An Overview of Criminal Laws in India in Relation to Sex and Sexuality
Sex and sexuality are frequently the cause of erratic, aggressive and violent behavior. Women are often at the receiving end of such behaviors and are subjected to sexual assaults. The Mathura rape case, the Nirbhaya case and the Kathua rape case are some of the heinous crime cases against women tha...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Psychosexual Health |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/26318318221133723 |
| _version_ | 1811155040036978688 |
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| author | Choudhary Laxmi Narayan Mridula Narayan Kritika Agarwal Lavanya Seth Mridul Deepanshu |
| author_facet | Choudhary Laxmi Narayan Mridula Narayan Kritika Agarwal Lavanya Seth Mridul Deepanshu |
| author_sort | Choudhary Laxmi Narayan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Sex and sexuality are frequently the cause of erratic, aggressive and violent behavior. Women are often at the receiving end of such behaviors and are subjected to sexual assaults. The Mathura rape case, the Nirbhaya case and the Kathua rape case are some of the heinous crime cases against women that occurred and rocked the entire country. In response to these cases, amendments were introduced in the laws dealing with the offences against women in our country by way of Criminal Law (Amendment) Acts in 1983, 2013 and 2018. Verma Committee formed after the Nirbhaya case was of the view that rape and sexual assault are not merely crimes of passion but an expression of power. The 2013 Amendment brought about substantial changes in the laws for crimes against women, and several new crimes like stalking, harassing the women at the work places, voyeurism, severe punishments for acid throwing and so on were introduced. The Information Technology Act, 2000, describes cyber-crimes in relation to sex and sexuality and has provisions for severe punishment. The POCSO Act was enacted in 2012 to deal with sexual offences committed against children. Recently, important developments have occurred, like decriminalizing the same-sex relationships, striking down adultery as an offence, introducing legislation for transgenders, ensuring human rights for sex workers and so on. A brief account of criminal laws in relation to sex and sexuality is given in this article. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:27:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8b2f32838e024aef9ad6f2d245bc3bf3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2631-8318 2631-8326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:27:27Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Psychosexual Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-8b2f32838e024aef9ad6f2d245bc3bf32023-03-10T10:03:54ZengSAGE PublishingJournal of Psychosexual Health2631-83182631-83262023-01-01510.1177/26318318221133723An Overview of Criminal Laws in India in Relation to Sex and SexualityChoudhary Laxmi Narayan0Mridula Narayan1Kritika Agarwal2Lavanya Seth3Mridul Deepanshu4 Neuro Psychiatry Centre, Gaya, Bihar, India Neuro Psychiatry Centre, Gaya, Bihar, India Department of Psychiatry, IMS and SUM Hospital, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, India Department of Psychiatry, IMS and SUM Hospital, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, India Department of Psychiatry, IMS and SUM Hospital, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, IndiaSex and sexuality are frequently the cause of erratic, aggressive and violent behavior. Women are often at the receiving end of such behaviors and are subjected to sexual assaults. The Mathura rape case, the Nirbhaya case and the Kathua rape case are some of the heinous crime cases against women that occurred and rocked the entire country. In response to these cases, amendments were introduced in the laws dealing with the offences against women in our country by way of Criminal Law (Amendment) Acts in 1983, 2013 and 2018. Verma Committee formed after the Nirbhaya case was of the view that rape and sexual assault are not merely crimes of passion but an expression of power. The 2013 Amendment brought about substantial changes in the laws for crimes against women, and several new crimes like stalking, harassing the women at the work places, voyeurism, severe punishments for acid throwing and so on were introduced. The Information Technology Act, 2000, describes cyber-crimes in relation to sex and sexuality and has provisions for severe punishment. The POCSO Act was enacted in 2012 to deal with sexual offences committed against children. Recently, important developments have occurred, like decriminalizing the same-sex relationships, striking down adultery as an offence, introducing legislation for transgenders, ensuring human rights for sex workers and so on. A brief account of criminal laws in relation to sex and sexuality is given in this article.https://doi.org/10.1177/26318318221133723 |
| spellingShingle | Choudhary Laxmi Narayan Mridula Narayan Kritika Agarwal Lavanya Seth Mridul Deepanshu An Overview of Criminal Laws in India in Relation to Sex and Sexuality Journal of Psychosexual Health |
| title | An Overview of Criminal Laws in India in Relation to Sex and Sexuality |
| title_full | An Overview of Criminal Laws in India in Relation to Sex and Sexuality |
| title_fullStr | An Overview of Criminal Laws in India in Relation to Sex and Sexuality |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Overview of Criminal Laws in India in Relation to Sex and Sexuality |
| title_short | An Overview of Criminal Laws in India in Relation to Sex and Sexuality |
| title_sort | overview of criminal laws in india in relation to sex and sexuality |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/26318318221133723 |
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