Campaign against Rape

There was this period when I was involved in the womens movement and Forum against oppression of women when I wrote a lot about womens issues...gender issues. Had a column in Blitz I think called SHE 

It started with Rape, and the MAthura case, where the SUpreme Court overturned the conviction of 2 police men who were accused by Mathura of rape. This judgement more or less said that women cannot be raped. It was at a party in Bandra where there were the journalists, the lefties, the chatteratis and somehow the article came up .... instant discussion.... women decided that we must do something...and thus was born the Forum against Oppression of women...where we decided that we would challenge the Supreme COurt decision on the streets.... which led to a campaign to change the outmoded law against rape....

                                               SHE                                      

                           RAPE BILL GAGS PRESS

The proposed amendments to the rape law are going to be introduced in Parliament this November .What does this bill say? Is it beneficial to women?

To recall the past, rape was an unspoken word till March 8^th--- the international Women’s day, when thousands of women came out on the streets demanding justice for Mathura, the 15 year old agricultural worker who had been raped by two policemen.

By April 1980, the law commission had produced a voluminous report making recommendations for the changes of the law. It incorporated many of the demands that many of the women’s organization were making; and by August 1980, a bill was prepared for submission to the next session of the parliament.

Why this quick action? One gets a clue reading the first page;

 “Whosoever prints or publishes the name or any matter which may make known the identity of any person against whom an offence …….  Is alleged or found to have been committed shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one month but which may extend to two years and shall also be liable to fine.”

A lawyer from the Nari Attyachar Virodhi Manch (Forum against Rape) maintains “this literally amounts to press censorship. Surprisingly enough, no news paper has realized this fact or campaigned against it.

If a paper reports a woman in such an industrial estate was raped this could suffice to identify the woman. There has been an increased reportage on rape, especially those committed by police in the last few months. This amendment will stop this kind of reporting.

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It will always gag women’s groups from printing leaflets and trying to mobilize people about a rape case to ensure that proper sets are taken to punish the guilty.  Even a leaflet which describes the incident could be taken to mean an identification of the woman.

“Though it is true that women groups have been agitating against the way women who have been raped are treated by the media, we feel that such an amendment   women against atrocities on women.  We are totally opposed to this amendment”.

This is a major addition in the Bill, something which was not even suggested in the Law Commission recommendations.  On the other hand, some of the most important parts 0f the recommendations have been totally ignored.  

The major recommendations made by the Law Commission provided for the prevention of rape of women by policemen.  Thus the Commission had recommended that a woman should have the right to be accompanied by a relative to the police station.  She could not be interrogated anywhere except her own house.  She could not be arrested between sunset and sunrise.  She could not be detained except in a place of custody meant exclusively for the detention for women.  Women could also have representatives of women’s organizations with them at the time of police interrogations.

Surprisingly, all these recommendations which would have helped in the prevention of rape by the police have been dropped by the Bill. WHY? The Bill gives no explanation.  We can only conclude that the government is not really interested in preventing rape by police. It is more interested in ensuring that these rapes are not reported so that the people do not know what is happening.

All the discussion regarding the proposed bill has centered around “burden of proof”--- that is the controversial recommendation which says “In a prosecution for rape or attempt to commit a rape, where sexual intercourse is proved and the question is whether it was without the consent of the woman and the woman with whom rape is alleged to have been committed or attempted, states in her evidence before the court that she did not consent, the court shall presume that she did not consent”.

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Furious letters in the press have protested that this means that every man is in danger, that any woman will shout rape , and it will be up to him to prove that she did not consent .For years now , a woman has to prove that she did not consent , but none thought that unfair.

The bill however says that only when accused is a policeman or a person in power or authority and only when a victim is pregnant or there was gang rape, will the court presume, when a woman says she did not consent. In all other cases the woman will have to prove that she did not consent. Considering that the woman is the victim, it is indeed surprising that it is left to the victim herself to prove her non consent.

The Law Commission had recommended that the past sexual history, apart from that of the accused should be excluded from the evidence. The reason for this is obvious ---the defense always try to maintain that the woman is a “loose” or “immoral” woman and therefore her consent is immaterial. The bill however makes no such stipulation. Lastly, neither the law commission, nor the bill says anything about rehabilitation about the women .Often the women are socially ostracized, and turned out of their homes. Currently there is a little alternative for a raped woman. It is essential that the proposed bill takes this crucial aspect into consideration.

Concerned people and groups all over the country must make their voice heard about the proposed bill, to ensure that it incorporates the law commission recommendations and that the attempt to suppress information about the rape is stopped.

THE LAWYERS COLLECTIVE has published a booklet “RAPE PROPOSED CHANGES IN THE LAW”. This is available for Rs 2.00 from Rm. 818, Stock Exchange Towers, Fountain Bombay, 400023.

                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                       OCTOBER 18, 1980