Note that this article contains descriptions of sexual and physical violence, if you or anybody you know is affected by anything in this article, please visit https;//rapecrisis.org.uk.
The horrific Kolkata rape case has highlighted that, despite India’s growing global influence and blossoming economy, there is still significant progress needed in terms of educational reforms and policing. Women across the world, and specifically in the South Asian Subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), are not safe. This lack of safety is often rooted in primitive ideas about caste (e.g., Dalit rape cases), religion (e.g., Bilkis Bano and Kathua cases), or other justifications that criminals use to excuse their filthy actions. Governments must take stronger action against sexual violence and implement measures to ensure the safety of women. In India, however, the safety of its citizens, including women and ethnic minorities, does not seem to be a top concern for Prime Minister Modi. For instance, PM Modi previously approved the release of rapists involved in the Bilkis Bano case in 2022 and has endorsed Prajwal Revanna, a former MP accused of several rapes.
What is considered sexual crime or violence? According to the ECCHR, sexual crimes include rape, sexual assault, forced pregnancy, forced sterilisation, forced abortion, forced prostitution, sexual slavery, forced circumcision, genital mutilation or forced nudity.
In this article we will be focusing on this area of crime particularly in India. Sexual crime, specifically rape is one of the most common crimes in India and is defined as penile and non-penile penetration in bodily orifices without consent according to the Criminal Law Act 2013.
Over 32,000 rape cases were reported in both 2018 and 2019 with many of the individuals submitting these occurrences being deterred from any sort of further action. There are many barriers to achieving justice for the victims these can range from communal pressure to unhelpful/restricting attitudes of police.
While corruption is a factor as to why justice doesn’t always prevail (Bilkis Bano Case), the law in India itself explicitly allows martial rape as women are considered property of their husbands. This effectively makes the husband immune to any cases of sexual violence against his wife. Despite the shortcomings of the law in India, international law set by the United Nations calls for eliminating discrimination against all women and girls in public and private spheres, including sexual violence. Now whilst it is important to acknowledge that sexual violence can be inflicted on anyone regardless of gender, in this article we are focusing on sexual violence in India where the vast majority of sexual violence is conducted on women.
India ranks 87th out of 144 countries in terms of gender equality and a contributing factor to the violence against women is the caste system. This system is the hierarchal system which most of the country operates through, the lower you are in the caste the more socially disadvantaged you are. Originally comprised of 4 levels, a 5th level has emerged recently meaning even harsher social conditions, this is in line with the statistics reporting that compared to ~24,000 cases in 2011 there had been a surge of over 10,00 in 4 years’ time as there was a reported ~34,600 cases in 2015. The number of cases remains above 30,000 in 2022 with 2023 not being completely reported as of yet.
To conclude, sexual violence is an issue worldwide and not India alone it is imperative to understand there has been a rise in sexual violence in India and that the cultural and societal settings have produced a tougher and unique situation which makes tackling these crimes all the more difficult.