| Summary: | <p>This thesis undertakes a socio-legal analysis of rape prosecutions in Delhi. It explores
the hypothesis that rape adjudication is best understood by examining the
implementation of law in its postcolonial context, rather than by reference solely to its
formal scope. Specifically, this thesis deploys a postcolonial feminist framework.
Postcolonial feminism highlights that the scope and operation of law assumes fixed
gendered, racial and other social hierarchies. It critiques these assumptions.</p>
<p>The key question addressed in this thesis is what are the factors associated with
acquittal and conviction in rape prosecutions in Delhi? The data sources used to
respond to this question include judgments (n=254); observation in six courtrooms
and interviews with victims, victim-support personnel, lawyers and judges (n=61). A
thematic analysis is used to identify the factors influencing adjudication in four
categories of cases: where the victim’s testimony supports the defendant; where her
consent is vitiated by deception (‘deceptive sex’); where elopement is prosecuted as
rape; and other contested cases.</p>
<p>This thesis concludes that the criminal justice system is entrenched in its historical
and socio-economic context. This context includes intersecting power structures such
as those of gender, caste and class. Women’s experiences within and outside the legal
system are shaped by these structures. Finally, the operation of the criminal justice
system is influenced by multiple constitutive agencies with distinctive institutional
cultures.</p>
<p>This thesis is one of the only academic studies to focuss on Indian rape trials,
following extensive legal reform in 2013. It is one of the first socio-legal analyses of
deceptive sex cases in South Asia. It demonstrates the potential of using postcolonial
feminism to analyse legal materials. It also engages with the methodological hurdles
encountered by researchers in opaque, bureaucratic postcolonial environments. Its
findings are relevant for scholars and practitioners interested in feminist analyses of
criminal justice institutions.</p>
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