Essay on Crimes Against Women in India : Women constituting nearly about half the global population continue to experience institutionalised socio-cultural discrimination across the world and the situation is no different in our country. The patriarchal social structure has dominated the socio-economic or politico-religious space since time immemorial in our country and continues to do so even today as also visible in the rising crimes against women. With the rate of crimes against Indian women having increased in recent times, serious concern has been expressed about tackling the same to secure a safer environment for our women.
Essay on Crimes Against Women in India
Women
constituting nearly about half the global population
continue to experience institutionalised socio-cultural discrimination across
the world and the situation is no different in our country. As they say, a
society which denigrates the dignity of its women cannot move forward. The
patriarchal social structure has dominated the socio-economic or
politico-religious space since time immemorial in our country and continues to
do so even today as also visible in the rising crimes against women. With the
rate of crimes against Indian women having increased in recent times, serious
concern has been expressed about tackling the same to secure a safer
environment for our women.
Every instance of a crime against
women scars them physically and mentally. The crimes against women inter alia
include female foeticide, chid marriage, eve-teasing, molestation, acid
throwing, bigamy, fraudulent marriage, adultery, abduction and kidnapping,
trafficking, rape, harassment of women at work places, domestic violence, dowry
torture and death, female child abuse and abuse of the elderly. With the
technological advances, newer forms of crimes including cyber crimes are
emerging, making the situations murkier for our women.
According to the National Crime
Records Bureau of India, a crime against women is committed every three minutes
on an average. The reported incidents of crime against women increased by 6.4%
during 2012. In 2012, there were 244,270 reported incidents of crime against
women, while the corresponding figure for 2011 was 228,650. According to a
study, 65% of Indian men justify domestic violence. Some of them even believe
that women deserve to be beaten and that they should tolerate violence to keep
the family together. In January 2011, the International Men and Gender Equality
Survey [IMAGES] found that 24% of Indian men had committed sexual violence at
some point during their lives.
A study of working women in the
organised and unorganised sectors by the National Commission for Women [NCW],
found that nearly 50% had experienced gender discrimination including physical
and mental harassment at work. Yet, 85% of them had never heard of any law
against sexual harassment. Only 11% of them were aware that the same was a
punishable offence under law and that they could seek legal redress in cases of
sexual harassment. The NCW survey found women in the unorganised sector to be
more vulnerable to sexual harassment than those in the organised sector.
Besides, 32% women covered in the survey also reported discrimination in
salaries, leave, promotions, work distribution and working hours.
It’s really sad to note that
notwithstanding seventy years of our independence, we as a society still have
not learnt to treat our women with dignity and respect they deserve. It has
been noticed that after decline in their social status in the post Vedic
period, the status of women further deteriorated during the medieval age. India
women have since been suffering different types of discrimination, oppression,
exploitation, degradation, aggression and humiliation. Indian women continue to
remain subjugated and oppressed because of a regressive societal thinking
towards our women as manifested in physical or mental violence against them. An
unfair treatment is meted to the fairer sex
even before they are born as reflected in ‘son-preference’ in our
society and he same often continues throughout their life.
With increased media reporting about
crimes against women the overall societal awareness has gone up. However, the
same has often resulted in creation of more sensationalism than actually helping
minimising these crimes. Notwithstanding there being plethora of laws to combat
these crimes, the enforcement of the same has been found to be too lax to be of
any help with the wrongdoers often going scot-free. The complex legal system
has often appeared to be loaded in favour of these perpetrators against a
systemic apathy to prosecuting crimes against women.
The institutionalised exclusion and
discrimination against women happen despite their having excelled in every
sphere, often better than the men. Women’s societal contributions are
undervalued and unrecognised because so much of their work remains unmonetised
by the mainstream economy. Promoting entrepreneurship amongst women requires
reversal of conventional wisdom than mere creation of jobs or other tokenism
for them. The most effective strategy on this score would be securing their
equal participation in societal development while also ensuring just allocation
of community resources irrespective of gender biases. Such approaches would
enable women to overcome and survive the injustices and prejudices ingrained in
the established order, something which continues to legitimise the perpetuation
of imbalances of power between women and men.
The State, however, has framed several
laws to ensure the safety and security of women which are as follows:
·
Under Indian Penal
Code [IPC]:
1-
Rape [Section 376
IPC]
2-
Kidnapping and
abduction for specified purpose [Section 363-373 IPC]
3-
Homicide for dowry,
Dowry death or their attempts [Sec. 302/304-B IPC]
4-
Torture, both mental
and physical [Sec.498-A –IPC]
5-
Sexual harassment
[Sec.509 IPC]
6-
Importation of girls
[Up to 21 years of age, Sec. 366-B IPC]
·
Under special and
local laws [SLL] – Gender specific laws
1-
Immortal Traffic
[Prevention] Act, 1956
2-
Dowry Prohibition
Act, 1961
3-
Indecent
Representation of Women [Prohibition] Act, 1986
4-
Commission of Sati
[Prevention] Act, 1987
In order to make these laws really
effective in deterring the offenders, there is not only a need for better
enforcement, but there is also an imperative need for the women to be educated
about their rights. Only then, the latter would feel encouraged to come forward
to register the cases, without any fear for stigma. More and more fast track
courts need to be set up for faster disposal of these cases. Law enforcers
should be well trained to react swiftly and sensitively towards such cases.
Better law enforcement coupled with exemplary punishment of the offenders would
establish a “Zero-tolerance” attitude against such offences.
Many positive initiatives have been
taken by the government in recent times through increased surveillance and
supervision to ensure the same as also reflected in increased and faster
convictions of such offenders, not to speak of various incentivised welfare
schemes in the fields of health, education and employment to further empower
our women. Such strategies have yielded good results, but the society has a
long way to go before we can expect the desired outcomes.
A strong campaign is needed to build a
nationwide consensus in favour of the core values upholding women’s dignity.
Awareness and sensitisation of men on this score is critical. Men who turn a
blind eye to such brutal acts in their own neighbourhoods, communities and
families are just as culpable as those that perpetrate these acts. Action from
courts and police will not suffice if the community remains reluctant to an
attitudinal change.
It is important for societies to
realise that crimes against women only spell doom for a futuristic society and
brings in more harm in the long run. A skewed sex ratio and a primitive mindset
that repudiates the dignity of a woman only make us out of sync with the larger
civilised society. It is high time that we, as a Nation, awaken to this
realisation that every woman in every family is not a commodity to be
mistreated and wronged against, but an equally dignified citizen who deserves
equal respect and recognition for her contribution to the society.
COMMENTS