Urvashi Butalia: What happens when the crime is rape?

By Dilip -
'..It's nearly four decades now that the women's movement in India began to focus on the issue of rape. The Mathura, Rameeza Bee, and Maya Tyagi rape cases (even though the use of names is now banned, this is how these landmark cases came to be known) and the gangrape of women in Santhal Parganas - these were some of the catalysts for the activism of the late seventies and early eighties. Led by four eminent lawyers we - for I was among those who were part of this nationwide campaign - fought against the acquittal of two policemen who had raped the minor girl, Mathura. We demanded changes in the rape law. We performed at street corners to create an awareness of women's rights.
And when, in 1983, the State finally changed the law on rape - after nearly a century-and-a-half - we thought we had 'succeeded' because, even if the new legislation did not have everything we wanted, it had some important changes. We couldn't have been more wrong. The first case to test the new legislation resulted in setting free two policemen convicted of rape; in a tragic twist - and what feminists saw as a great betrayal - their case was fought by a well-known civil rights lawyer. And from there, it was downhill all the way.
At the time, we saw rape as mainly a caste and class-related crime. We hadn't even begun to look at it in terms of religion (even though we had the history of Partition behind us). Gujarat taught us otherwise - a bitter, and never-to-beforgotten lesson. Similarly, we hadn't really turned our attention to the army. We knew that the uniform was no guarantee of security for the woman - for another shameful statistic in India is the number of rapes that are committed by policemen. Kashmir and the northeast taught us that the 'respected' Indian army could be completely lacking in respect when it came to women.
And then came another valuable lesson : the understanding that, no matter which way you looked at it, the crime of rape proliferated not only because of social attitudes, but because of a tacit agreement among men - policemen, lawyers, judges, investigating officers, politicians - that women who were raped were somehow asking for it..'

Read more: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-11-13/special-report/30393842_1_first-case-crime-policemen


‘I don’t think I will get justice…’

Simi, 17, and Reena, 24 (names changed), are victims of rape. Both live in Delhi and are going through counselling. Sunday Times spoke to them and found that they have little faith in the system

Do you think you will get justice?

Simi: I don't think so. He (the accused) is powerful and the system is corrupt.


How did the police treat you?

Simi: They were suspicious and insensitive. My story leaked out because of them.

Reena: They were insensitive. They didn't know how to ask me questions, nor did the doctors doing the MLC report. People stared at me. Everyone knew I had been raped; it was horrible..

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