In-laws, Outlaws and the Rule of Law

Leena Mehendale[1]

 

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, 1996 and 1997 disaggregated at district level is taken as the basis for the analysis. An agenda for policy planners, and social activists emerges, as the study brings out certain striking findings. (1) Most of the districts with high rates of rape have low dowry deaths and vice versa.(2) Out of first 50 districts having high rape rate (greater than 400 per crore), 27 are from MP.(3) Similarly, out of first 50 districts having high dowry death rates (more than 125 per crore) 21 are from UP.(4) Thus a vivid clustering of these two crime types is seen. (5)Moreover, in the high rape rate list, only 8 districts have dowry death rate higher than 100. In the high dowry death list, only 7 districts have rape rate higher than 300. (6) The either � or nature of these two 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. (7) More importantly, 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 pay special attention to Central India. To create an atrocity free environment for women.

 

Introduction: As 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 used the figures of average incidence of these crimes for the period 1995-97 as the basis of this study. Surprisingly, the pattern repeats itself at the national level. Within individual different states too, a similar �either- or� pattern was found in Rajasthan, Himachal, Andhra, Bihar and Bengal.

 

Among all crimes against women the two crimes of rape and dowry death are the most heinous. The threat of first clips the wings of a woman ready to take flight into freedom and achieve goals outside the boundaries of the household. 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.

 

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. This finding shows that the first two are necessary pre- conditions but not sufficient ones. In past fifty years various Government schemes were formulated for providing 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 has been lacking in our justice delivery mechanism and what options they can advocate for women victims of these two crimes.

 

Chart 1: below gives a state-wise comparison between rates of rape and that of dowry death. The All India averages for these two are 157 and 58 respectively. It 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 but low for dowry deaths are: mizoram, MP, Arunachal, Himachal, Assam, A&N islands. State with high rate for dowry deaths but low rate for rape are UP, Haryana, Punjab. Lakshdweep has no crime against women. States in which both the rates are on the lower side are Manipur, Gujrat, Karnatak, Kerala and Tamilnadu.

 

Chart2: The state level aggregate is not a very powerful indicator as it tends to average out the local level extremes. Hence a district level desegregation is necessary. Chart 2 gives the lists of first fifty districts having highest rates of rape and dowry deaths each.

The district with highest rape rate (877) is East Siang in Arunachal Pradesh, while that with highest dowry death rate (300) is Mainpuri in UP. The district level analysis shows two peculiar features. Out of first 50 districts having high r/r, 27 are from MP. Similarly, out of first 50 districts having high dowry death rates 21 are from UP. (see the 2 lists). Further, the 50 districts of first list do not have dowry death rates exceeding 200 while the 50 districts of second list do not have r/r exceeding 400 per crore.

Two scatter graphs at chart 3 and 4 below show these 100 districts.

 

It is possible that both types of crimes arise mainly from a typical power- mongering male attitude and the banter about women being enemy of women as often quoted while referring to the role of mother- in- law is really not the main cause for the dowry deaths. This line of argument deserves further consideration.

 

chart 5 is a district level scatter graph plotting rape rates vs dowry death rates. This can be studied with respect to the point (400,134). Districts in which both the crimes are higher than these limits - ie the 1st quadrant districts are only 6, namely Sagar, Damoh, Hoshangabad, Gwalior, north west Delhi, and Karnal. As delineated by the third curve, north Delhi and Raisen can be added to this catagory. Other 17 districts are delineated by fourth curve and yet other 30 by fifth curve . Chart 6 gives the lists of these 55 districts. All of them are from MP [23], UP [13], Delhi [8], Haryana [5], Rajasthan [4], Maharshtra [2], AP and Bihar 1 each.

 

Thus MP, Delhi, Haryana and Maharashtra are states with high rates in both crimes. Orissa too comes in this catagory though at a lower level. The 2nd quadrant districts with high dowry deaths but relatively low r/r are UP, AP and Punjab. The 4th quadrant districts with higher r/r but lower dowry rates are Mizoram, Himachal, Arunachal, Assam, Bihar, and Rajasthan. Among the 3rd quadrant districts the real lowest ones falling below the point (200, 67) are from Kerala (except Waynadu), Tamilnadu, Bengal, Gujrat (except Surat city), and Karnatak.

This linked Chart gives a list of worst 25 districts alongwith another 32 districts where both types of crime rates are high enough to warrant a more concerted action.

 

It is worthwhile to see the north- east separately. Arunachal, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur and Meghalaya (except Jaintia hill district) have no record of dowry deaths. Out of these Manipur and Nagaland have low r/r too; only 3 districts exceeding a rate of 100. In Meghalaya too, all districts have r/r below 150. On the other hand, Mizoram districts have very high rape rates. In Arunachal, East Siang with its highest r/r appears an aberration, though other districts also have high r/r. Tripura with its proximity to Bengal has a low but non- zero dowry rate and low r/r. Sikkim too has no record of dowry deaths.

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 women find the succor? Perhaps an answer can be found by launching an effective action for safety of women in the central parts of the country and drawing lessons from it.

 

 

 

 

       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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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

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.

 



[1] (The author is Jt Sec to GoI working with National Commission for Women. This article is a part of her private study.)

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