“I wanted to be a nurse, I had even joined a training school for nurse. I had dreams and hope to reach at the top, but my dreams were shattered and my hopes crumbled, the night I was gang raped. I was mentally dead while physically I continued to live, I do not know whether I will come out of this nightmare, I don’t think I can as I have already lost the will and support of my family. (21 year old victim of rape)
‘Rape’, an ugly four letter word, defines doom and a life condemned to nothing but trauma and emptiness. It shakes the very foundation of the person, with their modesty outraged, womanhood wrecked and their innocence lost. Empowerment for women, women’s rights and gender sensitisation are nothing but mere words for a lot of political parties that have trivialised the whole gender issues under the façade of women’s right.

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Statistics that can blow your mind

76.3% rape victims were below 16 years of age and 40.3% of the percentage of victims were below the age of 12. The highest percentage that is 96.7% victims were from younger age groups. The most surprising and mind blowing statistics is the fact that out of 449 accused arrested, 308 had committed single rape, 69 had committed double rape, and 64 were arrested as accused in gang rape. (Delhi Commission for Women)

“Father rapes daughter, daughter 3 months pregnant”

“As soon as dawn breaks, the nightmare begins for 10-year old Geeta*. As soon as her mother leaves for work, her unemployed father starts sexually abusing her. For Geeta the 6 hours spent in school are a blessing in disguise, and when she comes back home Geeta’s father would send the younger siblings out to play and start raping her.” (Case study from Pioneer)

Yes, it is the most sensational headline or a piece we will ever read and probably also feel the pang of sadness. But that is all, for most us the above case is nothing except a good and an emotional piece and the next morning we all forget. Incestuous rape is probably the most common form of rape and is increasing.

As the statistics reveal that out of 32 cases of rape committed by close relatives 9 of them were committed by fathers, 5 of them was step fathers and 10 were uncles. It was also observed that the person whom they completely trusted sexually abused 29% of the children. These people were identified as relatives, father, grandfather or a family friend. Despite the widespread preponderance of child sexual abuse, sympathy, and sensitivity are far from being positive.
Marriages made in hell

“Zainab Noor narrated her harrowing tale: "I was beaten and dragged in the house for hours till late in the evening. Then he (Qari) took me to bed, tied my hands and legs with a rope, inserted two iron rods in ...”

This was how Quari used to rape his wife. Words like ‘dirty’, ‘morbid’ and ‘ruthless’ fail to describe such acts. The most vulnerable women, poor illiterate house-servants, used to face threats by their husbands on suspicions. One such survived victim told a columnist that her husband has threatened her of dire consequences for suspicions that she might have some outside relations. "One day, my husband tortured me in the day and at night, he asked me for a sex. On my refusal, he brought an iron rod and threatened that he would do what Qari had done with Zainab Noor," she said. (://www.jaring.my/just/marital_rape.htm) (Shafqat Munir)
As surprising as it may be but there is no clause or even a term known as ‘Marital Rape’. As Lotika Sarkar in an essay on rape in the Indian Journal of Gender Studies quotes an American senator as asking, “But if you cannot rape your wife, whom can you rape?” Yes this is a grim reality. And shocking. A woman does not have any right to physical relationship. She is regarded as her husbands property, for he has the right to use her whenever he wants to.

Rape Laws: A Mockery

  • *The victim hasn’t expressed stated there was penetration. She has only said the accused has taken her izzat. There’s no offence therefore.

  • *Broken bangles and uprooting of buttons of the blouse can’t prove rape. If anything, they indicate the intensity of passion with which the two parterres indulged in the sexual act.
    • –Judicial observations while acquitting those convicted for rape in trial courts
    Rape Laws are nothing but a mockery on the victims. Some of such laws are:

  • *Victims are expected to undergo a medical examination within 24 hours of the crime. Even then the victim is expected to show proof of resistance by way of bodily injuries.
  • *Another tricky area is the Section 54 of the Indian Evidence Act does not allow any reference to the past pattern of behaviour of the accused. However section 146 and 155 (4) of the same act allow the questioning of the woman’s past sexual conduct.

    • The above laws just show the loopholes in our judiciary system or are they made to protect the culprits, this is a question which only our judiciary can answer, while victims like Geeta, Zainab Noor will continue to scream while their screams fall in deaf ear.
    Marriages made in hell

    “Zainab Noor narrated her harrowing tale: "I was beaten and dragged in the house for hours till late in the evening. Then he (Qari) took me to bed, tied my hands and legs with a rope, inserted two iron rods in ...”

    This was how Quari used to rape his wife. Words like ‘dirty’, ‘morbid’ and ‘ruthless’ fail to describe such acts. The most vulnerable women, poor illiterate house-servants, used to face threats by their husbands on suspicions. One such survived victim told a columnist that her husband has threatened her of dire consequences for suspicions that she might have some outside relations. "One day, my husband tortured me in the day and at night, he asked me for a sex. On my refusal, he brought an iron rod and threatened that he would do what Qari had done with Zainab Noor," she said. (://www.jaring.my/just/marital_rape.htm) (Shafqat Munir)
    As surprising as it may be but there is no clause or even a term known as ‘Marital Rape’. As Lotika Sarkar in an essay on rape in the Indian Journal of Gender Studies quotes an American senator as asking, “But if you cannot rape your wife, whom can you rape?” Yes this is a grim reality. And shocking. A woman does not have any right to physical relationship. She is regarded as her husbands property, for he has the right to use her whenever he wants to.

    Rape Laws: A Mockery

  • *The victim hasn’t expressed stated there was penetration. She has only said the accused has taken her izzat. There’s no offence therefore.

  • *Broken bangles and uprooting of buttons of the blouse can’t prove rape. If anything, they indicate the intensity of passion with which the two parterres indulged in the sexual act.
    • –Judicial observations while acquitting those convicted for rape in trial courts
    Rape Laws are nothing but a mockery on the victims. Some of such laws are:

  • *Victims are expected to undergo a medical examination within 24 hours of the crime. Even then the victim is expected to show proof of resistance by way of bodily injuries.
  • *Another tricky area is the Section 54 of the Indian Evidence Act does not allow any reference to the past pattern of behaviour of the accused. However section 146 and 155 (4) of the same act allow the questioning of the woman’s past sexual conduct.

    • The above laws just show the loopholes in our judiciary system or are they made to protect the culprits, this is a question which only our judiciary can answer, while victims like Geeta, Zainab Noor will continue to scream while their screams fall in deaf ear.
    Marriages made in hell

    “Zainab Noor narrated her harrowing tale: "I was beaten and dragged in the house for hours till late in the evening. Then he (Qari) took me to bed, tied my hands and legs with a rope, inserted two iron rods in ...”

    This was how Quari used to rape his wife. Words like ‘dirty’, ‘morbid’ and ‘ruthless’ fail to describe such acts. The most vulnerable women, poor illiterate house-servants, used to face threats by their husbands on suspicions. One such survived victim told a columnist that her husband has threatened her of dire consequences for suspicions that she might have some outside relations. "One day, my husband tortured me in the day and at night, he asked me for a sex. On my refusal, he brought an iron rod and threatened that he would do what Qari had done with Zainab Noor," she said. (://www.jaring.my/just/marital_rape.htm) (Shafqat Munir)
    As surprising as it may be but there is no clause or even a term known as ‘Marital Rape’. As Lotika Sarkar in an essay on rape in the Indian Journal of Gender Studies quotes an American senator as asking, “But if you cannot rape your wife, whom can you rape?” Yes this is a grim reality. And shocking. A woman does not have any right to physical relationship. She is regarded as her husbands property, for he has the right to use her whenever he wants to.

    Rape Laws: A Mockery

  • *The victim hasn’t expressed stated there was penetration. She has only said the accused has taken her izzat. There’s no offence therefore.

  • *Broken bangles and uprooting of buttons of the blouse can’t prove rape. If anything, they indicate the intensity of passion with which the two parterres indulged in the sexual act.
    • –Judicial observations while acquitting those convicted for rape in trial courts
    Rape Laws are nothing but a mockery on the victims. Some of such laws are:

  • *Victims are expected to undergo a medical examination within 24 hours of the crime. Even then the victim is expected to show proof of resistance by way of bodily injuries.
  • *Another tricky area is the Section 54 of the Indian Evidence Act does not allow any reference to the past pattern of behaviour of the accused. However section 146 and 155 (4) of the same act allow the questioning of the woman’s past sexual conduct.

    • The above laws just show the loopholes in our judiciary system or are they made to protect the culprits, this is a question which only our judiciary can answer, while victims like Geeta, Zainab Noor will continue to scream while their screams fall in deaf ear.