When Will Women In India Get Freedom From Fear?

On December 2012, the gang rape of a paramedical student on a moving bus in Delhi triggered a mass protests.

12 years ago, protesters in the capital city of India called for better ensuring safety, better policing, assertion of women’s rights, justice and harsh punishment for the culprits. The massive and widespread protests forced the government to form a three-member committee to recommend amendments to the Criminal Law to provide quicker trial and enhanced punishments for the criminals guilty of committing sexual violence against women. 

The former Supreme Court judge, Justice Jagdish Sharan Verma headed the committee and submitted its report in January 2013. The JS Verma Committee Report 2013, made recommendations on laws related to rape, sexual harassment, child trafficking, minor sexual abuse, medical examination of victims, police, electoral and educational reforms. 

The submitted report identified the loopholes in the Indian Penal Code, established in 1860, during the British Raj, and also recommended including marital rape under the category of rape. 

The JS Verma Committee report is a living reminder of how the state kept ignoring and became a force in suppressing women’s rights.

It is deplorable that after twelve years of that Nirbhaya case, the women of India are still compelled to be in the same loop of violence. 

Last week, India celebrated the 78th anniversary of freedom, however, people across the country came out in streets lamenting for justice. The streets were filled with outrage over the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor in Kolkata.

the statistics of rape, paint a grim picture. As per the annual National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, between 2017 and 2022, a total of 1.89 lakh rape cases were reported in India, involving 1.91 lakh victims. India registered 31,677 cases of rape in year 2021 alone  – an average 86 daily – while nearly 49 cases of crime against women were lodged every single hour, according to the latest government report on crimes in the country.

It is such an alarming situation for the entire nation to witness crime against half of its population 

After being a colony for nearly two centuries when India tasted the essence of freedom and independence the women are still waiting to assert their rights. It is very harsh and unfortunate at the same time that a woman never finds herself free in a society which is male centric and biassed in favour of male. A female child is raised under the strict control of her parents who dictates her life. She is made to choose among limited options and forced to maintain the status quo if it is her crime to be born as a biological female.

This is a triggering situation where sexual harassment of women is common in both rural and urban areas. Its such an emergency situation that the Incidents of rape has become a routine thing now. It is a cruel reality that after the 2012 incident of Nirbhaya, almost every year there is a massive protest for different women whose safety and life the state could not ensure.  

All those highlighted cases are still fresh in mind weather it’s 2013 Mumbai gang rape, 2014 Badaun gang rape, 2015 Aruna Shanbaug rape case, 2015 Kandhman gang rape, 2017 Unnao Rape case, 2019 Hyderabad gang rape and murder, 2020 Hathras gang rape and murder, 2023 Ujjain rape case and now in 2024, 

On August 9, a second-year postgraduate trainee doctor was found dead in the seminar hall of R.G. Kar Medical College located at Belgachia, Kolkata in West Bengal. Later it was found out as a case of rape and murder. 

After the nationwide protest, the police arrested a suspect who was a civic volunteer with the Kolkata Police Disaster Management Force and a member of the Police Welfare Association. He confessed the crime to Kolkata police. Currently, the case has been handed over to the CBI for further investigations. 

Women have never been seen as an equivalent of men in a patriarchal society. Women are forced to encounter violence and fear within and outside of their houses. Instead of ensuring safe spaces for women, they are compelled to be caged inside the four walls.

Men need to be brought up and educated so that they understand that a woman’s body is not their territory to satisfy lust or showcase manhood. It is believed that a self-directed and informed woman brushes aside the male-commanded world and feels free to raise her voice for freedom from customary and social bondage but with gruesome pain one has to accept that education and economic independence fail to protect them from such inhumane consequences. 

India in her eighth decade of independence still stands incapable of resolving the issue of sexual harassment. Over the years the offence of rape has been an issue that is dealt with by the government only as a result of public outrage after new and more barbarous incidents took place. Because of this the system still fails to provide the survivors a safe and protective environment. Even though there have been progressive reforms in the laws, there are some debated issues such as marital rape, gender neutrality in rape laws, etc., as reported by the Justice Verma Committee, which need to be taken into account with immediate effect. 

There are several cases which are not reported because of the fear of being humiliated by the society. Survivors are harassed at every step, from police stations to courtrooms. A survivor has to struggle due to inadequate healthcare, poor law enforcement system. The struggle in every step to seek justice adds up to the trauma of survivors . Society too plays an instrumental role in obtaining justice.  The laws can never be fully realised until and unless the change comes from within the society along with the legislative reforms.