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What is the issue?
- Despite the rising number of cases, the conversation on sexual violence in India continues to be centred on rape.
- Other trivialised forms of violence against women essentially need discussions and legislations for protecting the complete rights of women.
What are the flaws in the laws?
- Following the public outrage after the Nirbhaya gang rape case in 2012, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 came into force.
- It expanded the scope of rape, penalised voyeurism and eve-teasing and also defined and recognised stalking as a standalone offence.
- Under this, Section 354-D of the IPC makes both physical and electronic stalking an offence.
- Two provisions in this regard has to be noted –
- Under subsection 1, the intention of the perpetrator is irrelevant as long as the woman in question “has clearly expressed her disinterest”.
- Subsection 2 criminalises the monitoring of a woman’s online behaviour.
- There is an opinion that subsection 2 has the potential to be used arbitrarily.
- Verma Committee draft stated that online monitoring should amount to stalking only when it results “in a fear of violence or serious alarm or distress in the mind” of the victim.
- Further, there are three exceptions to the offence if the conduct was:
- pursued for prevention or detection of crime by a person authorised to do so.
- pursued under any law.
- reasonable and justified in the circumstances.
- Here, exception iii seems to be vague, and it can prove to be an escape clause given that stalking is culturally normalised.
- Such loose drafting leaves scope for misinterpretation and subsequent denial of justice to the victim.
What should be done?
- Stalking and eve-teasing are not given the same importance as other “grave” forms of sexual violence such as rape.
- These are often normalised, romanticised and encouraged especially in popular culture such as the Indian cinema.
- But offences such as stalking, voyeurism and eve-teasing deprive women of their fundamental right to occupy public space without fear.
- The perception that violence against women must necessarily involve some form of bodily harm should definitely change not only with the law but also with the society.
Source: The Hindu
