Day 1: The GVR 2022 Launch

We are delighted to launch the 2022 Prajnya Gender Violence in India Report (GVR), on the first day of the 2022 Prajnya 16 Days Campaign Against Gender Violence. For the launch of this year's GVR, we had with us, Kausumi Saha (author-curator of the 2022 GVR) and Dr. Saumya Uma (Professor, Jindal Global Law School). The session was moderated by Dr. S. Shakthi. You can watch a saved copy of the recording here.

Kausumi Saha, works as a Researcher and Project Coordinator at Gender at Work. She has a Master's degree in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics and is currently working towards a second postgraduate degree in Psychology. Her research interests lie in the intersections of media, youth subcultures, gender, identity formation, and mental health. This is Kausumi's third year working on Prajnya's Gender Violence in India report.

• "The 2022 Prajnya Gender Violence in India Report takes stock of the state of gender violence in India using definitions, statistics (where available), and highlights of recent cases of gender-based violence that have appeared in the news."
• "Intersectionality is a framework that recognizes women are not a homogenous category and that they do not experience violence the same way...Keeping that in mind, and in our quest to make the report more intersectional, we have restructured the report very differently this year."
• "Part I of the Report: The Intersections of Gender-Based Violence presents an overview of five markers of identity that are relevant in the Indian context: caste and indigenous identities; queerness; old age; disability; and the experiences of religious minorities"
• "Dalit and Adivasi women face violence from the oppressor caste due to their caste/indigenous status and their gender and within their own community due to their gender identity. This is called double marginalisation. Additionally,
• all kinds of gender-based violence have an element of power attached to them. When we look at violence against Dalit and Adivasi persons, it is a demonstration of power and a weapon to reinforce the existing structural hierarchies."
• "There is also a large amount of symbolic violence that the queer population faced. This is in the form of non-recognition of their queer identities like the usage of wrong pronouns or deadnaming queer individuals."
• "There is little to no research on sexual violence against elderly women due to the shame and the stigma associated with it."
• "Women with disabilities are often financially and socially dependent on others for their survival and the perpetrators of violence are often caregivers, present either at homes or in institutional settings."
• "We have seen that any kind of large-scale communal violence is almost always accompanied by an aspect of sexual violence."

Dr. Saumya Uma, professor at Jindal Global Law School and the Director, Centre for Women's Rights (JGLS) followed Kausumi's presentation with a talk on the report. Prof. (Dr.) Saumya Uma is a Professor at Jindal Global Law School and heads its Centre for Women’s Rights. She has over 28 years’ combined work experience as an academic, law researcher, lawyer, trainer, writer and campaigner on gender, law and human rights. She has served as a research consultant on human rights, with international agencies such as the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP), United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (UNOHCHR) and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). Additionally, she worked as the National Coordinator of ICC-India: the anti-impunity campaign on International Criminal Court and its relevance to India – from 2000 to 2010. Dr. Uma teaches and researches at the intersection of gender, human rights and the law. In particular, she writes on feminist jurisprudence; international criminal justice and its relevance to India; victim and witness protection; justice and accountability for mass crimes; South Asian women’s movements and the feminist envisioning of justice; human rights law and lawyering; gender-based violence and reparative justice; access to justice; social exclusion and marginalization; clinical legal education; and feminist pedagogy.

• "One of my first observations is on the aspect of Kidnapping and Abduction of Women and Girls...If we look at the 2020 and 2021 statistics, we see a significant increase in the Kidnapping and Abduction of Women and Girls, and in the Kidnapping and Abduction of Women to compel her for Marriage.....Partly, this increase (in reported cases) could be due to the increased incidence of kidnapping and abduction, but there may also be cases of more inter-caste and inter-religious marriages or lesbian couples leaving homes which the parents register under complaints of abduction."
• "Despite all the propaganda, resistance and the institutional reluctance to register complaints of domestic violence, there is still a sizeable number that is getting registered...In the covid years, when women were trapped in their homes because of lockdowns and working from home, worldwide, domestic violence increased during those years. So, the 2022 statistics are likely to show this kind of increase."
• "There are forms of cyber-stalking which are not only by strangers but also by partners. I think this is just increasing the violence that takes place. We need to remember that stalking, rape and murder are all quite linked and there are many cases where stalking, when not stopped or prevented, has led to rape and murder."
• "For women who were working from home, colleagues were contacting them through cyberspaces. There were forms of sexual violence at workplaces that call for the expansion of the definition of workplace to include homes as well."
• "We need to look at domestic violence, intimate partner violence, patriarchy, misogyny, Indian masculinity, and the everyday violence that women are facing in relationships. I see and hear of these from my students as well. We think that the younger generation is very liberated in some sense, but they too are in the same trap of patriarchy and misogyny to a large extent."
• "It is important to look at the violence inflicted on transgender women, lesbian women, gender non-confirming individuals, gender non-binary individuals...The kind of shame, stigma and institutional apathy against them is so much more, and yet it is undocumented."
• "There are limitations in the law. The law is slow to catch up and the interpreters of the law are much slower to catch up with what is happening. So, while the law may be a part of the solution, what is really needed is social consciousness and political action."

Prajnya’s Gender Violence in India Report has been taking stock of the state of gender violence in India since 2009. The report is meant to be used as a ready reference for activists, journalists, students, lawyers and anyone with an interest in gender justice. You can access the Prajnya Gender Violence in India Report 2022 here.

Day 12: Does Marriage Mean Consent?: A Panel

    On the 12th day of the Prajnya 16 Days Campaign Against Gender Violence, we had a panel on 'Does Marriage Mean Consent?' with Jhuma Sen, lawyer and Audrey D'mello, Majlis to examine marital rape, law, and lived realities. The session was facilitated by Dr. S. Shakthi and we also had Prof. Saumya Uma join us as a discussant. You can watch the recording on our Facebook page and Youtube Channel.

clockwise [L-R]: Dr. S. Shakthi, Dr. Saumya Uma, Audrey D'Mello and Prof. Jhuma Sen.

The panel discussion began with Audrey D'Mello giving us her insight on the topic. She touched upon the realities of survivors of marital rape and on gaps from a legal perspective.

• "Why is marital rape not a crime in this country? And, my answer is marital rape is very much a crime in this country. It is not true that men can rape their wives. We have laws to deal with this... but it is true that it is not included in Section 376. However, in 1983, we, very clearly, got a law on Cruelty to wives which is covered in section 498A of the IPC."
• "In over 90% cases or more, the women mostly articulate this need that they are not being maintained; they are not receiving money from their husbands; they have been denied money from their husbands for their survival and that of that their children."
• "While women will describe in detail stories about violence - physical violence, physical abuse, beating (with hand and with objects), verbal abuse, and emotional abuse, they are very hesitant to talk about sexual abuse. And, it is very difficult to describe that incident in the same manner, and so, they don't talk about it till you draw it out from them. Even while they talk about it, the whole focus is on (seeking) relief."
• "When women have to kind of narrate those incidents of rape, it is extremely traumatic for them to describe it, and for the police when they are recording. That's why we know why so many women refuse to speak about it. Because of mandatory reporting, these cases are out there.....the whole journey of rape cases has led to a situation where the more high profile a case is, the more stringent is the punishment demanded. But, the more stringent the punishment is, the more difficult it is to get people to report."
• "Are we saying that [in terms of punishment] rape in a domestic violence situation is on a higher ground in comparison to other forms of violence like breaking one's head, starvation, physical abuse, etc? Are we putting rape on a pedestal in a situation of domestic violence? This, I feel, is problematic in more ways than one. If I have to take only sexual abuse in a marital context, denying sex is as much an abuse as forcefully having sex."
• "What we need is to look and re-look at section 498A. and bring more clarity into the definitions of sec 498A. Put out the different crimes that happen in a domestic relationship....let all crimes of domestic violence reach that level of stringent punishment. In domestic violence, all kinds of violence are interlinked. All kinds of violence are all there together, interplaying. We need to look at it as a whole."

Watch Audrey D'Mello's presentation here. 

Prof. Jhuma Sen, our second speaker traced the historical trajectory of marital rape laws in India and on the various perspectives and perceptions given by the judiciary on marital rape in India. 

• "If one looks at the common law jurisdictions and the very, very infamous words of Matthew Hale, he had noted that a husband cannot be guilty of rape committed upon his lawful wife because of mutual contract...there is this notion of continuity of a form of consent that cannot be retracted."
• "If one looks at the Justice Verma Committee which has given a comprehensive piece on sexual violence, they had stated that marital rape stems from an extremely outdated notion of marriage which deals with wives as property of husbands. ....it states that the existence of a marital relationship is not a valid reason for sexual violence committed in course of a marital relationship"
• "Marital rape has come before the court on a number of occasions. If you look at colonial history, from Phulmoni Dasi, marital rape has triggered the age of consent debate..... the idea of consent debate, in colonial times, was about consent to have sex as long as you are not dead. It was understood in your physical ability to have sex and not die. The Phulmoni Dasi and Rukhmabai are the two cases that triggered the age of consent debate, and the passage of the age of consent act."
• "I am very uncomfortable with the idea of criminalization, to some extent......even if one criminalizes marital rape, will that make women come forward and talk about it?"
• ".....the language of Frankensteinian Monster, Legal Terrorism, etc has pervaded legal discourses and gone to the public arena, men's rights groups and they have invited these legal Delhi HC judges as keynote speakers. It is a give-and-take industry that continues to happen."
• "What does false complaint in law look like? There is a very evidential category...It is not always the case that everything can be proved. To prove something, you need a lot of other things. In the context of matrimonial dispute that is happening in the four walls of a home, you may not necessarily have a third party to witness it... We need to understand and talk about law a little more and understand that not proved and disproved categories are conflated...If it is not proved, it doesn't mean it is disproved and it doesn't mean automatically that it is a false case. What is the definition of false? Is there a legal definition of false in the IPC?"

Watch Jhuma Sen's presentation here. 

Our discussant, Dr. Saumya Uma took over and responded to the points made by the panelists Jhuma Sen and Audrey D'Mello.

• "During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a high prevalence of domestic violence but marital rape has not been recognized. it is not a special provision on which the NCRB gathers data. So, we don't really know what is the data that is available."
• "The feminist demand in India has no unanimous position. But, I want to go back on what Jhuma ended her presentation with. Which is, to withdraw the exceptions of rape [between married and unmarried women]. Because, if you don't remove that exception, women's consent to sexual intimacy is irrelevant within marriage."
• "We are at a stage of hyper criminalization and further criminalization may only strengthen the arm of the state. In the current political context of India, it is a big question mark on whether we want to further criminalize marital rape or not. 
• Over the last 15-20 years, even though 498A is a significant provision that was brought in, and to me, one of the main aspects of significance was that it was a significant statement the law was making that, what happens within the home is not something law will not intervene in. 498A, and then the Domestic Violence Act show very clearly that law does have a role to play whenever there is violence, even within the privacy of the four walls of the home."
• "Are we putting marital rape on a pedestal by criminalizing only marital rape and not other forms of sexual violence that deprive women of sex and so on? What is being argued here is not necessarily about criminalizing marital rape, but about removing exceptions to Marital Rape."
• "Some of the challenges we are facing to criminalizing marital rape - one is the legal challenge is to actually remove it like Justice Verma Committee suggested. Next is the social challenge where women internalize and accept marital rape. It is internalized patriarchy. Not just among men who think they can force themselves on their wives, but also among women who will accept and internalize it, and not even call it rape... it is a normalized form of violence among men and an internalized form of violence among wives. Leading to this is a political challenge; we see a lack of political will. We see that the state is not interested. We see that the parliamentary debate has been about we have a social and cultural milieu and marital rape provision will disrupt it. I would think in addition to legal challenges, we need to look at social and political challenges."

We also had the audience talk about how rape is considered the worst offense possible so much so that any other form of violence is "lesser than" rape, somewhere placing violence in a hierarchical structure. The question of false cases was also discussed and about the role of consent in navigating through the topic of discussion.

Watch the full panel video here.