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Kangaroo Court And Women In Rural India

By Ajay Kumar Ranjan

06 February, 2014
Countercurrents.org

A series of rapes in India over the past years has sparked widespread concern about sexual violence and government failures to protect women. The recent incidence in Subalpur village in West Bengal's Birbhum district in which 20 years-old tribal women was gang raped by a dozen men as punishment for alleged immoral conduct is the paradox of the 21st century. The order by a kangaroo court known as 'Shalishi adalats' led by village headmen is proof that a section of rural India is outside the pale of the country's constitutional values and judicial system.

Across India, village council often hold huge power over people in rural communities and have often been guilty of carrying out their own courts and punishment. This practice popularly called kangaroo court. “Kangaroo Court is a mock-court set up to deliver a judgment arrived at in advance, the motivation being to punish a disloyal cohort. The kangaroo court is illegal and lack legitimacy. There are no norms of justice or judicial procedure which are observed and in it, as a rule, the prosecutor; judge and executioner are one and the same person. The trial of hostage by the terrorist is one such example.” 1

Outposts of feudalism still thrive in rural India, ranging from 'Shalishi adalats' and khap panchayats in the north to caste-based gatherings of village elders in the south. In 2011, the Supreme Court wanted illegal khap panchayats that encourage ‘honour killings' or other institutionalized atrocities to be stamped out ruthlessly. “In 2004, the left Front government attempted to give a legal sanction to 'Shalishi adalats' through the West Bengal Block level Pre-Litigation conciliation Board Bill (Which came to be known as the Shalishi Bill). Under this Bill," Conciliation Boards' were to be set up in every administrative block for adjudication of minor disputes. But the opposition Congress and Trinamool Congress cried foul and launched a series of agitations against the bill, and the government was ultimately forced to abandon its plans to introduce the Bill in the State assembly.” 2

Primitive, powerful and potent, large swathes of India are still governed by Kangaroo Courts that take arbitrary decisions ranging from stealing of cows to inter-caste marriages. And even as the judicial courts are neck deep in pending cases, the country's parallel courts are dispensing justice quick and fast, often with deadly consequences. “It is already stated in Lata Singh's case (Supra), there is nothing honorable in honor killing or other atrocities and, in fact, it is nothing but barbaric and shameful murder. Other atrocities in respect of personal lives of people committed by brutal, feudal minded persons deserve harsh punishment. Only in this way can we stamp out such acts of barbarism and feudal mentality. Moreover, these acts take the law into their own hand, and amount to kangaroo court, which are wholly illegal.”(Arumugam Sevai Case- Honour Kiling- Banning of Khap Panchayats Judgement)” 3

The key factor behind the sorry picture for status of women in Indian society is the gap in implementation of laws and policies to address discrimination and violence against women at the community level is the largely patriarchal structure that govern the community and household in much of India. Women's security, decision -making power and mobility are three indicators for women's empowerment. In India and more so for rural and less educated women, these three indicators are significantly low.

Crime against women in Indian ( IPC+SLL)

Source- http://ncrb.nic.in/ 4

Over a year has elapsed since the country voiced its anger against sexual violence targeted at women and seemed to take a collective vow to ensure the protection of all women. The penal law on sexual violence and harassment has been strengthened significantly since then. Yet, India's cities and villages continue to be unsafe for women. The locus of sexual violence is everywhere: in public spaces and private homes, under the cloak of darkness and in the open, and perpetrated by well-acquainted persons as also as by strangers. The Nirvaya and Birbhum incident is a chilling reminder that legal processes, security measures and stringent laws are not enough. Unfortunately the incorporation of the majority of Justice Verma recommendations into the criminal law amendment is not enough to change the fundamental that drive anti-women discrimination. K S Subramanian, former IG, Tripura says these courts (Kangaroo Courts) thrive because people have lost faith in the police. "The criminal justice system has failed,". The presence of more women police officers might help in dealing with the problems most women encounter in reporting cases of rape, violence or harassment. Unfortunately there are only 84,479 women police personnel in India, constituting only 5.33% of the total police force. More than that social attitude needs to change, reflecting liberal and humane values, if the country is to ensure gender equality and protection for all its women.

Ajay Kumar Ranjan, Research Scholar, CFS, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi.

References:

1.  Vikram singh,(2012) " Public Administration Dictionary", TMH, New Delhi.

2.  http://honourcrimes.wordpress.com/

3. http://nlrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Arumugum-Servai-Case-1.pdf )(National Legal Research Desk)

4. http://ncrb.nic.in

 

 

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