Sexual Offences:

Sexual offences constitute another category of crimes committed

against women. Legal system’s approach has undergone substantial
changes in recent times. Sexual offences can be categories as
follows
I. Rape:
The word ‘Rape’ is derived from the Latin term ‘Rapio’, which means
‘to seize’. Thus, rape literally means a forcible seizure and that is
the essential characteristic feature of the offence. In common
parlance, it means intercourse without her consent by force, fear or
fraud. In other words, rape is violation with violence of the private
person of a woman.
Rape is a weapon that distorts a woman’s sexuality, restricts her
freedom of movement and violates her human rights. It leaves a
woman feeling exposed, humiliated and traumatised. A rapist not
only violates the victim’s privacy and personal integrity, but also
causes serious physical and psychological damage. The law must
take a fresh look at itself and take positive steps to make it more
difficult for an accused to get judicial reprieve. . What is sad about
rape in India is the lack of seriousness with which the crime is often
treated. Statistics from 2000 showed that on average a woman is
raped every hour in India.
RAPE LAW IN INDIA
Rape means an unlawful intercourse done by a man with a woman
without her valid consent. As per Section 375 of the Indian Penal
Code
A man is said to commit “rape” if he has sexual intercourse with a
woman under circumstances falling under any of the six following
descriptions :-
(a) Against her will.
(b)Without her consent.
(c) With her consent, when her consent has been obtained by
putting her or any person in whom she is interested in fear
of death or of hurt.
(d)With her consent, when the man knows that he is not her
husband, and that her consent is given because she
believes that he is another man to whom she is or believes
herself to be lawfully married.
(e) With her consent, when, at the time of giving such consent, by
reason of unsoundness of mind or intoxication or the
administration by him personally or through another of any
stupefying or unwholesome substance, she is unable to
understand the nature and consequences of that to which
she gives consent.
 (f) With or without her consent, when she is under sixteen years
of age.
Explanation : Penetration is sufficient to constitute the sexual
intercourse necessary to the offence of rape.
Exception : Sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, the wife
not being under fifteen years of age, is not rape.
Rape is defined in India as intentional, unlawful sexual intercourse
with a woman without her consent. The essential elements of this
definition under Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code are ’sexual
intercourse with a woman’ and the absence of consent. This
definition therefore does not include acts of forced oral sex, or
sodomy, or penetration by foreign objects; instead those actions are
criminalized under Section 354 of the IPC, which deals with ‘criminal
assault on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty’ and Section
377 IPC, covering ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’.

Punishment
Sec 376 Punishment for rape (1) Whoever, except in the cases
provided for by subsection (2), commits rape shall be punished with
imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less
than seven years but which may be for life or for a term which may
extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine unless the women
raped is his own wife and is not under twelve years of age, in which
cases, he shall be punished with imprisonment of either description
for a term which may extend to two years or with fine or with both:

Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1983: has substantially changed

Sections.375 and 376 of the IPC. Several new sections have been
introduced therein- viz. Sections. 376(A), 376(B), 376(C),
376(D) of the IPC.

i. Section. 376(A) punishes sexual intercourse with wife without

her consent by a judicially separated husband.
ii. Section. 376(B) punishes for sexual intercourse by a public
servant with a woman in custody.
iii. Section. 376(C) punishes sexual intercourse by superintendent
of jail, remand house, etc. whereas,
iv. Section. 376(D) punishes sexual intercourse by any member
of the management or staff of a hospital with any woman in
that hospital.

These new sections have been introduced with a view to stop

sexual abuse of women in custody, care and control by various
persons- which though not amounting to rape were nevertheless
considered highly reprehensible.

II. OUTRAGING THE MODESTY OF WOMEN

 Section 354 deals with use of assault or criminal force to a woman
with intent to outrage her modesty. It says “Whosoever assaults or
uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to
be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty, shall be punished
with imprisonment of either description of term which may extend to
two years or with fine, or with both.”
· Classification of Offence.-The offence under this section is
cognizable, bailable, compoundable with permission of the Court,
pending and trialable by any Magistrate.
Section 355 deals with use of assault or criminal force with intent to
dishonour person, without grave provocation. It says “whosoever
assaults or uses criminal force to any person, intending thereby to
dishonour that person, otherwise than on grave and sudden
provocation given by that person, shall be punished with imprisonment
of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with
fine, or with both.”

Classification of Offence.-The offence under this section is non-

cognizable, bailable, compoundable and triable by any Magistrate.

III. SEXUAL HARRASEMENT AT WORK

PLACE
Sexual harassment includes such unwelcome sexually determined
behaviour (whether directly or by implication) as:
(a) physical contact and advances
(b) a demand or request for sexual favours
(c) sexually coloured remarks
(d) showing pornography
(e) any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of
sexual nature.

Where any of these acts is committed in circumstances where under

the victim of such conduct has a reasonable apprehension that in
relation to the victim's employment or work whether she is drawing
salary, or honorarium or voluntary, whether in government, public
or private enterprise such conduct can be humiliating and may
constitute a health and safety problem it amounts to sexual
harassment.

It is discriminatory for instance when the woman has reasonable

grounds to believe that her objection would disadvantage her in
connection with her employment or work including recruiting or
promotion or when it creates a hostile work environment. Adverse
consequences might be visited if the victim does not consent to the
conduct in question or raises any objection thereto.
Laws under which a case can be filed
Section 209, IPC deals with obscene acts and songs and lays down:

Whoever, to the annoyance of others:

a) does any obscene act in any public place or
b) sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words in or
near any public place, shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term, which may extend to 3 months or with fine or
both. (Cognizable, bailable and triable offences).

Section 354, IPC deals with assault or criminal force to a woman

with the intent to outrage her modesty and lays down that:

Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to

outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her
modesty, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description
for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine or both.

Section 509, IPC deals with word, gesture or act intended to insult
the modesty of a woman and lays down that:

Whoever intending to insult the modesty of any woman utters any

word, makes any sound or gesture, or exhibits any object intending
that such word or sound shall be heard, or that such gesture or
object shall be seen by such woman, or intrudes upon the privacy of
such woman, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term
which may extend to one year, or with fine, or both.

Civil suit can be filed for damages under tort laws. That is, the
basis for filing the case would be mental anguish, physical
harassment, loss of income and employment caused by the sexual
harassment.

IV. Eve teasing

The term Eve teasing is used to refer to sexual harassment of
women in public places such as the streets, public transportation ,
parks, beaches , and cinema halls. This type of a public harassment
by a lone man or gangs of women includes such as verbal assaults
such as making passes or unwelcome sexual jokes : nonverbal
assaults such as showing obscene gestures , winking , whistling ,
and staring ; and physical assaults such as pinching, fondling and
rubbing against women in public places .In addition, several
instances of eve teasing have been followed by more violent
assaults such as rape and murder.

Law on Eve Teasing

Though Indian law doesn't use the term 'eve-teasing', victims
usually take recourse to Section 298 (A) and (B) of the Indian Penal
Code (IPC), which sentences a man found guilty of making a girl or
woman the target of obscene gestures, remarks, songs or recitation
for a maximum tenure of three months. Section 292 of the IPC
clearly spells out that showing pornographic or obscene pictures,
books or slips to a woman or girl draws a fine of Rs.2000 with two
years of rigorous imprisonment for first offenders. In case of
repeated offence, when and if proved, the offender will be slapped
with a fine of Rs.5000 with five years imprisonment. Under Section
509 of the IPC, obscene gestures, indecent body language and
acidic comments directed at any woman or girl carries a penalty of
rigorous imprisonment for one year or a fine or both.

V. PROSTITUTION
A prostitute is a person, "who allows her body to be used for lewd
purposes in return for payment". Prostitution is the sale of sexual
services, such as oral sex or sexual intercourse, for money.
Prostitution the word itself speaks about the plight of a woman.
In ancient India prostitutes have been referred as to devdasis. The
prostitution continued from ancient and medieval India and has
taken a more gigantic outlook in modern India, the devdasi system
still continues.
LAW AND PROSTITUTION
I. The Immoral Traffic (Suppression) Act 1956 (SITA).
The primary law dealing with the status of sex workers is the 1956
law referred to as The Immoral Traffic (Suppression) Act (SITA).
According to this law, prostitutes can practice their trade privately
but cannot legally solicit customers in public. Organized prostitution
(brothels, prostitution rings, pimping, etc.) is illegal. . In particular,
the law forbids a sex worker to carry on her profession within 200
yards of a public place.
In practice SITA is not commonly used. The Indian Penal Code (IPC)
which predates the SITA is often used to charge sex workers with
vague crimes such as "public indecency" or being a "public
nuisance" without explicitly defining what these consist of.
II. Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956

The Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1956 ("ITPA"), the main

statute dealing with sex work in India, does not criminalise
prostitution or prostitutes per se, but mostly punishes acts by third
parties facilitating prostitution like brothel keeping, living off
earnings and procuring, even where sex work is not coerced.
The laws were intended as a means of limiting and eventually
abolishing prostitution in India by gradually criminalizing various
aspects of sex work. The main points of the PITA are as follows:

According to Sec 3 Landlords and brothel-keepers can be

prosecuted, maintaining a brothel is illegal and the punishment is
From 1 to 3 years imprisonment with fine.

According to Sec 4 punishment for live-in lovers who live off a

prostitute's earnings are guilty of a crime, the Imprisonment of
up to 2 years with fine.

According to Sec 5 A person procures or attempts to procure any

body is liable to be punished with the 3 to 7 years imprisonment
and fine. Also a person who moves a person from one place to
another, (human trafficking), can be prosecuted similarly.

According to Sec 6 Detaining someone at a brothel for the

purpose of sexual exploitation can lead to prosecution, and
punishment is Imprisonment of more than 7 years.

According to Sec 7 Sex worker also punished for prostitution near

any public place or notified area Imprisonment of up to 3 months
with fine and A client is guilty of consorting with prostitutes and
can be charged if he engages in sex acts with a sex worker within
200 yards of a public place or "notified area" and can be
punished with Imprisonment of up to 3 months and if if the sex
worker is below 18 years of age then From 7 to 10 years of
imprisonment

According to Sec 8 a prostitute who seduces or solicits shall be

prosecuted. Similarly, call girls can not publish phone numbers to
the public can be punished with imprisonment up to 6 months
with fine.

According to Sec 21 The government is legally obligated to

provide rescue and rehabilitation in a "protective home" for any
sex worker requesting assistance.