Author: Aishani Bhattacharjee, Bishop Cotton Women’s Christian Law College, Bengaluru
To The Point
In India, the justice system for women remains a complex and multifaceted issue. There have been many legal reforms and progressive legislation aimed at safeguarding women’s rights, yet women in Indian society continue to face systemic barriers that puts obstacles in their ability to effectively access justice. These barriers that women in India face in their day-to-day life are ingrained in social, cultural, economic, and institutional factors, including entrenched gender biases, limited legal awareness, and inadequate enforcement of laws. Through this article, we will explore some of the key issues women face in accessing justice in India, along with relevant case laws that highlight these challenges.
Abstract
Women in India continue to face significant challenges in accessing justice though there have been many legal reforms to address the issue. As women has always been subjected to many gender biases from time immemorial for this very reason there has been delays in the judicial process, lack of legal awareness, fear of retaliation, and institutional failures for the females in the society. The article and the relevant case laws will showcase the ongoing struggle for justice that women face, even when legal protections exist on paper. As the societal fabric of India is rapidly changing with industrialization and globalisation the Indian government should implement women centric laws catering to the present need of the society in safeguarding women’s right in India.
Use of Legal Jargon
There has been considerable number of statutes which focuses in preservation of women rights in India but still there has been struggle in upholding the integrity of these statutes for which it was formulated. The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 is a statute which was formulated mainly to add buffer to dowry related harassment towards women, however between 2011 and 2024, only 13 out of 610 reported cases have led to conviction. Families of dowry death victims are still fighting their battle for justice as only 2.1 percent of cases registered during 2011 to 2024 have resulted in conviction. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 is a statue which provides safeguard to women in relation domestic violence and provides for remedies residence orders and protection orders yet this statute do not guarantee justice to the aggrieved women as a case for domestic violence can fall short of evidence from the victim’s or there would be no exact conclusive proof in certain cases to showcase abuse. Another prominent statute which is Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act,2013 is an act for providing redressal mechanism for issues related sexual assault at workplace .The Internal Complaints Committees (ICC) which is the main redressal machinery for the POSH Act, 2013 in certain cases do not make proper inquiry of the complaints of sexual abuse of women in work place which leads to dismissal of complaint without proper analysis which deeply hampers women safety in professional setup. These are few instances where statutes which were enacted for women safety have been twisted and have not been efficient in providing any substantial protection to growing crime against women in India today. For this very reason the legislature should take strict measures to improve the institutional machinery for women protection in country.
The Proof
The Indian judicial system is often a tedious and slow paced where courts being overburden with multiplicity of cases. This often results in frequent adjournments, and delayed justice for victims of rape, domestic violence and other forms of sexual assaults. In rural India around 62% of women do not report cases of sexual or domestic violence due to social stigma as reported by a study of UN Women in 2020. The 2021 report from National Crime Records, highlights India has estimated that over 3 crores cases related to domestic violence and sexual assault are still pending in the courts in India. Another report by Amnesty International in 2019 has found that police when dealing with sensitive cases related to women are prone to mishandling evidence or altogether dismiss a women’s complaints. A study conducted in 2020 by the Centre for Social Research resulted that 65% of complaints for matters regarding sexual harassment is usually faced by hostile questioning or dismissal of complaints by the courts. In 2019 the Ministry of Women and Child Development reported that a meagre percentage of women can avail legal aid due to the lack of awareness or financial constraints. All this statistical data clearly indicates that how in India women face hurdles specially in recent times in accessing justice due many factors like insensitive law enforcement officers, stereotyping by judges where aggrieved are often perceived as lying or exaggerating or even cultures and religious rules which sometimes discourage women to seek judicial remedy in matters of marital rape or honour-based crimes.
Case Laws – 1) Nirbhaya v. UOI (2012) – This case was a long fought legal battle in India which happened as a result of brutal gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old young girl in a moving bus in Delhi in December, 2012. This case bought in impactful legal reforms like the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 which introduced death penalty for certain cases of rape. This landmark case has been clear demarcation of perseverance of the widespread national protest for years which lead to the 2017 death penalty of the accused by the Supreme court of India.
Hathras rape and murder case (2020) – This case revolves around a 19 year old Dalit girl from Hatharas , Uttar Pradesh who became victim of gang-rape and assault by four men on September 14, 2020. The Hatharas district court, in 2nd March, 2023 acquitted three out of four accused and only the fourth accused Sandeep, was convicted under Section 304 of IPC (culpable homicide) and provisions under SC/ST Act, but did not include rape and murder. The case has been appealed in Allahabad High Court this case is a big reminder of how women from marginalized sections of society had to face vanquish for failure of administrative system of the state.
Bilkis Bano v. State of Gujrat (2002) – In this case a woman named Bilkis Bano was gang raped when she was pregnant and her family members, including her than 3-year-old daughter were killed it happened during 2002 Gujrat riots. The case got transferred to Mumbai for fair trial, and in 2008, 11 men were convicted to life imprisonment. However, in 2022, state government in Gujrat released the convicts, for the reason of good behaviour during their conviction. This resulted in public uproar. This case reflects the challenges relating to fairness of Indian legal where true essence of justice is put at stake even for diabolical crimes like rape and murder.
Conclusion
Key challenges that a lady in India faces in getting quick remedy from the judicial machinery is related to economic vulnerability to fight prolonged battles in courts and at times the aggrieved woman is dependent on the abuser for financial support. In Indian society another major challenge that a victim of abuse has to often face is the tendency of the society at large to blame the victims for their choice of clothing or behaviour which usually results in underreporting of crimes against women because of societal judgement. Women empowerment economically and socially and bringing multi-dimensional approach, efficient legal enforcement and strong support system from the society for the aggrieved woman can aid in addressing the issues of women’s justice in India.
FAQS
Whether slow judicial process have impact on women seeking justice?
The slow working of judiciary which results into delayed trials, delayed court dates and backlog of cases in general impacts adversely as the victims are prone to withdraw their cases as this only prolongs their misery and there exist huge deal of uncertainties.
What creates a buffer for women in reporting crimes?
Crimes relating to sexual or domestic abuse are harder for women to report mainly as constant lurking of fear for societal stigma. Another reason is that usually police also show unwillingness to take such cases seriously which results in negligible reporting especially in rural India.
How does patriarchy impact women’s access to justice in India?
Patriarchal norms often subjugate women or results in retaliation against them if they happen to seek justice in India. Due to this fear many women in India are usually silenced in relation to crimes like domestic violence or family disputes.
How does the law enforcing agencies contribute in challenge faced by women?
Law enforcement agencies at times do no any redressal to women’s grievances as there is a shortage of well-trained staff in handling sensitive cases or gender biases particularly in rural setups. Dismissive attitudes of police officials have often resulted in pursuing legal action. There are even gender and caste-based discrimination which women had to face while reporting crimes from the police.
