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It’s never too late for women to raise voice
Few year back the whole world
witnessed a hurricane called ‘#Metoo’ movement and almost each and every
woman felt it’s all about her. It won’t be exaggeration if I say each and every
woman has faced sexual abuse at some point of her life. Be it toddler, minor
girl, teenager or old aged lady. Don’t
get surprised to see the increased number of ‘#MeToo’ cases gets registered on
a higher scale. For many obvious
reasons, a survivor of sexual harassment and abuse hesitates to open up to the
society about the abuse. One of the reasons is that she/he fears to be shamed
by others in public. Because, in our society being a victim of sexual abuse is
considered as ‘stigma’ on the victim. Worst of all is that people do not
believe the victim if the abuser has a very kind public image. The recent
verdict on Priya Ramani Vs. M J Akbar gives us chills as it stands as a
milestone judgment for the survivors who have opened up about it much later
after the abuse. In October 2018 Ramani tweeted about being abused by M J
Akbar, the then Union Minister of State for External Affairs. In a week M J
Akbar filed a case of defamation against Ramani, since then till date, she had
to fight as the accused of the case in spite of being the victim!
The Verdict:
The
Rouse Avenue District Court in Delhi had observed that every woman has the
right to disclose her abuse story on any platform, in any form, even after
decades. The court says recognizes the fact that it can take years for women to
come out in public because women not only happen to fight the post abuse trauma
but also the lack of support from the society or the family. The woman cannot
be punished for raising voice against the sexual abuse on the pretext of
criminal complaint of defamation as the right of reputation cannot be protected
at the cost of the right of life and dignity of woman as guaranteed in Indian
Constitution under article 21 and right of equality before the law and equal
protection of the law as guaranteed under article 14 of the Constitution. Abusers
can be present in any form, but most commonly they are present among us and we
do not even know. It can be a relative, a close family member or a colleague.
Sometimes, it is those people who are believed to be the last one! After the
sexual abuse ends, the trauma leaves the victim with very low self-esteem and
self-confidence as she/he can never think of taking on the abuser. The victim realizes
much later that what had happened with him/her was an abuse, this can be
because him/her loses the analyse of how it started, or when it had started, or
if it was the victim’s mistake. They might think the abuse done as something
casual and “business-as-usual” where the victim, in most cases women, has to
live in shame instead. The abuser enjoys the privilege of being a man in a
society who doesn’t believe that women can be sexually abused. The court added
that it is of shame that the same country which treats its women this way has
two national epics called “Ramayana” and “Mahabharata” which holds major women
power.
Laws:
Our
society has no clear distinction between giving consent and not giving consent.
Every abuse gets resisted by the victim in the early stage but male dominance
does not seem to stop. This trauma gets so disturbing for the survivors that
they end up giving up their lives or losing control of their sanity. They lose
all hopes to recover and choose to ruin their lives and career in response.
Whereas some victims fight back, which is why it is crucial to know the various
forms of abuse and which all laws can be applicable for what type of abuse? The
parliament has enacted various laws for providing protection, welfare and safe
environment to women, such as The Immoral Traffic (Prevention Act) 1956, 'The
Indecent Representation of Women' (Prohibition) Act, 1986, The Protection of
Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, The Sexual Harassment of Women at
Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act, 2013, Muslim Women
(Protection of Right on Marriage) Act, 2019. The various schemes like Ujwala
Yojna and Jandhan Yojna are the other positive steps of the Government of India
to empower women at the grass-root level. Whereas, under IPC Section 354 comes
assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty. Section
354(a) defines sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment, section
354 (b) defines assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to
disrobe, section 354 (c) defines Voyeurism- any man who watches or captures the
image of a woman engaging in a private act whereas 354(d) covers stalking under
which attempts made to contact the woman to foster personal interaction
repeatedly despite a clear indication of disinterest by such woman, or
monitoring their use of internet commits the offence of stalking.
Vishakha
Guidelines had put the onus of a safe working environment on the employer in
1997. The Supreme Court formulated the Vishaka guidelines making it mandatory
for organizations, whether working in the private or public sector to establish
a mechanism for redressal of sexual harassment complaints. Out of the many
provisions under Vishakha Guidelines, employers with 10 or more employees are
required to constitute an internal complaints committee, conduct training, and
awareness sessions, etc. Sadly enough, in many corporate houses, the committees
have been formed just for the sake of it. From a recent case, one of the
members of the committee which is meant to safeguard the rights of women in the
workplace sexually abused a female employee. This distorted redressal has made
matters worse and suppressed more women than supporting them.
This
verdict gives a ray of hope and confidence to the victims of sexual harassment
and speaks volumes for the abused who have been questioned about the
credibility of the claims again and again. It says that the abuser can be
anyone from among us and we should not judge them based on their public face,
as it is a trap. I believe almost every woman employee has been abused sexually
or verbally or as casually as possible. We have to fight against the days where
woman wear mangalsutra to pretend to be married and have a husband to wade away
abusers. This is not the India we want to build. We have to change our
mentality.
Every
woman must know that you are not victim for sharing your story. You are a
survivor setting the world on fire with your truth. And you never know who
needs your light, your warmth and raging courage. So, just SPEAK UP!
(Advocate Vedika Chaubey can be reached at vedikachaubey@gmail.com)
