1. Manthan Topic:
Walk to equality: Ensuring safety and
empowerment of women
Team Members:
Aditya Daipuria, Nishank Jain, Prachi Thakur,
Aditi Gupta and Pranav Singh
College Details:
Bansal Institute of Science and Technology,Bhopal
2. Introduction: Problem Statement
• Women inequality in India in terms of social, spiritual, political,
educational, gender, or economic strength has been a major
problem over the decades.
• Even after the years of independence, the present day statistics
show backwardness, bad face and failure of the constitution
even after being ensured with lots and lots of rights, provisions
and laws ensuring safety for the women including right to
equality which is still absent today for women in reality.
According to the census 2011, India's sex ratio of 940 is the
second lowest among the ten most populous countries of the
world.
• The National Crime Records Bureau reported in 1998 that by
2010 growth in the rate of crimes against women would exceed
the population growth rate. The crimes consists of acid
throwing, child marriage, domestic violence, dowry, female
infanticide, rape, sexual assault and trafficking.
3. The reason behind choosing this topic is that in last five years, India has
degraded its culture and thinking for women and crimes has been increasing
day by day. Ex. In our daily newspaper, 8 to 15 news are related to rapes and
sexual assault.
Table showing the women’s and men’s positions on equality
4. Major steps adopted by the Government to
ensure safety of the women:
By way of Criminal law Amendment Bill, 2013
• Definition of 'rape' revisited and additional phrases inserted
• The word sexual assault has been replaced back to rape. The offence is no
longer gender-neutral, only a man can commit the offence on a woman. The
clause related to touching of private parts has been removed.
• Compensation to victim to meet medical expenses
• Failure of a public servant to record information in relation to sexual
offences should be specifically penalized under the Act
• Rape by armed personnel accepted with harsher punishment
• Death penalty for persistent vegetative state or death of the victim accepted
• Voyeurism accepted.
• Stalking accepted.
• Clause for acid attack have also been inserted.
• New section-376(F) under IPC has been inserted under which- the offence
of breach of command responsibility wherein senior officers can be
punished with not less than 7 years RI if they fail to ensure their
juniors act according to law in registering rape FIRs and investigation.
5. • New section-376(F) under IPC has been inserted under which- the
offence of breach of command responsibility wherein senior officers
can be punished with not less than 7 years RI if they fail to ensure their
juniors act according to law in registering rape FIRs and investigation.
• Post special commissioners for women's safety in conflict area.
Punishment of the offence and maturity of a mind should be decided
on the basis of the acts done by that person rather than by age and
sparing him .
• Giving him the defense of being a juvenile/ minor by age.
• Other steps taken:
a) Fast- track courts.
b) Women judge and council to be appointed for rape cases trials
c) Increased number of appointments for lady cops.
d) Reservation for women.
Educational Inequality:
• Though it is gradually increasing, the female literacy rate in India is less
than the male literacy rate.
• According to a 1998 report by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the
chief barriers to female education in India are inadequate school
facilities (such as sanitary facilities), shortage of female teachers and
gender bias in the curriculum (female characters being depicted as
weak and helpless).
• Under the Non-Formal Education programme (NFE), about 40% of the
NFE centers in states and 10% of the centers in UTs are
exclusively reserved for females. As of 2000, about 300,000 NFE
centers were catering to about 7.42 million children. About 120,000
NFE centers were exclusively for girls.
6. Proposed Solution:
STEPS THAT SHOULD BE ADOPTED
1) As proposed by JVC report, sex education should be introduced, which was absent in
the ordinance:
# Students from the age of 12 must be introduced by sex education and basics for being
secure and safe.
2) Travelling of women in public transport must be made safer:
# Public transports must be made safer by the use of CCTV cameras, safety tools like
security alarms. Buses must be equipped with special health care kits also with a tight
security system be it a machine or armed force.
3) Measures to prevent politicization of law enforcement agencies should be taken.
4) Legal awareness camps and nukkad nataks should be organized to spread awareness.
# Nukkad Nataks and camps will provide knowledge and will create open mindedness
amongst people and will enlighten the fact that suppressing these topics can never
avoid crimes but making people aware of it, can.
5) Legalization of prostitution:
# This is the major change that should be accepted. Regular checkups could be
conducted and diseases and violence against women could be prevented.
LAWS THAT NEED TO BE AMENDED
1) Marital rape should be regarded as an offence.
2) Bring sexual violence by personnel in uniform under common law.
3) Sexual Harassment at Workplace bill should be made as law.
7. LAWS THAT NEED TO BE AMENDED
1) Marital rape should be regarded as an offence.
# In 2006, it was estimated that marital rape could
be prosecuted in at least 104 countries (in four of
these countries, marital rape could be prosecuted
only when the spouses were judicially separated),
and since 2006 several other countries have
outlawed spousal rape. In many countries it is not
clear if marital rape may or may not be prosecuted
under ordinary rape laws. Several countries
in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia made spousal
rape illegal before 1970, but other countries in
Western Europe and the English-speaking Western
World outlawed it much later, mostly in the 1980s
and 1990s. Most developing countries outlawed it
in the 1990s and 2000s.
2) Bring sexual violence by personnel in uniform
under common law.
3) Sexual Harassment at Workplace bill should be
made as law.
8. Implementation and Impact of the
solution:
• Awareness among people can be improved by large scale camps by
influential parties even by political parties.
• Rehabilitation for victims:
1) Personal counseling of the rape victims
2) Providing the feeling of belongingness and empathy rather than
sympathy.
• Counseling will help the victims to overcome from their deeds and know
about their sins and make them good citizens and lead their lives without
letting themselves down.
• Acceptation of legalized prostitution will lead to a systematic organization
of health related problems as well as registration of people in prostitution
and their local checkups and making people aware of the diseases.
• Educational camps for women/girls should be held in village areas to
provide village people good opportunity at for free.
• Small skits all around the states should be organized on different topics
like dowry, trafficking of girls and should let people know about the
seriousness of the matter and the legalized penalties taken against it.
9. Challenges in the proposed cause:
• Irrelevant myths and past culture regarding controversial existence
women in village people and all around the world is the biggest
problem.
• Narrow mindedness of people.
• Slow amendments by Government.
• Youth unawareness.
• Improving confidence among women who has been molested or
assaulted in any way.
10. Conclusion:
The concluding idea here would be focused on the
demand for need of implementation of the present law.
Law was also present yesterday,
it is today and it will be there tomorrow as well. But
today's need is not demanding more laws but just the
strict implementation of the
present and already made law which ensures presence
of law with the justice executed, not the law without
being executed.
