Nirbhaya Movement (Paper)
- Yashika Goplani, DNLU, Jabalpur
- October 28, 2020
Content :
Of over 338 thousand cases of crime reported against women in India, over 33 thousand were for rape in 2018. That year, more than 93 per cent of rapes were committed by someone known to their victim. Despite many rapes are not reported in the country, it is an issue that continuously makes news headlines, some leading to public protests. Although reports of rape have increased in recent years, it was still associated with shame for victim, rather than the perpetrator.
It is contended by many people that despite being a developing country, India has failed in making it a safe place for women. This is not just a mind-set but can be substantiated with data too. As National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) on a regular basis takes out the crime rates separately of different offences as well as state wise lists, it becomes easy for us to judge the actual condition of women in our country.
In the Indian context, the phenomenon of rape entails a socio-cultural perspective as well. Rape not just harms the victim physically but also disgraces and tarnishes one’s mental health condition with devastating effect on the victim. Based on a variety of situations, rape has been classified into various type’s viz., - Acquaintance rape, Stranger rape, Gang rape, Statutory rape, Spousal rape being a few amongst. Marital rape is yet not an offence in India.
Delhi has the highest number of sex crimes among India\'s major cities. Police figures show a rape reported on average every 18 hours; reported rape cases rose by nearly 17 percent between 2007 and 2011. Only one of 706 rape cases filed in Delhi in 2012 ended in conviction. Between 16 December and 4 January, 501 calls for harassment and 64 calls for rape were recorded by the Delhi Police, but only four were followed up by inquiries.
In India, there have been many such instances of heinous rapes but one of the cases which attracted the attention of the public at large was Mukesh & Anr v/s. State for NCT Of Delhi & Ors, popularly known as the Nirbhaya case. This case can be considered as an eye opener for the citizens of our country. This paper analyses the said case law and the socio legal analysis effect of the same.
