During ancient times, Indian women held a high place of respect in the society as mentioned in the Rig-Veda and other scriptures. But later on, because of social, political and economic changes; women lost their status and were relegated to the background.
It is a harsh reality that women have been ill-treated in every society for ages and India is no exception. She is not just robbed of her dignity and pride outside her house, but she also faces ill-treatment and other atrocities within the four walls of her house. Women are considered as an object of male sexual enjoyment and reproduction of children.
Her general status in the family and in the society has been suppressed and unrecognized. Neither in the home nor outside of it, women are given importance or valued or given respect. Women in India face a lot of social issues and problems all through life which is a big struggle for them from the beginning of life. From the cradle to the grave, women are under the clutches of numerous evil acts such as discrimination, oppression, violence, within the family, at the workplace and in the society.
Violence Against Women
This is covered under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. According to this law, any person can complain about any incident where a family member has offended him or her cruelly or with the intention of cruelty. This law is applicable for or against any member regardless of gender. Women are getting affected by various forms of violence almost every day which disrupts society. According to the report of Crime Record Bureau of the Central Home Ministry, women are victims of violence on a huge level, everyday. A woman gets kidnapped in every 44 minutes, raped in every 47 minutes, 17 dowry deaths every day, etc.
They may face violence within the family (dowry-related harassment, death, marital rape, wife battering, sexual abuse, deprivation of healthy food, female genital mutilation, etc.) or outside the family (kidnapping, rape, murder, etc). Domestic violence is like an endemic and a widespread disease that affects almost 70% of Indian women, according to the women and child development official. It is performed by the husband, relative or other family members. It is abuse or violence against women. These are the problems which are faced by women at home, workplace and in society.
The official statistics show a declining sex ratio, health status, literacy rate, work participation rate and political participation among women. While on the other hand, the spread of social evils like dowry deaths, child marriage, domestic violation, rape, sexual harassment, exploitation of women workers are rampant in different parts of India. Humiliation, rape, kidnapping, molestation, dowry, deaths etc have grown over the years.
Rape is the result of deep-seated misogyny and men’s desire for total subjugation of women irrespective of age. So, I believe it’s more of a gender crime than a sex crime. In India, rape is defined under IPC sections 375, 376, 376A, 376B,376C, 376D. Rape has been categorized as incest rape (rape done by the blood relatives) and other rapes cases (rape is done by other than the blood relatives). Rape is the fourth most common crime against women in India. As per the law, it is said that every crime robbery/theft/murder/sexual violence/honour killing/rape- all crimes are always against the state or nation.
There are innumerable consequences of violence against women. Data on the health, social and economic costs of violence against women indicate that this adversely affects the economic and human development goals of a country which need women participation in all socio-economic development programmes. A country’s real commitment to gender equality depends on its effective implementation of the legislation to eliminate violence against women in all walks of life.
Rape causes not only physical torture to the body of the women but their psychological, emotional aspects too, and hence, women tend to suffer from a sense of shame. Despite no fault of theirs, they have to bear the fear of being ostracized by society as well as their relatives throughout their lives.
Bantala rape case(1990), Ajmer serial gang rape (1992), Shopian rape and murder case(2009), Delhi gang-rape Nirbhaya (2012), Shakti Mills gang rape cases (2013), Badaun gang-rape allegations(2014), Birbhum rape case (2014), Unnao rape case(2017), Nandhini gang rape and murder case(2017) and now recently Disha rape case (2019)- these are just a few. There are many cases which are not even registered in the police station because of socio-political reasons.
The little innocent children aged below 5 or 7 years are being raped, young girls- teenagers are being raped, aged women are also being raped. In many cases, the victim known’s the person who commits rape or sexual violence on her (her blood relative family members). To escape punishments, rapists are cross all limits: they kidnap young girls, barbarically treat the women and children, throw them on the railway track to die, shoot them dead and burn them alive.
This is where 21 century India stands right now. People have lost confidence in the police, on our government, judiciary, policies, administrative system and that is not a good sign for our country.
Girls/women are coming on the streets saying they do not feel safe in their own country streets/home. Parents are worried every second about their children/daughters when they are out, at any time of day or night. How did we end up here is my ultimate question. So now, the bigger question is where are we lacking? Why are we not able to do anything? Who do we blame now? What is the mistake we have done or we are doing?
Education
- Good parenting must be done because children learn maximum from schools and homes. So, we need to let our children grow knowing that women or girl are not a suppressed gender because, from the start, we have differentiated between a girl and boy telling them that men have an upper hand over women. So, they must know that women are not their subordinate gender.
- We must tell our kids that they must and should respect the female child in any circumstances.
- Sex education must be taught and included in school curriculums in a simple and understandable way, irrespective of gender.
- Teaching gender sensitization is a key aspect to focus on in the education sector at the school level, high school level or university/college level.
- For every school, there must be a compulsory psychology class from grade 1 to 12 (irrespective of gender).
- Self-defence classes – judo, karate, tykondu – must be incorporated in the school curriculum for all the children.
- We need to start educating our girls about good touch and bad touch from the primary level.
- Special moral value classes must be included in the school curriculum for boys and girls from the school level.
- There must be special skits performed in the school premises to ensure awareness among the women/girls regarding their safety in society.
Police
The law is very simple and clear on the filling of an FIR (First Information Report). It is our legal right. It is not a matter of choice; it is the police’s obligation. This is what they are supposed to do. It is their duty.
- Remember that the victim doesn’t need to prove anything beforehand to file an FIR. Investigation can be done after the filing. After the Nirbhaya case, the law has been amended; now, refusing to file an FIR in such cases is illegal.
- Also, remember that the complainant has to be given a copy of the FIR. If in case any police officer refuses to file an FIR, you can complain about him/her to the SP or the magistrate. Then in some cases, that police officer can be sentenced to imprisonment for two years under section 166A.
- Zero FIR: Zero FIR can be registered at any police station across India irrespective of jurisdiction. Police are bound to register an FIR in case of a cognizable offence.
- A lot of the cases that emerge are about police apathy. Instead of fulfilling their duties, they try to find faults in the victim, because of which the trust in Police is nowhere to be seen in people. Maybe that is why even the government data shows that 99% of cases of sexual assault go unreported. There must be a code set to guarantee systematic behaviour of police towards any person who wants to file an FIR.
- Police should also conduct drill s, awareness programs on police helplines and on government policies for women safety in every local transport vehicles (buses, train, local trains, metro), in schools, college, offices, on streets, weekly market places, any big cultural events of a particular regions, so that people be aware of what they are supposed to do in case their safety is endangered.
- Police should always keep a track of what is happening on the major crime areas and the most vulnerable areas of the city.
Judiciary
- People have totally lost hope in our judiciary because of the time it takes to render justice. cess. To regain the lost trust, all the judicial laws for heinous crimes must be reformed again. Death sentence or capital punishment to rapists is not the solution. We are supposed to address the structural problem first.
- Stringent actions must be taken, in accordance with the law, against the people who are committing heinous crimes. Strict punishments must be distributed if any heinous crime is committed.
- The age bar of minors now is above 18 years, but in many cases, minors are also involved in crimes, hence this age limit must be brought down to 12 to 14.
- There must be separate women courts to deal with women violence issues. This court must work in a different manner unlike other courts and must render judgments within a limited time period.
- Immediate judgment must be the main objective of the judiciary without any delay in the process. Judgment must be declared within a limited time so that we ensure more crimes are not committed in a lag of time period.
- Number of adjournments in the courts have to drastically cut down so that there is a faster movement of cases.
- It is only our judicial system that has summer holidays, winter holidays, Dusshera holidays etc. which further drags the adjudication of thousands of pending cases. These holidays must be cut down so that we see a proper functioning of courts.
Other
- Media plays a very important role in our day to day life. The government or commercial add companies must bring various innovative and creative adds for people to understand about women safety. Every channel must telecast helpline numbers, police numbers, policies, schemes that the government has brought for women’s safety.
- Government should start recruiting volunteers to start a program on educating the tribal and uneducated people of our country and let them know about women related issues in their local language.
- All the unskilled workers or uneducated people of each area must be taught moral values, or moral activities or educate them to respect women. They should be told about the severity of the punishments in case they commit any crime. We need to cultivate the fear of punishments so that they think twice before committing any heinous crime. These programmes must be carried in their local language.
- Today, every person has a smartphone in their hands which induces them to watch porn sites. That further provokes them to commit crimes like rape, murder etc.Ministry of Women and Child Development has already started blocking porn sites but still, there are many unrecorded and unreported sites which are yet to be blocked.
- Consumption of alcohol or any drugs also provokes men to commit such heinous crimes. The government must take steps to regulate or minimize the consumption level of alcohol, drugs and the like.
- Social media websites like Facebook and Instagram must also be used for spreading awareness about women’s safety-helplines, panic buttons, safe and unsafe places etc.
- Movies have a high impact on our society. Hence, we need to work on better movies that do not objectify women as a sex doll etc. Central Board of Film Certification must take strict actions if any movie or videos show women inappropriately.
- Hooding and banners must also be pasted to every wall or street to ensure that all women know how and whom to approach if they fear of insecurity during the night.
- Every local bus stop, metro stations, railway station, streets which are prone to crimes must be watched 24/7 under CCTV cameras and any suspicious action must be reported to the higher authorities as soon as possible for action to be taken immediately.
- Justice must be served to each and every victim/survivor. For justice to be served, every girl/women must come out, talk back against all forms of discrimination, sexism, casteism, racism and homophobic remarks.
Women in India are the most vulnerable section of society which should be changed to create an egalitarian society and promising future. The status of women in India has undergone a considerable change since the past but there is a lot more development yet to take place.
According to the daily reports in various newspapers, women are dealing with harassment from mild to extreme forms on our streets, workplaces, public transportation, and even in homes. How long will this menace go on for? What are we supposed to do about it? With limited options in our hands, and with time flying fast, the onus is on us to wake up and do whatever it takes.
This is the time to own up to ourselves. We stand by each other, tall and proud, brave and unfazed. This is the time we own up to India. No more harassment. We want what we deserve – for us and for our daughters – a safer India for women. Last, but not least, if we are sincere in our efforts, we will get results.
Let us all say “No” to violence against women. It is time that our judiciary system, police system, administration system, education system, the processes of drafting, execution, and implementation, and we, the people, work hand in hand so that we can see a ray of hope for change in our society.