“IN INDIA A GIRL IS RAPED EVERY 20 MINUTES”
– Faizan Khan1
“683,000 forcible rapes occur every year, which equals to 56,916 per month, 1,871 per day, 78 per hour and 1,3 per minute.”
ABSTRACT
Yes, it is Sho ckin gly bu t true, unfortunately around the world we are known to be India which is known to be mostPromising andDeveloping countries Socially,Economically and Politically and of course very rich in its own tradition and its culture where the women is regarded as a goddess and worship as a “Saraswati” or “Madurga”. Where there is respect for a women as a Mother, as a sister or as a daughter.
But we are stilllagging behind to secure the pride and dignity of women in the society. Rape is still a dirty secret, hedged about which so much blame & shame that makes victims feelguilty mind and so helpless. Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involves sexual intercourse which is intimated by one or more person againstanother person mainly female without the consent and also against her will. This evilact is carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent.
According to the Britannica Encyclopaedia, rape is defined as ;
“Any kind of unlawful sexual activity, usually sexual intercourse,carried out forcibly or under threat of injury and against the will of the victim.”2
Rape is an element of a crime defined in section 375 of Indian Penal Code 1860. Says-“The definition of rape varies from different times of history butallofthem has a main ingredient thatis “Thecarnalknowledge of a female forcibly and against her will”. In the 1980s, women’s rights groups lobbied for marital rape to be declared unlawful, as until 1983, the criminal law (amendment) act stated that “sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age is not rape”.3 Marital rape is now illegalin India but is still widespread. There are severaltypes of rape generally categorized according to the situation in which it is occur, butare limited to say date rape, gang rape, maritalrape, incestualrape , child sex abuse ,prison rape, acquaintance rape, war rape and statutory rape. Facts about rape include:-
• Most commonly, the rapist is a 25 to 44-year-old man who plans his attack.
• Alcohol is involved in more than one out of three rapes.
• Rape may occur between members ofthe same sex. This is more common in places such as prisons, military settings, and single- sex schools.
• People with physical or mentaldisabilities or limited language skills are also at higher risk. Prostitutes are at higher risk too.
• Over one-half of rapes occur in the victim’s home.
Most women live in fear of incident of a rape because one of three is a victim of sexual assault in her life time each year women over. Each year women reportalmost halfa million rapes and sexual assault in her life time. In U.S on an average every 24, people per minute become a victim of Rape, physicalviolence, stalking by an intimate partner. But in India a girl or a women is been raped in every 54 minutes which is a shame for humanity. In murder human losses his or herlife, but in rape victim is robbed of her or his dignity. Of course it is murder of a soul. Accordingto theAmerican MedicalAssociation (1995),sexualviolence, and rape in particular, is considered the most under-reported violent crime.The rate of reporting,prosecution and convictions for rape varies considerably in different jurisdictions. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (1999) estimated that 91% of U.S. rape victims are female and 9% are male, with 99% of the offenders being male.
The World Health Organization states that the principal factors that lead to the perpetration of sexual violence are4 :
• beliefs in family honour and sexual purity;
• ideologies of male sexual entitlement;
• Weak legalsanctions for sexual violence.
“These are often soldiers and combatants deliberately targeting and raping them as a strategy of War, either to punis h a community, to terrorize the community or to humiliate them”5
In 2011 the statistics of rape case which is released by ministry of home says that in Madhya Pradesh has approx three thousand four hundred and six (3406) cases of rape reported in 2011.6
In westBengalwhich is worst in allover crime against women comes in second list in which two thousand three and sixty three (2363).
Uttar Pradesh has two thousand and forty two cases of rape (2042) etc. So the total no. of rape cases of most of the states reported last year was twenty three thousand five hundred and eighty two (23582).
CASES
SURYANELLI RAPE CASE
Suryanelli Rape Case is one of the most shocking case which have come across tillnow in this case where a 16 year old girlwas abducted by bus conductor and was sexually exploited by the conductor and later on the girl was given to two people one of them was women and another was a lawyer. The duo kept on presenting the girlto various men across Keralaincluding Politicians,business men,and government officials. This hell continued for 40 years where she was raped by 40 people later on February 26 she was realised by the duo and was asked to live with a little sum of money and threatened not to reveal about those 40 days.
Courtjudgement: Aspecial court was set up for the case which found guilty and gave them rigorous imprisonment of various years. Bus conductor and women (Usha) who gotthe girlfrom conductwere given 13 year imprisonment while lawyer (Dharamarajan) was absconding at that time.
Kerela High court over ruled special courtverdict. It shocked everyone by finding only Dharamarajan guilty and two of providing minor (sex trade). He was given imprisonment of mere 5 year and fine of mere 50,000.
“Co-education should beabolished and proper education facilities meant exclusively forwomen should be made available atalllevelof education,” the JIH statement,issued by Secretary-GeneralofJIH NusratAli, said.”7
There are many such cases of rape where only women suffer pain and misery Rape is a devastating crime. Some women become pregnant, some are so badly injured some contract with HIV. Section 376 of Indian PenalCode says whosoever commitrape shallbe imprisonment for 7 years which may be extended to 10 years or fine or both but for a crime like rape this punishment is not at all enough for the sake of society. There shallbe at least 25 years or more. Rape in many cases is worst than murder or say any criminal offence because in the rape, victim often remain tormented for years and years losses faith in on opposite gender, feels helpless, feels fear has difficulty in having normal life, losses self esteem and lots of other things.
CONCLUSION
If a woman who is raped might be pregnant, health care providers will discuss methods of emergency as soon an possible We as a society need to change attitude towards rape and also teach girls art of self defence to avoid such incidents. Fast track shallestablish to sum up the issues as soon as possible and give efficient punishment to the offender’s .All schools and colleges shall start campaigning to the rural areas for awareness so that people get aware of the consequences and literacy shallalso increase.Social Media is also one of the main factor regarding the issue they present the victim as a tool because they only shows what people wants to see and this effect the victims mentally a lots.
REFERENCE
• Wikipedia
• The Raw Story
• The India Today
• Indian P enal Code 1860
• www.lawyersupdate.com
• www.ibn7.com
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