scholarly journals Between Sexual Violence and Autonomy: Rethinking the Engagement of the Indian Women’s Movement with Criminal Law

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 860-877
Author(s):  
Kalika Mehta ◽  
Avantika Tiwari
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
The State ◽  
Women's Movements ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gang Rape

AbstractThe aftermath of protests triggered by a brutal gang-rape in New Delhi in December 2012 was archetypal of the broader women’s movement in post-independence India. The primary demands of the social movement to address sexual violence against women were wrapped in the language of rights-based reforms in criminal law provisions. The state responded to the social mobilization in the form of criminal law amendments, while blindsiding key recommendations from feminist groups. This Article revisits pertinent Law Commission reports, subsequent criminal law reforms, and case law on sexual violence against women to analyze how the negotiations between the women’s movement and the State on the seemingly irreconcilable demands of sexual autonomy and punishment for sexual violence. We take account of the intended and unintended consequences of this reliance on criminal law as one of the primary tools in the arsenal of Indian women’s movements. We argue that engagement on the plane of criminal law to address sexual violence against women is a case of limited imagination at best and counter-productive at its worst. This approach of the movement and feminist groups is to react to the “crime” of sexual violence after the fact, leading to distraction from much warranted structural responses. We argue that this approach makes it harder to conceptualize and implement more forward-looking relational models of responsibility that are necessary to address the structural injustice of systemic sexual violence against women.

Feminism and Its Discontents: Punishing Sexual Violence in India

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-28
Author(s):  
Preeti Pratishruti Dash
Keyword(s):  
Death Penalty ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Sexual Offences ◽  
Sexual Crimes ◽  
Gang Rape ◽  
Legislative Reforms ◽  
The One ◽  
A Site

Following the infamous gang rape of a young woman in New Delhi in 2012, India introduced a host of legislative reforms, including harsh punishments for sexual offences. Indian feminist groups, though invested in some of these reforms, have been critical of the carceral approach, but other than denouncing the death penalty, they have largely abstained from conversations around appropriate punishments for sexual crimes. Mapping the responses of feminist groups to the J. S. Verma Committee, this article underscores inconsistencies between the positions on defining sexual offences on the one hand and suggesting appropriate punishments on the other. It argues that the absence of engagement around complex issues of criminal law and sentencing not only left feminists divided on the outcome in Mahmood Farooqui’s case but also revealed unintended consequences of the newly introduced law on rape. The article concludes by questioning the use of criminal law as a site for feminist reform.

scholarly journals The reaction to femicide in criminal law

Temida ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 431-451
Author(s):  
Ana Batricevic
Keyword(s):  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Special Form ◽  
Comparative Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Criminal Offence ◽  
Global Problem ◽  
Efficient Suppression

Misogynous and sexist violence against women, which often results in death, represents a global problem. Numerous international and national legal instruments are dedicated to the prevention and sanctioning of violence against women. However, the reality implies that existing mechanisms of penal reaction to femicide, as its most extreme and brutal form, should be re-examined. Having in mind the frequency and severe consequences of this criminal offence and the discriminatory character of the message that the state sends by tolerating it or inadequately punishing its perpetrators, the author attempts to define femicide, to present basic forms of state reaction to femicide in comparative law as well as to analyze the features of femicide as an independent criminal offence. Arguing for the incrimination of femicide as an independent criminal offence, or as a special form of aggravated murder, the author points out that such solution could contribute to more precise observation of this form of crime, to a better estimation of the quality of the state? s reaction to it and to its more efficient suppression.

The Long-Term Struggle for Violence against Women Legislation: The Guatemalan Women's Movement and the Politics of Patience

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Erin Beck
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
Political Reform ◽  
Women's Movements ◽  
Social Mobilization ◽  
History Of ◽  
Term Analysis ◽  
Over Time

Abstract A scholarly consensus depicts strong, autonomous domestic women's movements as critical for the passage of gender equality reforms, alongside openings in domestic and international political contexts. What, then, is a nascent women's movement seeking gender equality reforms to do if it lacks strength or a history of autonomous organizing? A long-term analysis of the Guatemalan women's movement's push for reforms to address violence against women demonstrates that one potential road forward is through a “politics of patience,” rooted in the pursuit of cumulative, incremental victories. Adopting a politics of patience allows nascent domestic movements in developing and post-transition contexts to achieve incremental victories that create future political openings while simultaneously building movement strength and autonomy over time. This finding highlights the temporal and strategic power of women's movements, as well as the iterative and potentially reinforcing nature of social mobilization and political reform.

The Mechanism for Imposing Punishment as a Tool for Implementing the Principle of Justice

2020 ◽  
pp. 32-37
Author(s):  
Vadim D. Filimonov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Antisocial Behavior ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
The State ◽  
Social Phenomenon ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Principle Of Justice

The article examines justice as a principle of law and as criminal principle of justice as a principle of compensated justice. The measure of justice in punishment is mainly the correspondence of the punishment to the public danger of the committed crime, i.e. a certain equality of harm caused by criminals to other persons, society or the state, and the severity of the punishment imposed on them. The author argues that a court that follows the principle of justice in imposing punishments has to establish two types of genetic correspondence. The first type is the correspondence of the criminal behavior, circumstances of the crime and the culprit’s personality to the public danger of the criminal’s personality as a criminological basis for imposing punishment. This correspondence employs the genesis of criminal behavior to substantiate the imposed punishment. The rejection of this correspondence could lead to a misconception about the nature and degree of social danger of the perpetrator’s personality as well as an unreasonable type and amount of punishment for the committed crime. The second type consists in the compliance of the type and amount of punishment with the grounds for its imposition ˗the social need to oppose antisocial behavior and personality traits of the guilty person with such a punishment that meets the interests of law-abiding citizens, society, and the state, that is, a social phenomenon that embodies the genesis of criminal law regulation of public relations. The author claims that that it is necessary to identify not only the above-mentioned types of genetic and other correspondences in the mechanism of imposing a punishment, but also take into account the correspondence in terms of proportionality, especially when it comes to the compliance of the punishment with the gravity of the crime committed. Having analyzed all types of correspondences in the mechanism of punishment imposition, the author concludes that since the indicated types of orrespondences in the system of punishment imposition determine the activity of the court, insofar they act as its regulators. The ability to regulate the activities of the court turns their entire set into an instrument for introducing the principle of justice into punishment. Therefore, the mechanism for imposing punishment manifests itself in the process of regulating criminal law relations as a legal instrument for implementing the principle of justice in punishment.

From the Home to the Borders: Violence Against Women, Impunity and Resistance

Social Change ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-214
Author(s):  
Uma Chakravarti
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
The Family ◽  
Class Power ◽  
Women In India

In this article, I will examine the arc of violence that women in India have been historically subjected to, as well as new arenas in which violence is now manifesting itself. The focus is on four arenas in which violence against women, especially sexual violence, needs to be located as each of these have specific features that are associated with the manner in which impunity operates, thereby invisibilising violence, and the long road traversed by the women’s movement in challenging that violence. The four arenas are: first, the home where violence is enacted in the intimate sphere of the family; second, the streets and fields where caste and class power provide impunity to the perpetrators; third, villages and regions where communal and targetted violence have been enacted, often with administrative and state complicity, especially in recent decades; and fourth, the borderlands where impunity is sought to be derived from special laws that the security state has put into operation to control turbulent populations.

scholarly journals Violence Against Women: What’s Law Got to Do With It? A Reflection on Gang Rape in India

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 4-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richa Sharma ◽  
Susan Bazilli
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Physiotherapy Student ◽  
Mass Public ◽  
Transformative Action ◽  
Gang Rape ◽  
The Government ◽  
Public Reaction ◽  
Women In India

The brutal gang rape of a physiotherapy student in India in December 2012 drew the world’s attention to the problem of sexual violence against women in the country.  Protests and mass public reaction towards the case pressurized the government to respond to the crisis by changing the laws on sexual violence. However, these new laws have not led to a decrease in VAW. Is this the result of the failure of the rule of law? Or does it highlight the limitations of law in absence of social change? This paper addresses the need for using law as a key tool in addressing violence against women in India.  It recognizes that unless we address the structural and root causes of violence against women, our analysis will be limited. It is important to bridge the creation of new laws, with an analysis that speaks to the role of hypermasculinity, neoliberalism and culture in VAW. If unaddressed, what may result instead are quick fixes, symbolized by passing laws that act as token gestures, rather than leading to transformative action.

scholarly journals SISTEM SOSIAL PATRIARKI SEBAGAI AKAR DARI KEKERASAN SEKSUAL TERHADAP PEREMPUAN PATRIARCHAL SOCIAL SYSTEM AS THE ROOT OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
Sonza Rahmanirwana Fushshilat ◽  
Nurliana Cipta Apsari
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Social System ◽  
Women's Roles ◽  
The Social ◽  
Women’S Roles ◽  
Natural Difference

ABSTRAKJenis kelamin merupakan suatu perbedaan yang fitrah dan dapat dilihat secara biologis. Melalui proses yang panjang, masyarakat melakukan pembedaan antara peran laki-laki dan peran perempuan. Konstruksi sosial yang diciptakan oleh masyarakat bernama patriarki, sistem sosial yang melihat bahwa garis keturunan ayah memiliki posisi yang lebih superior dibandingkan perempuan. Ketidaksetaraan gender yang ditimbulkan mengakibatkan adanya diskriminasi dan tekanan terhadap perempuan dalam kehidupannya. Pembatasan ruang yang dilakukan oleh laki-laki atau bahkan masyarakat membuat perempuan tidak mendapat aksesibilitas dan hak-hak yang seharusnya mereka diterima. Buruknya, salah satu perlakuan tidak menyenangkan yang didapat perempuan adalah kekerasan seksual. Patriarki membuat posisi perempuan lumrah untuk dijadikan objek seksual oleh laki-laki. Hal ini berarti patriarki juga menjadi salah satu faktor yang menyumbang akan langgengnya kekerasan seksual yang menimpa perempuan. ABSTRACTGender is a natural difference and can be seen biologically. Through a long process, the community differentiates between men's roles and women's roles. The social construction created by society is called patriarchy, a social system that sees that the father's lineage has a position that is superior to women. Gender inequality caused by resulting in discrimination and pressure on women in their lives. Spatial restrictions imposed by men or even society prevent women from getting the accessibility and rights they ought to received. One of the unpleasant treatments women received is sexual violence. Patriarchy system allow the women to become sexual objects by men. This means that patriarchy is also one of the factors contributing to the continuous sexual violence experienced by women.

scholarly journals 'This is not a Story which would Shock!': The #MeToo Campaign in Slovenia

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-356
Author(s):  
Дарья Завиржек
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Sexual Assaults ◽  
Religious Influences ◽  
Public Figures ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Specific Factors

In post-socialist Slovenia, the #MeToo campaign (#jaztudi), which was started by four public intellectuals in 2018, was rather different to its equivalent in most Western counties. The analysis of the #jaztudi campaign suggests that there are local specifics in the Slovenian material and that the campaign appeared at the peak of the era of neopatriarchy where global inequalities are on the rise. Hundreds of women who testified about sexual harassment and sexual violence were not celebrities and public figures. The men against whom they spoke up were not famous, rich and powerful. They disclosed ordinary, 'small' stories, which were far from spectacular. Women wrote about everyday sexual assaults in childhood, in their teens and in adulthood. The majority of them were not interested in taking legal action against the perpetrators, something which can partially be explained by the contexts of rurality, religious influences and the social norms related to sexual violence towards women that are reproduced in educational, judicial and other social systems. This article provides the social context of the situation facing women in Slovenia and attempts to explain why #MeToo campaigns in different countries are contextual. It shows the importance of locally specific factors that influence women’s readiness to speak out and to denounce perpetrators. A number of factors have a great impact on ending sexual violence against women, including the frequency of violence against women; women’s economic and social status; the responses of professionals in public institutions to which women could turn for help; as well as awareness on the part of parents, teachers and communities. The implementation of the Istanbul Convention, which Slovenia ratified in 2015, and its internalisation on both the cognitive and emotional levels, constitute an important historical turning point in the fight to end sexual violence.

Violence against Women in Côte d’Ivoire

2020 ◽  
pp. 89-108
Author(s):  
Peace A. Medie
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Cote D'ivoire ◽  
Côte D’Ivoire ◽  
Gender Norms ◽  
The State ◽  
Cote D’Ivoire ◽  
Côte D'ivoire

This chapter mirrors the Liberian case in Chapter 3 by tracing the problem of violence against women in Côte d’Ivoire and the effect of the country’s 11-year conflict on this violence. As in Liberia, patriarchal gender norms were at the root of this violence and contributed to Ivoirian’s reluctance to turn to the state for help. It is, however, explains that while the Liberian conflict led to widespread sexual violence, the dynamics of the Ivoirian conflict resulted in sexual violence that was less widespread and was more concentrated in certain regions of the country. Nonetheless, this violence led to shifting attitudes, such that the reporting of domestic violence and rape increased after the conflict.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document