Two years have passed by since Nirbhaya. Much has changed in the realm of law, but there has been very little progress at the ground level.
Laws were made stringent, with repeat offenders now being meted out with the death penalty. A new section 166A was introduced in the Indian Penal Code, 1860, where the police officer not registering rape, molestation and acid attack cases would also be charged and made liable to an imprisonment of a minimum of 6 months which would go up to 2 years. A special section 326A was introduced for acid attacks. Many more pertinent sections were added.
Further, standing orders and departmental circulars were issued by almost all the state units, underscoring the procedures and importance of the crime against women. Workshops, seminars and training sessions were organised to train the staff. Special drive was undertaken to fill up the women’s quota in the police force.
With so much in place, things did not improve, In fact, they got worse.
As per the NCRB figures, rape cases in 2013 increased by 35.2% as compared with 2012. Molestation recorded an increase of 56% over the previous year. Kidnapping and Abduction surged by 35.6%. All this happened in spite of the new Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 being in force.
Why this paradox?
The problem is very complex. First, is the internal dynamics within the police system. Traditionally, crime against women have been a low priority area in the realm of policing. Police staff is more interested in lucrative sectors such as illegal dens of gambling, night clubs, pick up joints etc. Further, the staff has to assign a lot of time to make the right connections to get lucrative postings and for that, much time goes in attending to the commands of politicians.
An overwhelming amount of police time goes in law and order and VIP bandobast. Further, there are hundreds of legislations which the police have to implement, and the staff is not just skeletal, but legally and professionally incompetent.
With such overwhelming constraints, the offenders know, that barring certain select media hyped cases, in general they can commit the crime and escape the punishment. To sum it up, the deterrence which was required as a consequence of such changes in the law, did not actually happen.
It is for this reason, that while crimes against women continues to mount, there is hardly any cop who has been conferred with the responsibility or shown the exit door in this regard.
Another, major problem is the filing of false or coloured cases, such as civil or minor disputes being given a sexual colour by bribing the local cops. The stringent sections of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2013 are often used for this. Thus while, non-serious cases are manipulated and made to look serious so as to inflict vengeance on the opposite party, on the other hand, when serious cases do come, the perception of seriousness gets diluted.
It all thus boils down to one root factor, either direct or indirect, and bearing multiple facets. It is the corruption among the police, which has set-up oblique priorities and slanted the vision of law enforcement agencies at all corners. In fact due to numerous lapses on the part of the prosecution, the conviction rate in rape cases has dipped from 40.8% to 24.2% in the period between 2001 and 2012.
The increasing pendency in the courts may also negate efforts to secure quick justice for rape victims. In 2013, 83.4 per cent rape cases were pending trial with a conviction rate of 27.1 per cent. In 2012, the pendency was 85.1 per cent while the conviction rate stood at 24.2 per cent. Such high pendency coupled with low convictions may potentially negate all efforts to control incidence of rape under the new laws. As a result women in India are feeling unsafe and scared to venture out to work. The Constitution has given women freedom of movement under Article 19 but this fundamental right has been taken away, nay, violated by the rampant crime against women prevalent on the streets of India.
It thus redeems, the old adage – you can take the horse to the river but you can’t make it drink. Thus, whatever laws you may have, unless you have sufficient fast track courts, a fixed time frame for trial of cases, a fool proof prosecution charge sheet supported by clear forensic evidence to nail the rapists, and a time bound system for appeals to be decided by the higher courts (Nirbhaya rapists are yet to be hanged as their death penalty has been stayed by the Supreme Court). Unless these radical measures are effected, not much shall change. Nay, it may get worse.
Image courtesy: BCCL
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