India Fails Female Victims of Sex Crimes

In India, female victims of sexual violence during social unrest have little chance of retribution. Authors of a new report found that most politicians, judges, police officers, and state officials sabotage women seeking justice. Access to Justice for Women: India’s Response to Sexual Violence in Conflict and Social Upheaval looks at India’s failed responses to these women and calls for legal reforms.

The underlying causes of conflict in areas of India are complex, but stem in part from the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan. That split exacerbated conflicts between Hindu and Muslim communities—and inflamed deeply rooted cultural and political tensions.

Access to Justice examines four emblematic cases of sexual attacks: two occurred in the states of Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir; two others during mob violence in Gujarat and Odisha.

The sexual crimes are “gruesome,” said co-author Roxanna Altholz at a recent UC Berkeley Law School panel event to launch the report. “One instinct is to turn away,” she said, but implored the audience to continue to “listen to the voices of these women,” and to recognize their courage and resilience.

The four selected cases involve different minority communities, different types of sexual violence and perpetrators, and different political contexts. Despite these differences, the report reveals a common theme: the Indian justice system failed to investigate, prosecute, and punish the perpetrators—and failed to provide effective redress for victims.

Altholz described one case of a woman abducted by police in Punjab, beaten and raped in jail, and then threatened with retaliation if she reported the crime. The woman asked police to investigate, but they refused to take action. She sought help at a local hospital, but doctors rebuffed her. She wrote letters to a local judge until authorities finally agreed to try the case. It took 14 years for a conviction affirmed on appeal after 80 court hearings in total.

Altholz calls this the “machinery of impunity.”

The report recommended a number of reforms. The first one: redefine rape as a crime of violence in India. “It’s now defined as a crime against modesty, so the emphasis is placed on the woman’s consent, not the use of force and coercion,” Altholz said.

Read my full story on the UC Berkeley School of Law website here.