The Times of India:Mumbai:Wednesday, February 22, 2012.
The city police are increasingly charging women with rape in cases where they are suspected of either being an accomplice or abettor to the actual act. A common instance is one in which a woman faces rape charges because she trafficked a minor victim for prostitution purposes.
Data accessed through a Right to Information (RTI) query reveals that women were charged with rape in Mumbai in five cases in 2009. The number grew to 10 cases in 2010 and 12 in 2011. The data was obtained from 85 of the city's 93 police stations.
"Women were not the principal accused in cases where they were charged with rape. They were accomplices," said joint commissioner of police Himanshu Roy. "In trafficking cases, people who are accessories to the crime are charged with rape. For instance, women who push minors into the flesh trade can be booked for rape. In such cases, the minor's consent is immaterial."
While a man can be charged under only Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code for rape, a woman has to be charged under Section 376 and additional sections, like Section 108 (abetment) or 34 (common intention). Criminal lawyer M A Khan explained, "Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code clearly states that rape is an offence committed by a 'man' against a woman's will and without her consent. So, ordinarily, a woman can't be charged with rape only under this provision. If she has to be booked, then additional charges, such as abetment, will also have to be applied."
Besides trafficking, lawyers cited other instances in which women faced rape charges. "There was one case in which the woman was unable to conceive. So she helped her husband to rape another girl," said criminal advocate Kshitij Mehta. "There are also people suffering from psychological abnormalities, such as those who like to watch rape. They would be booked as abettors, too."
Social worker and academician Farida Lambay said, "While most cases pertain to trafficking, there are some hidden cases of child prostitution (in which the victim wasn't trafficked). Rape charges being applied against women are not unheard of. The larger picture is that there are still many more instances of women being raped. In some instances of marital discord, men use such clauses against women too."
Vijay Raghavan, associate professor at the Centre for Criminology and Justice at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, said increased impoverishment in rural areas is driving women to believe promises of jobs and a better life in the city. Like Lambay, he too acknowledged that most rape cases against women were those involving trafficking and being an accomplice or abettor. "But I must state that trafficking has also changed over time, it is no longer concentrated around brothels. It has taken different forms, making it very difficult to carry out a genuine rescue operation," he added.
RTI activist Chetan Kothari, who accessed the data, said the cases reflect a deeper societal problem, that of women abetting crimes against other women. "Also, these cases are just the tip of the iceberg, because not many women register their grievances," he said.
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