Sex crimes in India

 SEX CRIMES IN INDIA 

Sexual violence is a major problem faced by women and girls in India. It is already a challenge for survivors to obtain justice in the Indian legal system, and those from the country’s marginalized communities face even more major barriers.

There were 32,033 reported rape cases in 2019, with 33,356 in 2018. According to official crime data, there were 3,486 reported cases of rape against Dalit (Scheduled Caste) women and girls in 2019, and 1,110 reported rape cases against Adivasi women and girls (Scheduled Tribes).

Survivors of sexual violence face huge barriers in accessing justice, including community pressure to drop the case, discriminatory attitudes of police and judicial officers, insufficient legal aid, and discouraging conviction rates. These challenges are often magnified if the survivors are members of India’s marginalized communities, particularly if they are Dalits, Adivasis, or Muslims.

Sexual violence is a crime rooted in control and patriarchy, including male entitlement. In India, society often still shifts blame onto survivors, shaming a survivor and her family into silence. This is especially true among those who are already marginalized within Indian society, leaving them particularly vulnerable to sexual violence. This culture of shame follows survivors into law enforcement, the court system, and hospitals, further silencing survivors’ voices.

One of the major gaps in rape laws in India is the failure to criminalize marital rape. Laws which explicitly allow marital rape under the law treat women as the property of their husbands and render them vulnerable to sexual violence and abuse within marriage. 

The law has a wide definition of rape which includes all acts of sexual penetration, as well as acts of oral sex (without a requirement for penetration). Indian law takes into account a broad range of coercive circumstances. Indian law presumes the absence of consent on the part of the victim in a broad range of circumstances such as rape by an individual in a position of authority, custodial rape, rape by a relative, guardian, teacher, person in a position of trust, or person in a position of control or dominance over a woman.

The law specifically provides that the previous sexual experience of the victim is not relevant in sexual violence cases. Indian law also has a specific provision prohibiting the defence from adducing evidence or asking questions in cross-examination relating to the general immoral character, or previous sexual experience, of the victim while proving consent or the quality of such consent.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 calls for Gender Equality and enumerates several targets, including: 

• End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere

• Eliminating “ all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including sexual [violence]”

• The adoption and strengthening of “sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.”