saurabh Rai and his accomplices reached there and started misbehaving with her. Following this, she was forced to leave the library. As she left, Rai and his accomplices had chased her and subjected her to abuse. Notably, based on the complaint, the Lanka police had immediately lodged a FIR against the accused under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (outraging modesty of woman) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC.

Prior to this, a similar sexual harassment incident had also taken place at the IIT-BHU campus in 2017 also which had resulted in massive protests. In the said incident, notably, the Varanasi police had filed charges of arson and other crimes against 1,200 protesting BHU students. In September 2017, a BHU student of the Arts Faculty was allegedly harassed by three motorcycle-borne men inside the campus when she was returning to the Triveni Hostel. The student alleged that instead of raising the matter with university authorities, the hostel warden questioned her why she was returning so late. Hundreds of students sat on protest in the campus after this string of events in protest against lack of safety and alleged victim shaming. In reaction to the incident, the Vice Chancellor G C Tripathi had said “Boys will be boys. Forget about what happened. Why don’t you stop stepping out after 6 pm if you dislike such things? You are a girl, don’t try to become a boy (by stepping out after sunset).” Notably, the Varanasi police had filed charges of arson and other crimes against 1,200 protesting BHU students.

Not the first attack on Dalits in BHU:

In May 2023, a Dalit assistant professor at BHU had accused two other assistant professors and two students of assaulting, molesting and humiliating her. Notably, a first information report based on her complaint had been lodged in Varanasi on August 27, over three months after the incident allegedly occurred. The complainant had alleged that the police had filed a case only after she had written to the Human Resource and Development Ministry, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission, and the Chief Minister’s Office.

The complainant had provided then that a dispute had begun after she refused to remove a person from his post despite pressure from the accused persons. She alleged that the accused persons targeted her as she was a Dalit. According to the complaint, the accused persons “regularly talked about stripping her and making her do rounds of the university”. The assistant professor added that on May 22, one of the accused persons came to her chamber, threatened to have her removed from her post, and to kill her.

According to a report of Scroll, the police had filed a case under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (wrongful confinement), 354-B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. Notably, the accused had also been booked under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Educational institutes and the culture of caste discrimination:

Atrocities against Dalit students, as has been highlighted in the present case at educational institutions, is not an isolated incident. Dalits have been marginalized for thousands of years and continue to be discriminated against, humiliated, and killed for petty reasons. Even after protests are held after such atrocities against Dalits come to light, the scenario remains the same.

In the month of March 2024 itself, Dalit academician Dr. Ritu Singh, a former assistant professor at the university’s Daulat Ram College was abruptly terminated in 2020. Had expressed her resolution to bring forth the culture of caste discrimination prevailing in colleges and universities of India. As per Singh, her dismissal stemmed from caste-based discrimination, accusing college principal Savita Roy of targeting her due to her Dalit identity. It is essential to note that Singh’s against the castiest structures in higher education system and administration has been ongoing since the last six months.

In October of 2023, several student-led protests had broken out across universities in Uttar Pradesh after University of Allahabad proctor Rakesh Singh was caught in a video launching a violent attack on student Vivek Kumar, who is from a Dalit community. In the video that had gone viral on social media, the accused, Rakesh Singh, can be seen snatching a lathi from a policeman and hitting the student while he raises slogans against the proctor. Kumar could be seen trying to shield himself but Singh had continued to hit him. The accused had only stooped when the policemen had intervened. Former MA student and All India Student Association (AISA) unit president Vivek Kumar had alleged that the said attack had stemmed from a place of discrimination and bias towards marginalised communities.

The video can be viewed here:

इलाहाबाद यूनिवर्सिटी में दलित छात्र विवेक कुमार ने “जातिवादी चीफ़ प्रॉक्टर मुर्दाबाद” का नारा लगाया तो चीफ़ प्रॉक्टर “राकेश सिंह” बिफर पड़े और पुलिस और सुरक्षा कर्मियों के सामने दलित छात्र पर लाठियां भांज दी, वीडियो सोशल मीडिया पर वायरल है #UttarPradesh #allahabaduniversity… pic.twitter.com/IyyiNtB1EN

— Dalit Times | दलित टाइम्स (@DalitTime) October 18, 2023

Related:

IIT-BHU gangrape: 3 accused arrested, at least 2 associated with BJP IT cell of Varanasi

Dalit academic alleges assault, molestation; FIR names 2 faculty, 2 students: BHU

Chennai: Dalit man hacked to death by in-laws due to caste

Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh: 5 Dalit children beaten with sticks, with hands tied behind their back, for drinking water from a well

The post Sexual assault at BHU: Dalit student alleged abuse, assault and attempts of forced sex against another student in hostel appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Madras High Court recently upheld the conviction and life sentence handed down by a Sessions Court to a man who had murdered a class 9 girl by setting her ablaze, after she had rebuffed his advances Bar and Bench reported. [Balamurugan vs The State].

A bench of Justices Nisha Banu and Anand Venkatesh of the Madurai bench of Madras High Court said in its judgment that present day youngsters are short on emotional quotient and are prone to taking extreme steps at the slightest of disturbance or rejection.

Therefore, the Judges also called for reforms in the education system in the country by focusing more on young people’s emotional quotient than their intelligence quotient, to prepare them for all emotional challenges that life throws at them.

The bench was hearing an appeal filed by one Balamurugan, 28 years, challenging a September 2019 judgement of the Madurai Sessions court that had convicted and sentenced him to life imprisonment for killing a 14-year-old girl, a student of standard IX, by setting her ablaze in front of her school after she declined his proposal.

“This is yet another case where a man did not have the maturity to accept the rejection of love proposal made to the deceased and hence, decided to kill her in a gory fashion by pouring petrol on her and setting her on fire. This loathsome act was committed by the appellant with the only motive that the girl who did not reciprocate the love proposal made by him, should not live in this world and she should not have any relationship with anybody else in this world,” the High Court said.

The Judges further held that the prosecution had produced a cogent dying declaration of the victim in which she had named the convict, and the eye witnesses, including her friends with whom she was walking towards an auto rickshaw to go back home.

The Court stated that this was yet another case where a man did not have the maturity to understand and respect a fellow human’s choice.

“The present day youngsters fall too short on emotional quotient and even the slightest of disturbance and rejection, makes them take extreme steps without understanding its consequences. It is high time that our educational system starts focusing more on the emotional quotient than on the intelligence quotient,” the Court said.

The Court also elaborated on how thoughtless the actions of the accused were.

“This case requires this prelude since a man aged about 28 years was going behind a girl, who was studying in 9th standard and was expecting her to react positively and get into a love affair and when it did not fructify, he chose to resort to a monstrous act of pouring petrol on the girl and setting her on fire. He did not realise that this foolish act will bring to an end his connections with the society to a grinding halt and will confine him to the prison for his life,” it opined.

The Court further proceeded to say that the constant increase in such cases of men killing or assaulting women for refusing their proposals of marriage or love showed that men continued to consider women not as fellow human beings entitled to her wishes but merely as “chattel,” whom they want to forcibly keep under their control.

According to the judgement, Balamurugan was an air-conditioning repair mechanic. He had harassed the victim on previous occasions and the girl had narrated the incident to her mother after which they had filed a police complaint against him. Balamurugan claimed before the police that he was in love with the victim.

On the day of the tragic incident, Balamurugan stopped the victim from getting inside an auto rickshaw with her friends to return home after school. He began verbally abusing her and after she reiterated that she was not interested in his proposal, he doused her with petrol and set her ablaze using the lighter.

The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital by the auto rickshaw driver. She succumbed to the burns at the hospital 10 days after the incident.

“In the considered view of this Court, we come to a categoric conclusion that the prosecution has proved the case beyond reasonable doubts with abundant evidence and there is absolutely no ground to interfere with the well considered order and judgment passed by the Court below,” the Court said while rejecting Balamurgan’s criminal appeal.



Advocate BN Raja Mohamed appeared for the appellant. Additional Public Prosecutor R Meenakshi Sundaram appeared for the respondents.

Related:

Whatever happened to ‘zero tolerance’ for child abuse by ‘godmen’ and priests?

What will it take to end child sexual abuse in India?

The post Life sentence of murder convict upheld by Madras High Court, victim class 9 girl who rebuffed his advances appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Allahabad High Court has pressed for a proper legal framework to deal with cases where the accused makes false promise of marriage only to satisfy his lust, and said that this certainly falls within the ambit of cheating and playing deception to obtain consent for sex. 

The single-judge bench of Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava said, “This feudal mind set and male ‘chauvinism’ that women are nothing but an object of enjoyment is required to be rigorously addressed and strictly dealt with in order to create a healthier society and to increase a sense of security and protection in the mind of women”.

The appellant, Harshvardhan Yadav, filed the appeal against the Sessions Court order rejecting his bail application. An FIR has been filed against him under section 376 (Punishment for sexual assault) of Indian Penal Code as well as under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

The appellant contended that although FIR was lodged, no sign of rape was found in medical examination and during the investigation the manager of the hotel stated that the appellant and the complainant had identified themselves as husband and wife, on the date of the alleged incident. The complainant is working as police constable in the UP Police. The appellant submitted that the case has been filed for blackmailing and forcing him into marriage. The counter affidavit filed by the State submits that the appellant had called her to the hotel to finalise marriage and in the hotel room committed rape on her.

The FIR states that on the date of incident, while she was going to Kanpur he called her in a Hotel to talk to her about documents with regards to court marriage. There he tried to have physical relationship with her, and on her resistance, forcibly committed rape on her. When she shouted, he humiliated and abused her by caste related words saying that she is of SC community, nobody will marry her nor she has status to marry him.

It has been contended by the appellant that both went to hotel and it was a consented sex on the part of the complainant as she was in love with the appellant. The counsel for the appellant relied upon case laws whereby the complainants have consented to have sexual intercourse on the promise that the accused would marry and the courts have refused to accept the plea of rape.

The question of consent

The court observed that the argument that in the medical, no sign of rape was found is meaningless in such kind of cases. the court also refused to accept the contention that it was an act for which the informant had given consent and there was no occasion for misconception of fact. The court pointed to the section 90 of IPC which states that if the consent has been given under fear of injury or a misconception of fact, such consent obtained, cannot be construed to be a valid consent. The court also pointed out section 114A of the Evidence Act which assumes absence of consent in cases of rape.

The court held that while considering the question of consent, the Court must consider the evidence before it and the surrounding circumstances before reaching a conclusion. The court, after perusing the material on record, observed that this was a single act of sex as previous incidents have not been mentioned by either party. “Nowhere, it has been said by the appellant that he is still willing to marry with the respondent no. 2. This shows that he was making false promise of marriage and on the pretense of preparation of document for court marriage, he called her in the hotel,” the court observed.

False promise of marriage

The court pointed out that false marriage promise is and always has been an effective tool of mischievous males for creating emotional pressure on a woman for having sex. “There is a clear distinction between rape and consensual sex and in a case like this it is apparent from the facts and circumstances that the accused had actually never wanted to marry the victim and had mala fide motives, and had made a false promise to marry only to satisfy his lust, and this certainly falls within the ambit of cheating and playing deception to obtain consent for sex,” the court held.

The court highlighted that rape is considered to be physically and morally reprehensible crime and sexual intercourse on the pretext of false promise to marry is, and ought to be an offence of rape under the penal provisions. The court observed that this is becoming a phenomenon that accused makes a false promise of marriage with the mala fide intention to deceive the victim. The court also identified that for women in our society promise of marriage is a great allurement and they are trapped in a situation which results in their sexual abuse and exploitation.

The court finds it necessary for the legislature to provide a clear and specific legal framework to deal with the cases where the accused obtained consent for sexual intercourse on the false promise of marriage.

How courts must handle such cases

The court stated that until such lacuna is filled, the court has to take into consideration the social reality and reality of human life and continue giving protection to such women.

“Unless there is prolonged relationship which raises a strong inference of consensual sex, in other cases, particularly, in cases of single act of sexual intercourse as is the case in the present case, or relationship for a short time, persuaded by false promise of marriage or where circumstances show that the accused never intended to fulfill the promise or he could not be able to fulfill the promise on account of factors such as the accused was already married, he disclosed wrong identity, name, religion and other details to play deception to obtain consent for sexual intercourse, or the like. Obtaining consent for sexual relationship by false promise of marriage should be termed as consent given under misconception of fact and must amount to rape,” the court held.

The court held that it cannot be a silent spectator and give license to those who are trying to exploit the innocent girls and have sexual intercourse with them on the pretext of a false promise of marriage. “This feudal mind set and male ‘chauvinism’ that women are nothing but an object of enjoyment is required to be rigorously addressed and strictly dealt with in order to create a healthier society and to increase a sense of security and protection in the mind of women,” the court said.

In conclusion, the court held that the facts and circumstances go to show that the appellant made a false promise of marriage to the victim and he never intended to fulfil the same and thus was not inclined to interfere with the Sessions court order ejecting his bail; the court said that the accused does not deserve the court’s sympathy and dismissed the appeal.

The complete order may be read here:

Related:

And now, Hathras-like horror in Delhi!
Nearly 50,000 atrocity cases registered under SC/ST Act in 2019: Centre
Tribal woman killed in Dantewada: Family alleges rape and murder

The post Pass a law against obtaining consent for sex on false promise of marriage: Allahabad HC appeared first on SabrangIndia.

If the assault on an elderly cleric in Muzaffarnagar wasn’t bad enough, this horror story just got an even more sickening turn. Turns out that not only was the 66-year-old Maulana stripped and beaten brutally, many of the minor inmates of the orphanage that he ran, were also not only detained but also allegedly sexually tortured in custody. Some of these boys had to be admitted to hospital with cases of rectal bleeding.

Trouble began on December 20 last year, when Maulana Asad, a teacher at the Saadat Madarsa and caretaker of the orphanage, was beaten with a baton and dragged out of the hostel after violence at an anti-citizenship act protest nearby. The Telegraph reported that Asad has told his family he was kept for over 24 hours in a dark room at the Civil Lines barracks, where he was stripped in the biting cold and beaten. A relative of Asad told the newspaper, “He is mentally scarred. He told us the police made him wish he were dead. He was humiliated so much that he is refusing to show his face to relatives coming to see him. He sobs even in his sleep.”

The Telegraph also reports that in an adjoining room students and inmates of the orphanage, boys ranging in age from 14 to 21 were abused through the night. Salman Saeed, local Congress politician told the paper, “The boys were denied access to the toilet at times, and some of them suffered rectal bleeding from the torture.”

Another hostel resident told NewsClick, “While beating us, they abusively told us ‘this is the azadi (freedom) that you wanted’. Some of them asked us to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Har Har Mahadev’. Meanwhile, one student fell unconscious.” Muzaffarnagar Superintendent of Police Satpal Antil reportedly justified the police’s actions saying they entered the orphanage chasing armed vandals. He told NewsClick, “When the police entered the campus, they were fired upon. Left with no option, we had to retaliate. The policemen — perhaps in fit of action — could not differentiate between vandals and students. As a result, some students too were beaten up.”

In a country that has no dearth of people who promote the retributive brand of justice over reformative by demanding death penalty in cases of rape, we wonder how they would want to treat instances of possible sexual violence committed by uniformed men upon minor boys while in police custody. Can we chalk up the deafening silence to protest fatigue or do Muslim lives don’t matter any more?

The post Did UP police sexually torture minors in custody? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom responds to questions about allegations sexual harassment at Westminster. Picture: PA. All rights reserved.

On 12 December 2018, the UK Prime Minister Theresa May faced a ‘vote of no confidence’ in her leadership. Her Conservative party MPs were invited to vote in a secret ballot, indicating whether they thought the prime minister should continue in her role. Conservative party rules stated that she would have to resign as party leader if she lost the vote.

May knew it was going to be a tight vote, as she needed the support of at least 159 out of 317 of her MPs to survive. The Conservative party then announced that two MPs who had previously been suspended following allegations of sexual harassment and abuse, Charlie Elphicke and Andrew Griffiths, would be reinstated ahead of the crucial vote.

Earlier this year, the Sunday Times newspaper revealed that Elphicke had been accused of rape by a former staff member. He had undergone a police interview under caution in March 2018, but no rape allegation was put to him on that occasion. Elphicke maintains his innocence and has denied any wrongdoing.

Griffiths had sent thousands of text messages to women in his constituency including explicit comments like his desire to “beat” a woman during sex. He subsequently said he’d sent these texts while having a manic episode, and that he was “ashamed and embarrassed”.

The Labour party criticised the Conservatives for “betraying” women by reinstating the suspended MPs ahead of the vote. A year after a series of #MeToo allegations broke in parliament, in late 2017, this welcoming back of alleged harassers for political expediency begs the question: what has changed for women in politics? And can this government be trusted to pay more than lip service to our rights when it’s political crunch time?

On 12 December 2018, the UK Prime Minister Theresa May faced a ‘vote of no confidence’ in her leadership. Her Conservative party MPs were invited to vote in a secret ballot, indicating whether they thought the prime minister should continue in her role. Conservative party rules stated that she would have to resign as party leader if she lost the vote.

May knew it was going to be a tight vote, as she needed the support of at least 159 out of 317 of her MPs to survive. The Conservative party then announced that two MPs who had previously been suspended following allegations of sexual harassment and abuse, Charlie Elphicke and Andrew Griffiths, would be reinstated ahead of the crucial vote.

Earlier this year, the Sunday Times newspaper revealed that Elphicke had been accused of rape by a former staff member. He had undergone a police interview under caution in March 2018, but no rape allegation was put to him on that occasion. Elphicke maintains his innocence and has denied any wrongdoing.

Griffiths had sent thousands of text messages to women in his constituency including explicit comments like his desire to “beat” a woman during sex. He subsequently said he’d sent these texts while having a manic episode, and that he was “ashamed and embarrassed”.

The Labour party criticised the Conservatives for “betraying” women by reinstating the suspended MPs ahead of the vote. A year after a series of #MeToo allegations broke in parliament, in late 2017, this welcoming back of alleged harassers for political expediency begs the question: what has changed for women in politics? And can this government be trusted to pay more than lip service to our rights when it’s political crunch time?
 

Abuse in the lobby

In October 2017, women around the world came forward under the MeToo banner, accusing powerful men of sexual assault, harassment and rape. From the Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein to news anchors, journalists, and Wall Street bosses, it wasn’t long before MeToo came to Westminster – the home of the UK parliament.

This year, a survey commissioned by MPs found one in five people working in parliament had experienced sexual harassment. Women reported twice as many cases as men.

Following disclosures of sexual harassment from the journalist Jane Merrick among other women, the defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon was the first to resign from his ministerial post, in November 2017, admitting his conduct may have “fallen short” of standards.

Sir Michael Fallon resigned from his UK cabinet position in 2017 following disclosures of sexual harassment. Image: PA. All rights reserved.

A few weeks later, the deputy prime minister Damian Green resigned amid allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards a young Conservative party activist (which he denied). A parliamentary inquiry had found these allegations “plausible” and that he’d previously made “misleading” statements about pornography on his work computer.

Over the last year, MPs, parliamentary staff, and activists from across parties have faced allegations of inappropriate behaviour, bullying, sexual assault, and rape.

The Financial Times journalist Laura Hughes exposed wide-ranging abuses of power at parliament. One parliamentary staff member anonymously told Hughes that a Conservative MP had boasted that he’d had sex with researchers on her desk. Another former staffer told Hughes that she knew of 10 women who had been harassed at parliament.

With two MPs resigning from ministerial posts (although not their seats), and other MPs and party activists under investigation or facing allegations of misconduct, it had become clear to parliament by the end of 2017 that action needed to be taken to change a culture of widespread bullying and harassment at the heart of British politics.

The extent of the Westminster abuse scandal was chilling. It’s precisely these people in these corridors of power who make laws about violence against women and workplace sexual harassment. How could these lawmakers be trusted to create fair and just policies to protect people from sexual violence, when some were alleged perpetrators themselves?

How could these lawmakers be trusted to create fair and just policies to protect people from sexual violence? 
 

The working group’s report introduced a new “behaviour code” for parliament, underpinned by an independent complaints procedure. It said that implementing this code would require training as well as human resources support, and called for a “cultural change” in parliament.

The code states that MPs and staff should “respect and value everyone”; that they should “recognise their power, influence or authority and not abuse them” and “think about how your behaviour affects others and strive to understand their perspective”.

“Bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct are not tolerated”, it insists. “Unacceptable behaviour will be dealt with seriously, independently and with effective sanctions”.

Importantly, the working group noted that sexual harassment is “qualitatively different from other forms of unacceptable behaviour, including bullying and non-sexual harassment”.

Confronting this “therefore requires its own set of procedures and personnel”, said its report, which recommended that an Independent Sexual Misconduct Advocate should be contracted to support those reporting harassment.
 

What’s really changed?

Can the government be trusted to put its own recommendations into practice? Or does the reinstatement of Elphicke and Griffiths, ahead of a crucial vote the prime minister needed to win, demonstrate that women’s rights are easily brushed aside when politics demand?

The reinstatement of these MPs isn’t the first example of political manoeuvering amid abuse allegations. Earlier this year, bullying allegations against the speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, were used as political footballs by his opponents and supporters.

In an article for the Guardian, a Labour MP wrote that many of her fellow parliamentarians “hate John Bercow and wanted rid of him and used the report as their opportunity”. They see victims of harassment as a “toy for them to play with for political and tribal ends”, she said.
Meanwhile, those who wanted Bercow to stay called it the “wrong time” to change speaker.They see victims of harassment as a “toy for them to play with for political and tribal ends”.

Accusations of sexual misconduct have also rocked parliament’s House of Lords.

In November 2017, the Liberal Democrat Peer and human rights lawyer, Lord Lester, was accused of sexual harassment by a women’s rights campaigner Jasvinder Sanghera. The House of Lords Commissioner for Standards conducted an investigation, upheld her complaint, and determined that Lester should be suspended for five years.

However, on 15 November 2018, Lester’s ally Lord Pannick voted to block the proposed suspension. Pannick accused the Commissioner of not acting “in accordance with the principles of natural justice and fairness” in her handling of the case.

In response, a House of Lords committee responsible for members’ privileges and conduct published a damning report on 12 December on how Lester’s case had been handled. Among other things, it expressed concern that the debate over Pannick’s amendment risked putting other women off reporting sexual misconduct in the future.

The report noted how during the debate, Lester’s supporters used their positions to “make wholly inappropriate comments about [Sanghera’s] character and behaviour”. It said: “We are concerned that some of the contributions to the debate will have deterred other victims of bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct from coming forward”.

One of the report’s footnotes adds that the committee’s “attention [was drawn] to the fact that in the debate on 15 November, ‘reputation’ was invoked positively 15 times to describe Lord Lester. It was not invoked once to describe the complainant. At the same time, the complainant’s credibility and motivations were questioned”.

This is important – so often in these cases, while men’s reputations are defended, women are deemed to lack credibility, or accused of having ulterior motivations. This obstructs women’s access to justice and can put women off reporting sexual misconduct or violence.  

Sanghera said that the investigation against Lord Lester had been thorough, and by blocking his suspension the House of Lords “undermined the whole process, and undermined the commissioner and me”. It also “undermined victims”, she added, saying that she wouldn’t advise other women to report cases of harassment if this is how they respond.

Lester did eventually resign, though he maintains his innocence. A further debate on 17 December censured him – but as he had already resigned, he cannot face any sanctions in parliament. Meanwhile, Lester’s is not an isolated case. Rather it typifies the problems women face when reporting sexual misconduct against powerful men in government.
 

What’s next?

From reinstating MPs ahead of a crucial vote, to treating bullying allegations against Bercow as a political football, the UK parliament has not inspired much confidence in its ability to seriously handle accusations of misconduct and abuse.

Although two men did resign their ministerial posts following accusations of sexual harassment, they have remained MPs. One wonders what Sir Michael Fallon’s constituents make of his admission that his conduct may have “fallen short” of standards as defence secretary, while apparently deciding that he was still suitable to represent them.

The case of Lord Lester meanwhile highlights how the way sexual harassment claims are handled may influence whether other women will report cases in the future.

While it is positive that new complaints procedures are now in place at parliament – thanks in part to the work of feminist campaigners – if women do not believe their allegations will be listened to and respected, then many still won’t come forward.

Going into 2019, it remains alarming that those responsible for making laws on issues like violence against women and girls seem unable to deal with them in their own workplace.

Sian Norris is a writer and feminist activist. She is the founder and director of the Bristol Women’s Literature Festival, and runs the successful feminist blog sianandcrookedrib.blogspot.com. She has written for the Guardian, the Independent, the New Statesman. Her first novel, Greta and Boris: A Daring Rescue is published by Our Street and her short story, The Boys on the Bus, is available on the Kindle. Sian is currently working on a novel based around the life of Gertrude Stein. 
 

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Christine Blasey Ford is sworn in by Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh. AP/Tom Williams/Pool Photo

“I’m very much concerned… with the sexual abuse that people had to endure,” he said. “But I had to deal with the facts I had in front of me.”

The testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, and Kavanaugh’s confirmation despite that testimony, is a prominent example of what happens when abuse survivors engage with systems that were never designed to respond to their words or meet their needs.

Although few survivors testify in front of the Senate, the process by which Ford was forced to tell her story, and the reaction of senators to that story, is strikingly similar to what abuse survivors undergo every day in civil and criminal courts.

I am a scholar of domestic violence, and my work has focused on analyzing the stories survivors share when they seek safety.

I’ve also studied what happens when the legal system processes these stories.

What I’ve found is a fundamental mismatch between what survivors disclose and what legal systems need to hear to take action.
 

Victims and systems unaligned

Legal institutions ask survivors to explain why they need legal protection, to tell their story of abuse. But, as noted by scholars Shonna Trinch and Susan Berk-Seligson, “What is needed by those whose job is to listen to them is a report, not a story.”

Courts want a report that is linear, providing an almost external accounting of abuse with specific names, dates and “facts.” Survivors expect to be able to share what they have experienced in a way that reflects how they have made sense of the event and its aftermath.
The end result is that we have systems that are supposed to help, but in general are unable to adequately assess and respond to survivors’ stories.

Activists demonstrate as the Senate Judiciary Committee hears from both Ford and Kavanaugh. AP//J. Scott Applewhite

My research shows that survivors who disclose their abuse often hear initial statements of support and belief. Those statements are quickly negated by a “but” and an explanation of why someone will continue to act as if that story had never been told.

How did we end up with this system?

Many scholars, including Kimberlé Crenshaw, argue that institutions, including the legal system, design policies based on stereotypes about survivors that rarely reflect their actual circumstances. That’s especially true with survivors who are not “good victims” or who are not white, middle-class women who have external documentation of physical abuse.

This explains how what appears to be neutral system can produce different outcomes for people based on the intersections of gender, race, sexuality, age, citizenship status and other aspects of social identities.

For example, using victim advocates from a prosecutor’s office or police department to assist survivors filing for protection orders that would keep them safe from their abusers appears to be an effective use of resources.

But many abuse survivors have legal problems themselves or mistrust the legal system. They may not want to report the violence they’ve experienced because they could become the target of immigration enforcement or child protective services.

For many survivors, it’s easier and safer to not report the abuse and pretend that the resulting trauma never happened.
 

Puzzles in the aftermath

To an outsider, the choice not to report in the moment, or even years later, does not make sense.

They do not understand how survivors compartmentalize in order to survive or even thrive. They do not see that survivors evolve complex ways of coping, such as Ford’s insistence on constructing double front doors at her home so she’d be able to escape through one if the other was blocked.

The legal system’s rules of evidence, evidentiary requirements and statutes of limitations all reflect this.

What I’ve found in my research is that the legal system wants short, brief reports that focus on legally relevant acts of abuse, contain specific information and include supplemental documentation.

Few survivors can craft those types of narratives unassisted.

And many survivors – especially those who are of color, are poor or do not have U.S. citizenship, and who are not heterosexual – do not see institutions like the legal system as a resource.

Those institutions aren’t designed with their goals, needs and motivations in mind. When they witness events like the confirmation hearing, where a woman with education and privilege discloses sexual violence and nothing happens, how can they be expected to entrust their own narratives of abuse to others?

Many survivors of assault are afraid to make reports to the police. Jacek Wojnarowski/Shutterstock
 

Speaking up

Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that “I’m dejected, but only momentarily, when I can’t get the fifth vote for something I think is very important. But then you go on to the next challenge and you give it your all. You know that these important issues are not going to go away. They are going to come back again and again. There’ll be another time, another day.”

For some survivors, today, in the aftermath of Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony, is finally that day. They are filling out protection order petitions, calling the police, reaching out for help.

But in some cases, they will be denied an order, the abuser will not be sanctioned or they themselves will be mistakenly arrested instead of, or along with, their abuser. In the toughest cases, like that of Melanie Edwards in Washington state, they will be killed by their abusers.
The United States should rethink how to help survivors of violence and how to sanction perpetrators.
 

Helping or hurting?

In the right environment and with the right support, survivors will want to tell their stories and will be empowered and validated by that retelling.

However, the legal system is an adversarial system with confusing and complex bureaucratic procedures and often untrained staff. As trauma scholar Dr. Judith Herman explains, “If one set out intentionally to design a system for provoking symptoms of traumatic stress, it might look very much like a court of law.”

Survivors are asked to recall specific details about their victimization that they have repressed in order to survive. As one advocate said to me in an interview, “They’re trying to forget what happened and here I am, asking them to write down, with as many details as they can, what they went through.”

How might we create a more responsive system?

First: Stop requiring survivors to narrate their abuse. It’s more detrimental than helpful, especially if we simply discount it as a “story” afterward.

If there is some form of external documentation, survivors should be able to provide that instead. If there is no external documentation, then the narrative should be elicited in a supportive environment of the survivor’s choosing, with trained staff available to help them better understand the kinds of information judges and law enforcement need.

Second: People charged with listening and responding to survivors need to be educated about the dynamics of domestic and sexual violence. While some are, many do not fully understand the ways in which domestic and sexual violence impact survivors. It is impossible for them to hear and respond appropriately unless they understand those dynamics.

The confirmation hearings, and the responses to Ford’s testimony, underscored this idea. While the remarks of some senators after her testimony reflected that they understand that they should “support” and “believe” survivors of violence, they also showed they were not informed about how survivors act in response to and process sexual trauma.

It’s as if they were saying: I believe, but I don’t understand, so your story does not exist for me in that it does not force me to act or impact my vote.
Finally: Explore what believing and supporting a survivor means.

While the words “I believe” and “I support” are critically important, they should not become buzzwords that replace actions. When you believe a survivor and decide to support that survivor, you must act. You must make hard, even unpopular, decisions.
You must work to adapt the system in order to uphold justice.

I believe. Period. I believe.
 

Alesha Durfee, Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies, Arizona State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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When she was 13, “Razia” (not her real name), who has an intellectual disability and difficulties in speaking, was raped by her brother’s tutor in 2014. “Razia” is still awaiting compensation she was awarded by the district legal services authority in January 2016 (Uttarakhand).

The report, “Invisible Victims of Sexual Violence: Access to Justice for Women and Girls with Disabilities in India”, was released on April 4, 2018, by Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international non-profit.
 
Women and girls who survive rape and other kinds of sexual violence often suffer humiliation at police stations and hospitals, said the report, which investigated 17 rapes and gang rapes in eight states–Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal–where survivors live with a spectrum of disabilities, including physical, sensory, intellectual and psychosocial disability.
 
The study included family, lawyers, officials of mental health institutions and shelter facilities, police, government officials, disability rights activists and special educators.
 
The report detailed the challenges many women and girls with disabilities face throughout the justice process: Filing a police report, obtaining appropriate medical care, having complaints investigated, navigating the court system, and getting adequate compensation.
 
The gangrape that resulted in the death of a physiotherapy student in New Delhi five years ago and the public outrage following the assault had resulted in amendment to laws related to sexual violence. But rape survivors still suffer humiliation at police stations and hospitals, IndiaSpend reported in November 2017.
 
Disabled are more prone to abuse
 
About 2.2% of India’s population–or 26.8 million people–live with a disability, according to the 2011 Census. Many believe this to be an under-estimation because the World Health Organization has estimated that 15% of the global population lives with a disability. Various research studies (such as here and here) show that girls and women with disability face an additional risk of violence and sexual violence.
 
Further, women with physical disabilities may find it more difficult to escape violence. Those who are deaf may not be able to call for help or easily communicate abuse. Women and girls with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities may not know that non-consensual sexual acts are a crime that should be reported. The stigma related to sexuality and disability compounds these challenges.
 

Karuna, a woman with low vision, did not tell her family after she was raped by a blind man. She explained, “He threatened me not to tell anyone. I was scared so I didn’t tell anyone what had happened” (Odisha).
 
Police are not trained to handle exceptional cases
 
Under the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, to support women with disabilities, the following accomodations were made: The right to record their statement with police in the safety of their home or a place of their choice, to have their statements to police and examinations videotaped, to be assisted by a special educator or interpreter when the complaint is being recorded, and exemption from the need to repeat the statement during cross-examination by the defense counsel.
 
Yet, few police officers have the training or expert support needed to handle these cases, HRW found. In some cases, police excluded women and girls with disabilities from specific assistance guaranteed by the 2013 amendments because of survivors’ inability to certify a disability. In other cases, police failed to include the necessary details in their First Information Report (FIR). Police also rarely provided information on the right to free legal aid or legal aid services to survivors or their families.
 
Maneka (name changed), a 15-year-old girl from Delhi with both an intellectual and physical disability, reported being raped by two men from her neighborhood in October 2015. Although Maneka’s family conveyed her age and disabilities to the police, the FIR noted her age as over 18 and did not include her disability. As a result, she did not receive protections under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012, or the 2013 amendments.
 
“The police’s failure to document Maneka’s intellectual and physical disabilities also undermined the process of evidence collection,” said the report.
 
“In most cases the police are simply ignorant,” Debashree Sabuj, deputy police commissioner for women in West Bengal, is quoted saying in the report. “It is not that we don’t want to believe them, but we also worry that if we make a mistake, the wrong person will be punished. The police need education and we need to be sensitized on how to handle these cases.”
 
Compensation delayed, denied
 
Indian law and policies require state governments to facilitate compensation, including in cases where the offender cannot be traced or identified. Yet compensation was awarded in less than five of the 17 cases.
 
Even in cases of extreme violence, trauma, and economic hardship–including childbirth following rape–women and girls with disabilities had trouble securing compensation. This is especially crucial for those living in rural areas and those who are vulnerable.
 
The report cited the case of Noori (name changed), a 23-year-old Muslim woman from a village in West Bengal with cerebral palsy and other disabilities–including the inability to speak or walk without a stick–who was gang raped by three neighbors until she lost consciousness. Noori applied for compensation to cover her medical expenses, but more than three years later she had yet to be awarded compensation.
 
India has ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2007 that ensures access to justice for persons with disabilities. This includes appropriate special facilities for the disabled and other provisions mandated by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, that protects all persons with disabilities from abuse, violence and exploitation. But there are implementation gaps, investigations showed.
 
“India has taken important steps to reform the criminal justice system to include women and girls with disabilities, but our new research shows the need for action and implementation,” said Nidhi Goyal, a disability rights activist and co-author of the report, in a statement. “The government should act promptly to ensure accommodations and other measures so that women and girls with disabilities are out of the shadows of justice.”
 

 (Yadavar is a principal correspondent with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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We’ve long become accustomed to the notion that reading allows us to connect with others and find support during times of crisis. In a recent Guardian interview, #MeToo founder Tarana Burke recalled how, as a child, she turned to literature as a survivor of sexual assault:

One of the original plates illustrating the novel Pamela, by Samuel Richardson. Etched by L. Truchy and A. Benoist after paintings by J. Highmore – Houghton Library
 

I read a lot when I was young. Those were the things that helped change the trajectory of my life. And the first glimpses of healing, and understanding what had been happening to me as a child, came from the literature that I read.

If Burke had been reading 18th-century English literature, she would have discovered some remarkable examples, in fiction and non-fiction sources, of writers willing to break the cultural silence on harassed and abused women, particularly working women.

In 18th-century Britain, working women mostly laboured as domestic servants, a profession that muddied the boundaries between the professional and the personal. Women servants lived with their employers and were often beset by sexual pressure on all sides – from their male masters to their servant peers. They were frequently raped. Some concealed their resulting pregnancies and gave birth alone in their garret rooms (outcomes for the babies were poor, which often resulted in charges of infanticide). And yet their stories circulated via the era’s new ways of writing.

Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded was first published in 1740. Wikimedia Commons via Olaf Simons and Ottava Rima

Instances of sexual assaults against female servants were detailed in the 1700s via innovative fiction and nonfiction prose. One of the century’s leading novelists (sometimes considered a founder of the form) was Samuel Richardson, and his 1740 bestseller, Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded, gives us a copybook story of relentless workplace harassment.

The 15-year-old Pamela repeatedly fends off her employer. His frequent groping, attempts at rape, and kidnapping recall many of the modern day abuses documented by #MeToo. Pamela is slow to see the full extent of Mr B’s nefarious intentions: how could a man so charming, intelligent and impressive subject her to such suffering? Pamela evades the worst of her master’s plans and successfully reforms him into her husband.

Richardson’s novel may not square with modern ideas of romance, but, in its time, it told an astonishing story of how a working teenager could protect herself against a man who held every form of power (age, money, class, masculinity) over her.

Eliza Haywood

Richardson was the not the first novelist to defend women against male sexual transgression. In 1725, the popular writer Eliza Haywood published Fantomina, Or Love in a Maze, a short novel in which the heroine is sexually coerced by a promiscuous rake. Fantomina transforms her rake into a constant lover by taking on four different disguises (including that of a servant), her lover none the wiser.

Frontispiece to The Female Spectator, London: 1746. Harvard University

In the concluding pages of her 1743 self-help guide for female servants Haywood shared strategies for evading male come ons, including those from masters (both married and unmarried), masters’ sons, and gentleman lodgers. She advocated modesty at all times – but also encouraged servants to speak about their rights to virtue (taking a page from Pamela) and to seek a new position if necessary. Haywood cautions especially about avoiding men “in liquor” and against the master’s son, explaining how to spot his false flattery and promises. Follow these strategies, Haywood assures her servant audience, as you, too, deserve “valuable and happy” lives.
 

Forced ‘seduction’

If #MeToo has brought today’s hidden stories to light, the past reminds us that just as women have always worked, they have always been harassed in the workplace. In my research into labouring women in Georgian Britain, I’ve encountered hundreds of grim tales of “seduction” (a frequent code word for coercion or assault).

Some of the most heartbreaking stories were documented by printed trials from the Old Bailey starting in 1674. By 1729, trial accounts grew longer and more narrative in response to the public’s appetite for true tales of suffering. They were one of the few print outlets in which women servants could speak for themselves (albeit through the courts).

Despite the innovative spotlight that these new forms of narrative shone on the struggles of working women, new forms of media in Georgian Britain laid the groundwork for many of the fissures that continue to haunt feminist movements today. “Deserving” women (especially those who dressed modestly) were more likely to merit attention. Stories overwhelmingly focused on white women at a time when Britain was vastly expanding its role in the global slave trade.

There was no Time’s Up movement to establish a legal fund for those abused domestic servants – but these stories managed to draw attention to the plight of working women. In 1739, Thomas Coram established the Foundling Hospital for the children of impoverished mothers, even illegitimate ones.
Neither the Foundling Hospital nor other Georgian charities were enough to protect the countless women who suffered abuse in the workplace, but the literary marketplace created new print platforms for these women to be seen and heard. Rather than being spoken for by a third-party author, today’s new media has importantly enabled women to share their own stories via Twitter, Facebook and live courtroom testimony. Perhaps it will support those who have not yet dared to speak or have been left out of the conversation for all too long.
 

Chloe Wigston Smith, Lecturer in 18th-century Literature, University of York

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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Chattisgarh child rights training, warm-up exercise. Photo: Prita Jha.

It is only in the last decade or so that the Indian state has acknowledged that child sexual abuse is an issue which requires government intervention. In 2007, a landmark survey (the first and last of its kind) revealed rampant physical and sexual abuse across 13 states. It interviewed 12,447 children; 53% had suffered some kind of sexual violence and around one in five said they had suffered serious sexual assault.

The most worrying statistic was that 70% of children had not disclosed the abuse to anyone, confused about what to say, afraid of their abuser, or afraid that they would not be supported but blamed. Most children said they knew their abuser who was often a neighbour, relative or friend. When they did disclose abuse, many were told to keep quiet, or were blamed for the abuse. Too many caregivers took no action, even denying the disclosure of abuse.

Active engagement with children, parents, teachers and schools is needed to counter such deafening silence, and create an environment that enables children to speak out. I lead an organisation called Peace and Equality Cell (PEC) which has worked with more than 150 survivors of child sexual abuse in the last four years. We have observed that poverty adds an additional layer of vulnerability when parents are too poor to afford suitable childcare and the child is assaulted whilst both parents are out working.

‘poverty adds an additional layer of vulnerability when parents are too poor to afford suitable childcare’

The story of one mother and five-year old daughter, who live in an urban slum in Ahmedabad, reflects some of the challenges of these cases. Savitri routinely left Joshila with other children in an area where a loose arrangement of neighbours and parents were supposed to note if something went amiss. One day, Joshila’s 16-year-old cousin Mohan took her to his home, which was familiar to her. He experimented on her, carrying out anal and vaginal rape.

The assault led to a raging battle between Savitri (who wanted Mohan prosecuted for “spoiling her daughter’s life”) and Joshila’s paternal grandmother, who was also Mohan’s maternal grandmother, Ammaji (who wanted the whole thing hushed up to save the family’s honour and, of course, to save her grandson from criminal proceedings).

Where family and community ties are very strong, sexual assault may or may not be reported to the police depending on a number of factors, the most important of these being the relative power of the perpetrator’s family and community versus that of the survivor.

The 2012 Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) sought to take into account some of these ground realities to ensure that perpetrators were brought to justice. Among other things it requires ‘child-friendly’ procedures and infrastructure to ensure that children are not re-victimised and re-traumatised whilst navigating the criminal justice system.

But there is a huge gap between the law and its implementation.

‘there is a huge gap between the law and its implementation’

POCSO provides for a trained child welfare officer to act in the child’s ‘best interest’. It says children should not have to travel to police stations but that their statements should be taken by police officers at their home or at another location where the child feels comfortable, in the presence of trusted adults.

Police must ensure there is no face-to-face confrontation between the child and the alleged perpetrator and that the child’s identity is kept confidential at all times unless directed otherwise by the court. Police are supposed to provide the survivor with information about counselling, legal aid and compensation. They must ensure that medical examinations happen as soon as possible, and within 24 hours of being informed of abuse.

Although police have gradually become aware of POCSO and the number of individuals charged with offences has increased, particularly in Gujarat, the transformation of police stations to into child-friendly places has a long way to go. I have yet to see a station furnished, for example, with toys or magazines.

There is also a scarcity of private space in police stations. One 16-year-old survivor told me she was traumatised when she had to give her statement to a male police officer in a room where three other male police officers were present even though they were busy with other duties. Her parents were not allowed to sit with her to give her the moral support she needed.

The author Prita Jha meeting with parents about trial process in a child sexual abuse case. Photo: Nazir Khan Pathan.

Recently, I was present at a police station where PEC was assisting two survivors in a POSCO case. The two 12 and 15 year old girls were at the station for more than six hours, exhausted, hungry and thirsty. The were not offered a meal until around midnight. The recording of the older girl’s statement was interrupted several times and she was even moved from one room to another as her statement was being taken.  

Shockingly, police officers allowed a face-to-face confrontation between the survivors and the alleged perpetrator, saying this was necessary to assess whether the girls were telling the truth. The whole concept of preventing secondary trauma and re-victimisation of children has not really sunk into police psyche.

‘the whole concept of preventing secondary trauma and re-victimisation of children has not really sunk into police psyche’

In Gujarat, most courts have common waiting areas and toilets which enhance the risk of confrontation between the accused, the survivor, and their families. This contravenes the 2012 law which says the child should not be exposed to the accused whilst testifying.

It also enables the accused’s supporters to attempt an illegal settlement of the case, a common practice known as samadhan or ‘compromise’. In these cases, witnesses may turn hostile, denying original testimonies of abuse. As their evidence is usually essential to prosecutions, the perpetrator goes scot-free.

Two years ago, in one village, the sexual assault of a girl with a learning disability was hushed up as the boy came from a powerful family. It was only after a PEC volunteer spoke to the village sarpanch (head) – and reminded him that the new law makes reporting of sexual offences mandatory, and non-reporting an imprisonable offence – that he reported it.

At this point, the girl’s mother Leelaben was offered money by the accused’ family to settle the case. PEC worked hard to convince her not to accept it (she was concerned about her daughter’s marriage prospects, and felt that the money would help her arrange a marriage). In this case, timely disbursement of compensation via the courts played a key role in preventing an illegal settlement.

PEC volunteers talking about children’s rights and good touching and bad touching. Photo: Ketan Baria.

POCSO has had the unintended consequence of criminalising consensual, adolescent sexual activity. Any sexual activity of children under 18 years is caught within the remit of this law, and approximately one third of POCSO cases are in this consensual category involving adolescent sexuality rather than child sexual abuse.

One proposal to address this is to lower the age of consent from 18 to 16. But as girls between 15-18 are most at risk of abuse, this could make things worse; already, proving consent in a trial is a vexed issue.  

There have also been cases of parents of adolescent girls who disapprove of their romantic relationships using POSCO against their boyfriends. They can register a kidnapping case and make a claim of penetrative sexual assault which carries a mandatory minimum seven-year sentence. The girl may then be forced into marriage with a man considered suitable by the family.

Despite laws against child marriage, about 50% of Indian women between 20-24 years old were married before they turned 18. Marital rape is not criminal in India if the bride is 15 or older. This is presently being challenged by a NGO called Independent Thought, in the Supreme Court as being unconstitutional and against the state’s child policy.

What explains the gap between POSCO on paper and in practice? An entrenched culture of silence and victim blaming leads to low levels of disclosure. When disclosure happens, families struggle with shame and dishonour. Too often, public institutions fail to provide safe, supportive and enabling environments that survivors need to take on an arduous battle for justice.

Radical social transformation combined with a deep understanding of the child-friendly ethos of POCSO (as opposed to the adversarial norms of the Indian criminal justice system) has to be embedded within the psyche of the police, lawyers and judges. Courts should also be given discretion, and guidelines, at the sentencing stage to take into account factors such as age differences, inequalities between the victim and the perpetrator, the seriousness of the offence and its impact on the survivor.

Prita Jha is a legal activist, researcher and trainer working with issues of justice for survivors of communal, gender and sexual violence.  She is the co-editor of a book, On Their Watch: Mass Violence and State Apathy in India, Examining the Record, with Surabhi Chopra.  She has also taught courses on Gender and Criminal justice Administration at Nirma University, Gujarat.

Courtesy:  Open Democracy
 

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