The Nirbhaya Act provided for harsher penalties for perpetrators, but a decade later, the battle for women’s safety in the country is far from won.
Post Date – 12:45 AM, Sat – 12/17/22
The Nirbhaya Act provided for harsher penalties for perpetrators, but a decade later, the battle for women’s safety in the country is far from won.
Hyderabad: Around this time a decade ago, the entire country was outraged by the horrific gang rape and murder of a paramedic in New Delhi. Mass protests erupted spontaneously across the country demanding justice for what became known as the Nirbhaya case. This prompted the then government to pass a new anti-rape law with strict rules. The Nirbhaya Bill recognizes a broader and more nuanced definition of violence against women, prescribes penalties for ineffective police action and imposes harsher penalties for perpetrators, including the death penalty. Yet ten years on, crimes against women seem to be showing no signs of letting up. The battle for women’s safety in this country is far from won. Just two days before the 10th anniversary of the Nirbhaya case, a 17-year-old girl was attacked with acid by two masked motorcycle men in the capital. Crimes against women have increased by more than 50 percent in the past decade, according to official figures. Changes to the penal code following the Nirbhaya case did not produce the desired results because the problem was how to make the law deterrent. Progress on the ground will not be possible unless the laws are effectively implemented. Even the Nirbhaya Fund, established in 2013 to provide relief and rehabilitation for women and girls, has been significantly reduced. Earlier this year, the parliament was informed that only two-thirds of the Rs 6,000 crore allocated under the fund had been allocated to relevant ministries and departments.
The fund has also been used to install CCTV cameras, ensure women’s safety in public transport and create “one-stop centres”. The centers are designed to facilitate women affected by violence, providing a range of integrated services under one roof, such as police assistance, medical assistance, provision of legal and psychosocial advice and temporary housing. It’s not enough to just make laws, the focus should be more on changing people’s mindsets. In a patriarchal culture like ours, gender sensitivity, respect and equality for women are values that need to be instilled from childhood. Crime data consistently show that in more than 95 percent of rape cases, the victim knows the perpetrator – they are relatives, friends, neighbors and co-workers. Less reported is violence within the family, but this is partly epidemic. Domestic violence is the leading crime against women in India, with four times as many reported cases as rape. The conviction rate for rape remains low at less than 39 per cent, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, suggesting that police investigations are faulty. Excessive delay in punishing the perpetrators will render the entire system ineffective and fail to achieve the purpose of deterrence.
