Crimes against women up 73%

MUMBAI: Has Mumbai''s reputation as India''s safest city for women taken a beating with the recent gang rapes of three women in Bandra, Vakola and Nirmal Nagar? Even as the city reels in shock, statistics for the year so far show a startling increase in crimes against women in the first half of 2003. Crimes against women seem to have risen by an average of over 73 %
It''s unclear, however, whether this increase is as marked as the figures seem to suggest.What is clear is that policies implemented by police commissioner A N Roy since he took office in February this year have explicitly encouraged the reporting of all crimes. "I want to get the real picture of crime in Mumbai," Roy says.
DCP (enforcement) Pradnya Sarvade admits, "In the past, officers used their discretion when it came to registering cases." The reluctance to register stemmed from the fact that each crime registered was perceived to reflect on the station''s reputation.
Women''s activists say earlier, duty officers at police stations either ignored complaints from women or persuaded them to withdraw their case. "Over 50% of crimes against women went unreported," says criminologist Arvind Tiwari of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). "Several women complainants had to bear the brunt of insensitive police officers who would ask embarrassing questions."
While this practice has been reversed to a large extent by Roy''s directives, other disincentives to report a rape or any other crime still carry a great deal of weight. "Victims fear that if they pursue a complaint, they will suffer later in life. Women tend to feel guilty about having been raped," says Nirmala Samant Prabhavalkar of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women. Often relatives of the accused also put pressure on the woman to drop the case.
All too often, the process of attempting to elicit justice in court is a deterrent in itself. "A victim has to face embarrassing queries by defence counsel during the cross-questioning. She is humiliated as much as she was at the time of the rape," says women''s activist Madhushree Dutta. The lengthy nature of the legal process is scarcely helpful.
"A woman might have been molested or raped during her college days. Later, she gets married and has children and is still expected to pursue her case. Often, victims drop out of the case or fail to appear in court, resulting in acquittals," Dutta says.
Where the procedures are letting women down, activists and experts are clear about measures that should be adopted. "We need speedier trials," says Dutta. "Defence lawyers should be sensitised on how to behave with rape victims, for example. And there should be a witness protection programme to ensure that witnesses don''t suddenly turn hostile."
The lack of witnesses is a key factor in the abysmally low conviction rate in rape cases. Sources say that the conviction rate in most crimes against women can be as low as 20 per cent. Both Tiwari and Prabhavalkar say it is vital for the police to be proactive in gathering evidence. "Where there is no witness, the police fail to use scientific and forensic evidence to nail the accused person," says Tiwari. He claims that forensic science could help police achieve a conviction rate of more than 60 per cent.
Prabhavalkar adds, "After the FIR is lodged, procedures like the medical examination of the victim, recovering her clothes, chemical analysis of the clothes for evidence about the attacker, arresting the accused as soon as possible, making the panchanama__these are all key points at which police should ensure they gather enough evidence."
When it comes to the higher-level causes of violence against women, Prabhavalkar cites various reasons for an increase. "Slums in the city are growing, and there is more anonymity as the number of newcomers increases. Attacks by persons unknown to the victim could be related to this," she says. She adds that equality for working women has had the inevitable side-effect that they are now obliged to work as late as their male colleagues, returning home at unsafe hours.
Moreover, she claims that the fact that police officers are now directed not to beat up those accused of rape and other crimes against women (doing so was previously the stock response) has led to potential rapists feeling that they can get away with such crimes.