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. 

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