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To Honble Justice J. S. Verma New Delhi Sub: Suggestions/ recommendations on the amendment of laws dealing with Rape / Sexual Assault and permission to depose in-person in front of the committee Dear Sir, The recent gang-rape at Delhi has somehow made the whole atmosphere emotionally charged. There are demands from different sections of the society and the protesters to hand out fast and harsh punishment to all the accused, some even demanding capital punishment. There are also demands to amend current laws to make capital punishment as a de-facto penalty in cases of Rape. Sanity, however, demands that any amendments should pass the test of rationality and provide sufficient safeguards to avoid miscarriage of justice. There are three very central issues in the current law making, implementation and judicial process: A) Indian police force: most brutal, inefficient, ill-equipped and a keep of politicians: Along with numerous past incident and even in this case, the police is found to curb on peaceful protest and then politicize the death of a constable to divert the main issue. Police reforms are long due but the contemptuous govt. does not act despite orders from apex court. Police personnel at low ranks work for money and at the high ranks are at beck and call of their political masters often found working for mutual interest. B) In gender related issues, the law making in India remains to be only women-centric. The data related to gender crimes are captured, interpreted and presented to gullible Indian citizens in such a way that it only feeds thought like - All MEN are criminals and All WOMEN are victims and that Only WOMEN are/can be victims. B) The judicial infrastructure falls awfully short in ratio to the present population of India. This has resulted in the present situation of huge pendency of cases in all the courts. Even in the cases which get resolved after a long legal battle, the real victim gets the sense of justice denied for him.

WHY SEXUAL ASSAULTS ON MEN ARE UNDERREPRESENTED? The present laws are gender-biased, so any man/boy subjected to sexual assault has nowhere to go to report, which means no official statistics are created for men. If similarly, the current laws of Rape are scrapped, the statistics of women rapes will not exist then can we say there are no rapes committed on women? The WHO report on sexual violence [1] states the below Most experts believe that official statistics vastly under-represent the number of male rape victims. The evidence available suggests that males may be even less likely than female victims to report an assault to the authorities. There are a variety of reasons why male rape is underreported, including shame, guilt and fear of not being believed or of being denounced for what has occurred. Myths and strong prejudices surrounding male sexuality also prevent men from coming forward. There are very few independent studies conducted in India a gender-neutral way. The very few that have been conducted, describe telling stories of sexual assault and brutalization of men. Two such studies are part of reference [2] and [3]. At present there are no laws for men to report sexual assault/rape on themselves. Thus, no official statistics are maintained parallel to the ones maintained for crimes against women.

MEN ALSO VICTIMS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE

Regarding Sexual Harassment at Workplace, there was a survey conducted by reputed Economic Times (22/08/2010, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/features/special-report/even-menarent-safe-from- sexual- harassment-at-workplace-survey/articleshow/6389438.cms), and it was found that men are also victims of sexual harassment. Some excerpts from this survey are [7]: a) Bangalore: - Half of who agreed that they have been sexually harassed at their workplace said they have been harassed by their female colleagues. Only 32% said that they were harassed by Male colleagues. b) Hyderabad: - 29% of said they have been sexually harassed by their female bosses while 48% accused their male bosses. c) Delhi: - Numbers are even, with 43% pointing a finger at their female colleagues and an equal number accusing their male colleagues of sexual harassment. d) 38% of the respondents agreed that in today's workplaces, even men are as vulnerable to sexual harassment as women. In Hyderabad and Mumbai, 55% of the respondents agreed to this point. e) Many of the corporate and PSUs, ET spoke to, agree to this new trend and point out that many male employees do not come out in the open and file complaints because they feel they will not be believed, considering India's social beliefs. They usually seek a transfer to get out of the situation or find a new job.

RAPE/SEXUAL ASSAULT LAWS SHOULD BE GENDER-NEUTRAL

The present rape laws in India recognize only man-on-woman rape cases. Whereas, all over the world the rape laws have been changed or are changing to include all kinds, man-on-man, woman-on -man and woman-on-woman rape cases. As correctly opined in the article - (Focus on means to prevent similar incidents in future - Justice JS Verma, Hindustan Times, New Delhi,

December 20, 2012 : http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/ColumnsOthers/Focus-onmeans-to-prevent-similar-incidents-in-future/Article1-976811.aspx) ``Modernity requires the women to constitute a large working force more women are increasingly occupying the roads, malls and work-places etc., the occurrences of woman-on-woman and woman-on-man gender crimes have increased and will continue to do so in future. To not recognize Rape/sexual assault as a gender-neutral crime is to play with and to oppress the rights of such victim men and women. POLICE ACTION OPPRESSES THE INNOCENTS AND REAL VICTIMS Oppressing the real victims, botching up investigation and terrorizing innocents in the name of investigation is hallmark of police action. Police are completely under control of politicians and bureaucrats. In any number of cases they are found shielding and acting as per the whims of their political masters. In matrimonial cases like IPC 498A, police is in most hurry to arrest all the accused without investigation and even privately acknowledging false case. False propaganda is being propagated by feminists that police does not register complaints by women - the reality is - police is so brazen that it does not want to register any complaint without favor/influence - police does not single out the "women". Anyone who visited a police station can tell that police have indifferent attitude against all victims and most of the times work to shield the criminals. The eye-witness accounts of the police constable collapse during Delhi protests suggest some ulterior motives by police. Even in the recent Ponty Chhaddha shoot-out case, the police personnel who reached the spot first tried to destroy evidence.

FALSE CASES OF RAPE/SEXUAL HARASSMENT :

There have been a slew of false sexual harassment complaints filed in the recent past. Some of those noteworthy instances are: (a) AI Air Hostess Komal Singh case : NCW rules out sexual harassment of AI air-hostess http://www.zeenews.com/news579693.html (b) Lt. Gen. A.K.Nanda case : Col, wife cooked up sex charge against general http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/iplarticleshow/6515807.cms (c) Weightlifting coach falsely alleged with sexual harassment by Karnam Malleshwari : Weightlifting coach absolved of charges - http://www.hindustantimes.com/Weightlifting-coach-absolved-of-charges/Article1-653542.aspx (d) False sexual harassment allegations against Mr. M.K.Kaushik, former Indian Womens Hockey coach - http://www.ndtv.com/article/sports/hockey-sex-scandal-coach-opts-out-of-tours-38771 Some noteworthy instances of false rape are : (e) Fake rape victims a danger to society: Court http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-17/india/32713694_1_district-court-delhicourt-real-victims (f) Take action against girl for filing false rape case: HC to cops http://www.indianexpress.com/news/take-action-against-girl-for-filing-false-rape-case-hc-tocops/931412 (g) Woman, Mother Marked for Lodging 'False' Rape Cases -

http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=766976 (h) Lady who cooks up rape TNN, Feb 18, 2012 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Lady-who-cooks-uprape/articleshow/11934223.cms?intenttarget=no (i) Medical report rules out rape of two Russians: Hindustan Times, Panipat, June 26, 2012 http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Haryana/Medical-report-rules-out-rape-of-twoRussians/Article1-879042.aspx There are 2 things consistent in all the above cases 1) All of these were false and motivated allegations by complainants to fulfill their self interest 2) No action was taken against the complainants making these false allegations, which in turn has emboldened many others to file false complaints

There are huge number of false cases where consensual sex is later turned into Rape to achieve oblique motives: When live-in turns sour, man becomes rapist TNN Oct 9, 2012, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-10-09/chennai/34341916_1_live-inrelationships-godman-nithyananda Police in many cases knows and acknowledges that huge number of cases are false e.g., the report by Pune Police in 2010 [4]. Fines/penalties are imposed on such complainants only where false cases are filed against influential person e.g.: SC dismisses petition against Rahul Gandhi in rape case - http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121019/main3.htm Such false cases are a menace as on one hand the accused are harassed to no end. On the other, such cases increase pendency in courts and delay in justice delivery to others. So, false cases of sexual assault need to be dealt with strongly. To create a strong deterrent, the punishment to complainant for false case should be equivalent to the punishment to accused had the case been genuine. COMPENSATION TO RAPE VICTIM ONLY ON PROVED CHARGES Given the above background of false rape cases, the cash compensation as being proposed by Central govt. and many state govt. should be completely scrapped - Rape victims in India to get Rs 2 lakh compensation - http://infochangeindia.org/women/news/rape-victims-in-india-to-get-rs2-lakh-compensation.html Any compensation to Rape victim should be provided only after the charges are proved in court of law. Also, this compensation should not be entirely paid from tax-payers money but the criminal should bear 50% of that amount. SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: I humbly submit that the Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2012 pending in Parliament would be a good starting point to amend the existing laws on rape/sexual assault to make them gender neutral. However, this bill does not deal with false cases. Also, the bill seeks to remove the past history of the complainant. It is humbly submitted, that past record and present circumstances of

complainant in rape cases are central to help establish false cases like [5]. Otherwise, there is a great risk of miscarriage of justice e.g. in [5] and [6]. 1) Amendment to law should have rational basis and not emotional - the current situation has been turned completely emotional by media, feminists and, gullible Indians who don't know the harsh "reality" of women-centric laws 2) Rape/sexual assault laws should be made gender-neutral so that boys and men facing sexual assault/ harassment/ rape do also get a listening. Also, women-on-women rape/sexual offence should be covered. 3) Police should accept the complaint of rape/sexual offence on any gender and convert it to FIR only after preliminary investigation and not mechanically. 4) VVIP security should be considerably cut down to help increase availability of police for patrolling. This should help in overall reduction in crime rates. 5) "Harsh" punishment as being "emotionally" asked by many sections of the society should be graded based on severity of the crime, circumstances, past history of accused and victim, condition of victim after the crime etc. Harsh punishment should not be de-facto just on basis of complaint as being "emotionally" asked by some sections of society. 6) As per police records, 70-80% of Rape cases are false. Such false cases clog the courts and deny access to fast justice for genuine victims. So, it is need of the hour to amend laws to hand out Harsh penalty to the complainants filing false cases. 7) A huge number of consensual sex cases are also getting turned into Rape. This is also happening partly because courts have interpreted that consent based on false promise is rape. Such definition is being exploited at present by women for ulterior motives. It is humbly submitted that this definition needs to be changed. 8) Police and Judicial reforms and access to fast track courts is the need of hour not only for Rape/sexual assault crimes but for all the crimes. The anti-social elements of society including thugs, gangsters, politicians, corrupt bureaucrats etc, get emboldened because of slow pace of adjudication and roam free in society. 9) Police should have freed up from clutches of politicians. 10) Compensation to rape victim only after the charges are proved in court. 11) Names and pictures of accused should not be made public unless the charges are proven. 12) When two adult person living together without marriage the same is termed "Live-in-relation"* and if any partner want to come out from it the same should not be crime (rape), as people have choice to choose live together after marriage or before marriage. Can a woman who walks out of live-in relationship be termed as rapist? NO! Then why are men being labeled as rapist if they walk out of live-in/consensual sex relationship? This should be completely decriminalized.

References
[1] WHO Report WORLD REPORT ON VIOLENCE AND HEALTH Report, Chapter 6, Sexual Violence Page 154 , Box 6.1 [2] Asian Center for Human Rights report titled Torture in India 2010, ISBN : 978-81-88987-24-5 [3] POLICE TORTURE IN PUNJAB, INDIA: An Extended Survey by Ami Laws and Vincent Iacopino, Health and Human Rights Journal, Vol 6 No .1 [4] Rape on Second thought Article in the Pune Mirror on 28-April-2010, http://www.punemirror.in/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=62&contentid=20100428201004280002037 6672f460c5&sectxslt= [5] Lady who cooks up rape TNN, Feb 18, 2012 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Lady -who-cooks-uprape/articleshow/11934223.cms?intenttarget=no [6] Woman to pay Rs 50 lakh for accusing actor of rape, TNN, Dec 11, 2012 http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-11/chennai/35748963_1_mohammedan -lawmansoor-ali-khan-trial-c ourt [7] Even men aren't safe from sexual harassment at workplace: Survey , Economic Times 22/08/2010 http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/features/special-report/even-men-arent-safe-from-sexualharassment-at-workplace-survey/articleshow/6389438.cms

With Regards,

Dr.Indu Subhash President, Pati Pariwar Kalyan Samiti 9336002063