CRIME AGAINST WOMEN NEEDED A MORE HUMANE APPROACH

CRIME AGAINST WOMEN NEEDED A MORE HUMANE APPROACH

Saurabh Sinha, Advocate

Women, the most cherished and sacrosanct institution in the world hold a special place in the social structure of the society, contributing to its development as well as to the nation by playing the diverse roles of a mother, homemaker and spouse and also bringing laurels to the country, earning name and fame in the workplace as well.

Women have always made the nation proud by earning huge success in the fields that they have chosen so, it is an irony that in-spite of the social structure undergoing a major change after more than six decades of independence, we have not been able to change our traditional outlook towards women, giving a rise in the crime against them.
Crime against women is one of the gravest of all crimes and is the most reprehensible act. It should be condemned in the severest words and dealt with an iron hand.
There are many types of offences against women which are equally prevalent among the lower as well as the higher strata of the society. Some of them are discussed below:
1.Domestic Violence: Domestic violence includes cruelty by the husband and his family members against the wife which includes physical torture (beating the wife) and also mental cruelty (hurling abuses, false accusations of adultery, rudeness, indifference and neglect and deviating from normal standards of behaviour and conjugal kindness causing injury to the mental health of the victim).
According to section 498A of the Indian Penal Code ‘cruelty' means—
“(a) any wilful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman;
(b) harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand.”
The statistics of The National Crime Records Bureau reveal that in India every hour seven women face violence at the hands of their husbands.
2. Dowry Death: This is the most prevalent social evil existing in our society. The helpless wife in this case becomes the victim if she is unable to meet the unreasonable demands of dowry by the husband and in-laws.
The gravity of this offence can be gauged from the increasing number of dowry death cases in the country:

It is for this very reason that The Law Commission of India has suggested for increasing the minimum punishment of dowry death (section 304B of the Indian Penal Code) from seven to ten years [202 nd Report].
3. Eve Teasing and Sexual Harassment: These are the crimes against the modesty of the woman. Eve teasing includes indecent gestures and glances, passing lewd remarks or otherwise showing any kind of behaviour that is not morally acceptable.
Sexual Harassment has become most rampant in our society. Everyday women are sexually harassed in their homes as well as the workplaces.
The Supreme Court in Vishakha v. State of Rajasthan , AIR 1997 SC 3014 , has defined sexual harassment as any act which includes physical contact and advances, a demand or request for sexual favours, sexually coloured remarks, showing pornographic or any other physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature.
In India every 51 minutes a woman is sexually harassed and every 26 minutes a woman is sexually molested. There is an urgent need to keep a check on these crimes.
4. Rape: Perhaps, the gravest of all crimes against women is rape. It is the most diabolical act and is a blot on the very institution of womanhood. Rape is the result of libidinous desires and voyeuristic mindset of some perverse thinking males which leaves the victim in a state of shock and helplessness forcing her to lead a traumatic life.
The data of the National Crime Records Bureau show a substantial increase in rape incidents of 15 per cent. in 2004 over 2003, a marginal increase of 0.7 per cent. in 2005 over 2004 and an increase of 5.4 per cent. in 2006 over 2005.
Delhi which recorded a total of 4,134 cases against women between 2003 to 2006 accounted for 31.2 per cent. of the rape cases.
Further, a total of 19,348 rape cases were reported in 2006, while the figure was 15,847 in 2005.
The Supreme Court recently in State of M.P. v. Babulal, (2008) 1 SCC 234 has observed: “Rape is the ultimate violation of the self. It is humiliating even in a woman's life which leads to fear for existence and a sense of powerlessness. Once a person is convicted for an offence of rape, he should be treated with a heavy hand. An under served indulgence or liberal attitude is not awarding sentence adequately in such cases and would amount to allowing and even to encouraging potential criminals.
The society can no longer endure under such serious threats. The court must hear the sound cry for justice by society in cases of heinous crimes of rape and impose adequate sentence.”.
Causes of Crime
The causes of crime against women may be enumerated as below:
1. Influence of mass, media and motion pictures : Constant repetition and exaggeration of crime stories in the electronic media encourages one to deviate from normal behaviour and commit crime.
Further, salacious literature and pornographic movies have an adverse impact on the minds of a person forcing them to resort to criminal behaviour.
2. Intoxication : Many cases of violence against women occur when the accused is in a highly inebriated state, and in this wildly excited and belligerent state of mind is unable to understand the nature of his act.
3. Moral Degradation : Loss of ethics and values are one of the major reasons of crime against women.
This is the direct consequence of some of the inherent personality traits like jealousy, hatred, hostility and biasness towards women.
4. Proximity between accused and the victim : The victim here is left in a state of shock and awe, as the person in whom she exudes confidence himself becomes the perpetrator.
The past few years have witnessed an increasing trend in such types of incidents viz . a married woman being criminally assaulted by her in- laws, a lady being molested by a close friend or a girl being sexually harassed by her cousin.
According to the Delhi Police Annual Report for 2007, in cases of offences against women, 59 per cent. of the offenders were neighbours of the victims, 11 per cent were relatives while only 2 per cent. were unknown to the victim. As many as 340 of those arrested were neighbours of the victim.
Conclusion
The crime against women has shown an increasing trend during the recent times. Though adequate provisions exist in our criminal law for tackling all types of crime against women viz . section 304B [Dowry death], section 354 [Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty], section 376 [Rape], section 498A [Husband or relatives of the husband subjecting her to cruelty], section 509 [Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman] of the Indian Penal Code and other special laws like The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005; Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961; Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956; Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, the crime against women has never shown a decline in the past few years.
Though the police, administrative authorities and other law enforcement agencies should deal with a heavy hand with the perpetrators of such crime, they are not solely to be blamed for this menace.
Crime against women can be controlled to a considerable extent by changing our attitude and adopting a more humane approach towards them, always keeping in mind that they are also an integral part of our society and stand on an equal footing with men and are not to be treated as a mere commodity for fulfilling the mischievous designs of the male fraternity.

source- http://unilawonline.com/articles/CRIME%20AGAINST%20WOMEN%20.htm