Effectiveness of Women’s Safety Laws in India: Laws v. Ground Reality

Author- Srishti Singh

Abstract

In current times, women are aceing in every field, whether male-dominated or not. They are winning gold medals in sports, serving in the armed forces, excelling in space and many more. Despite all these, women's safety in India remains a matter of grave concern. There exist the comprehensives constitutional and legal framework for the protecting women’s rights. This paper will critically examine the effectiveness of the women's safety laws in our criminal justice system and will address the gap between the given legal provisions and their implicationsin practical life. While there exist various laws such as, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the protection of women from domestic violence act, 2005, and most importantly the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013, despite all these strong laws, the violence against women remains increasing, this raises a serious concern regarding the effectiveness and implementation of this act in practical life.This paper argues that the core issue does not lie in the absence of special laws for the protection of the rights of women, but rather it lies in the process of their implementation and enforcement. It advocates for a multidimensional approach to tackle the said problem and emphasises that thereform should focus on increasing the conviction rate, which must ensure timely justice and also promote gender sensetazionwith in the law enforcement agencies.

Key Words- Women Safety Laws, Legal Implementation Gap, Domestic Violence, Gender- based violence, Sexual Harassment laws. 

Introduction

Crime against women has seen a sharp increase in India since independence. Molestation and Dowery death are significantly associated with cruelty and rape. As the time progresses, more and more people are getting access to different online media platforms, which leads to an increase in cybercrime, particularly against women¹. Crime against women affects women of all classes, ages, urban-rural, rich or poor. Although the Indian constitution has guaranteed many rights and protection to women and has also assured gender equality in a broader sense.

 Nowadays, women work in every field, from flying in space to diving in water, to starting startups, to looking after families, providing care in hospitals, to ruling the corporate world and their board meetings.  Women are an amazing creation of God, she has a complex personality and a complete blend of kindness, honesty and tolerance,but still, the crime against women starts even before life emerges in her mother's womb.

When we go back to your nation’s foundation, we can witness the appalling state of affairs for women. We have evidence from the early Vedic periods that women had equal positions and rights. However, the positions of women started diminishing, roughly from 500 BCE,  and later on, after the emergence of the Islamic invasion by the Delhi Sultanate and Mughals, women's rights faced restrictions, and they were just left as child bearers. The medieval era saw further decline in the status of particularly Indian women as societal norms for women became more authoritative, and the culture and society also became rigid for practices like child marriage and sati, and the prohibition of widows getting remarried. Further, Indian societies adopted purdah after the Muslim invasions in the Indian subcontinent. Several Devadasis were sexually abused in various parts of India.

However, many feminists worked for the better rights of women during the British era,like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, who played a notable role in ending the sati Pratha and introducing the Widow remarriage act. With these steps, women’s condition began to improve a bit. In India, women’s right to equality, freedom, opportunity, and protection are guaranteed by the constitution and by other laws as well. Despite all these protections, women are keen to all kinds of violence. There are several kinds of crime against women, these include- sexual assault, forced prostitution, rape, trafficking of women and girls, domestic violence and the violence during armed conflicts,i.e., war-like forced pragency, murder and sexual slavery.

In the Vienna World Human Rights Conference, 1993, the gender-based violence was first recognisedas aviolation of human rights. “Any act of gender- based violence that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to a woman, including threats of such act, coercion, or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life”, is the United Nations Declaration of 1993’s definition of violence against women. Each of them is an infringement on the most fundamental human rights. ²

According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) report, there is a crime against women in every three minutes. Additionally, the International Men and Gender Equality Survey ( 2010) revealed that 65% of Indian men believe that women shall put up with violence to maintain family unity and that there are instances when women should be physically assaulted.³ With the advancement in technology, women are more prone to various different forms of abuse, including morphed sexual photos, defaced, cyberbullying, defamation, stalking, and blackmail. In India, our cultural beliefs and attitudes sometimes lead to violence against women, because many forms of it are either not recognised or may otherwise go unreported or unreported.

Various crimes against women

Crimes that specifically targets at women and involve only women as the victims are classified as crimes against women, although women can be exposed to any type of crime. Including robberies, murders, cheating and so on.

Crimes covered by Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023: BNS, 2023, typically covers seven crimes against women, which are as follow- rape (section- 63 BNS), kidnapping and abduction ( section- 137 and 138 BNS), Dowry deaths (section- 80 BNS), Physical and mental torture (section- 84 BNS),  Molestation (section 74), Sexual harassment (section- 79 IPC) and importation of girls ( section- 141 BNS) are the crimes that are specially covered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

·Crimes covered by special and Local Laws (SLL): While gender is not a determining factor in any law, laws that impact women have undergone frequent reviews and revisions to keep up with changing needs. The Immoral Traffic ( prevention) Act of 1956, the Maternity Benefit Act of 1961 (Amended in 1995), the Dowry prohibition Act of 1961, the Equal Remuneration Act of 1976, the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Act of 1979, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971, the Indecent Representation of Women ( prohibition Act, 1986), the Commission of Sati (prevention) Act of 1987, the Domestic Violence Act of 2005, and the Sexual Harassment Act of 2013 are a few acts with special provisions to protect women and their interests.

Crime committed through social practices

These are the typesof crimes that are penalised by specific social laws to protectwomen's rights. These laws could only be possible because social activists have been advocating for laws to protect women against such crimes and impose higher penalties on various forms of violence, which include sati, dowery practice, female feticide, and domestic violence. After sensing the need for time, the Indian government passed several new laws and even amended the old ones.In 1829, a law was passed outlawing the habit of burning widows on their husbands’ funeral pyres.  To curb this violent practice against women, organizedmassive protest against sati, and this eventually ended with the passing of the Sati (Prevention) Act 1987.Subsequently, demanding dowery from women’s families became illegal in 1951 when the Dowery(Prohibition) Act was passed.

Constitutional Rights for Women

Our constitution guarantees women with equal rights,including the right to voteand participate in politics. Due to our constitution’s firm belief in the ideals of liberty, fraternity, equality and justice, it includes numerous provisions empowering women. Women in India are empowered by the constitution in addition to being granted equality. It also directs the state to implement policies that empower women through positive discrimination⁴.

For instance, Article 14 of the Indian Constitution protects women’s equality before the law. Article 15 prohibits the state from treating any citizen unfairly based merely on theirplace of birth, race, caste, religion, or any combination of these.  Article 15(3) states that the state can make any special provisions in favour of women and children if the state thinks that they need special provisions. Article 16 guarantees equal opportunity to all individuals in matters of employment or appointment to any state office. Article 390(a) suggests that the state shall tailor its policies to ensurethat men and women have equal access to a sufficient means of subsistence. Article 39(d) requires the state to compensate men and women equally for labour of equivalent quality.Article 42 suggests that the state to provide for the protection of fair and humane working conditions as well as maternity leave.  Article 46 requires the state to protect the less fortunate group in society from exploitation and ensure social justice, as well as carefully advance their interests in the economy and education. Article 243D (3) reads that women shall be granted at least one- third of the seats to be filled by direct in each Panchayat elections in a rotating manner.

Different Acts passed by Parliament

Factories Act, 1948- Women constitute a good number in our workforce. This factory act includes many measures for their health, safety and well-being. This act also forbids women more than eight hours, and also prohibits women from working in factories between the hours of ten at night and five in the morning. This act aims to provide safeguards for female employees, including prohibitions on working in close range to cotton openers and heavy- weight lifting.As per this act, women are also not permitted to lubricate, adjust or clean any machine parts while the machine is operating.

The Maternity Benefit Act of 1961- This act was passed by the parliament to support women’s maternal responsibilities, preserve their economic rights, and guarantee employment security. Employers must provide maternity benefits. The benefits provided under this act are extensive and include nursing breaks, paid leave and also a medical bonus. This act helps women to manage both their work life as well as their family life. This act allows women employed in approved factories and organisations to take up six months of paid maternity leave. The business is required to pay the female employee her full compensation during this time off.⁵

The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961- The demand for dowry, before or after the marriage, was criminalised by this act. According to section 80 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, “dowery death” refers to a woman’s death caused by burns or by other physical harm that happens outside of a normal circumstance within seven years of her marriage.Anyone found guilty of dowry death faces a minimum sentence of seven years in jail and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023- BNS, includes many such sections to protect women from various kinds of injustice. According to section 74, anyone who assaults or even uses criminal force against a woman to upset her or even has knowledge that he is likely to do so,will be punished by the imprisonment of either kind of term, not less than one year, but which may extend to five years and a fine. Section 79 penalises each and every person who intends to insult the modesty of any woman, utters any words, makes any sound and gesture, or exhibits any object in any form, is liable for punishment with three years of simple imprisonment or fine.

Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005- This act protects women against any act, action or omission that could lead to domestic abuse and that causes harm or injury to them. It aims to shield women against violence on all physical, sexual, emotional, verbal, psychological and financial levels.

Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010- After the Supreme Court passed the Vishaka guidelines, the parliament also followed the legislation and passed the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act in 2012. This act tried to safeguard women in the workplace, which includes female employees, female clients, female customers, female students, female research scholars in colleges and universities and female hospitalpatients.

Implementation Challenges

In India, a woman is raped in every 16 minutes, and in every 4 minutes a woman is mistreated by her in-laws. There were 88 rape incidents reported every day in 2019. The Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, which is now called Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, lists “assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty” (21.8%), “Kidnapping and abduction of women” (17.9%), cruelty by husband or his relatives” (30.9%) and “rape” (7.9%) as the most common crimes against women. The crime rate per lakh female population increased from 58.8 % in 2028 to 62.4 in 2019. The highest number of reported rape instances (3,065) and Rajasthan (6,000) were found in Uttar Pradesh ⁶.

India’s crime rate against women is highest in the northern part of India and is lowest in the western part of India.⁷  The tragic 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case in India’s capital city initiated a significant legal move to protect women from rape. The concept of rape was redefined, and the death penalty was also imposed. Hence, the present rape laws have also undergone some notable revisions under the 1983 and 2013 amendments; however, most convicted individuals rarely receive death penalties, and even if they receive it, it is most likely to be overturned by the higher courts. We also witnessed offences like stalking, voyeurism, sexual harassment, and violent assault via acid attack.⁸

India has several legislative and constitutional frameworks for the protection of women. Women are granted equality under Indian Constitution, and they are granted equality under the Indian Constitution, and these laws empower women to make proactive efforts to counteract social, economic and political drawbacks. Apart from preventing discrimination against any citizen based on race, religion, caste, sex, or place of birth, additionally, fundamental rights also ensure that everyone has equal opportunity in the workplace and equality before the law.

While the efficient implementation of these laws can significantly reduce criminal activity against women, other factors, such as abuse of legislative authority and apathy on the part of law enforcement, contribute to the rise of crime against women. Since India has witnessed numerous horrific crimes, such as the gang rape of a 17-year-old girl in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh in 2017 and the gang rape of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in the Hathrasharegion of Uttar Pradesh in 2020. These brutal crimes shook the society even after the Nirbhaya gang rape case in Delhi in 2012 ⁹.

Conclusion

Indian women have been the victims of an unacceptable rise in crime against them. Consequently, by ascertaining the relative positions of the Indian states, a picture of crime against women in India can be painted. The prevalence of horrible crimes like rape and dowry death has somewhat declined amongother crimes. However, other offences such as assaults on women with the intent to outrage her modesty.Kidnapping and abduction of women, cruelty by husband or his relatives and trafficking persisted in their growth.

Even our parliament and government have tried so hard to protect women, and also our criminal justice system has transformed to address a number of these problems, but despite all this, there are numerous gaps that remain untouched.Amendments to the criminal justice system to increase conviction rates may serve as a deterrent to such behavior. Although one reform could be that the women should be empowered and educated for their rights, although this step does not directly influence the main problem, but we still urge professionals to help women have better access to, use of, and coverage in the services that we organize, carry out, assess and study.

The main problem is not that we as Indians are not aware of the women's rights, nor do we not have laws to protect them from injustice, we have plentyof the such. The main problem lies intheir implementation. Theselaws are implemented properly,and women fear complaining and reporting the injustice against them due to social norms.

Despite passing and making new laws, the government should focus on implementing these existing laws properly and effectively.

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