In-laws, Outlaws and the Rule of Law
--Leena
Mehendale
( The author is Jt Sec to GoI working with National
Commission for Women. This article is a
part of her private study.)
Abstract: This
paper presents spatial analysis of two most heinous crimes against women
namely, rape and dowry deaths across the country. Such a study has not been
attempted so far. The NCRB data for 1995-96-97 at a district disaggregated
level is taken as the basis. An agenda for policy planners, and social
activists emerges, as the study brings out a striking finding.
1)
Most of the
districts with high rates of rape have low dowry deaths and vice versa.
2)
The district with highest rape rate (887) is East
Siang in Arunachal Pradesh, while that with highest dowry death rate (300) is Mainpuri in UP.
3)
Out of
first 50 districts having high rape rate (greater than 400 per crore ), 27 are
from MP.
4)
Similarly,
out of first 50 districts having high dowry death rates (more than 125 per
crore) 21 are from UP.
5)
Thus a vivid clustering of these two crime types is
seen. Moreover, in the high rape rate list, no district has dowry death rate
higher than 200. In the high dowry death list, no district has rape rate higher
than 700.
6)
The either – or nature of these two heinous crimes
against women points to an unfortunate dilemma before the women. Those who seek
to come out of boundary walls of domestic life face the violence outside while
those who seek to remain inside, face dowry deaths. Where can a woman find the
succor?
7)
A scatter graph demarcates a zone in which both the
crime types are simultaneously on the higher side. These districts are from MP,
Delhi, Haryana, UP, Maharshtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Rajasthan. This shows that
we need to concentrate on the central part of India for creating atrocity free
environment for women.
Introduction : As the new millennium’s first year which is also the Year of Empowerment for Women is coming to an end, it is necessary to bring to focus the survival dilemma faced by women in India. During my study of district level crime data for Maharashtra, (Mehendale, 2001) I had found that all districts from two revenue divisions Nagpur and Amarawati had very high rates of rape but low rate for dowry death. As opposed to this, all districts of Aurangabad division had very high rates of dowry deaths but low rates for rape. This was the picture throughout the decade of ‘90s. It was only logical to undertake a similar analysis at All India level and see what pattern emerged. I took the average data for 1995-96-97 as the basis of this study. Surprisingly, the pattern repeats itself at the national level and to a large extent even at state levels.
What
are the pre-conditions for empowerment of women for which we are all so keen?
As analysed earlier, (ibid) access to relevant education, economic
opportunities and freedom from violence are the key factors. Availability of
the first two is a pre- condition that is necessary but not sufficient. In past
fifty years various Government schemes were formulated for providing education
(it can be doubted whether it was also relevant education) and to some extent
economic opportunities. However, there was no conscious scheme for freedom from
violence or speedy justice delivery.
This
is, perhaps, the reason for this very typical situation in which women, both
educated or uneducated, working outside or inside the “home” find themselves.
Although it can be a matter of part satisfaction that a state or a region can
concentrate its efforts on one type of crime against women, the academicians
and activists will have to consider what option can they offer to women.
To recapitulate on the general crime situation in the country, it would be worthwhile to quote the following from my previous study :
1) Madhya
Pradesh and Maharashtra registered largest number of crimes. However, rate of
crime was highest in Delhi(48000 crimes per crore of population), being at
least 150% higher than in any other state. States with low crime rates are
Lakshadweep, Punjab, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and West Bengal.
2) Rate of
total crimes against women was registered highest in Rajashtan(2106), MP(2089),
Delhi(2000) and Maharashtra(1752). It was lowest (less than 500) in Lakshdweep,
Nagaland, Punjab, Meghalaya, Goa and Bihar.
3) 4 states
with highest crime rate are also the states with higher rape rate. They are
Delhi, Rajasthan, MP, Mizoram. A state- wise graph of total crimes Vs rapes
shows a general corelation between the two. Hence increase in total crime rate
should ring alarm.
4) Punjab having low rates for all other crimes
against women has the 5th
highest dowry death rate.
5) States
having high rates for dowry death are seen to be having low female to male
ratio, particularly for 0- 6 age group as registered in the census of 2001.
6) The NCRB
must start making a separate record of organised or mass atrocities against
women. This is not done as yet.
7) In most of the states the justice delivery is
unfavourable to women victims. Conviction rates for rapes are much below those
for overall crimes.
8)
The attitude of the law enforcing agency is greatly
manifested even in deciding whether a crime will be recorded or not. Many women
activists and women commissions have noted that a large number of crimes
against women just do not get reported, partly because of the societal stigma
against women but largely because of the attitude of the police and the
investigative machinery in dealing with women victims of these crimes. The NCRB
report itself states that perhaps only one out of 10 crimes against women get
recorded. One immediately “doable” action is to ask the police to submit a
report of “NC” cases, ie cases in which before registering FIR, the police
concludes that the case is not worth registering and closes the matter. It is
also necessary that people and NGOs demand that police gives relevant documents
to the complainant as prescribed in procedure.
Rape
and Dowry Death: Among
all crimes the most henious are the two crimes of rape and dowry death against
women. The threat of first clips the wings of a woman ready to take up all
flights into freedom and achievement. It cripples her mentally and hurts
physically beyond the imagination of anyone else. Dowry death, on the other
hand, arises out of a mentality that denies the women equal status and respect
even in supposedly “her own” house.
·
Chart 1
gives a state-wise comparison between rates of rape and that of dowry death. A
scatter graph plotting these two shows that Delhi has high rates in both. Most
of the states with high rates of rape have low dowry deaths and vice versa.
·
States
with high rate for rape (greater than 400 per crore ) but low for dowry deaths
are: mizoram, Arunachal, Himachal, Assam, A&N islands.
·
State
with high rate for dowry deaths (more than 125 per crore) but low rate for rape
are UP, Haryana, Punjab.
·
States in
which both the rates are on the lower side are Manipur, Gujrat, Karnatak and
Tamilnadu. Lakshdweep has no crime against women.
·
The
district with highest rape rate (687) is East Siang in Arunachal Pradesh, while
that with highest dowry death rate (300) is Mainpuri in UP.
·
The state
level aggregate is not a very powerful indicator as it tends to average out the
local level extremes. Yet, within the state the same either- or pattern is
found to be repeating Exceptions to
this observation are
·
A district
wise analysis shows two peculiar features. Out of first 50 districts having
high rape rate 27 are from MP. Similarly, out of first 50 districts having high
dowry death rates 21 are from UP. (charts 3 and 4). Further, the 50 districts
of chart 3 do not have dowry death rates exceeding 200 while the 50 districts
of chart 4 do not have rape rate exceeding 400. It is possible that both types
of crimes arise mainly from a typical power mongering male attitude and the
banter that women are enemies of women as often quoted while refering to the
role of mother- in- law is really not the main cause for the dowry deaths. This
line of argument deserves further consideration.
· The either – or nature of these two heinous crimes against women points to an unfortunate dilemma before the women. Those who seek to come out of the boundary walls of domestic life face the violence outside while those who seek to remain inside, face dowry deaths. Where can a women find the succor?
·
Punjab shows a disturbing feature. Here the
rate of crime against women and that of
total crimes are both among of the
lowest. Yet the rate of Dowry deaths is very high. The 5 states with highest
dowry death rates are Delhi 128, Haryana 125, UP 123, Punjab 75 and Rajasthan 73. This perhaps explains the high rate
of female feoticide in Punjab, which, although successfully evaded in all crime
recording, nevertheless shows itself through the highly skewed female to male
ratio in all age groups and typically in the 0-6 age group. Quite significantly there is a linear relationship between the
low FMR in 0-6 age group as per 2001 census and high rate of dowry deaths.
Chart 1 shows 20 states falling in the linear zone. Only UP seems an exception
with its high rate of dowry deaths and yer a relatively better FMR. Chandigarh, Gujrat and HP have low FMR with
low rate for dowry death. It is perhaps a result of direct female foeticide or
non- recording of dowry deaths.
·
Organised Crimes: It is also noteworthy that while the
NCRB is trying to keep meticulously a record of six major crimes against women,
they have to quickly set-up the reporting and monitoring system for the
organized crimes in general, and those against women in particular. As yet,
there is no separate recording and analysis of
organized gang rapes or mass rapes, organized trafficking and sale of
girl children or of their organs. This
lacunae needs to be corrected speedily.
·
Chart 1:
|
state
name |
R/rp |
R/dd |
|
mizoram |
581 |
0 |
|
MP |
448 |
69 |
|
delhi |
410 |
128 |
|
Aru_P |
355 |
0 |
|
tripura |
281 |
37 |
|
assam |
250 |
12 |
|
rajasthan |
234 |
73 |
|
HP |
220 |
14 |
|
A&N
islands |
206 |
20 |
|
haryana |
184 |
125 |
|
orissa |
176 |
59 |
|
J&K |
165 |
7 |
|
all india |
157 |
58 |
|
maharashtra |
153 |
51 |
|
meghalaya |
145 |
2 |
|
bihar |
144 |
43 |
|
kerala |
132 |
8 |
|
sikkim |
131 |
0 |
|
AP |
119 |
59 |
|
daman
& diu |
118 |
0 |
|
goa |
113 |
15 |
|
UP |
111 |
123 |
|
D&N
haveli |
111 |
19 |
|
west
bengal |
110 |
18 |
|
nagaland |
98 |
0 |
|
chandigarh |
95 |
29 |
|
gujrat |
72 |
14 |
|
punjab |
70 |
75 |
|
manipur |
56 |
0 |
|
tamilnadu |
54 |
21 |
|
karnatak |
50 |
39 |
|
pondichery |
30 |
22 |
|
lakshdweep |
0 |
0 |
Chart 2 and 3:
are 2 scatter graphs comapring crime against women vis-a-vis total crimes and
rate of rapes vs rate of dowry death.
9) Rate
of total crimes against women was highest in Rajashtan, MP, Delhi and
Maharashtra.
10) The
ratio of all crimes against women with
total crimes is surprisingly highest in West Bengal.
11) The
lower number of crimes in some states could be on account of improper or non recording.
12) Punjab
having low rates fot all other crimes against women has the 5th highest dowry death rate.
The NCRB must make a separate record of organised or mass atrocities against women.
4 states with maximum crime
rate are also the states with highest rape rate. They are Delhi, Rajasthan, MP,
Mizoram. A scatter diagram of total crimes Vs rapes shows a general corelation
between the two. Hence increase in total crime rate should ring an alarm.It therefore
appears that general improvement in the law enforcement is one of the pre-
conditions for women’s empowerment.NCRB brings out data on 6 major crimes
against women under IPC namely, rape, molestation, abduction, sexual harrasment
dowry death. 
|
<
state |
worst 25
districts |
R/rp |
R/dd> |
state |
next 30
district |
R/rp |
R/dd > |
|
MP |
RAISEN |
837 |
117 |
MP |
SIHORE |
789 |
42 |
|
RAJASTHAN |
JHALAWAR |
837 |
54 |
MP |
GUNA |
765 |
33 |
|
MP |
VIDISHA |
689 |
65 |
RAJASTHAN |
BANSWARA |
726 |
38 |
|
MP |
SAGAR |
688 |
165 |
MP |
BHOPAL |
565 |
63 |
|
MP |
HOSHANGABAD |
671 |
138 |
MP |
CHHINDWARA |
554 |
64 |
|
DELHI UT |
NORTH |
590 |
127 |
MP |
DHAR |
531 |
64 |
|
MP |
NARASINGHPUR |
561 |
77 |
MP |
DEWAS |
513 |
65 |
|
MP |
RATLAM |
552 |
86 |
MP |
CHHATARPUR |
416 |
81 |
|
MP |
DAMOH |
513 |
170 |
MP |
TIKAMGARH |
408 |
85 |
|
DELHI UT |
CENTRAL |
487 |
87 |
DELHI UT |
SOUTH
WEST |
379 |
97 |
|
DELHI UT |
SOUTH |
452 |
110 |
MP |
PANNA |
322 |
77 |
|
HARYANA |
KARNAL |
422 |
154 |
HARYANA |
FARIDABAD |
283 |
126 |
|
MP |
GWALIOR |
421 |
176 |
MP |
SATNA |
279 |
127 |
|
MP |
JABALPUR |
412 |
125 |
MP |
INDORE |
244 |
155 |
|
DELHI UT |
NORTH
WEST |
406 |
168 |
DELHI UT |
EAST |
240 |
123 |
|
DELHI UT |
WEST |
383 |
117 |
RAJASTHAN |
BHARATPUR |
237 |
124 |
|
DELHI UT |
NORTH
EAST |
355 |
143 |
AP |
KARIMNAGAR |
215 |
159 |
|
MP |
MURAINA |
317 |
128 |
UP |
SHAJAHANPUR |
213 |
133 |
|
MP |
RIWA |
242 |
214 |
UP |
PILIBHIT |
212 |
125 |
|
RAJASTHAN |
DHOLPUR |
236 |
217 |
UP |
SITAPUR |
205 |
184 |
|
HARYANA |
REWARI |
196 |
201 |
UP |
BAREILLY |
187 |
164 |
|
UP |
UNNAO |
193 |
203 |
UP |
ETAWAH |
181 |
202 |
|
HARYANA |
BHIWANI |
193 |
195 |
UP |
KHERI |
178 |
188 |
|
UP |
ETAH |
165 |
233 |
UP |
MATHURA |
172 |
180 |
|
MAHARASH |
AURANGABAD
|
126 |
291 |
UP |
FEROZABAD |
170 |
199 |
|
|
|
|
|
MP |
BHIND |
169 |
161 |
|
|
|
|
|
HARYANA |
SONIPAT |
169 |
188 |
|
|
|
|
|
UP |
ALIGARH |
162 |
174 |
|
|
|
|
|
UP |
KANPUR |
147 |
226 |
|
|
|
|
|
BIHAR |
MADHEPURA |
100 |
233 |
|
|
|
|
|
MAHARASHTRA |
LATUR |
87 |
247 |
|
|
|
|
|
UP |
MAINPURI |
75 |
300 |
|
state |
dist |
R/rp95-97 |
R/dd95-97 |
state |
dist |
R/rp95-97 |
R/dd95-97 |
|
AR PRADESH |
SIANG
EAST |
877 |
0 |
UP |
MAINPURI |
75 |
300 |
|
RAJASTHAN |
JHALAWAR |
837 |
54 |
MAHARASHTRA |
AURANGABAD |
126 |
291 |
|
MP |
RAISEN |
837 |
117 |
MAHARASHTRA |
LATUR |
87 |
247 |
|
MP |
SIHORE |
789 |
42 |
BIHAR |
MADHEPURA |
100 |
233 |
|
HP |
KINNAUR |
773 |
0 |
UP |
ETAH |
165 |
233 |
|
MP |
GUNA |
765 |
33 |
UP |
KANPUR |
123 |
229 |
|
RAJASTHAN |
BANSWARA |
726 |
38 |
RAJASTHAN |
DHOLPUR |
236 |
217 |
|
MP |
VIDISHA |
689 |
65 |
MP |
RIWA |
242 |
214 |
|
MP |
SAGAR |
688 |
165 |
UP |
UNNAO |
193 |
203 |
|
MP |
HOSHANGABAD |
671 |
138 |
UP |
ETAWAH |
181 |
202 |
|
MP |
RAJGARH |
661 |
27 |
HARYANA |
REWARI |
196 |
201 |
|
MP |
BALAGHAT |
643 |
25 |
UP |
FEROZABAD |
170 |
199 |
|
MIZORAM |
AIZAWL |
638 |
0 |
HARYANA |
BHIWANI |
193 |
195 |
|
MP |
SARGUJA |
605 |
10 |
UP |
JALAUN |
74 |
195 |
|
J&K |
RAJOURI |
603 |
8 |
UP |
KHERI |
178 |
188 |
|
BIHAR |
GUMLA |
602 |
0 |
HARYANA |
SONIPAT |
169 |
188 |
|
DELHI UT |
NORTH |
590 |
127 |
UP |
AGRA |
118 |
187 |
|
RAJASTHAN |
BUNDI |
572 |
50 |
UP |
SITAPUR |
205 |
184 |
|
MP |
BHOPAL |
565 |
63 |
MAHARASHTRA |
DHULE |
112 |
183 |
|
MP |
NARASINGHPUR |
561 |
77 |
UP |
MATHURA |
172 |
180 |
|
MIZORAM |
LUNGLEI |
557 |
0 |
MP |
GWALIOR |
421 |
176 |
|
MP |
CHHINDWARA |
554 |
64 |
UP |
ALIGARH |
162 |
174 |
|
MP |
RATLAM |
552 |
86 |
MP |
DAMOH |
513 |
170 |
|
MP |
SHAJAPUR |
550 |
20 |
HARYANA |
JIND |
131 |
169 |
|
BIHAR |
KISHANGANJ |
546 |
6 |
DELHI UT |
NORTH
WEST |
406 |
168 |
|
MP |
DURG |
542 |
43 |
UP |
FATEHPUR |
110 |
168 |
|
MP |
DHAR |
531 |
64 |
MP |
SAGAR |
688 |
165 |
|
MP |
RAJNANDGAON |
513 |
35 |
UP |
BAREILLY |
187 |
164 |
|
MP |
DAMOH |
513 |
170 |
MP |
BHIND |
169 |
161 |
|
MP |
DEWAS |
513 |
65 |
AP |
KARIMNAGAR |
215 |
159 |
|
MP |
SHIVPURI |
497 |
44 |
MP |
INDORE |
244 |
155 |
|
MAHARASHTRA |
NAGPUR |
496 |
40 |
HARYANA |
KARNAL |
422 |
154 |
|
DELHI UT |
CENTRAL |
487 |
87 |
AP |
RANGA
REDDY |
101 |
147 |
|
MP |
MANDLA |
475 |
19 |
UP |
BARABANKI |
160 |
144 |
|
ASSAM |
LAKHIMPUR |
470 |
0 |
DELHI UT |
NORTH
EAST |
355 |
143 |
|
MAHARASHTRA |
GADCHIROLI |
454 |
11 |
UP |
HARDOI |
178 |
141 |
|
DELHI UT |
SOUTH |
452 |
110 |
HARYANA |
MAHENDRAGARH |
139 |
139 |
|
ASSAM |
HAILAKANDI |
444 |
12 |
MP |
HOSHANGABAD |
671 |
138 |
|
MP |
BETUL |
435 |
62 |
UP |
BULANDSHAHAR |
137 |
137 |
|
HARYANA |
KARNAL |
422 |
154 |
UP |
SHAJAHANPUR |
213 |
133 |
|
MP |
GWALIOR |
421 |
176 |
UP |
JAUNPUR |
36 |
132 |
|
J&K |
UDHAMPUR |
421 |
0 |
UP |
BADAUN |
191 |
131 |
|
KERALA |
WAYANADU |
419 |
27 |
BIHAR |
NALANDA |
88 |
130 |
|
MP |
CHHATARPUR |
416 |
81 |
MP |
MURAINA |
317 |
128 |
|
MAHARASHTRA |
AMRAVATI |
413 |
42 |
MP |
SATNA |
279 |
127 |
|
MP |
JABALPUR |
412 |
125 |
DELHI UT |
NORTH |
590 |
127 |
|
MP |
DATIYA |
411 |
45 |
HARYANA |
YAMUNANAGAR |
148 |
126 |
|
MP |
TIKAMGARH |
408 |
85 |
HARYANA |
FARIDABAD |
283 |
126 |
|
DELHI UT |
NORTH
WEST |
406 |
168 |
MP |
JABALPUR |
412 |
125 |
|
ASSAM |
SIBSAGAR |
400 |
0 |
UP |
PILIBHIT |
212 |
125 |
Chart 1 above
gives the lists of 50 districts each having highest rates of rape and dowry
deaths respectively. Chart 2 gives a list of worst 25 districts along with
other 32 districts where both types of crime rates are high enough to warrant a
more concerted action.