ABSTRACT
In our nation, violence against women is a serious communal issue. This problem goes mostly unnoticed. Violence and abuse against women have a variety of causes and explanations. Whenever a crime against a woman occurs, an inept law enforcement administration is blamed for the increase in the number of complaints filed.
Even the most stringent regulation has little influence on the rising crime rate. It’s awful that there’s a social stigma attached to accepting various forms of violence against women. Rising levels of violence against women have resulted in psychological and physical problems. This paper attempts to raise awareness urging for a change in the attitude towards the women who have been the victim of different kinds of violence. It also mentions the conditions of women and how they have been suffering. It gives insights into the laws pertaining to cope gender violence. This paper analyses the rise of violence against women in the times of them past as well as scenarios of current times. The paper recommends ways to tackle gender violence as a bell of caution is being sounded in today’s time.
Keywords: Violence, Gendered, Psychological, Abuse, Victim.
INTRODUCTION
Crime against women is a deep-rooted and fascinating dichotomy in that it is the most universal human rights violation while also being the least reported. Whether at home or in the wider world, women in our patriarchal society have been subjected to many forms of discrimination. Since ancient times, women have been viewed as a weaker gender, making it simpler to perpetrate violence against them. They are made to feel extremely vulnerable, which encourages them to suffer. Women are exposed to ferocity committed by people whether at home or in the outside world. Our law protects women and gives her justice and provides them with equality. Our constitution ensures that people are not being subjected to any kind of unbiased treatment towards anyone.
According to Article 15 of the Constitution of India, there is a prohibition on discrimination on basis of gender and it in the same manner directs and empowers the administration to endeavor strict methods for females. Our constitution also grants women various rights, such as equitable treatment for all, but when it comes to putting these rights into practise, the government consistently fails. The Crimes committed against women have been an obstacle to the enhancement of the society and the condition is not unknown to anyone in power. If we look into the current times there has been an increase in violent cases especially rape. A report states that a total of 717 cases of rape were enumerated from January to May 2020, which elevated to 787 in the time period of 2021. The information tells that there has been a hike of 9.76 percent in rape cases during this time span.
If we go forward to 2021, when we must stay at home due to a pandemic, it will be difficult for women to raise their voices since at this time, women are obliged to stay at home and endure and suffer as they neglect to report crimes against their family members. Working women had to juggle employment and domestic responsibilities. For roughcasting the effect and obstacle deriving from economic uncertainty, the ladies turn out to be their target. During the Covid-19 pandemic, violence against women has taken several forms. This stems from women’s struggle to strike a balance between their personal and professional lives.
WOMEN’S STATUS AND THE CAUSES OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
The patriarchal laws and arrangements of societal practises, traditions, and norms allow for a clear identification of violence against women in both public and private life, raising a significant question regarding the lack of respect provided to women. Furthermore, it leads to a protracted and exhausting fight for justice. The economic, cultural, and religious structure of Indian society, which may be described as a bigot culture where women are harassed, beaten, and raped within homes, in the outer world, and even between the public, is really bad. The patriarchal beliefs even accept and elevate sex discrimination as well as violence against females irrespective of age. India has been a patriarchal-based society since time immemorial. Violence against women is ingrained inside the mindset of the families while degrading women as an object and treating women as an obstacle is just evidence of their mindset. The causes of violence against women are numerous. One of the grounds which steer to violence against women is the audacity of the criminal. Often, we see that the criminal’s mind reflects on himself to be exempted from the consequences of the violent acts that he has been unswerving. Some individuals are instinctive with the approach of controlling attitude which shall not be said to be dangerous as it arises under the realm of social conduct and ordinary disparity nature between individuals. There is a huge gender disparity in doing violence against women. Removing any kind of gender disparity means eliminating all types of inequality against women and eliminating obstructions that avoid women from being totally equal with all males and comprehending their Human Rights. One of the most extensive and universal obstacles is violence against women. These obstacles create havoc in the lives of the women and they come due to a lack of knowledge and awareness among individuals.
Women often feel obligated to be around harassing men because of unequal access to education across the country, and the severe lack of legal protection leaves them with no choice but to suffer at the hands of their maternal families in their homes. Women are frequently subjected to irrational behaviour, which weakens them as individuals and has negative consequences for their health. The important point to remember is that victims who have been harmed by criminals’ actions as a result of gender-based violence or any other form of based violence should not be found liable or blamed.
TYPES OF VIOLENCE
Women’s violence can be classified into several categories. These categories represent the various types of crimes that a woman may encounter throughout her life. Physical violence against women is not the only form of violence against women. It is a broad term that encompasses all forms of violence, including sexual, sensitive, psychological, and financial abuse. Any type of violence against women is not bearable and the criminals or offenders deserve punishments, imprisonments or even capital punishments should be provided to them if required. The effects of ferocity can be overwhelming to a woman’s generative fitness as well as to other features of her bodily and psychological well-being. In the accumulation of instigating injury, the violence upsurges women’s long-term danger, raising a lot of mental as well as physical health complications including chronic discomfort, disability and may put an end to her own life through depression. Mainly, violence ensues in three circumstances – at the household or to her own self, at the community level and the state and at each phase, the social establishments fulfil dangerous functions in upholding the violence .
Self-directed: Often we look at parents, lineages and even colleagues passing taunts and oppressing the females in their houses or while working with them. These taunts reflect how weak they are and sometimes even to women who were the victims of some kind of violence. These constant picking on the violence they went through leave a huge impact on their lives, sometimes making their life even more miserable and scarred forever. Emotional exploitation is causing injury to their self-respect and mentally harassing them verbally. Various women commit self-harm for a myriad of purposes, but when viewed in the context of their psychosocial and economic circumstances, it appears to be completely understandable behaviour that contributes to the women’s poor mental health.
Suicide is a major mental health concern, aside from self-abuse. It’s also crucial to remember that suicide is the consequence of a combination of factors in a person’s life, rather than a single incident or debate. They commit suicide because of the abuse they face, the harassment they go through, problems of marrying at an early age with shattered dreams, the fact that they are not allowed to marry outside family choices, not allowed to go outside late at night, body shaming and several other factors which make them feel insecure about themselves hurting their self-confidence. Apart from the pressure of society, there are also other heinous crimes like rape, acid attack, etc. which contribute to this.
Interpersonal violence: Any act of violence or aggression towards other women by known individuals or family members. Women are subjected to a variety of sorts of violence, and when it is perpetrated by someone they know, it tends to harm them significantly more and leave a lasting mark on their lives, whether it is physical abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment, or even honour killing. The Advocate Netra Jaisingh in the film Thappad, for example, very accurately captured the same emotional exploitation where her husband disparages her in every situation and tries to affront her life and dishonour her for the accomplishment she gained. Very frequently we see that how women get slapped or beaten and sometimes even burned by their husband and family for dowry money or even for doing any work in a wrong manner or for not obeying them in any way .
Reports even come out to show that women are being asked to do sexual acts or forced to have sex and if they do not obey, then they even get threatened by their husbands. These are examples of Interpersonal violence that a woman goes through in her life. Apart from these examples in some rural as well as in urban areas, we find the concept of early marriages which are not yet declared null and void but declared as voidable which often is not the case when women are on the other side. At home, these types of irrational behavior are either ignored or not talked about and women often abstain from standing against these acts because it appears to them as a matter of a little issue and not a big act of physical violence. Physical violence is time after time getting increased in our country especially when we see it in the current challenging times.
In the current scenarios of COVID-19, there has been a steady upsurge in the numbers of domestic violence throughout the globe and this has been the case in the previous few months. Various worldwide associations or organizations took the perception of a worldwide increase in domestic violence cases as a result of physical violence. Many states have reported a 15-30% increase in the number of violent actions requests acknowledged from those women who were suffering in locked places because of domestic violence. These issues need to be addressed by the authorities in charge.
Community Violence: Despite the country’s desire to prevent violence against women, it continues to be widespread in certain sections of the country. Rape, abuse, sexual harassment, acid assaults, female genital mutilation, and other forms of physical, sexual, and mental violence are all common in the community. India is regarded as one of the most dishonest countries in the world when it comes to sexual abuse against women. Victims of rape are gradually reporting the sexual assaults, abuses, and rapes that criminals have perpetrated against them. Women are becoming more self-governing and prepared, to reduce their likelihood to account for the crime that they are facing. Rape comprises a total of about 12% of all crimes that happen against women in our country. Our country’s average rate of rape cases that are reported is about 6.3% per 100,000 of the population. The issue about rapes happening is that about 99% of the cases of sexual abuse go unreported which creates it challenging to find the true figure of rape cases. These stats create it terrible for a female to live in such an atmosphere where the woman cannot even live by herself alone. These are just a few statistics related to rape apart from the other crimes which a woman goes through in her life. In India, the practice of Female Genital Mutilation is quite common and there are different socio-educational causes for genital mutilation, which differ from place to place. There is a profound injustice against females. Although there are different unconventional reasons given for genital mutilation. People still follow it because it has been followed as a tradition. Genital Mutilation is a chronic expression that has inhospitable effects on the emotional well-being of the sufferers. The harshness of the disfigurement relates to the harm suffered. Since anesthesia is hardly ever made available to the victim during the system there is severe discomfort. There are other various acute effects for example bleeding, swelling, etc. risking the well-being of the females and in some cases, they even die . Even the concept of acid attack is a dreadful attack and has been increasing nowadays. Men have given themselves an option to destroy the appearance and the life of women. The aim behind this criminal act is very rudimentary that is negation to do matrimonial, sex and passion, refusal to love offers, etc. to prompt the mentioned. Apart from all of this, women also experience violence in the form of honour killings, human trafficking, or prostitution, and in certain cases, HIV infection has manifested itself in their bodies. As sex trafficking has grown in popularity, females have become more vulnerable to HIV infection due to a lack of knowledge about high-risk sexual behaviours. Similarly, HIV transmission spreads by worldwide and instinctive sex trafficking.
GENDERED VIOLENCE OF WOMEN IN INDIAN LEGAL MECHANISM
The government recognises a variety of legislative frameworks aimed at ensuring women’s rights, instituting joint segregation on various forms of cruelty to women, and providing aid to working women who like to work late at night. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005 was passed to safeguard women in our country from all forms of domestic violence. It also protects all the women who have been or were entangled with the offender and are exposed to different kinds of violence.
Indian Penal Code (1860) contains preparations to defend women from the expenditure of attack, violence and other different types of offenses and the Code of Criminal Procedure (1973) also protects women from such acts of violence done to her. The Hindu Marriage Act
(1955) offered betrothal and allowed it on specific prearranged grounds. It gives proper rights to women with regards to marriage and separation if the women are not safe at their home or feel unsafe in their matrimonial house. Shariat (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act (1986) defends the Constitutional rights of Muslim women who have been alienated by or have attained beatings or violence in any form from their husbands.
The Dowry Prohibition Act (1961) prohibits the unkind or enchanting of dowry from her husband or even by her family members. Throughout the 1970s, many foreign nations have approved various legal procedures against Domestic Violence but in our nation, we contain a few legal procedures for the protection of the women from any kind of violence she has been subjected to. Further, during the period of the 1990s an attempt was put forth by the administration to permit the law for the safety of women from ferocity. But after bearing in mind the growing situations of crime against women in the country, the government finally passed the Domestic Violence Act in the year 2005. This law also included cruelty under Section 498A of IPC. This law was added to deal with crimes happening inside the home. But crimes were happening at workplaces as well and which is managed by the Act of Sexual Harassment.
The Act of Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act was passed in the year 2013. Further, the Supreme Court comprehended that we require such lawmaking after the case of Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan. This law was passed to give protection to women from any kind of sexual violence or harassment who were working. This legislation gives the provision of setting up of an internal committee at every organization for solving the problem of sexual violence on women at the workplace. The Act describes sexual abuse on women at her workplace through doing any physical or sexual violence. Apart from the law governing sexual harassment, the law also safeguards the women who are subjected to heinous crimes like rape.
According to Section 376 of the IPC, there are diverse types of enactments that will form as a constituent of rape. Section 375 provides details about a sexual offense of rape. There were a lot of insufficiencies in the enactment involving rape and it was suggested that some alterations are needed in law . Often, we see that women are hampered in terms of having proper admission to justice. There is a huge illiteracy rate among men or women and they also have social gaps which prevent them from going or taking any severe activities against the carnages faced by them. The Criminal Law Act was amended in 2013 which is also known as Nirbhaya Act and it was again amended in the Kathua rape case occasioned in the portrayal of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, which, for the first time, placed the death penalty as a possible sentence for the rape of a girl under the age of 12. Crimes like rape often take an angle of stalking which also in itself is a crime under the Information and Technology Act, 2000. which also safeguards women from stalkers and cybercriminals and protects their right to privacy and right to live with dignity. Cybercriminals are often seen to take obscene pictures of women, send them wrong and immoral comments and try to sexually abuse the women.
CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS PROTECTING WOMEN FROM VIOLENCE
Our government has incorporated the vast majority of constitutional law acts into its domestic law, despite the fact that it still needs to be improved in order to comply with international norms. Our women deserve to be treated equally, and Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees that they will be treated equally. We witness how rude it is when a woman is subjected to unfairness and unjust treatment at home or at work. They are frequently victims of horrible crimes and exploited on the outside.
This Right against Exploitation is professed under Article 23 of the Constitution where it states “Prohibitions on Human Trafficking and Forced Labor.” Human Trafficking points out the deal and buying of humans mostly for the aim of sexual oppression, forced sex work or forced labor. Another form of slavery is Beggar. This is a practice of forced employment that states forcing an individual to work for no reimbursement.
Therefore, Article 23 is an overly broad concept which safeguards an individual from doing any illegal work involuntarily. It also prohibits compelling a woman or child into prostitution. Articles 21 and 23 equally strengthen the responsibility of the nation to distinguish, release and reinstate liberated protected workers. The Constitution allows the government to make any special law for the protection of women against any kind of violence.
Therefore, Article 23 is an overly broad concept which safeguards an individual from doing any illegal work involuntarily. It also prohibits compelling a woman or child into prostitution. Articles 21 and 23 equally strengthen the responsibility of the nation to distinguish, release and reinstate liberated protected workers. The Constitution allows the government to make any special law for the protection of women against any kind of violence.
Women did not have various rights when compared with men in earlier times. There is also a big taboo that women are substantially weaker than men and because of this authenticity, they have been mistreated. Due to this type of perpetual ill behavior, the financial welfare of women has straightaway turned out to be categorically dreadful. The Constitution gives women the right to live and liberty and this liberty is taken away from their family, friends and workplaces as well.
INADEQUACY OF LEGAL PROVISIONS AND FEW RECOMMENDATIONS
Gender imbalance should be prioritised because it is a critical component of reducing violence against women. Promoting, safeguarding, and realising women’s human rights should be the mission statement. There should be norms and agendas in place to encourage women and men to learn as a means of achieving gender equality in society. Different activities can be implemented to create awareness about the elimination of gender disparity and the rise in violence against women. Apart from that, it will shape people’s perceptions on how to treat women. Violence will be reduced if the judiciary receives backing from the legislature and the government. We look into different kinds of punishments given for various crimes that are not as appropriate as that of the nature of the crime especially when we talk about the concept of rape and sexual assault on women. The punishment of these heinous crimes should be tremendous making some kind of statement for the offenders. The laws should be well enforced and the administration should ensure that women are not just safe at their home but even when they go for their work because we see a plethora of sexual harassment cases time after time by the people of the management of the organization. Unless there is adequate stress on growing sensitization at the workplaces as well, no legal improvement could be achieved.
From the case of Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan case, we can also see that the formation of the Sexual harassment committee will be able to help the agonize from any such incidents inside the workplace.
All the organizations which do the community work, associations of government, and NGOs should also advance and should spread their efforts in making awareness about reducing sexual harassment at workplaces.