Click to play videoIt’s a news item that has started to appear with a worrying regularity — women being assaulted or raped across India. In Delhi itself, as many as 10 cases of rape were reported in the last month alone.
It is this 700 per cent increase in reported rape cases over the last five decades that has got the government thinking. So a new law, already approved of by the cabinet is on the anvil. Here are some of the fine points of those amendments proposed in the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC):
- Woman judge to hear rape cases, as far as practicable
- Trial to end within three months
- Investigation of case preferably at victim's residence
- Investigation preferably by a woman police officer
- Questioning of victim in presence of her parents or a social worker
- Recording victim statements at places of their choice
- Ban on publication of trial proceedings in rape cases
- Compensation to victims or dependents who have suffered loss or injury as a result of crime
However, the question remains if the new amendments will ensure faster justice for the victims or not.
Iris (name changed to protect identity) was raped there years ago. The police first refused to lodge her FIR and when they finally did, no medical tests were ordered. Instead, in a misguided attempt at justice, they got her married to her rapist.
“I was forced to marry the man who raped me. My life had already been ruined and I did not know what to do with it. Ultimately, I had to give into the pressure and married the man who had brought about my ruin. People were not willing to help me but forcing me to marry,” she says.
That was three years ago. The new amendments appear to be a step in the right direction, but can they really ensure effective quick justice?
Senior lawyer Indira Jaising points out that the new amendments are not as airtight as they seem.
“The very language that has been used, ‘as far as practicable,’ gives away the whole story,” she says.
She says there is an “underfunding” of courts dealing with crimes against women. “There is not sufficient attention devoted to the nature of the problem and of course the pressing need to ensure speed. Even for things like maintenance, I’ve known cases to be adjourned one and half years at a time,” she says.
“We have not seen,” she adds, “any increase in the number of courts. We have not seen any courts for dealing with these issues.”
It is not just the entire ordeal of going through various court procedures though. The first point of contact of authority for the victim, that is, the police station, at times, proves to be biggest hurdle in the way of getting justice.
Like Iris, there are probably scores of other victims, who had to go through that phase in order to get justice.
“I went to the police station several times but no one was willing to help me. I would go there in the morning and wait till evening, I cried and wailed and only then they lodged my FIR,” she says.
An analysis of rape cases in 2007 by Delhi Police said 68 per cent of rape accused were illiterate while 24 per cent studied up to Class X. About 80 per cent of the accused belong to the poor strata. Do our law enforcement agencies look at rape as a class-biased activity?
Jaising argues it is not happening within a certain class, however, adds that it is also true that for a poor woman, a rape is, at times, considered as an “occupational hazard.”
“There is an acceptance of it and there is a refusal to prosecute. This is generally true in relation to any problem that the poorer section of society faces in the criminal justice system. As a society, I do not understand how we can continue to tolerate this kind of uneven implementation of the law,” she questions.
Court proceedings and police station apart, most victims don’t even have immediate family members for support.
For Iris, who is from Mizoram, it was a different matter altogether. She did not have her family in Delhi to fall back on during the turmoil.
“It was my decision to go the police station and demand justice. I had to do all that by myself,” she says.
And lodging the complaint and sitting through the hearings was a traumatic experience for her.
“It was very difficult for me. When I went to file my complaint, they started asking me several questions. A lot of people started making fun of me and a lot of people were not even willing to listen to my complaint. But I told myself to be strong,” she adds.
But isn’t it shocking that in the name of justice, a woman who has been raped is forced to marry her rapist?
Jaising agrees and suggests and that it is so shocking indeed that it should be made illegal for a rapist to be allowed to marry the victim.
“It is almost as a means of redeeming himself but far from redemption, it’s compounding the crime,” Jaising says.
The lawyer also highlighted the need to bring about a change in the way rape cases are handled. She says that when a rape victim says that there is nobody to stand by my side or to walk me through the court system it’s unfair to expect relatives to do this job.
“It’s transferring the burden onto them. I think here there is a huge case for attaching social workers, which happens to be one of the proposals the Cabinet is currently talking about,” Jaising recommends.
Getting to the courts is the secondary step. The real trouble is at the time of investigations, at the stage of police stations. How does one address that?
“That would require the entire reform of the police system. One of the things, which is urgently needed, is a complaint mechanism against the police for refusing to register the complaint. But unfortunately, nobody is looking at that issue. The result is that the police are completely unaccountable,” Jaising says.
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