Essay-Crimes against Women in India

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Hi friends, Today I would like to share about the topic crimes on female. In this world Almost every women has experienced the feeling of being mistreated, ignored, laughed at or discriminated against because of  her gender. In India, Various kinds of violence against women are eve-teasing, fraudulent marriage, adultery and enticement of married women abduction and kidnapping, women trafficking, sexual harassment to women not only at working place but also in every where, Acid attacks, abuse of not only elderly, but also on child.

In our country, we heard many cruel rape attempts named nirbhaya (a para medical student), 8 years old girl phatima and many more victims. It is very sad to hear that, below six year old girl is also attacked, 8 months old baby girl became a victim. It shows the brutality towards female. These offences are unforgivable, accused persons must be civiarly punished. Every day in News paper we have been watching no. of crimes against female. As per "survey by Trust Law" our country stands fourth place. How can we prevent these abuses, let us discuss in our essay friends. Prepare well, Thank you.

Topic: Crimes against Women in India

India is indeed a land of paradoxes, it is reflected more vividly in case of its women. An ancient civilization proudly proclaiming, “where women are worshipped, God will reside in that land”, where mothers are given a place higher than God,  yet it’s the same country which is the fourth most dangerous place for women to live in. All sorts of crime or violence, sometimes with unimaginable horror are found in this spiritual land. Rape, abduction, molestation, dowry torture often leading to death, honour killing, forced abortion, infanticide, forced marriage etc.. are prevalent in a large scale. What is more concerning is that we take them as a regular affair. This social attitude, combined with subordinate status of women, political indifference, police inaction and judicial lapses have aggravated the problem. The 16th December, 2012 (cruel rape on nirbhaya) Delhi incident, pushed the masses beyond their toleration limit and caused a nationwide outrage. Suddenly it shook the government from its deep slumber and in a hurry slew of legislative measures were passed. But it’s unlikely bring any material change unless backed by social awakening.

Crimes against women refers to those type of crimes which are particularly directed towards women due to their gender. It includes physical violence such as abduction, beating, torture, rape, assault, female infanticide, dowry related torture, immoral trafficking etc. UN convention for Prevention of  Violence Against Women defines violence against women as all acts leading to physical, sexual, psychological harm of women. Thus it now includes broader issues such as emotional abuse, depriving of economic liberty, maltreatment, intimidation etc. Women of every age group are subject to violence of one kind or the other, which of course are crimes. Incidents of such crimes in India is growing at a faster rate than our population.

But shockingly, a woman’s own close people appear to be her main enemy. About 40% of the reported crime in India are related to cruelty by husband or relatives. Even in rape cases, 98% of the culprits were known to the victims. In every 76 minutes, a dowry death occurs, perpetrated by her own in-laws. Domestic violence is seen as a routine and normal affair, a part and parcel of  happy married life.

Rampant gender selective abortion has skewed the sex ratio to 940 women to 1000 men. These missing million as described by Amartya Sen are finding more addition to these number every day. Under the age of six, sex ratio has fallen to 911 from 927 in last census. Thus violence is an inescapable part of a woman’s life starting from womb, continuing in childhood, adulthood and also in old age. Single woman, widows, diseased women, disabled women, divorced women, women without children are more vulnerable due to extra ordinary circumstances in which they are in. But the question is how we reached at this sorry state of affair? What impact does it have onour society and our development? How all these can be changed? We shall look into these questions one by one.

In early Vedic times, women had almost equal status with men due to the egalitarian nature of the society. But after that, there has been persistent decay in their in their status relegating them to a subordinate position of men. Although many prominent women can be cited but they were exception rather than the norm. Moreover these exceptions were found in the upper strata of the society. India‘s freedom movement encouraged women to come out of their centuries of four wall confinement. But this could not be continued after independence after independene especially in political and public sphere. Since liberalization women presence is visibly increasing in various sphere but not without facing many challenges.

The major problem starts form our family, where girls are considered as burden and due care is not given to their health and education. The deprivation of education makes her unfit to gain financial independence. With no say in any family decision making, they follow the lead of a man, be him her father, brother or husband. This subordinate status makes them vulnerable to all sorts of abuses and cruelty. Inability to protest further emboldens their masters and feeds to our patriarchal mindset.

This is often sustained by religious sanction to which even society gives a tacit approval. Practice of  Sati would be a right example. Thus family upbringing plus our tradition shapes the social attitude. The trauma of living in her mother‘s house after marriage forces a woman to put up with all torture by her in-laws. A deeply disturbed married life seems to be a better choice than a divorce life. And of course silence appears to be the right option creating a culture of silence. Because in the eyes of society always a woman is at fault, the burden of proof  lies on her.

Discrimination, apathy and terrorization has deeply effected our society and economy. Women are more caring for the health, nutrition and education of the children. But lack of financial liberty has cast a shadow on the prosperity of the family and of society. This explains why every second child in India is malnourished. It is rightly said that There can be no reformed society without a reformed home and there can be no reformed home without reformed woman.

Confinement in home has made a significant portion of our population economically idle. Their presence in public life is still very low. Neither Parliament nor any state legislature has women presentation exceeding 10%. All this has frustrated our attempt for social reform, national integration and certainly development. Government has undoubtedly taken many active steps. Our Constitution ensures equality irrespective of gender (article 14), prohibits discrimination (article 15), promises equal status and opportunity (article 16). Many legislations have been enacted to check crime against women and to ameliorate their position, such as IPC (Indian penal code), Domestic Violence (Prevention) act 2005, Child Marriage Restrain Act 1976, Medical Termination of  Pregnancy Act, Protection of women against sexual harassment at work place 2013, Dowry prohibition act 1961, Immoral trafficking prevention act and many more.

In addition to these there are many state legislation as well, since  law and order is a state subject. 73^rd and 74^th amendment have reserved one third seats of  local bodies. There is much noise about passing a legislation to reserve one third seats of lower houses of  Union and state legislatures. Many NGO’s and activists have supplemented to government effort. Students and youths have been particularly active through agitation, social media and virtually all possible avenue. Media has also significantly highlighted the issue raising public awareness to a new plane. But these plethora of  legislations alone have not and will not change the ground reality.  It needs a massive gender sensitization campaign including community, educational institutes, work place, police and armed forces, and also public servants.

In high schools sex education should be a part of the curriculum with gender equality being a major component. Due efforts need to be made to ensure attitudinal change of  juvenile offender through proper counselling. Ensuring sizable presence of women in police forces and  judiciary will somewhat balance the power equation. Much awaited police and judicial reform will be the key to swift justice. This will build trust among public in the system and also act as a deterrent. Last but not the least well must want change in the society, which will be driving force in this mission.

Even if she asks for justice ignoring or enduring the social stigma,  justice does not come so easily. Masculine attitude and the same gender stereotype plagues the police attitude, the first contact for a victim. Police, often overburdened with other tasks lacks the time, expertise or resources for a proper investigation. Hence conviction rates in these cases are abysmally low often ending in acquittal or some out of court settlement with the victim. Again the wheel of justice rolls very slowly, sometimes for 15-20 years. Such inordinate delay and expensive procedures hardly inspires faith in a victim for justice, but it‘s certainly an incentive for perpetrator to repeat. Politicians are perhaps least concerned about all these. Why should they? Women do not form a vote bank.  Moreover, many of them are facing charges of crimes against women.

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