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Rape &
Remedy
Society must change first |
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On the record
PROFILE
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Rape &
Remedy THE rhetoric on remedies of rape moves in circles - from capital punishment for rape to financial compensation to the victims to out of court ‘settlements’ to getting the victim married with the culprit. The woman’s need for dignity of course takes the back seat. From the year (1971) the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) began collecting data on rape cases, it has shown an eight-fold increase. In 2008 over 21 thousand complaints were recorded in the country with various agencies conceding that over 80 per cent of the cases never get reported. Incest has shown a 30 per cent increase— these are disturbing social trends, which need to be researched and addressed. This stands in marked contrast to the other serious and violent crimes like murder, robbery, dacoity, kidnapping and rioting. The NCRB has also concluded that only one in 69 rape cases get reported and only 20 per cent of the reported cases result in convictions.
Cash compensation ? Compensation for rape is not a new idea. Courts have ordered for compensation to be paid under provisions contained in the statutes. Several state governments too have found it convenient to pay sums depending upon the extent of the public outrage and media exposure. But this is the first time the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare has launched a country-wide scheme and has offered to reimburse the state governments the cost they incur in its implementation. But compensation — call it restorative justice or whatever —is tricky. It is instructive to recall the experience with Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989 ( for SC and ST). Tribal and dalit victims of rape, were required to produce a certificate of their tribal/dalit status for receiving a compensation of Rs 25,000. Getting the certificate in itself became a profit making proposition for brokers. Poverty also induced many to file false cases, thus defeating the well-meaning provision, points out Pratiksha Baxi from JNU. The law also appears to assume unfortunately that standards of dignity are different for a woman from a well- off family and for a dalit woman. So, a dalit woman’s compensation money for rape can be shared by the rapist under the Act. The compensation is paid if the victim belongs to either a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe and the rapist does not. The law does not specify what happens if the woman is from a Scheduled Tribe and the man is from a Scheduled Caste or vice versa. Even before the Act was passed in 1989, since 1978 in UP women from SC and ST were paid compensation of Rs 5000 for rape. The website of the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt of Gujarat, lays down that for outraging the modesty of a woman under section 3(1) (11) the Government pays a compensation of Rs 50,000, but in case the accused marries the rape victim, the ‘assistance’ ( here it is not termed as compensation) of Rs 50,000 is disbursed in the joint names of the couple. It does not require great imagination to understand how these laws end up as bait for attracting more abuse for women. The website does not offer any data on how many women actually received the compensation or assistance!
Other obstacles Compensation, obviously, can be paid only after the charge is established in court, which is a tall order in itself. Strangely, the scheme is sought to be justified by the need to help the victim financially so that she can fight it out in court. How this contradiction gets resolved , remains to be seen. A study conducted by MARG in Uttar Pradesh throws up more questions. Of the 33 registered victims or their family members the researchers spoke to, they found 13 victims were minors, 2 were six years old, one was between four and five years of age. One was 12 years old, others less than 14 years of age. But in only four cases did the medical report confirm rape. Of the 13 minor victims, only one minor’s rape was confirmed. Two girls had the noting ‘no opinion’ and of the rest there was no medical record with the police. Yet, the compensation was ‘liberally’ sanctioned. Although the police had no ‘medical examination report’ in their record, compensation was still sanctioned in as many as 28 cases, including nine in which there was no finding of rape. In one case the rapist and victim belonged to the same caste, hence the case was withdrawn! The money, in case of minor victims, was received by the parents. Only two women spent Rs 2000 out of the received money to hire a lawyer. Of the 13 minors, only four could attend school while most victims relocated to escape the stigma attached to rape. Their humiliation was compounded by the CM of U P, Mayawati , who had ordered the money to be delivered by the Director General of Police in person. He was also asked to take a helicopter and fly to various places for the purpose. On the one hand rape cases are held in camera, on the other hand this display of ‘help’ discourages victims to report rape. The compensation, as and when paid, is often grabbed by the rest of the family, and makes the police indifferent and even more reluctant to pursue the cases. The attitude is, since the money has already been paid, why fuss over prosecution ?
Little research In most countries, policies and laws are framed based on research based findings. But there are very few studies on the subject funded by the Government. A few studies, mostly done by individuals who feel strongly about the issue, are however eye openers. Social activist Flavia Agnes’ study was based on observations drawn from her own legal practice and judgements involving rape cases; while Pratiksha Baxi’s ( Assistant Professor, Centre for Law and Governance, JNU, Delhi) study was based on what goes on inside the court rooms, where a 12- year- old is also asked sexually explicit questions a lawyer may hesitate putting to a 30- year-old.
Laws inadequate Even after the much talked about Mathura case, which led to the amendment of Evidence Act in 1983, which allowed the woman’s word to be trusted for her non-consent, there has been no monitoring of judgements. From 1860 to 2002, the colonial law based on the moral history of the woman was in application while looking at a rape victim, which meant that a woman’s sexual history would have a say on the writing of the verdict. Despite deletion of this clause, not much has changed in courtrooms. A Google search for kanoon.com and rape cases will throw up several judgements, which are deeply patriarchal and explain why conviction rates are so abysmally low. Doctors are surprised if the victim cooperates with them on examination (a victim is supposed to go stone-silent, weep and should have injury marks), policemen’s wives cannot complain of being raped by husbands ( because it is a husband’s right) and while the defence tries to prove that the victim is a consenting adult because anyone over 16 is thought to have given consent, judges worry about marital prospects of victims ( many rapists thus get lighter sentences when Marry the rapist Sakshi, an NGO, had released a study called ‘Gender and Judges’, in which it analysed the views of 119 judges from all over India, along with experiences of female lawyers, complainants and observations on court room trials. Most judges found it impossible to believe that men could perpetrate the crime without any element of consent or provocation. ‘Judges were of the view that penetration of a woman is physically impossible without her ‘consent’ and that in any case women are ‘partially to blame for such abuse.’ Another ludicrous idea often encouraged by the judiciary is that of compromise. Whenever witnesses turn hostile, victims are advised to accept a compromise, which the court witnesses, but is unable and unwilling to act upon. The court thus ‘restores’ her chastity in the public eye. Fortunately, the courts are prohibited from compounding a rape case. Being a non-compoundable offence, compromise in rape cases has been confined to the bargains between community elders, victims’ kin, local authorities and the police, with judges looking the other way for the most part.
Power game Women are often subjugated by men in power. In the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, the protector, an IG, Haryana Police, S P Rathore became the tormentor. After 19 years, 40 adjournments, and more than 400 hearings, the court finally pronounced him guilty under Section 354 and gave him six months imprisonment. In case of Anjana Mishra, it was the Advocate General of Orissa, Indrajit Roy, who attempted to rape her when she went to seek his help for getting custody of her children in 1998. Since she dared to report the case, she was gang-raped by three men, to teach her a ‘lesson.’ Roy was given anticipatory bail but was never arrested due to his political clout. Under public pressure when he finally resigned, his junior was made AG, putting Anjana in her place. It is reminiscent of Bhanwri Devi’s case, a Sathin volunteer in Rajasthan, when she tried to stop a child marriage in 1992, she was gang raped by five men, including Ramkaran Gujjar, whose daughter’s marriage she had tried to stop. The male doctor at the primary health centre refused to conduct medical examination and at a Jaipur hospital the doctor certified only her age. Subjected to sustained humiliation, she was asked by the policemen to leave her lehenga as an evidence of rape. Bhanwri’s case inspired Visakha case, which brought about legislation against sexual exploitation of women at work place but Bhanwri could not get justice in a caste -ridden system.
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Society must change first It is sad the way we treat this kind of abuse of women—with total disregard for the feelings of a woman. The society has to change—this is not something outside us, they come from within us. We need to shame the perpetrators, we need to talk more and more—in the open about these issues because, as we know, a rapist gets caught usually after a number of successful or unsuccessful attempts. What makes the rapist so daring is the silence of the women. As far as monetary compensation is concerned, it finds justification in offering help to the victim to fight her case legally, which is often long-drawn. Otherwise it becomes like the flesh-trade. One must understand that the person is scarred for the rest of her life, simply because we have shrouded a crime under such weight of shame for so long that we do not want to deal with it.
What’s wrong if state takes responsibility?
Urvashi Butalia (As told to Vandana
Shukla)
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Kishwar Desai
A
woman in Karnataka alleges that her husband has been violent towards her. He has even burnt her with cigarette stubs. She is hospitalised with serious injuries—and a case of domestic violence is registered. The man is arrested—but almost immediately shifted into a hospital, no doubt for some well-deserved rest after his brutal behaviour. And then, because he is a famous actor with many crores riding on him—- his producers troop out en masse requesting that the wife forgive her husband and live with him happily ever after. Because they have found and punished the real culprit—-an actress who was allegedly having an affair with the husband. It was all that woman’s fault. Had she not had the affair, probably the man would not have been provoked into treating his wife so badly. After all, he is such a nice guy. Now that pressure has been on her to make up with her husband , the battered wife has also finally succumbed to the request that she withdraw her charges.( The fact that a lot of money is also at stake may have helped in the persuasion ). Like a good, submissive Indian woman she has retracted her previous statement in court and said that she had been injured in a fall. The poor man is blameless and should not be incarcerated for her mistake. There has been no further mention of the grievous assault on her or that she had been threatened by him with a revolver. But the witch hunt continued till the “other” woman too was forced to retreat. The producers association ( briefly ) raised a damand to ban the actress from working in the film industry for three years. The only person who has maintained his heroic profile in this entire sordid saga is the alleged perpetrator of the domestic violence and the male partner in the adulterous activity. This story from the Kannada film industry is almost unreal —-and certainly does not belong to the 21st century. Obviously, in this part of the world, the 34-year old ‘wife-beating’ actor, T. Darshan is a very valuable commodity. While the women, specifically in this case, the 30 year-old actress Nikita Thukral, completely dispensable. Her protestations of innocence are falling on deaf ears—and in any case –what is she guilty of, anyway? The issue here was never her alleged romance with T. Darshan. It was actually Darshan’s gross ill-treatment of his wife. But now a convenient scapegoat has been found and it has set a very dangerous precedent. Ironically, despite the whitewash, Darshan the ‘super hero’ has been shown up to be a complete wretch. He also lacks any chivalry. He has forced two women to forgo their dignity –quite forgetting his own guilt. But what is even more frightening is how a professional industry, which should be progressive and liberal, has been bullied by a group of belligerent producers into blatant misogyny. Given the subdued response from other women working the field and the lack of outrage from a united film making fraternity from other parts of the country (especially from Bollywood)—the suspicion is growing that perhaps this is ‘normal’ behaviour. But this attitude could prove to be a very worrying symptom as films are a powerful medium. Surely the mind-set of the producers and the actors, as well as of those hooligans on the street who vandalised public property, is being reflected in the films now being made. Hindi cinema already blatantly valorises the macho male, while the heroine has to be content with an ever shrinking wardrobe and a bikini-sized role. Two recent super hits Dabangg and Bodyguard are examples of that. They have done extremely well because they celebrate an aggressively patriarchal sentiment. It is about time that lead actresses in this country woke up and realised that their “ supporting roles” and item numbers are probably doing more harm to their own profession than we have realised so far. If their roles are lightweight and meaningless —-then can there be any surprise that their voices are being muzzled as well ? The very suggestion that actresses can be “banned” for having affairs and wives can be forced to change their testimony speaks volumes about the witch hunt that is still unleashed against the sexuality of women, much like in medieval times. The moral compass in the film industry seems to be wobbling rather badly –and becoming directionless where men are concerned. It seems a retrograde lynch mob has taken over. We should not dismiss this as a stray incident. The signs are ominous.
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On the record
SHE has inherited the legacy of one of the most prominent Sikh humanitarians, Bhagat Puran Singh, and has been at the helm of the All India Pingalwara Charitable Society for almost two decades. Padma Bhushan Dr Inderjit Kaur continues to work tirelessly for the welfare of destitutes, the sick and the disabled. You, a doctor, had a comfortable job. What prompted you to take to social work? I imbibed this trait from my father who was a practical Gursikh. He would often tell me that God resides in every creature. He taught me how to live a good life and how to be a good human being. I believe following a religion doesn’t only mean praying and seeking worldly comforts from God. If you bow your head before Guru Granth Sahib, you should follow its teachings as well. When did you come in contact with Bhagat Puran Singh?
My first brush with him came through his literature. I had read a lot of his work and was moved by his humanitarian spirit. I first met him in late 1960s. However, I became a member in 1987 and vice-president of the Society in 1988. How
has the Pingalwara evolved since Bhagatji’s death ? We have opened schools where free education is provided to children residing at the Pingalwara. These include a school for the deaf and another for the mentally challenged children. We have also built separate hostels for boys and girls along with the schools. On healthcare front, we have engaged nursing staff. We also have a well-stocked dispensary, prosthetic centre, physiotherapy centre, old age home and rehabilitation centre, besides ultrasound and eye-testing machines. We have also set up an operation theatre for performing cochlear implant surgery, which restores hearing ability among the deaf. Each surgery costs Rs 6.5 lakh.
Family ties seem to be under tremendous stress ? Yes. Earlier, we only used to take ‘lawaris’ (unclaimed) individuals at Pingalwara, but over the last few years we have come across instances where people abandon their near and dear ones, projecting them as ‘lawaris’. Recently, we got a five-year-old girl who told us that her father deserted her at the Golden Temple and went away. We tried to trace him but failed. Recently the Bhagat Puran Singh Chair at the GNDU ceased to exist due to lack of funds… do you expect the state government to revive it ? We don’t expect much from the state government. It would be enough if it trains and prepares teachers for our schools for the deaf and the mentally challenged. There are few or no qualified teachers in Punjab who can be engaged in these schools. Where do the funds come from ? We have around 1,500 inmates and our daily budget is around Rs 3.5 lakh. Most of our funds come in the form of donations from the Sikh Sangat across the globe. Apart from it, the SGPC gives us Rs 10 lakh every year. As far as the government is concerned, we have got VAT exemption on purchase of raw material but not on assembled goods. Similarly, our buses, which ferry school children or patients, are charged toll tax. As ours is a charitable organisation, it should be exempted from all kinds of taxes. What have you done in the field of environment conservation? We have published literature on character building and environment conservation, which we distribute free at the Golden Temple and other religious places. We have planted around 10 lakh saplings also. We have set up our own nursery and a model farm to set an example before farmers who are resorting to indiscriminate use of pesticides Social evils like drug addiction and female foeticide are growing. What should be done to curb them? First, there is a need to propagate our religion in the correct perspective. Our education system is also faulty and it needs to be changed if we have to root out these evils. We must introduce moral education in our schools. The tragedy today is neither the teachers nor the parents are role models of children.
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PROFILE She had the gumption to term Anna Hazare’s Jan Lokpal Bill, when the anti-corruption agitation was at its peak, as “impractical and complicated”. Giving widespread powers to an unelected body is a “threat to democracy”, she said, asserting that Anna’s Bill is impossible to implement. A recipient of the Ramon Magasaysay Award in the year 2000, She entrusted the award money to a Trust to support the process of democratic struggles. She has been a member of different public hearings, tribunals and peoples commissions including the ‘Concerned Citizens tribunal’, which investigated the organised violence and killings of innocent people in Gujarat in 2002. She is of course best known for pioneering the Right to Information (RTI) Act in the country, leading the movement from Rajasthan. She has received international acclaim for her work in the rural areas and as a member of the powerful National Advisory Council (NAC), she remains one of the most influential persons in the country. She was selected for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) when she was barely 21 years old. One of the 10 women who made it to the IAS in 1967, she had studied Literature at Indra Prastha College in Delhi, married ‘Bunker’ Sanjit Roy in 1970 and went on to resign from the elite service barely four years later to join her husband at Tilonia (Rajasthan) and dedicate her life to serve the people. The extraordinary life of activist Aruna Roy is in no small measure due to the extraordinary family she was lucky to be born into. Her grandmother, from an orthodox Tamil Brahmin family, not only insisted on working among Leprosy patients but also insisted on taking her children with her to serve the lepers. Her grandfather, an engineer, wrote two textbooks but insisted on printing them at his own cost and distribute them himself so that poorer students could afford to buy them. They sent their daughter, Aruna’s mother, to Christian schools while her father, a lawyer by training, studied in far-away Santiniketan founded by Tagore. Aruna herself was sent to a convent in Chennai and then to the Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry before settling down at New Delhi for the rest of her education. On the insistence of her parents, she learnt French and like every other good Tambrams (Tamil Brahmins), spent two years at Kalakshetra at Adyar, getting trained in Bharat Natyam and Carnatic music. It was not surprising that she was drawn to her batchmate in Delhi University, Sanjit Roy. He hailed from a liberal and illustrious Bengali family, studied in St Stephen’s College, was the captain of the University Tennis team but opted to work in an obscure village at a time when it was not fashionable to work in rural areas. ‘Bunker’ (so as to rhyme with his brother Shankar) Roy had volunteered to work in famine affected Bihar in 1967 even as a student and the experience strengthened his resolve to work among the poor.
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Despite an uninterrupted discourse on the subject over the past several decades, governments and society are yet to evolve a cast-iron system to deal with the crime and the criminals. 
I
enacted the role of a rape victim in three films; Bawandar, Pitah and Laal Salaam. So, I can claim to have some idea of what a woman goes through in a situation like gang- rape. While shooting the gang-rape scene for Bawandar, I saw some members of the crew nudging each other with suppressed and suggestive giggles, and I screamed. It was something I never do. But I felt violated. This was just an enactment, after all. I could immediately empathise with what an actual victim has to go through. 
There was a time when, after the Bhawnri Devi case, women’s groups demanded compensation, because Bhawnri was raped in the course of carrying out her duties as a government functionary, albeit an informal one (she was paid not as an employee but as a volunteer, something that enables the govt. to pay less than the minimum wage); therefore she was entitled to compensation. She was eventually given compensation but she did not use it, it created more problems for her— the community started saying rape was an excuse for taking money... so there is that element also. But if the state takes responsibility, then that can’t be altogether a bad thing.
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In a further show of solidarity for this wonderful chap who used his wife as an ash tray—young men troop out and stone a few buses. How else can they show their heartfelt appreciation for their hero? No doubt they yearn to be like him : macho and bold. After all, as we have seen before, hitting a defenceless woman could be (possibly) just a very pleasant past time. Therefore, every care must be taken to protect this hard working bloke. He is only doing what is the birthright of every man in this country.
Unruffled