While the Nirbhaya, Kathua, Mandsaur and many other rape cases grabbed headlines, rape is a reality that half of our population lives with every day. The fear of a rapist lurking in the fields, on the way to school, when they go to relieve themselves or even in their own homes is omnipresent for women and girls in rural India. Rural Connection launched a campaign to highlight these cases – which failed to become headlines or hashtags – and in doing so, bring out the larger issues raised by so many individual cases. Join us in our campaign, Raktranjit – Bloodstains

The year 2012 was a landmark year in the history of our criminal justice system because for the first time a new law was created to deal with the growing instances of sexual crimes against children. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act or POCSO was enacted in 2012. The scope of POCSO extends to providing protection to children from sexual offences, including pornography. Among the various stringent provisions of POCSO are immediate arrest without bail of the accused.

But the ground reality is that the police still does not register cases under the right sections. For example, Uma’s case. Though she is a minor, subjected to repeated rape, who later became pregnant and gave birth, her case was not registered under POCSO. The accused in that case is out of bail. POCSO further entails that the investigation has to be completed in a month and the trial in a year — neither has happened in Uma’s case.

After the Nirbhaya case, more changes were made in the law. The Justice Verma Commission was formed to give recommendations in a time-bound manner to improve the rape laws of the country. On the basis of these recommendations the Criminal Law Amendment Act (2013) or the Nirbhaya Act came into force.

Several crimes against women were brought under the ambit of the law. These included stalking, voyeurism, acid attacks, sexual harassment and trafficking. It also brought up the age of consent from 16 to 18 — meaning that even if a sexual act is carried out with the consent of a girl under 18 years of age, it will be considered as statutory rape. The definition of rape was amended.

But will this change anything?

Sunita Menon, director of Delhi-based Breakthrough, an organisation working to end sexual discrimination, said: “After the Nirbhaya case, while on the one hand, we have seen many changes in the law, which has become more stringent; on the other, we have seen a dramatic change in social attitudes as well. Now, we see the public raising its voice in anger against any crime against a woman — be it on the social media or be it on the streets. The voice of the people has finally become loud enough to be heard.”

In her experience across the four states where Breakthrough works, she has seen that where earlier victims would hesitate in approaching the police, now they are unwilling to keep quiet. “Women have been victims for centuries, but now an environment has been created where they are saying a loud and clear “No” to violence against themselves. Thus, more cases are coming out, more cases are being registered. The social attitudes have changed. The shame associated with being the victim of a sexual crime has disappeared,” she added.

But is this awareness limited to urban areas? While the awareness has filtered down to the villages as well, and voices are being raised, but the process of getting justice is still very long and painful for victims in villages.  

Niboo Khali, Sitapur district chairperson of Mahila Samakhya, a women’s rights body, said: “Despite all our efforts to ensure justice for girls who come to us, the results are far from good. Even if the matter reaches the police, no one comes forward to give statements. There is so much pressure on the victims to withdraw their complaints.”

Reshma Singh, Jharkhand Coordinator for AALI, an organisation working to provide legal aid to women in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, told Rural Connection: “Sexual crimes against women and children are on the rise. But along with that, even the desire to get justice is increasing. But despite coming forward to report the crimes, they find the long-time span that the legal system takes extremely daunting. Often they give up because of the years and years it takes to get justice.”

But Reshma, who has spent over 17 years working with trafficked women in Jharkhand, has observed a disturbing trend. “While earlier the victim’s family would pull back because of social stigma, now we are seeing that the village head is pressuring them to take back their complaints. This is because they want their village to get the Nirmal Village awards,” she said.

Social stigma and ostracism are as brutal as a second rape for the victims. “Even in this day and age, neighbours, relatives, villagers all humiliate the victim and her family. In one case, villagers ostracised the family of a minor victim to such an extent that they did not let them use even the village hand pump. It was only after we intervened that things changed. Along with changes in the law, there is a dire need to bring about a change in mindsets,” said Reshma.