Rape adjudication and prosecution in India: a reflection of female autonomy or masculine cultures?
<p>The December 16, 2012 Delhi gang-rape case sparked a sorely-needed debate in India on the issues of consent in rape law, leading to the Justice Verma Committee report and the 2013 criminal amendment to rape law. This thesis undertakes a comprehensive analysis of Indian judicial decisions ad...
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| Format: | Praca dyplomowa |
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2019
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| _version_ | 1826316583502348288 |
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| author | Vadekkethil, AC |
| author2 | Hoyano, L |
| author_facet | Hoyano, L Vadekkethil, AC |
| author_sort | Vadekkethil, AC |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>The December 16, 2012 Delhi gang-rape case sparked a sorely-needed debate in India on the issues of consent in rape law, leading to the Justice Verma Committee report and the 2013 criminal amendment to rape law. This thesis undertakes a comprehensive analysis of Indian judicial decisions adjudicating rape, to ascertain (whether and) how underlying preconceptions and prejudices (continue to) percolate through sexual assault cases in a variety of settings (despite the 2013 amendment) and ultimately shape their outcome. </p> <p>This thesis notes that the 2013 Amendments brought about some key reforms in the rape law, such as: an expansion in the definition of rape (beyond penile-vaginal intercourse); a new positive definition of ‘consent’ in section 375; and the addition of circumstances falling within category of ‘aggravated rape’ in section 376(2). This thesis argues that despite the sweeping changes introduced by the Parliament’s decisions, the statutory law still falls short of goals set by the Verma Committee report. There also appears to be legal gaps that exist in statutory law pertaining to previous sexual experience of the complainant and application of mens rea in rape law. Using direct evidence from the sample of cases, this thesis then presents the argument that the judicial discourse pertaining to rape reveals that statutory legal changes were not sufficiently powerful to dislodge deep-seated stereotypes amongst either the male or female judges. The complete silence on concepts such as bodily integrity and sexual autonomy, the lack of engagement with the new definition of consent, the absence of reference to the reversal of the burden of proof under section 114A in aggravated rape cases, the emphasis on factors like absence of resistance, and the dominance of stereotypes in the post-2013 law judgments indicate that there is a huge disconnect between the Parliament’s intention and the Judiciary’s implementation.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T21:49:33Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:4ac67ea9-4755-44bd-a95a-330c1fee97a7 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-09T03:47:39Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:4ac67ea9-4755-44bd-a95a-330c1fee97a72024-12-08T10:23:12ZRape adjudication and prosecution in India: a reflection of female autonomy or masculine cultures?Thesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_bdccuuid:4ac67ea9-4755-44bd-a95a-330c1fee97a7Criminal lawORA Deposit2019Vadekkethil, ACHoyano, L<p>The December 16, 2012 Delhi gang-rape case sparked a sorely-needed debate in India on the issues of consent in rape law, leading to the Justice Verma Committee report and the 2013 criminal amendment to rape law. This thesis undertakes a comprehensive analysis of Indian judicial decisions adjudicating rape, to ascertain (whether and) how underlying preconceptions and prejudices (continue to) percolate through sexual assault cases in a variety of settings (despite the 2013 amendment) and ultimately shape their outcome. </p> <p>This thesis notes that the 2013 Amendments brought about some key reforms in the rape law, such as: an expansion in the definition of rape (beyond penile-vaginal intercourse); a new positive definition of ‘consent’ in section 375; and the addition of circumstances falling within category of ‘aggravated rape’ in section 376(2). This thesis argues that despite the sweeping changes introduced by the Parliament’s decisions, the statutory law still falls short of goals set by the Verma Committee report. There also appears to be legal gaps that exist in statutory law pertaining to previous sexual experience of the complainant and application of mens rea in rape law. Using direct evidence from the sample of cases, this thesis then presents the argument that the judicial discourse pertaining to rape reveals that statutory legal changes were not sufficiently powerful to dislodge deep-seated stereotypes amongst either the male or female judges. The complete silence on concepts such as bodily integrity and sexual autonomy, the lack of engagement with the new definition of consent, the absence of reference to the reversal of the burden of proof under section 114A in aggravated rape cases, the emphasis on factors like absence of resistance, and the dominance of stereotypes in the post-2013 law judgments indicate that there is a huge disconnect between the Parliament’s intention and the Judiciary’s implementation.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Criminal law Vadekkethil, AC Rape adjudication and prosecution in India: a reflection of female autonomy or masculine cultures? |
| title | Rape adjudication and prosecution in India: a reflection of female autonomy or masculine cultures? |
| title_full | Rape adjudication and prosecution in India: a reflection of female autonomy or masculine cultures? |
| title_fullStr | Rape adjudication and prosecution in India: a reflection of female autonomy or masculine cultures? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rape adjudication and prosecution in India: a reflection of female autonomy or masculine cultures? |
| title_short | Rape adjudication and prosecution in India: a reflection of female autonomy or masculine cultures? |
| title_sort | rape adjudication and prosecution in india a reflection of female autonomy or masculine cultures |
| topic | Criminal law |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT vadekkethilac rapeadjudicationandprosecutioninindiaareflectionoffemaleautonomyormasculinecultures |