Tag Archive for sexual assault

Protest mount in Delhi over child rape

April 21, 2013 Team FI News
Anti-rape protest delhi

By Team FI

Protests and anger are mounting in Delhi over the brutal rape of 5- year- old girl in Delhi last week.

Anti-rape protesters stormed the barricades outside the residences of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The police had to forcefully remove protesters from outside the police headquarters.

The anger was also directed against Delhi police’s alleged negligent and callous attitude in refusing to file FIR when the parents reported the rape. The child’s father has alleged that police officials told him to be grateful that the child was alive and offered a bribe to hush up the case.

The five-year-old girl was abducted on April 15 and was sexually assaulted for two days without food and water in a room in which the accused lived. She was rescued Wednesday when her family, who lived in the same building, heard her feeble cries.

The Delhi police arrested the accused, Manoj Kumar, a garment factory worker, from his in-law’s house in Bihar. The 22-year-old accused was produced in a Delhi court and has been sent to judicial custody till May 4. A jittery Delhi administration, to avoid a repeat of the massive protests after the rape and murder of young student in December last year, on Sunday stopped protesters from marching to India Gate and distributed pamphlets requesting the public to remain calm.

The doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences where the child was admitted stated that the girls’ condition is stable and she is responding to treatment. Doctors earlier removed pieces of candle and a plastic bottle from the child’s vagina. One of the doctors treating her is reported to have admitted that he had never before witnessed such brutality committed on a child.

Featured photo courtesy: PTI

No comments , , ,

Criminal law bill 2013: one step forward, two steps backward, say activists

March 16, 2013 Team FI News
India

Women’s groups call for changes in the new Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2013, passed by the Union Government of India

By Team FI

Women’s groups and representatives of democratic and human rights groups, have called the Union Government’s Criminal Law (Amendment) (CLA) Bill 2013, as “taking one step forward and two steps back” in relation to “creating a law which is truly just, progressive and reflects the reality of contemporary India.”

The press release, issued after the Union Government passed the CLA Bill on March 15, 2013 states that though certain points in the CLA Bill are welcome, there are other areas where major lacunae causes serious concern. The issues raised includes the demand for the usage of the term gender-neutral for the victim of sexual violence emphasizing that victims of sexual violence are not only women but also men, and those who do not subscribe to the “normal” gender roles, that marital rape should be recognized as sexual violence, that laws that provide impunity to armed forces in relation to sexual violence must be removed and that the word “forced” to be added to the word prostitution to distinguish it from voluntary sex work.

The press release said that they welcome the fact that “only men may be accused of rape under Section 375 IPC of the Act which reflects the prevalence of the crime and reality of rape as an exercise of power in a deeply patriarchal society.” They also appreciated that stalking and voyeurism would now be non-bailable for repeat offenders. They support reducing the minimum age consent for sexual activity to 16. They also welcome that minimum imprisonment would be provided for public servants who “knowingly disobey the law.” And that “no prior sanction will be required from the government for prosecution of public servants for crimes of sexual violence.”

The following are however the areas where activists have expressed their dissatisfaction and concern. The press releases calls on the members of parliament to discuss these issues and follow the recommendations of the Justice Verma committee in letter and spirit for truly gender-just laws in India.

The press release reads:

Gender neutral victim: Victims of sexual violence are not only women but other men, and those who transgress or don’t fit into so-called “normal” gender roles – like transgender people, hijras, people with intersex variations etc. Repeated sexual offences against hijras are common knowledge and the Khairlanji events show how egregiously men can be sexually humiliated and violated by other men. While perpetrators of sexual violence must be men; the victims should be “persons”, i.e. gender neutral in appropriate sections.

Marital rape: This continues to be legal in India despite controls being proposed to address concerns of abuse. Women separated under judicial decree or otherwise, are the only ones with any protection. Ironically, complaints about marital rape are considered to go against traditional values and pose a threat to the institution of marriage, but the crime itself does not evoke such strong sanction. This is a deep failure in our laws.

Dignity and bodily integrity, not “modesty”: The language of “outraging the modesty of women” remains despite its subjective, patriarchal and moralistic nature – it should be replaced with “dignity and bodily integrity”.

No impunity under AFSPA: Laws like AFSPA, which provide total impunity to the armed forces, must go, as said by the Justice Verma Committee. We know that rape and sexual assault in areas under army control are widespread. Such offences are almost never adequately prosecuted by the institutions involved. We demand the all such cases be tried under normal criminal law in criminal courts.

Command responsibility: In cases of sexual assault committed by state personnel, authorities higher up in the hierarchy should be held liable for dereliction of duty by those under their command if they knew or should have known of the lapse.

Aggravated assault: Sexual violence committed in the context of communal or sectarian violence, or across caste-lines, is of an aggravated nature and must be treated as such.

No death penalty: Awarding death penalty in cases of sexual assault will have serious negative consequences. It is not the severity of punishment but the certainty of it that will act has a real deterrent. In fact the death penalty could increase instances of murder by rapists to keep the victim out of the witness box.

Trafficking, not voluntary sex work: We strongly agree with the prohibition of trafficking but at the same time it’s important that the government distinguishes “forced prostitution” from voluntary sex work. We propose adding the word “forced” to Article 370 to make this distinction clear.

Medical treatment and reparations: For the victim of an acid attack, sexual assault or rape, there is an immediate need from the time of injury of medical treatment, access to a safe place, surgeries, and on-going rehabilitation-related expenses. These must be borne by the State, whether it draws from a State fund, or recovers from the accused or from any other source.

No comments , , , , ,

India mourns the death of Delhi gangrape victim

December 29, 2012 Team FI News
Delhi rape protest

By Team FI

India is mourning the death of the 23-year-old woman who was brutally gan-graped and assaulted with an iron rod by six men aboard a moving bus in the national capital.

The young paramedical student died of her injuries at Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Hospital at 2.15 am on Saturday. The victim had been flown to Singapore in a critical condition by the government on Thursday for treatment.

The brutal rape and assault that took place on December 16,2012, triggered massive nationwide protests and almost paralysed parts of New Delhi a few days ago. Large number of students, mostly women, took out protest marches braving water cannons and lathis. As the news of the girl’s death spread today, a worried Delhi administration, eager to ensure that anti-rape protesters did not catch them by surprise, stepped up security and blocked public access to sensitive areas of the national capital.

According to the Mount Elizabeth hospital hospital, despite all efforts by a team of eight specialists to keep her alive and stable, her condition continued to deteriorate and she suffered from severe organ failure following serious injuries to her body and brain.

“She was courageous in fighting for her life for so long against the odds but the trauma to her body was too severe for her to overcome,” Dr Kelvin Loh, CEO of the hospital said.

Meanwhile, women’s organisations have called for a silent march in memory of the young victim across the country. In Delhi, mourners will start at 1.30 pm and walk from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar. A silent protest will take place at Shivaji Park in Mumbai on Saturday at 2 pm. In Bangalore, a night vigil will be held. Mourners will walk from Ramakrishna Ashram in Basavanagudi to Jayanagar 4th Block starting at 6 pm to protest, remember and mourn rape victims/survivors. In Kochi, a protest march will be held from Kaloor to the high court at 6pm.

Many individuals and groups have called for candle light vigils demanding a violence-free world.

2 comments , , , , , ,

Guwahati Case: Laws on Sexual Violence Inadequate

July 17, 2012 Team FI News
Guwahati-girl-molestation-photo-1

An Open Letter to PM by women’s groups questions the efficacy of the laws on sexual assault, the inadequacies of which may weaken the case against the perpetrators in the Guwahati assault of 20-year-old woman

By Team FI

Even as outrage is being expressed across the nation at the Guwahati mob assault on a 20-year-old woman, and questions are being raised about the media involvement and complicity, a collective of women’s groups, human rights organisations and individuals have sent an open letter to the Prime Minister, calling attention to the inadequacies in the country’s laws on sexual violence which might very well weaken the case against the perpetrators of this atrocity.

On 9th May, at 9.30 pm, outside a pub near Guwahati’s Christian Basti area, a 20-year-old woman was stripped, molested, beaten up by a nearly 50-strong mob, even as reporters from television channels filmed the assault. The police reportedly arrived at 10.10 pm and rescued the girl. The video footage shows the mob reaching out into the police van filled with armed cops and harassing the girl. The National Commission of Women panel who visited the girl at the residence stated that marks of severe injuries were found on her, including cigarette burns all over her body.

Twelve out of the mob were identified – and four arrests have been made so far – Dhanraj Basfar, a sweeper, Puspendu Das, a shopkeeper, Md Habijuddin, and 18-year-old Bikash Tiwari. Those identified but not arrested are Rubul Ali, Debo Das, a man with the surname Baruah, Dipak Dey an auto driver, Tinku Deb and Bablu. One of the main accused who is seen smiling at the video camera even as he hit and molested the girl was identified as Amarjyoti Kalita.

The accused have been booked under Sec 341 (wrongful restraint) 143 (unlawful assembly), 294 (obscene act), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (assault or criminal force on a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty) of IPC. The Open Letter points out that, “At present only 2 provisions of the Indian Penal Code primarily deal with the issue of sexual violence against women. Sec. 376 IPC punishes rape and Sec. 354 IPC punishes outraging the ‘modesty’ of a woman. Sec. 354 IPC applies to routine incidents of molestation and certainly does not respond to aggravated sexual assault by a mob, accompanied by public stripping and parading. There is no penal provision to redress the harm, injury, humiliation and trauma suffered by the young woman in Guwahati when she was assaulted by a group of men, or indeed countless attacks similar to this reported from different parts of India. Yet it is this penal provision which the police and court will have to base their charge upon.  Sec. 354 IPC offers no commensurate penalty – nor is a deterrent.  It is a bailable offence and allows the Court to award a maximum of 2 year imprisonment or at its discretion, a mere fine as a minimum sentence.”

The letter points out the inadequacy of the IPC which “leaves unacknowledged a host of crimes of sexual assault. The law attaches gravity only to rape i.e penile penetration of the vagina. All other forms of sexual assault find no specific mention and fall into the residue category of Sec. 354 IPC, which trivialises the crimes.”

The Letter points out that for the past twenty years the women’s movement has been pushing for the need for law reform. The Home Ministry’s response to this was the Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2010, which was welcomed by the women’s groups who organised national consultations with “women’s rights, child rights, human rights groups, scholars, lawyers etc. and formulated an alternative draft Bill…The draft bill submitted by women’s rights groups in 2010 had, therefore, graded offences into categories of sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault and sexual offences, based on the concepts of harm, injury, humiliation and degradation.”

The delegation that presented the draft bill was assured of a national consultation on the Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2010. However, though the Child Sexual Offences Bill was passed, the Letter states that “despite our repeated reminders and requests no progress has been made on amending the law relating to sexual violence.”

The Letter demands a transparent and thorough probe into the alleged role of the media in instigating the Guwahati attack and strongly urges the government to initiate “the process of dialogue with women’s rights groups, activists, lawyers and scholars on the Criminal law Amendment Bill, 2010, by organizing consultations.”

No comments , , , , ,

Siddharth Mallya Served Notice for Defamatory Tweets

May 19, 2012 Team FI News
sidharth mallya

Mallya has 48 hours to apologise or face legal action from Zohal Hamid, who was subjected to character assassination tweets from Siddharth Mallya following her molestation charges against IPL Royal Challenger cricketer Luke Pomersbach

By Team FI

Siddarth Mallya, director of the IPL Royal Challengers team, owned by his business tycoon father Vijay Mallya, was served legal notice by Zohal Hamid asking him to apologize for his defamatory tweets against her following her molestation charges against RC cricketer Luke Pomersbach. Mallya has been given 48 hours to apologize, at the end of which legal action would be initiated against him.

The Australian cricketer was arrested and charged on Friday, 18th on charges of molesting Hamid and attacking her fiancé Sahil Peerzada at a five star hotel. Responding to Hamid’s allegations, Mallya tweeted, “The girl who is accusing Luke is saying he hit her ‘fiancé’…what a load of fucking shit. She was all over me last night and asked for me bbm pin, so if he was her fiance she wasn’t exactly behaving like a future wife.”

He later tweeted, “If Luke is in the wrong, then trust me he will face the necessary sanctions. But what this girl is doing is idiotic.” Mallya’s tweets have not only irked women and activists in the country; the twitter community have also mostly greeted the tweet with brickbats.

Pomersbach was released on bail on Saturday. He was charged under IPC sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 323 (causing hurt), 454 (lurking house trespass) and 511 (attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment).

No comments , , , , ,

Delhiites March in Protest Against Rape

May 7, 2012 Team FI News
Delhi protest by activists

Individuals and activists from women’s groups, disability groups, and civil rights movements marched in Delhi NCR in a protest against rape

By Team FI

United under the banner of Citizen’s Collective Against Sexual Assault, about 350 people from across Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida, marched from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar on 5th May, 2012, to protest against rape and the negligent and insensitive responses of authorities. “Stop Rapes and Make Delhi NCR a Safer Place for Women” was the message that was delivered to the public and police authorities.

The protesters intended to march from Mandi House to the ITO but the permission was withdrawn by the Delhi Police. The march had to be rerouted to Jantar Mantar. “No, you cannot protest on the streets” – this is the response that members of the Citizens’ Collective got when they went for police permission to the Parliament Street police station a few days ago. Obviously, our ‘duty bearers’ today are absolutely fine with women being raped and sexually assaulted on the streets, but they are not okay with people protesting this. This is the grim reality in Delhi NCR today, “ stated the press release from the Citizens Collective.

The protesters were from women’s groups (including Action India, AIDWA, AIPWA, Jagori, Nirantar, PLD, Saheli, Sama, Stree Adhikar Sangathan), disability groups (The Deaf Way Foundation, Noida Deaf Society, National Association of the Deaf), youth groups (Must Bol and YP Foundation), representatives from other movements (NAPM, NTUI, students groups/unions), citizen groups like Gurgaon Girlcott and residents from across the NCR. The march also attracted passers-by who joined the protesters.

The marchers, most of them dressed in red, carrying banners that read Nazar Teri Buri Aur Parda Mein Karoon?’ and ‘Don’t tell me how to dress, tell them not to rape,’  gathered at Jantar Mantar. The next three hours saw slogans shouted, songs of protest, speeches and a performance of ‘Dastak’ (a nukkad-natak/play by Arvind Gaur’s theatre group Asmita).

”According to media reports, Delhi Police says a woman is raped every 18 hours and molested every 14 hours in Delhi. Delhi Commissioner of Police, B K Gupta accepts that not all rape cases get reported,” stated the press release issued by the organizers. The rally ended with the Joint Commissioner of Police Taj Hussain being presented with a memorandum in the absence of the Delhi Commissioner of Police. JCP Taj promised to follow-up on the demands.  Similar memorandums would be submitted to the Gurgaon and Noida Commissioners of Police.

The Memorandum

The Commissioners of Police (Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida) must publicly condemn the statements made by their respective colleagues. They must clearly convey zero-tolerance of anti-women and gender-insensitive attitudes of their forces. Strict action should be taken against police personnel for making such statements/letting such attitudes affect the course of justice.

All state agencies must stop blaming the victim and shift the responsibility onto the state agencies mandated to protect women’s rights. We demand respect and dignity of all women.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for sexual assault cases (including sexual harassment in public places, domestic violence and rape) must be made available in the public domain so that all citizens are aware of their rights under such circumstances. This information would include the procedures for helpline, PCR, as well as walk-in cases.

There must be 100% response to calls by women and on behalf of the women in distress.

The Police forces must ensure effective and timely response from Delhi Police helplines like 100, 1091, 1096, and other helplines in Gurgaon and Noida. Mechanisms to regularly monitor calls and the subsequent responses should be put to immediate effect.

Immediate and sustainable preventive mechanisms should be designed and adopted by all police forces for coordinated action across state borders.

Police officers should demonstrate greater sensitivity towards all women and girls, and undergo periodic gender training and follow gender sensitive normative standards.

 

No comments , , , , , ,

Paraplegic Woman Deserves Dignity Not Custody: Supreme Court

May 4, 2012 Team FI News
Paraplegic Seema

Survivor of sexual assault by Rajathan Police, Seema, whose subsequent suicide attempt resulted in 80 percent paraplegia has been granted bail by the Supreme Court of India

By Team FI

Paraplegic woman, Seema who has spent the last 63 days in police custody after her arrest in a kidnapping and sexual abuse case has been granted interim bail on May 1st by the Supreme Court. According to the People’s Union for Civil Liberties‘s (PUCL), Rajasthan, press release, Justice CS Thakur and Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra said that Seema was a living corpse and she deserved dignity and not custody.

Seema’s story begins on 23rd January 2011, when she was brought into the Pratap Nagar police station (Jaipur) for questioning in an alleged kidnapping and sexual abuse case. Even as her father Shivdan Singh, a constable, was waiting outside, she was beaten and sexually assaulted by the SHO Ramniwas Bishnoi, head constable Babru Khan and constable Lal Chand. The next day, Seema, in an attempt to commit suicide jumped in front of train. She survived but spinal cord damage left her paraplegic. Her left leg had to be amputated above the knee.

Public uproar and protests by women organisations resulted in the arrest of the three policemen who are currently in jail, their bail applications having being rejected by both lower and higher courts. However in what activists and Seema’s parents believe is a bid to silence Seema, she was implicated in the kidnapping case and arrested on 29th of February, 2012. It was alleged that the victim of the sexual abuse case was forced to include Seema’s name as a conspirator.

Judicial magistrate Chandra Kala Jain sent Seema to the same jail where her abusers were being kept. She was shifted later to Sawai Man Singh hospital by jail authorities. According to Seema’s lawyer Ajay Kumar Jain, her bail plea was rejected by additional judicial magistrate Anita Sharma of the special court for women’s atrocities on the grounds that her pulse and her blood pressure were normal.

 

No comments , , , , , , ,