U.N. expert says India's new anti-rape law is insufficient

Demonstrators shout slogans in New Delhi, on Feb. 7, 2013, during a protest to demand harsher punishments and quicker trials for rape cases. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

 NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - India missed a golden opportunity to tackle violence against women, by enacting a law that toughens punishments against sex offenders but fails to address the root causes and consequences of gender abuse, a U.N. expert said Wednesday.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013, or "anti-rape law" was enacted last month, after the fatal December gang rape of a student sparked protests over the treatment of women in the largely patriarchal country.

The legislation, which includes death for repeat rapists, was based on a recommendations made by a panel headed by late former Chief Justice J.S. Verma, but it disappointed many activists who said it had been watered down.

Rashida Manjoo, U.N. Special Rapporteur on violence against women, who was on a 10-day visit to investigate gender abuses in the country, told a news conference that the making of a new law had presented a "golden moment" for India, but that this has had been lost.

"While this legislative reform is to be commended, it is regrettable that the amendments do not fully reflect the Verma Committee's recommendations," Manjoo said.

"This development foreclosed the opportunity to establish a holistic and remedial framework which is underpinned by transformative norms and standards, including those relating to sexual and bodily integrity rights. Furthermore the approach adopted fails to address the structural and root causes of and consequences of violence against women."

Manjoo, a South African national, said criminalising marital rape, lowering the age of consent from 18 to 16, and addressing sexual abuses faced by gays, lesbians and transgenders should have been part of the legislative reforms.

PAIN AND ANGUISH

Indian girls and women face a plethora of threats. These include sexual and domestic violence, dowry-related deaths, crimes in the name of honour, witch-branding, acid attacks, female foeticide, early marriage and human trafficking.

According to latest figures from the National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB), there were 228,650 reported crimes committed against women in 2011, an increase of seven percent from the previous year.

Manjoo, who travelled to various regions of the country including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Manipur and Tamil Nadu, met with many women who shared their personal experiences of violence and survival.

"The pain and anguish in the testimonies of loss, dispossession, and various human rights violations, was visceral and often difficult to deal with," she said. "The denial of constitutional rights in general, and the violation of the rights of equality, dignity, bodily integrity, life and access to justice in particular, was a theme that was common in many testimonies."

The U.N. envoy said that she did not meet with very senior officials, despite requests to meet with parliamentarians, the minister for women and child development, members of the judiciary and Sonia Gandhi, leader of the ruling Congress-led coalition government.

She added that although it was part of her mandate, she also did not gain access to shelters, psychiatric hospitals, detention centres or jails. "Unfortunately it didn't happen on this mission. But the norm on many of my missions is that I do get access to speaking to people," she said. "There was no refusal in India about meeting with anyone in particular. There was silence and silence is not acquiescence."

Source: http://www.trust.org/item/20130502035819-30c1v/

Delhi rape case: Demand for death penalty for rapist's increases, Delhi Police take some protesters into custody

New Delhi:  April 21 (ANI): Even as the public clamours for giving the death penalty to rapists, police in Delhi took several protesters into preventive custody on Sunday.

A demonstrator fell unconscious while protesting the brutal rape of the five-year old girl in New Delhi, and demanding more safety for women.

An irate protester, Shikha Rai, said the police and the government should take adequate security measures for the safety of women in the country.

She added: "Our demand is to make safe a safe place for women. We elect government for the security and safety of the people and if they or if Delhi police are unable to provide that security that I think, we will have to come out and take care of ourselves."

Meanwhile, reports of protests against the rape of a five-year-old are coming in from other parts of the country.

Protesters took to the streets raising slogans, demanding a harsh punishment for the man suspected of raping the five-year-old girl who is battling for her life at a hospital in New Delhi.

To express solidarity with the five-year-old girl, protesters shouted slogans against Delhi Police and the Union government demanding the resignation of Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar.

An agitated protester, Neelam said, "We are demonstrating against the brutal incident done by an animal like human being with the small girl. We demand resignation of Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar, as during his tenure, another horrifying incident happened after the December 16 incident. Attitude of police has not changed. They still do not lodge FIR and the family of victims is asked to compromise and shut their mouth. We want to ask them as to what is their role? What is their duty? Is it to make the victim keep quite or to help them?"

Lashing out at United Progressive Alliance (UPA), a protester Sharda, urged the government to hang the accused.

"The biggest problem is that the culprits are not being punished due to which they are fearlessly raping women. I just want to say that in such cases, the culprits should be hanged to death or else women will have to find ways to protect themselves," said Sharda

A woman also fainted while raising her voice against the safety for women during the protest. She was immediately taken to the hospital for treatment.

The victim, whose parents work as labourers and live in the eastern neighbourhood of Delhi, went missing on April 15.

Police found her with bruise marks on her body in the suspect's house in a semi-conscious condition on Thursday after her parents had registered a complaint.

Delhi police had arrested the 25-year-old man for the rape of the child from arrested from Muzaffarpur town in India's eastern state of Bihar. The man was taken into transit custody to be brought to New Delhi.

The rape, which left the young girl in a critical condition, revived memories of the brutal gang rape by five adult men and a teenaged boy of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student on a bus on December 16 in New Delhi. That woman died of her injuries.

Earlier Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a statement that he was deeply disturbed by the latest incident. In December his administration had faced criticism for failing to respond to public anger over the horrific attack on the physiotherapy student.

Singh's government passed tougher laws to fight gender crimes in March, putting in place new provisions and tougher punishments, which include criminalising voyeurism and stalking and making acid attacks and human trafficking specific offences.

Source: http://in.news.yahoo.com/delhi-rape-case-demand-death-penalty-rapists-increases-121825672.html

Rape behind prison bars

First Published: Tue, Mar 12 2013. 07 50 PM IST

It is a common practice for undertrials accused of rape to be brutally sodomized as a welcome to the prison party

Indian police men and media persons stand outside the Tihar Jail in New Delhi on Monday. Photo: AP

The Indian government has been struggling to come up with a draft of an anti-rape law following the brutal gang rape and resulting death of a young woman in Delhi last December. While the Justice Verma committee report was concluded in record time with recommendations on amending India’s archaic rape laws, differences in views about issues like whether the age of consent should be 16 instead of 18 and whether marital rape is to be recognized as a crime are preventing the clearing of the law.

It is clear that the ruling Congress party is gearing up to make itself attractive to women in time for elections next year. The creation of an all-women bank in the budget this year is one such move. The rape law was meant to be cleared on Tuesday but that has not happened. In the meantime, Ram Singh, one of the accused in the Delhi rape case, was found hanging in his cell on Monday.

The Hindu reported that Singh’s father, Mangelal, alleged that his son had been sodomized inside the jail. So was Ram Singh raped and murdered? Serves him right? Many probably hold the view that Singh got what he deserved and good riddance to someone as evil as him. A number of metaphors like, “as you sow, so shall you reap” will be used to deal with and close the matter.

However, it is worth examining the issue of sexual assault and rape of men in judicial custody by fellow inmates and prison staff. Convicted prisoners and those in custody awaiting trials are at risk all over the world of being sexually assaulted and raped.

The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was passed by President George W. Bush in 2003 in an effort to address this widespread human rights problem. As part of this Act, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is to carry out comprehensive statistical review and analysis each year about the incidents of rape in all holding facilities. In the year 2012, nearly one in 10 prisoners reported being raped or sexually assaulted in the US while in custody. Often it is the physically weak, young, gay or those who have been convicted of sexual offences against minors who are targeted.

The Human Rights Law Network in Delhi is one organization that works on prisoners’ rights. They receive letters from prisoners alleging torture and negligence from around India. I learn that it is a common practice for any undertrial accused of rape to be brutally sodomized as a welcome to the prison party.

Given the outrage and the publicity that the Delhi gang rape received, there is no doubt that the accused were at risk for all kinds of abuse while in custody awaiting their trial in addition to the possibility of taking their own lives. Yet Singh is alleged to have hung himself with his clothes and strings from his mattress even as three of his cell mates slept through it all.

Being raped and beaten in jail while awaiting trial is not the kind of justice that anybody deserves in a democratic country—however heinous the crime committed by the prisoner. India has failed miserably in this regard by allowing this incident to occur. Perhaps a way to redeem itself is to work in provisions dealing with prison rape in the pending anti-rape law.

Source: http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/BzOQYSLEsQ9YrXmcbipwrN/Rape-behind-prison-bars.html

Cabinet to consider anti-rape law today

The government proposes to make it mandatory for all hospitals in the country-public or private- to provide free of cost first aid and treatment to women victims of any sort of violence, including acid attack.

This new provision is part of the latest changes in the anti-rape laws 

to be considered by the Union cabinet in its special meeting on Tuesday. There is a sense of urgency in the government as it has to pass the criminal laws amendment bill before March 22 to avoid the relapse of the related ordinance.

The cabinet proposal mentions perpetrators as 'gender-specific' or men-shifting away from the initial plan of keeping them gender-neutrals. The proposed law, however, defines victims of sexual assault as gender-neutral. In other words, men can be tried for raping women or sodomizing boys under the law.

The other key amendment of the bill is that it replaces 'sexual assault' with 'rape' but in case of false complaints, provisions for strict penalties are also provided. At a recent meeting of political parties, several leaders had expressed concerns over the possibility of misuse of stricter anti-rape law.

Justifying the decision to replace 'sexual assault' with 'rape', the law ministry argued that "the term rape is widely accepted."  The government also intends to make provision so that penalty imposed on perpetrators can be used for funding the relief and rehabilitation of rape victims.

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/cabinet-to-consider-anti-rape-law-today/Article1-1024786.aspx

Statistics: Rape Conviction Rates Across India

By Saptarishi Dutta and Aditi Malhotra

A graphic showing the conviction rate of rape cases in India in 2011. 

A “Rape Map of India,” posted on India Real Time Thursday looked at the number of reported rape cases in India in 2011.

Today, we are adding data from the National Crime Records Bureau on the rate of conviction in rape cases in each state around the country. Some 15,423 rape cases were decided countrywide in 2011.

Of the total number of cases that made to court, the overall rate of convictions stand at 26.4%, or 4,072 convictions while 11,351 acquittals were recorded. These included cases pending from previous years as well.

In 2010, 14,263 cases of rape were decided, with the accused being convicted in 3,788 cases, or 26.6%.

According to the data, the small northeastern state of Manipur recorded a 100% conviction rate in rape trials in 2011.

India is far from unique in its overall conviction rate, which many activists deplore as low. This 2008 Washington Post story looks at the low rape conviction rate in the U.K.

Note: The graphic excludes Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands. 

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/01/04/statistics-conviction-rates-for-rape-across-india/

A rape every 22 mins: What makes us so complacent?

by Akshaya Mishra Oct 12, 2012

One woman gets raped every 22 minutes in India. One child gets raped in every 76 minutes. Only one in every four accused in the crime gets convicted. Between 1971 and 2011 cases of rape registered a 873 percent jump. That is the biggest among all categories of crime. This is the information provided by the National Crime Records Bureau data. Add to the dismal numbers the fact that most such cases go unreported due to social and other reasons.

We have a problem, a serious one. Only we won’t acknowledge it. That’s the reason we will reduce the recent rape cases in Haryana to media entertainment. Entertainment, yes, because what we don’t have, after a month these cases started surfacing, is a serious debate on the issue. The focus has consistently been on the peripherals – khaps finding a bizarre solution to the problem, loose remarks from politicians and political visits to the victims.

Pooja, mother of a 11-year-old who was raped and killed in Delhi. AFP.

There’s enough sarcasm going around for the solutions or perceived solutions offered by different sections. The khaps believe reducing the marriageable age of children will bring down cases of rape. This solution has backing of many in the political class. Others would call it solely a law and order problem and suggest heavy crackdown on the culprits as a remedy. Some would ask the girls to dress appropriately, conduct themselves in an acceptable manner and even stop using mobile phones.

All this nowhere come close to a solution but let’s face it, these are only expected responses from people with a limited worldview shaped by the reality of their existence. You cannot expect a khap panchayat to manufacture an enlightened opinion that is acceptable to the modern, liberal class. It’s possible they simply know of no other solution. The local politicians emerge out of the same stock, so their views are not likely to be too different either.

Let’s be clear that all rapes don’t happen in the social environment dominated by the khap panchayats. The menace is far too widespread. The Delhi-NCR region is called the rape capital of India. There is high incidence of rape in states like Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh too. People involved are not always uneducated people with little knowledge of the law. It’s possible that there is more awareness now and that’s why more and more victims are coming out to lodge complaints but the escalating numbers offer no confidence.

It’s a recorded fact that in a significantly high number of cases the rapists are usually friends or relatives. According to statistics nine out of 10 alleged culprits were known to the victim. No complaint was lodged as the victims’ families were worried about social shame. The cases that makes the flood of derision at a Hisar Congressman’s recent comment on rape of women is a bit misplaced.

“The girl gets into an affair with a boy and she goes with him without knowing that he is of criminal mindset. It’s not the state government which is responsible for rapes, in fact in most of the cases its consensual sex… In 90 percent cases, the girls and women initially accompany boys on their own and are later trapped in gang-rape by criminals,” he said. He is wrong in saying that rape is consensual – simply because if it is rape it cannot be consensual. But the other part of his observation is not too out of place. If so many rapes are taking place because of the proximity of the culprits and the victims, it’s only logical that a great degree of our attention towards addressing the problem should be directed here.

Unfortunately, we have no discussion on that. Worse, we have no solution at all coming from the chattering classes. Rape cases have several dimensions, social, criminal, psychological and gender discrimination. Can it be treated as a law and order problem alone? Certainly not. Even if it is, do we have enough sensitivity and expertise in our police mechanism to deal with such cases in a proper manner?

Much of our discourse on the subject is focussed on the policing aspect only. We need to have a more comprehensive approach. And it calls for an intelligent debate. The situation is surely going beyond control. It’s time we got serious.

Source: http://www.firstpost.com/india/a-rape-every-22-mins-what-makes-us-so-complacent-489080.html