Laws against rape in INDIA
Law against rape’s past:
- It was part of the original 1860 publication of the Indian Penal Code.
- The country’s penal code was divided into two distinct books at the recommendation of Lord Macaulay’s first Law Commission. (Code of Criminal Procedure and Indian Penal Code)
Indian Penal Code (IPC):
- IPC Section 375 states that having sex with a woman against her will or without her consent is illegal.
- It is rape to make her or any other person she cares about fear for their lives or physical harm.
- When a woman is under 18, having sex with or without her consent is considered rape.
- A man’s sexual behaviour with his wife, with one exception, is not rape as long as she is older than 15 years old.
- Under Section 376, penalties ranged from seven years to life in prison.
Rape in a prison in Mathura, 1972:
- In 1972, a young Adivasi girl named Mathura was allegedly sexually assaulted by police in the Maharashtra police station of Desai Gunj.
- The trial that followed showed that she had engaged in sexual activity while at the police station despite the lack of rape proof and the fact that she was accustomed to doing so.
- The High Court overturned the Sessions Court’s order to invalidate both policemen’s acquittals.
- The Supreme Court overruled the High Court’s decision in this case, stating that “the intercourse in question is not established to amount to rape.”
- No signs of harm were discovered on the girl after the encounter, and the SC 1978 ruling stated that “their absence goes a long way to indicate that the claimed intercourse was a peaceful event.”
The 1983 Crime and Controversy Act (Second Amendment):
- The contentious SC 1978 decision spurred widespread demonstrations around the nation in favour of changing the country’s rape laws. The Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Act of 1983 was a result of this.
- Section 114A of the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 presumed the absence of consent in various rape proceedings if the victim claimed it. This was relevant to instances of rape while in jail.
- Due to the addition of Section 228A, it is now illegal to reveal the identity of the victim in rape proceedings.
Law Commission Report:
- In its 172nd report, the Law Commission suggested expanding the rape law’s scope to make it gender-neutral.
- The Indian Evidence Act was forced to change in 2002 as a result of the 172nd Report, but the country’s rape laws remain gender-specific because only “men” are capable of perpetrating the crime.
The 2012 Delhi Nirbhaya case and the 2013 Criminal Law (Amendment) Act:
- The Justice J.S. Verma Committee, which was established to examine the nation’s criminal laws and offer modifications, recommended that Parliament approve the changes.
- The 2013 Act established the death penalty for rape cases where the victim dies or is rendered vegetative in addition to considerably increasing jail terms in the majority of sexual assault cases.
- Aside from that, it gave rise to brand-new offences including stalking, voyeurism, and using unlawful force on a lady in an effort to make her undress.
- The maximum term for making sexual remarks, requesting or demanding sexual favours, displaying pornography against a woman’s will, or using inappropriate language, gestures, or physical contact is now ten years in prison.
Crimes committed against children (Kathua Rape case in Jammu and Kashmir):
- Triggered the approval of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 2018, which allowed for the first time the use of the death penalty as a punishment for rape of a girl under the age of 12;
- Twenty years in prison is the required minimum punishment.
- As part of a trend that started with the establishment of the IPC in 1860, the minimum prison term for rape was raised from seven to ten years in prison.
