Raise The Clarion Call In 2020 To Protect The Women & The Girl Child In India Against Crime

There is an imperative need to seriously initiate measures to protect the women and the girl child in a India.  Prey is the motive word when it comes to crime against women. This is because in our societies particularly in India the male dominates and to exercise as well as reinstate that domination, he 'preys' on women and children particularly the girl-child. This picture has not changed over the years though we hear about women empowerment and liberation which is limited to a very small extent of minuscule urban, educated and accomplished woman. Crime against women and the girl-child otherwise occurs relentlessly across the country with the male on the hunt looking for prey and pounces on the unwary, gullible and defenceless female gender randomly when opportunity arises irrespective of time and place. Even the assumption of the insulation against crime that is believed against the urban, educated and accomplished woman is shaken when they personally encounter attacks, which is when the glass screen shatters and they are left cowering helplessly in front of the perpetrator like any other victim of the female gender.This is all the more necessary in the context of the Nirbhaya like rape-murder-set on fire incident in Hyderabad lately followed thereafter with the Unnao incident in UP where both girls met with horrifying deaths. 

Even after these incidents we are seeing in our newspapers rape cases of equivalent bestiality occurring across the country with metronomic regularity. The police and the civil authorities are indifferent to these cases and many a time act as obstacles to victims who seek help and redress to book and bring the perpetrators to justice. This blindsidedness to the problem cannot but lead one to believe that our society as a whole does not seem to consider women's safety as an important issue and is intrinsically patriarchal in its approach in continuing to allow this problem to pester. The attitude of our society more so our women is that as long as it has not happened to them or anyone they know like near family or friends, then they are least bothered about it. 

This positioning of soceity's thinking is logical if you consider that after 2012 when the Nirbhaya incident occurred outrage followed in all sections of Indian society and pious words of sympathy and resolve were mouthed by all and sundry including politicians with the promise that the attackers would be punished exemplarily, our justice system  would be fast-tracked for delivery of sentences and existing laws strengthened and made harsher for crimes against women. Despite these high-sounding proclamations in the Nirbhaya case, though death sentencing has been announced for the attackers, even after 7 years they continue to remain in prison and it is the girl's family that has to chase our justice system to implement the death sentence. Not only that during the time the rapists were incarcerated in Tihar jail awaiting trial and sentencing, permission was given to foreign TV agencies to interview them which opportunity they used with rare gusto and boasted about their action in raping the poor girl. Lately one of the attackers had the impudence to state to the press that the girl, Nirbhaya, had no business to be out on the roads that late in the night implying that the girl deserved to be raped and assuming thus the garb of moral arbiter. In the present fever charged atmosphere that is pervading the nation, it is not unlikely that such perverted logic may even find favour and used to seek reprieve for the rapists. It was also lately in the press that Nirbhaya's male companion on that fateful night used to charge for TV appearances under the specious plea that he also had to make a living. There is therefore a need to change this psychology wherein crimes against women and children are perpetrated with freedom and assumed impunity. 

There is a further reason to raise the issue of crime against women and the girl-child since recent data put out by the State governments across the country show that the Nirbhaya Fund set up to provide financial assistance to help rehabilitate rape victims has been not at all used or if used to minuscule amounts in each of the States. The worst part is that in some of the States these funds have been appropriated and diverted towards other uses.

To try and understand this problem the author made his own study based on data taken from 8 newspapers, both national and regional, and recorded 674 incidents of crime against women and the girl-child that occurred over a period of 1 year, June 2018 to May 2019. The attached analysis is presented based on that data which can be furnished on request both processed as well as the raw data. 

In the State wise distribution of crime, as against the NCRB data for 2017 and over the 2015-17 period that shows the States of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, UP, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Maharasthra and Odisha as the Worst 7, the analysis in the current period over 2018-19 shows Maharasthra, UP, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal along with Karnataka tied at joint 5th. Where Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and UP figure in both lists, we see Maharasthra, Goa, West Bengal and Karnataka emerge as centres for attacks on women and the girl-child. Though in the 2018-19 listing the number of incidents in Maharasthra (72) and UP (63) are in the same range, the cases in Goa (36), MP (27), West Bengal (22) and Karnataka (22) are almost half or even less than that. 

The disturbing trend in the recent survey - 2018-19 - however is the urbanisation of crime against women and the girl-child as can be seen in the table below: 

I. CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN AND THE GIRL-CHILD

BY MAJOR METRO CITIES:                                                                                           No. of Incidents                      % of Total                                      City (State)

1. Mumbai.                            141 (72)                             20.91        2. Bengaluru                          54 (22)                               8.01 3. Delhi                                    47 (47)                               6.97 4. Kolkata                                19 (22)                               2.82 5. Chennai                                 3 (6)                                 0.04

Mumbai tops the list with the number of incidents accounting more than the aggregate of all other cities put together and is also close to two and half times of the 2nd city, Bengaluru. It is also almost double than the number of incidents within Maharasthra. The same trend reflects for Bengaluru. These two cities, Mumbai and Bengaluru, represent the old and the new face of rapid urbanisation in India. Mumbai though continues to expand through its suburbs in the urbanisation context. The next on the above list is Delhi at No. 3. Kolkata has the same number of cases as in the rest of West Bengal indicative that the trend of crime against women and the girl-child maybe catching on in the city as is happening in other States. Chennai at No. 5  is relatively safe as is the rest of Tamil Nadu. 

In contrast to this the NCRB data for 2017 and over the 2015-17 period positions Delhi, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Pune, Patna, Nagpur and Jaipur in the Top 7 positions for crime against women and the girl-child (children). Mumbai does not figure at all in this list which is rather surprising. It is also not possible that a spurt of crime has occurred after the start of 2018. This needs some investigation as to why Maximum City Mumbai also leads in the Maximum  Crime against women and the girl-child. 

Thus we see that the incidence of crimes is heavily biased toward the metro cities with Mumbai taking the lead. This leads one to the inference that with more urbanisation, crimes against women increase. Comparing the crimes in the Metro cities to their respective States, one would believe that rural areas are safer for women. More so because the data related to 2nd level cities and towns like Pune, Vishakapatnam, Indore, Jaipur, Chandigarh etc. are included in the States category. Assuming that urbanisation is related to more crimes against women, then the tally of the crime in rural areas further reduces if we eliminate the smaller towns and cities data from the States data. From the 674 incidents recorded in the survey, one finds  about 80% occurred in metropolitan, urban or rapidly urbanising areas and only the rest are from rural areas. 

But the question is are our rural areas so safe for our women? Here there could be many issues in the context of the present survey based on newspaper reports. More regional papers may have had to be taken. There could be many other reasons like news coverage of rural areas being poor, only the most lurid crimes are seen in print, many of the crimes are suppressed because of fear of caste or economic repression, crimes may not be registered by the police etc. if this is assumed to be correct then we have a cause for more concern since this would presume that the figures of crimes against women and the girl-child across the country could be higher than that recorded in this survey.

As expected rape tops by far the spectrum of crimes in the survey followed by sexual harassment, molestation and gang rape, which aggregate almost 92% of all crime  against women and the girl-child. These are all sex or gender related crime. Murder is next less for gain, revenge etc. but more to cover up the crime against the women, mostly identity of the offender, who thus tries to escape scot-free. Suicide at about 2% is seen more to hide shame by the sex-related crime victim. The other categories  of crime against women like set on fire, acid thrown, beaten up, paraded naked etc. is random in the incidence of it at 5%. Caste related crime against women does not seem to be high and is below 1% since the perception of any woman as an object of sexual gratification tends to be higher in the eye of the offender than the caste of the woman. Where such crimes can be labelled caste related it is seen more in the rural areas and it is more the family of the victim and/or the local community/village that tends to be the offender. 

Unusual in this record of crimes against women is the case of young girls from pre-puberty groomed for prostitution or to be like the devadasis - women of pleasure, in the Yadadri town, about 70 Km. from Hyderabad, in Telengana.  This establishes the fact that this form of sex slavery continues but adapted to the modern format. Another record is a woman teacher in Tamil Nadu molesting boys, nearing puberty,  from her class by meeting them outside the school and gifting them for giving her sexual gratification. The teacher was married and with a child and her husband was the complainant. The local authorities found it hard to firstly believe the complaint and then accept it. The author was also in a dilemma whether it should go into a record titled Crimes Against Women since essentially it is a crime against young boys.

In the survey with the dominant crime committed against women and the girl-child being rape, we see the age group of 19-60 years is the one which is the most frequent to be attacked. However, the age group of 11-18 years seems to be at almost 32% quite high which is the impressionable and school/early college going age. Even at 11% the rape and crimes against the girl-child below 10 years of age speaks of the depravity of the Indian male.Though in that sense rape in this survey record has been seen committed from ages ranging from 2 years to 100 years.

This survey positions that majority - 57% - of the crimes that happen against women and the girl-child occur within the locality or known environments of the victim which they regularly use or pass through in their day to day lives. Again like with the phrase that the enemy lies within, most of the crimes are committed within the home - 33% - where the attacker is known to the victim or has mostly obtained the confidence of the victim to gain access into the home. We see also a large number of cases - 6% - occur mostly of rape in the premises of places of learning like schools, colleges and universities. Thus where it was earlier assumed that educational institutions are safe, we find that nowadays it is no longer so" and the child or woman attending/working in these institutions are exposed to risk of crime against them. In some of the cases where the victims were school children, the cases have come to light because of the initiatives of NGO's and police to educate the children on 'good touch - bad touch'. These programs should be held regularly and their scope expanded to cover more schools. Places like remand homes or women's hostels as we see are not safe and the inmates are preyed upon by the self-same people who have been entrusted with the task of protecting them. Religious places like temples are not exempt from the activities of the criminals and we have rapes occurring within the premises of religious places. 

As identified in the survey, 58% of the crimes against women and the girl-child occur with people known to them and from those within the family like near relatives - 12% - even father and stepfather in cases of rape. The crimes committed by those not known to the victim - 42% - are mostly random and related to the availability of opportunity.

Thus according to the survey most of the crimes  against women and the girl-child in India are predominantly in urban locales, with rape being the predominant weapon against the woman who has reached puberty and is school and college going and/or being in a productive stage of sexual development, with the attacker being mostly known to the victim and happening within the home or locality that the victim normally frequents in her day-to-day activities. 

Thus to combat this we need to implement the following recommendations:

1. Building Awareness & Education: 

   In certain Metro Cities like Mumbai awareness classes are being conducted on the

   'Good Touch - Bad Touch' in schools by the Police and NGO'S to girl students which  

   has resulted in some victims coming out of their shell and complaining against some 

   of the person/s who are/have been assaulting them. These persons have been 

   arrested and the victims saved from their ordeal. It is suggested that the scope of

   such classes are expanded to cover all schools and junior college. Similar classes can 

   also be held for male students across India. This program will help expose current 

   trauma that the girl students may be facing (as also the boy students, since some 

   instances of sodomy have also been reported) and also inculcate in the students the 

   awareness of sexual gestures and overtures. Through these efforts we can inculcate 

   mutual respect between genders at a young age. That the female gender may at some 

   times need to be protected can also be brought home to the boys. The classes can be 

   held separately for each gender and be made interactive in the format of group 

   counselling sessions. 

   The women and girl-children are attacked within the home which problem needs to  

    be addressed by bringing more awareness about it through our DAVP programs run 

    by the government in the past like the family planning programs, hum do hamare do, 

    beti bachao etc. As the visual publicity programs bring this problem out in the open, it 

    will foster discussion among the people and persons in the family would become 

    wary, particularly elders, and keep a protective eye on the girl-child. We need to 

    remembe that older women have the assumed ability to counter assaults on them 

    while the girl-child is the soft target and needs to be more taken care of.  

2. Self-Protection: 

    Since we see instances of crime against women and the girl-child, are more in the 

    home or locality and from people known to them. There is therefore a need for the 

    women to take precautions while they are at home to look after their own safety and 

    security. They can seek protection from unknown visitors or people they are not

    comfortable with by seeking help from friends and neighbours during their 

    interactions with them. 

   

3. Community Involvement:

     

    With most crimes against women and the girl-child happening within their locality or

     familiar areas, they should keep an eye out on the surroundings to be aware and 

     anticipate any danger to themselves or their children. We may also think of pro-

     active locality watch groups with the participation of citizens to ward off danger to 

     women and children and who can come to their assistance in the event of attack. 

 4. Institutional & Government Support: 

     The girl-child is attacked when alone in the home or outside the home without 

     supervision. It is therefore suggested in both rural and urban areas that the

     government in association with NGO's set up crèches or shelters where the girls can 

     come after school and spend time there. These shelters should provide facilities for 

     the girls to finish their school work and after that learn skills that they are interested     

     in. These could range from simple stitching, knitting to computer awareness, which

     skill set can be expanded once implemented. The girls arrival at the shelters is 

     optional since if there are elders at home they can be exempted. Also the age group

     could be 3-16 years at the shelters with those upto 18 years given the choice to 

     come or not. The girls could in the evening be picked up by the parents or the older 

     girls leave on their own for home. These shelters in a broader perspective will foster 

     friendship among the children and improve community spirit and evolve into centres 

     of well-being and generate good, wholesome activity.

 5. Police Support: 

      The police need to be more sensitive and sympathetic to rape victims and 

      facilitate quicker and easier registration of cases. There is also a need to expand the 

      number of all-women police stations and also increase the women in the police force

      so that female gender related cases of crime are handled without fear, confrontation 

      and animosity when victims approach the police.

     An important thing would be to ask the police to have regular beats or have police

     jeeps parked for specific times  within attack-prone localities or in deserted areas 

     so that trouble makers would be more careful to even think of attacking women or 

     children. This should be done more in urban areas which we have seen are more the 

     areas of attack. 

6.  Legislative & Judicial Support:

     The rape laws have been amended to provide for the death penalty when the victim 

      is a minor. This has to be amended so that all rapists are given the death penalty.

     The government has come out with a stipulation to all States, including the Chief 

     Justices and the respective police to investigate and bring to justice all rape cases 

     within 2 months of occurrence. One wonders if this is practical since one would 

     believe a time span of 6 months is more practical which can be shortened by the

     police depending on progress in each case. Timelines have to be strictly  

     implemented in rape cases so that the seriousness of the government in handling 

     this matter is established and it acts as a deterrent and reduces the incidence of 

     rape. It also has to be ensured that once the cases are brought to court, they do not 

     dawdle there and justice is also meted out in a time bound manner. 

7.  Long Term Issue:

    There is a broader aspect in the cases of crime against women and the girl-child  

    among which rape is becoming seemingly a predominantly urban phenomena. The 

    reason for that are many, among which are rapid urbanisation, rural unemployment,

    failure of agriculture in some years, etc. This has resulted in men from the rural areas

    flocking to urban areas leaving their families at home and staying in the mushrooming

    slums that dominate our growing cities and rapidly urbanising India. The primary

    objective in this forced migration is to seek employment. The men away from their

    families and with no recourse to satisfying their sexual urges, prey on the proximate 

    woman or the girl-child. We need to reverse this migratory trend and keep our people  

    particularly men-folk in or near their villages or small towns. With the men near their 

    families the incidence of rape in urban areas will possibly reduce. It will also

    substantially reduce the growth of slums and crime in our Metro cities and other 

    urban areas. This halt and reversal of migration pattern will not happen overnight and    

    requires strong support from the government to create the policies, infrastructure 

    and environment which will encourage the menfolk to remain closer to their original 

    homes. This will be a generational change and will take at the least another 15-20 

    years but the time to start is now. Implementing this will reduce the population 

    pressures in our cities, reduce congestion and pollution. At the same time it will allow 

    rural areas to prosper more and achieve a better quality of life. 

    Let therefore 2020 be the game changing year in starting the protection of our 

    women and the girl-child so that our society can give them a safe environment for 

    them to live, learn, thrive and prosper in a new India that is in a gender framework 

    more equitable to the female sex. 

                                              ******************************

          

Analysis of Crimes Against Women & The Girl-Child From Data As Given In The Previous Post
———————————————————————————————————————

Study On Crimes Against Women  &  The Girl - Child In India:

Done by : Srinivas Kamat

Prey is the motive word when it comes to crime against women. This is because in our societies particularly in India the male dominates and to exercise as well as reinstate that domination, he 'preys' on women and children particularly the girl-child. This picture has not changed over the years though we hear about women empowerment and liberation which is limited to a very small extent of minuscule urban, educated and accomplished woman. Crime against women and the girl-child otherwise occurs relentlessly with the male on the hunt looking for prey and pounces on the unwary, gullible and defenceless female gender randomly when opportunity arises irrespective of time and place. Even the assumption of the insulation against crime that is believed against the urban, educated and accomplished woman is shaken when they personally encounter attacks, which is when the glass screen shatters and they are left cowering helplessly in front of the perpetrator like any other victim of the female gender.

The reason for doing this study was that the author was deeply disturbed in 2012 when the Nirbhaya incident occurred where an innocent girl in the prime of life was attacked by goons in the middle of our capital city, Delhi with unimaginable bestiality and who lost her life as a consequence of the bestiality and violence inflicted upon her. Outrage followed in all sections of Indian society and pious words of sympathy and resolve were mouthed by all and sundry including politicians with the promise that the attackers would be punished exemplarily, our justice system would be fast-tracked for delivery of sentences and existing laws strengthened and made harsher for crimes against women. Despite these high-sounding proclamations in the Nirbhaya case, though death sentencing has been announced for the attackers, even after 7 years they continue to remain in prison and it is the girl's family that has to chase our justice system to implement the death sentence. Not only that during the time the rapists were incarcerated in Tihar jail awaiting trial and sentencing, permission was given to foreign TV agencies to interview them which opportunity they used with rare gusto and boasted about their action in raping the poor girl. It was also lately in the press that Nirbhaya's male companion on that fateful night used to charge for TV appearances under the specious plea that he also had to make a living. After Nirbhaya, rapes and crimes against women continued across the country with monotonous regularity and there was no let-up on either the frequency of incidence or the extent of inhumaneness meted out to the poor victims though the succeeding incidents did not approximate the horror of Nirbhaya. There is therefore a need to change this psychology wherein crimes against women and children are perpetrated with freedom and assumed impunity are to reduce. 

This is all the more necessary in the context of the Nirbhaya like rape-murder-set on fire incident in Hyderabad in this month, Dec 2019 followed thereafter with the Unnao incident in UP where both girls met with horrifying deaths. In these one needs to adapt a popular T-shirt with graffiti on it to reflect the prevailing environment and sentiment in the country:

EAT

SLEEP 

LOVE

RAPE

SPEECH

REPEAT

The attached analysis is presented covering 674 incidents over 1 year's time, June 2018 to May 2019, with data culled from 8 newspapers across India that establishes a pattern of the crimes against women and the girl-child. 

Total Incidents: 674

Period: 1 year (June 2018 to May 2019)

Source : Newspapers 

Times of India, Mumbai & Goa; Asian Age, Mumbai; The Statesman, Delhi; The Telegraph, Kolkata; The Deccan Herald, Bengaluru; The Navhind Times & The Herald, Goa.

I. CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN AND THE GIRL-CHILD

BY MAJOR METRO CITIES:                                                No. of Incidents                      % of Total

1. Mumbai.                            141                                       20.91 2. Bengaluru                            54                                         8.01 3. Delhi                                     47                                         6.97 4. Kolkata                                 19                                         2.82 5. Chennai                                  3                                         0.04

BY STATES:  A. MAHARASHTRA                 72                                       10.68 B. UTTAR PRADESH                63                                         9.34 C. GOA                                      36                                        5.34 D. MADHYA PRADESH            27                                        4.00 E.1. WEST BENGAL                  22                                         3.26     2. KARNATAKA                    22                                        3.26         F. HARYANA                             19                                        2.82 G.1. RAJASTHAN                      18                                        2.67     2. BIHAR                                18                                        2.67     3. ORISSA                              18                                        2.67 H.1. UTTARAKHAND                  8                                        1.19     2. KERALA                                8                                        1.19 I.1. GUJARAT                               7                                        1.04   2. PUNJAB                                 7                                        1.04   3. N.A.                                        7                                        1.04 J.1. TAMIL NADU                        6                                        0.89    2. TELANGANA                        6                                         0.89 K.1. ANDHRA PRADESH            5                                         0.74     2. CHATTISGARH                   5                                          0.74 L.1. ASSAM                                 4                                          0.59     2. JHARKHAND                      4                                          0.59 M. J&K                                        3                                          0.45 N. HIMACHAL PRADESH           2                                          0.30 O.1. TRIPURA                  :           1                                          0.15

Notes:

1. States not mentioned here means they were not in the press reports leading  

    one to the conclusion that there were no crimes against women in these 

    States (!) or were not reported or not covered. This is possible for the North 

    East States of which news coverage is rather scanty in the national press.

2. Mumbai and Maharasthra are on the top of the list possibly because the 

    newspapers chosen for the West, TOI and Asian Age along with 2 Goan 

    papers, are more in number compared to those taken from other regions.

    Apart from this during the time this survey was being done TOI was 

    running a special focus on Crimes Against Women. The same logic 

    possibly applies to Goa figuring at #3 on the States list since 2 Goan 

    papers were taken as source. 

3. N.A. : Not Available. This arose because possibly of no mention of the 

    States in the news reports or due to oversight of the author while recording 

    the data. At 1% it will not dramatically change the order of the States on the 

    list.

4. The incidence of crimes is heavily biased toward the metro cities with 

    Mumbai, the Maximum City, taking the lead. This leads to the inference that with more  

    urbanisation, crimes against women increase. Comparing the crimes in 

    the Metro cities to their respective States, one would believe that rural 

    areas are safer for women. More so because the data related to 2nd level 

    cities and towns are included in the States category. Assuming that 

    urbanisation is related to more crimes against women, then the tally 

    of the crime in rural areas further reduces if we eliminate the smaller towns and

    cities data. Are our rural areas so safe for our women? Here there could be many issues :  

    Like news coverage of rural areas being poor and only the most lurid crimes 

    are seen in print, many of the crimes are suppressed because of fear of caste

    or economic repression, crimes may not be registered by the police etc. etc. 

    This would presume that the figures of crimes against women across the country 

    could be higher than that recorded in this survey.

                   

5. Even in Metro cities, Mumbai dominates with the incidents being even

    higher than all the other cities put together and being double of the 2nd

    placed city. This is not what is apparent since women in Mumbai move    

    about freely compared to other cities. Is that the reason they get attacked 

    more? The other reason could be the congestion in the urban sprawl and 

    the proliferation of slums in Mumbai for the higher crime against women.

    Thus will we see progressively increased crime in our cities as 

    urbanisation intensifies though moderated by local behavioural 

    characteristics?

6. Among States, Uttar Pradesh is the lone State which seems to uphold 

    the banner of North India not being safe for women but otherwise crimes 

    against women seem to be evenly spread across the country. The 

    surprise is that Goa has emerged as No. 3 Unsafe State for women. On 

    the surface it does not seem so in Goa but what lurks below the surface 

    cannot be negated and figures do not lie. 

II. CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN AND THE GIRL-CHILD BY CATEGORY:

                                                             No. of Incidents                    % of Total

A. Rape                                                        363                                    53.86

B. Gang Rape                                              102                                    15.13

C. Molestation                                            120                                    17.80

D. Sexual Harassment.                               137                                    20.33

E. Murder                                                      96                                     14.24

F. Suicide                                                       15                                      2.23

G. Others                                                       33                                      4.90

      (Beaten up, Paraded 

        Naked, Set on fire,

        Acid thrown, Kidnap,

        Attempted Murder,

        Cheating etc.)

H. Caste Related                                             4                                      0.60

                    

Notes:

As expected rape tops by far the spectrum of crimes against women.  Followed by sexual harassment, molestation and gang rape in that order. Murder comes then, less for gain but more to cover up the crime, mostly identity of the offender, and thus try to escape scot-free. Suicide is seen more to hide shame by the victim. The Others category is random in the incidence of the different types of offences listed under it. Caste related crime against women does not seem to be high since any woman as an object of sexual gratification tends to be higher in the perception of the offender. Where such crimes can be labelled caste related, it is more the family of the victim and/or the local community/village that tends to be the offender.

Unusual in this record of crimes against women is the case of young girls from pre-puberty groomed for prostitution or to be like the devadasis - women of pleasure, in the Yadadri town, about 70 Km. from Hyderabad, in Telengana (Sl. No. 128 of the Database).  Another record is a woman teacher in Tamil Nadu molesting boys, nearing puberty,  from her class by meeting them outside the school and gifting them for giving her gratification. The teacher is married and with a child and her husband is the complainant, which complaint the local authorities found it hard to firstly believe and then accept. I was also in a dilemma whether it should go into a record titled Crimes Against Women since essentially it is a crime against young boys. (Sl. No. 426 of the Database)

III. CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN AND THE GIRL-CHILD BY AGE GROUP:

                                                             No. of Incidents                    % of Total

A. Below 5 Years                                          28                                        4.15

B. 5 - 10 Years                                              49                                        7.27

C. 11 - 15 Years                                          107                                      15.88

D. 16 - 18 Years                                          106                                      15.73

E.  19 - 60 Years                                          376                                      55.79

F.  Above 60 Years                                        10                                        1.48

G. N.A.                                                           16                                         2.37

Notes: 

With the dominant crime committed against women and children being rape, we see the age group of 19-60 years is the most frequent. Though rape in this record has been committed from ages ranging from 2 years (Sl. No. 164 & 171 of the Database) to 100 years (Sl. No. 145 of the Database).

IV. CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN AND THE GIRL-CHILD BY :      BY LOCATION OF THE CRIME:

                                                             No. of Incidents                    % of Total

A. Home                                                      219                                        32.49

B. Locality                                                  382                                        56.68

C. Place of Learning                                  37                                           5.49

D. Remand Home                                        21                                            3.12

E. Religious Places                                     10                                           1.48

Notes:

Majority of the crimes that happen against women and children occur within the locality or known environments of the victim which they regularly use or pass through in their day to day lives. Again like with the phrase that the enemy lies within, most of the crimes are committed within the home where the attacker is known to the victim or has mostly obtained the confidence of the victim to gain access into the home. About being known to the victim, we will address the issue in the next table. We see also a large number of cases occur mostly of rape in the premises of places of learning like schools, colleges and universities. Thus where it was earlier assumed that educational institutions are safe, we find that nowadays it is no longer safe and the child or woman working in these institutions are exposed to risk of crime against them. In some of the cases where the victims were school children, the cases have come to light because of the initiatives of NGO's and police to educate the children on 'good touch - bad touch'. These programs should be held regularly and their scope expanded to cover more schools. Places like remand homes or women's hostels as we see are not safe and the inmates are preyed upon by the self-same people who have been entrusted with the task of protecting them. Religious places like temples are not exempt from the activities of the criminals and we have rapes occurring within the premises of religious places. 

V. CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN AND THE GIRL-CHILD:     BY PEOPLE KNOWN TO THEM OR NOT:

                                                            No. of Incidents                    % of Total

A.1. Known                                                     388                                  57.57       

    2. Relative                                                     78                                  11.57  

B. Not Known                                                 286                                  42.43      

Notes:

Majority of the crimes that happen against women and children occur with people known to them and from those within the family like near relatives even father and stepfather in cases of rape. The crimes committed by those not known to the victim are mostly random and related to the availability of opportunity.

RECOMMENDATIONS: 

1. In certain Metro Cities like Mumbai awareness classes are being conducted on the

    'Good Touch - Bad Touch' in schools by the Mumbai Police and NGO'S to girl students 

     which has resulted in some victims coming out of their shell and complaining against some 

     person/s who are/have been assaulting them. These persons have been arrested and 

     the victims saved from their ordeal. It is suggested that the scope of such classes are 

     expanded to cover all schools and also to include boy students across India. This 

     program will help expose current trauma that the girl students may be facing (as also 

     the boys, since some instances of sodomy have also been reported) and also inculcate in the 

     students the awareness of sexual gestures and overtures. Through these efforts we can build 

     the need of having mutual respect between genders.

     That the female gender may at some times need to be protected can also be brought home 

     to the boys. The classes can be held separately for each gender and be made interactive in 

     the format of group counselling sessions. 

2. If one sees the instances of crime against women and the girl-child, we have seen it is more in 

    the home or locality and from people known to them. There is therefore a need for the women

    to take precautions while they are at home to secure the doors etc. and not allow people in, with 

    whom they are not comfortable. Again when they are out in the locality, they should keep an eye 

    out on the surroundings to be aware and anticipate any danger to themselves or their children. We 

    may also think of pro-active locality watch with the participation of citizens to ward off danger to 

    women and children and to come to their assistance in the event of attack. An important thing 

    would be to ask the police to have regular beats or have police jeeps parked for specific times   

    within attack-prone localities or in deserted areas so that trouble makers would be more careful 

    to even think of attacking women or children.  

3. The girl-child is attacked when alone in the home or outside the home without supervision. It is

     therefore suggested in both rural and urban areas that the government in association with NGO's 

     set up crèches or shelters where the girls can come after school and spend time there. These 

     shelters should provide facilities for the girls to finish their school work and after that learn skills

     that they are interested in. These could range from simple stitching, knitting to computer 

     awareness, which skill set can be expanded once implemented. The girls arrival at the shelters is 

     optional since if there are elders at home they can be exempted. Also the age group could be 

     3-16 years at the shelters with those upto 18 years given the choice to come. The girls could in 

     the evening be picked up by the parents or the older girls leave on their own for home. These 

     shelters in a broader perspective will foster friendship among the children and improve 

     community spirit and evolve into centres of well-being and generate good, wholesome 

     activity.

4. The women and girl-children are attacked within the home which problem needs to be 

     addressed by bringing more awareness about it through our DAVP programs run by the

     government in the past like the family planning programs, hum do hamare do, beti bachao

     etc. As the ad programs bring this problem out in the open, it will foster discussion among

     the people and persons in the family would become wary, particular elders, and keep a 

     protective eye on the girl-child. We need to remember that older women have the assumed 

     ability to counter assaults on them while the girl-child is the soft target and needs to be

     more taken care of.  

5.  The rape laws have been amended to provide for the death penalty when the victim is a minor.

      This has to be amended so that all rapists are given the death penalty.

6. The government has come out with a stipulation to all States, including the Chief Justices 

     and the respective police to investigate and bring to justice all rape cases within 2 months 

     of occurrence. One wonders if this is practical since one would believe a time span of 6 

     months is more practical which can be shortened by the police depending on progress in 

     each case. Timelines have to be strictly implemented in rape cases so that the seriousness

     of the government in handling this matter is established and it acts as a deterrent and reduces 

     the incidence of rape. It also has to be ensured that once the cases are brought to court, they

     do not dawdle there and justice is also meted out in a time bound manner. 

7. There is a broader aspect in the cases of crime against women and the girl-child and that is rape 

    is becoming seemingly a predominantly urban phenomena. The reason for that are many,

    among which are rapid urbanisation, rural unemployment, failure of agriculture in some years, etc.

    This has resulted in men from the rural areas flocking to urban areas leaving their families at 

     home and staying in the mushrooming slums that dominate our growing cities and rapidly

     urbanising India. The primary objective in this forced migration is to seek employment. 

     The men away from their families and with no recourse in satisfying their sexual urges, 

     prey on the proximate woman or the girl-child. We need to reverse this trend and keep our

     people particularly men-folk in or near their villages or small towns. 

     With them near their families the incidence of rape in urban areas will possibly reduce. 

     It will also substantially reduce the growth of sums and crime in our Metro cities. This 

     reversal of migration pattern will not happen overnight and requires strong support from the

     government to create the policies, infrastructure and environment which will encourage the 

     menfolk to remain closer to their original homes. This will be a generational change and will 

     take at the least another 15-20 years but the time to start is now.

     

 ANNEXURES:

ANNEXURE A1: Summary of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2017 Report

ANNEXURE A2: The delayed justice in the Nirbhaya, Delhi & the Shakti Mills, Mumbai cases.
ANNEXURE A3: Nirbhaya Funds Almost Unused Across The Country To Rehabilitate Rape Victims

ANNEXURE A4: Press Clippings About The Persistent Continuance of Rape Across The Country Scarcely Diminished After The Nirbhaya, Delhi Incident 

 ANNEXURE A1: 

Summary of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2017 Report:

ANNEXURE A2:

The delayed justice in the Nirbhaya, Delhi & the Shakti Mills, Mumbai cases.

ANNEXURE A3:

Nirbhaya Funds Almost Unused Across The Country To Rehabilitate Rape Victims

ANNEXURE A4:

Press Clippings About The Persistent Continuance of Rape Across The Country Scarcely Diminished After The Nirbhaya, Delhi Incident.

Reporting of rape cases up after Nirbhaya, Spike Higher In Regions Closer To Delhi, Reduces With Distance

Ambika.Pandit@timesgroup.com

The Sunday Times of India, Mumbai, 25.11.18

New Delhi:
The Nirbhaya case and the revision of laws relating to crime against women saw a nationwide increase in reporting of rape cases — but the pattern is not uniform as the spike is more noticeable in regions closer to Delhi and tends to weaken farther from the capital. Crime data analysis before and after 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case reveals significantly higher reporting of rape cases in the nearby districts of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan since 2013. But the trend falters in districts distant from Delhi, cases reported till 2017 show.g
After scouring National Crime Records Bureau data, a team from the Center on Gender Equity and Health at the University of California (San Diego) found the Nirbhaya case had a profound, though uneven, impact on reporting rape. Subsequent to the Nirbhaya case, for every additional 100km from Delhi, there is a decrease (0.16 fewer per 100,000 women) in rape cases reported.
A districtwise analysis indicated that distance from Delhi, presence of women’s police stations, sex ratio and literacy ratio could be factors in reporting of rapes. But the analysis clearly established that rape reporting between 2013 and 2016 shows an increase of 1.4 rapes reported per 100,000 women, a 33% increase as compared to 2005-2012 period.
The study also found that districts that had all woman police stations saw much smaller increases in reporting post-Nirbhaya than those that did not. Their explanation is that it could be because there was already higher levels of reporting happening where such police stations had been set up.
The district-level data of 2011-12 and 2013-14 threw up more details. “ District-level mapping reveals greater heterogeneity,” said Dr Anita Raj, director of the centre at UCSD. Higher levels of “absolute change” were seen in districts in Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and MP. However, little change was found in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Districts that were farthest from Delhi have the lowest increase.
Media access was also associated with increased rape reporting: For every 10% increase in number of household TV sets, there was an increase of 0.3 rapes reported, and for every 10% increase in access to internet, the increase is 1.3. Incidence of rapes annually reported at the national level increased by 79% between 2005 and 2016. Slow pace of trial and low conviction rate have been cited to be major challenges that need to be addressed.
The analysis clearly established that rape reporting between 2013 and 2016 shows an increase of 1.4 rapes reported per 100,000 women, a 33% increase as compared to 2005-2012 period
END OF NEWS ITEM.

Funds allocated for the Nirbhaya Fund for rape victims was used by other departments due to paucity of funds. Clearly shows that there is no morality in appropriating allocations for a just and social cause and also that there are few rape victims who have been sanctioned funds for rehabilitation irrespective of government paying lip service to the effort. 

Rape and molestation cases almost double in city in 5 yrs: Report

Nitasha.Natu@timesgroup.com

The Times of India, Mumbai

Crimes against women saw an enormous spike in the city in five financial years starting 2013-14, according to a white paper released by the non-profit Praja on Tuesday. Cases of rape increased by 83% and those of molestation by 95% from 2013-14 to 2017-18, the white paper stated. The data was compiled from replies given to queries under RTI.The biggest increase in rape cases was in South Mumbai (172%), while molestation cases rose the highest in North Mumbai (186%) during the five-year period.

While cases of rioting also rose by 36%, other crimes such as murders, break-ins, theft, chain-snatching and vehicletheft all showed a decline. Cases of child sexual abuse under the Pocso Act rose by 19% between 2015-16 and 2017-18.

The Praja study also found that elected representatives from constituencies where the highest number of rape and molestation cases were recorded raised five or fewer questions about the topic during sessions of the state legislature.

SoBo sees highest spike in rape cases

Rise In Child Sexual Abuse Complaints Too

Nitasha.Natu@timesgroup.com

The Times of India, Mumbai

Mumbai: The tony areas of Worli, Byculla, Colaba and Malabar Hill in south Mumbai saw the biggest spike in rape cases (172%) from 2013-14 to 2017-18, according to a white paper released by NGO Praja on Tuesday. North Mumbai comprising Dahisar, Borivli and Malad West saw the biggest increase in cases of molestation (186%) during the period. Activists said the high figures could be a result of more women coming forward to lodge complaints.

“It is no more a taboo to report a crime. Women are willing to take a stand and not let the offender get off. This could explain the surge in cases of molestation. A spike in figures for rape could be the result of more reporting of intimate relationships between teenagers. These would be legally recorded as rape, since a girl less than 18 years old does not have the capacity to consent as per law,” Nandita Shah, co-director at Akshara, a women’s resource centre, said. “Overall, the gender equality environment does not exist. Violence has increased, reporting of crimes has increased, and so has reporting of teenage relationships as rape,” Shah added.

Data gathered by Praja showed an increase in child sexual abuse cases under the Pocso Act, from 891 cases in 2015-16 to 1,062 in 2017-18. In both these years, female victims were far greater in number than male victims. “Even the slightest rise in this number is alarming as it shows the city is becoming unsafe for children. It is necessary to create awareness with all stakeholders, i.e. children, families, schools and colleges,” said Nitai Mehta, founder of Praja Foundation.

In 2015, ex-DGP Sanjeev Dayal had ordered separation of investigation units from law and order units at police stations. Praja’s analysis found a shortage in strength of police personnel tasked with investigation, i.e., from the rank of assistant police commissioner up to the constabulary. “There is a shortage of 22% between the sanctioned and working strength of policemen in 2018. We also found a serious shortage in strength of permanent public prosecutors. While the sanctioned strength is 15, only 2 permanent PPs are working,” said Yogesh Mishra of Praja. Permanent prosecutors have been able to get 27% convictions, while those in contractual positions have got 31% as on December 2017, the data showed. “A shortfall in strength of investigating officers as well as PPs would affect conviction rates,” Mishra added.

“If there is increase in reporting of rape and molestation cases, it means more people are coming forward to give complaints. Increase in registration should be taken as a positive as it shows openness and friendliness of the police among the public. The increase in registration should be appreciated. As far as shortage of manpower goes, Mumbai has more than 50,000 police personnel out of 2.2 lakh personnel in Maharashtra. Across India, Mumbai has the highest public-police ratio,” said city police spokesperson DCP Manjunath Shinge.

End of Article 

In past 6 mths, Goa saw rape case every 5th day

Murari.Shetye@timesgroup.com

The Times of India,Goa, 2/8/2019

Panaji:
The state saw 39 rape cases registered during the first six months of the year, making it nearly one rape every fifth day on an average. In last three-and-half-years, 241 rape cases have been registered in the state. Every day, Goa also sees at least one case registered pertaining to crimes against women.
Police data shows that of the 39 rape cases reported, 38 were detected. Going by the statistics, it appears that the number of rape cases may overtake the 2018 figures.

In 2018, 62 rape cases were reported of which 28 were detected. In 2017, 76 were reported of which 74 were detected. In 2016, 59 of the 64 cases reported were detected.

Senior police officer said in most cases the accused was known to the survivor.

In June, police arrested two accused in separate rape cases involving minors in North Goa.

202 crimes on women in first six months of 2019, says CM

While one case was booked by Porvorim police, the other was booked by Old Goa police.

Enumerating the measures they have taken to empower women, a senior officer said the force has organised self-defence classes in various schools and colleges.

Police said that the 1091 helpline was specifically established to address women’s complaints and that PCR vans respond to emergencies in “record time”.

Chief minister Pramod Sawant, who also holds the home portfolio, stated in the assembly that since the year 2016, 1,414 cases of crimes against women have been registered. While in 2016, 404 cases were registered, 2017 saw 412 and 2018 saw 396. In the first six months of this year, 202 cases of crimes against women were registered.

“Chargesheets are filed on the basis of evidence against suspects/accused, which emerge during the course of investigation. As such it is not possible to furnish the exact number of cases to be chargesheeted in future,” the chief minister said

End of Article 

Police: 10% rise in child sex assault cases in 1 yr

V.Narayan@timesgroup.com

The Times of India, Mumbai

There has been a nearly 10% increase in registration of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) cases, including those related to rape and molestation, in 2018 as compared to the previous year, a Mumbai Police report showed. Also, between January 2015 and May 2019, 4,551 POCSO cases were registered in the city, of which 529 were filed this year till May.

According to the police, the rise in number of cases is due to awareness as children are now confiding in their parents about such incidents. The director of non-partisan organization Praja, Milind Muske, attributed the rise to the fact that parents are educating their children about ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch’.

Former state DGP Pravin Dixit told TOI: “The POCSO Act is intended to provide protection to children who have no voice and continue to suffer ignominiously.” The POCSO Act was framed in 2012 to protect children from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography, and 597 such courts were set up across the country to ensure trials were completed within a year from registration of FIR. To strengthen the Act, last week, the Union cabinet approved amendments by including death penalty for aggravated sexual assault on children, besides providing stringent punishments for other crimes against minors.

But data complied by the law ministry in 2018 showed that pendency of POCSO cases is piling up, with Maharashtra topping the table with 17,338 cases pending in court till 2016. Uttar Pradesh came second with 15,938 cases followed by Madhya Pradesh with 10,950 cases. One such pending case recently saw justice after four long years. On July 1, Amboli resident Sanjay Kadam (55) was convicted to 10 years’ jail under the POCSO Act by a sessions court for raping his neighbour’s 16-year-old son. “He was in judicial custody since his arrest in 2015,” said D N Nagar police senior inspector Parmeshwar Ganme.

A police officer said a majority of the rape survivors are in the age group of 12-17, and a few of them have got into physical relationship with adults through consent. But as minors’ consent is not considered, the suspect, is charged under the Act. Of the 529 cases registered this year, 235 were related to rape and 252 to molestation.

Former IPS officer S P S Yadav pointed out that though the Act helps protect children, any stringent law has the potential of becoming ‘double-edged sword’ unless carefully handled by the police. IPS officerturned-lawyer YP Singh claimed the Act is sometimes used to settle scores related to civil and criminal disputes. “...since the Act gives an overwhelming level of credibility to the victim’s statement, it has become prone to misuse,” he said.

DCP Manjunath Singe, who is also Mumbai Police spokesperson, told TOI: “A majority of the cases registered under the POCSO Act are genuine; though there are a few who misuse this Act for personal reasons like revenge.” 

End of Article 

Dalit women labourers in Punjab battle sex abuse

IP Singh, Neel Kamal & Manish Sirhindi

The Times of India, Mumbai, May 2019

Chandigarh:
In the wide expanse of a green field, Shabbo is busy digging up potatoes and gathering them in a sack. At the end of seven days she will get Rs 1000 for the work. Then she will start looking for employment all over again.
Illiterate and still in her early teens, Shabbo doesn’t even know how old she is. Asked about her age, she blushes and looks to her mother, Dheero, for an answer. The older woman, a widow, isn’t sure either. Her guess is that Shabbo, from Sarang Dev village in Amritsar, should be about 14.

Uneducated and dirt poor, thousands of women labourers are employed in farms across Punjab. But the lush green fields that provide sustenance to a substantial population of the country hide tales of exploitation, sexual and otherwise, discussed only behind closed doors.

An overwhelming 92% of the women are Dalits and are often forced to work under exploitative conditions, say researchers from Punjabi University, a top state varsity in Patiala. According to some estimates, there are in all about 15 lakh agricultural labourers in Punjab.

Professor Gian Singh, expert on rural and agriculture economics, and his team collected primary data from 1,017 households across 12 districts of Punjab. Their study, released in April 2019, found that 70% of the women admitted to facing sexual exploitation but had kept quiet about it. Many were victims of caste discrimination.

Compounding the situation is their social and financial condition. Almost all of them in debt, most are too scared to protest as they fear losing precious days of wages, even if the money is often below what can be considered minimum.

“We have to face various types of abuse and often sexual advances. If we speak up, who will hire us?” Rajbir Kaur from Khunde Halal village in Muktsar district said.

According to Gian Singh, an average rural woman labourer in Punjab earns Rs 77,198 annually. The amount is too low to meet even basic needs and ends up pushing the families into deep debt.

Singh added that usually the amount of loan taken is not too high but moneylenders charge steep interest rates, making it difficult for borrowers to repay. He said that 93.71% of women labourers who were part of the study were reeling under debt and the average amount was Rs 53,916 per household. A little over 81% of the loans had been taken from non-institutional (local) lenders.

About 90% of the study respondents were not aware that they were entitled to standard working hours and minimum wages. Over 36% of them were not paid equal wages compared with men.

“Work starts at 8am and there are no breaks until lunch. Most of us try to finish as much as possible since we are paid to complete a certain task and not on a per day basis,” said Dheero.

The debts have grown in the last decade as agriculture becomes highly mechanised, eating into the odd jobs that employed the women workforce. Economic deprivation due to lower employment rates has had another fallout. The families now migrate to wherever they can find jobs, which keeps children from getting an education. Dheero said that both Shabbo and her son Nanak have never been to school. 

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