ABSTRACT

This Research Paper deals with “Crime against Women”. The author has tried to explain the reasons and different types of crimes prevailing around the world against women and the measures which are been taken on a global level to stop these crimes. Centuries have come and gone but the struggle for women continues to prevail and affect their life in every aspect, females around the world experience different kind of crimes which author in this research has tried to explain in detail; whether it be physical social mental emotional or sexual. The different types of crime against women that are generally found in almost every country is discussed and explained in detail and the author also focuses on specific crime like dowry death specifically found in a large amount in India and the criminal cases with landmark judgements which brought revolution in the laws made in regard to women in India.

INTRODUCTION

 Women are pioneers of a society or a nation they are the settler of a society somehow, they play a very influential and primitive role in nourishment and growth of mankind. The role and their contribution towards society isincalculable. Maintaining a family chore or contributing in nation development women in today’s world can do it all. their achievements can’t be brushed aside but still it is believed that womenlive in a man’s world and somehow sadly they are the most assaulted section of the society irrespective of the era they live in, whether a well-developed educated society or embryonic unprivileged one. Women are the ultimate origin of the smallest section of the society i.e., family. men and women both are equally important in making and continuance of a family so they should be treated in a similar manner with same respect and should be given the same position in the society yet we can witness women are ill-treated and not supported in a way they deserve which is disturbing.

Over the years there have been innumerable crimes committed against women they have victimized some barbarous atrocities which has not only affected the women facing it but also the whole society. Females are abused sexually mentally emotionally on a daily basis, it has been observed that even in modern societies like offices, different workplaces, schools, colleges etc which are crowded by educated people females face molestation. Wrongdoings are even committed in their own family so therefore there was a need to recognise these misdeeds and educate the society about such crucial yet ignominious offences against women.

CRIME AGAINST WOMEN

 World have come a long way and has witnessed a lot advancement and development in every sector of the society people now a day’s claims to be most advanced and open minded and contented towards all kinds of changes happening around them but with this betterment we have also seen the growing cases of crimes globally some are so distressful that it effects the people worldwide.

In these crimes the majority of the crimes are committed against women which is disgraceful as we claim to provide a safe environment to females but fails them every time.

If we try to define crime against women it refers to the offences committed against females, all kinds of violence including physical and sexual violence now mental harassment or emotional violence are also being covered under crime against women. These crimes against women are typically by man. General examples are rape, domestic violence, murder etc. United nation recognises this as gender-based violence and considers it as one of most heinous crimes against mankind. It is a violation of human rights which affects every aspect of victim’s life in many different ways.

These kinds of violence are mainly the result of gender inequality and illiteracy and is a delicate topic concerning the global rights and personal rights of women.

Kinds of violence Against Women around world:

Some most common types of crimes found worldwide are:

1. Rape and sexual abuse
2. Domestic abuse
3. Stalking and harassment
4. Objectification of women
5. Trafficking of women
6. Forced prostitution
7. Female genital mutilation
8. Forced marriage
9. Honour crimes
10. Intimidation and harassment in workplace education or public

Rape and sexual abuse – This are the most commonly committed crime against women and almost every country around the world has records of rape cases and sexual harassments.

Rape is a very wide term but if we simply define rape:

It refers to unlawful sexual intercourse or any other sexual penetration in the mouth, vagina, anus or any other part of the body of a woman with or without force by sexual organ of a male without the consent of the woman. There are different kinds of rapes:

• Gang rape – This kind of rape is one of the most awful kind of crime ever existed because it mostly results into the death or ruined situation of the victim. In this a single woman is raped by more than two people mostly in groups at the same time. In this male committing the crime can be of any age usually young men are also found guilty of gang rapes and reason of young men involving in such disgraceful doing is assumed to be extra popularity of drugs among them and peer pressure or mostly in order to prove their
• Spousal rape – as we read the name, we get the idea that this kind of rape is committed in a matrimonial relationship it happens when a husband without the consent of his wife establishes sexual relationship with her with or without force. It is also known as marital rape, partner rape or wife rape. The reason behind marital rape is the rotten thinking of people which allows them to feel that in traditionally wife is property of her husband and he has all the rights over and can treat her in any manner and therefore he is even free to have sexual intercourse with her whenever he feels like without considering her state of The disturbing and shocking part about marital rape is that it is not even legally recognised inmany countries, even some developed countries fail to recognise marital rape even existing in the society.

• Date rape – Date rape or acquaintance rape is committed by a person who is known to the victim, they are socially connected and are no strangers to each other in this the female who is the victim usually have a trustful relationship with the guilty The person can be her friend, boyfriend, someone she is dating, or even a just an acquaintance.

• Statutory rape – This category of rape is made to legally recognise rape with the minor girls who are not mature enough to even give consent to sexual act it is basically a rape committed by male with females below the age of consent there are common laws made which recognise and punish the wrongdoers. The age of consent may vary from country to country for example United Kingdom and United States is 16 years while in some countries like India and Iraq it is 18
• Prison rape – Rape committed by police or other officials or workers at prison on female prisoners is known as prison rape. It is commonly found in China, United States, Iran and It can also be committed by male prisoners.
• Punishment rape – This is committed by group of men as an act of revenge for the actions of the male members of the family; it is a result of rage between families or old family In this the wrongdoers have a mentality that raping the female will bring shame to their enemy`s family which will help them to establish power and control over their enemies.
• War rape – it is a method to humiliate and molest and establish terror in people by soldiers or fighters during conflict or war or military Soldiers may gang rape females in front of their family and friends and in order to establish dominance over their enemies. It is psychological weapon to lower the morale of common people during war and political situations.

• Custodial rape – When a custodian recognised by the state or a person at a responsible position having all the rights and duties over the female who is in his custody rapes her even after being at such a critical position of guardian is referred as custodial rape. There is a strong duty of care and protection on the person in charge /custodian towards the female in his custody but somehow custodians often take advantage of such liberty and The custodian can be police, public servant, jail officials or hospital employees.

The custodial rape is mostly noted in countries like India, Malaysia, USA, Pakistan, Kenya etc.

Domestic abuse – Domestic violence is also known as intimate partner abuse /violence. It is committed by the intimate partner of the female, when the male partner assaults the female emotionally sexually physically or verbally it is known as domestic abuse and it can be committed by husband, former husband or partners.

This is likely to happen in situations when men start believing women to be below and inferior to them and start thinking them as their sole owner with all the rights to treat them in whatever way they want to, they in their head think it to be socially justified to assault their female partner because according to them women are socially and physically weak so they don’t stand a chance against their monstrous doings.

This is one of the most reported crimes against women around the world. Different kinds of domestic abuse are:

• Physical abuse: Physical abuse means injuring the female partner physically to cause bodily injuries, it means coming in contact with force to intentionally harm the partner or manhandling the female partner to cause pain, sometimes the violence can be of such high intensity that it ends up in homicide.

• Sexual abuse: sexual abuse occurs when female partner is forced to get sexually involve with her partner without her consent. Rape and sexual assaults like pornography, exposing female partner`s body in uncomfortable gatherings or situations, secretly taping her during sexual acts without her consent, forcing her to have sexual intercourse in front of friends or acquaintances etc altogether constitutes sexual Physical abuse and sexual abuse can often exist together in domestic violence therefore people misinterpret them to be as similar concept. But they are clearly not a similar concept but can go hand in hand.

• Emotional abuse – emotional or psychological abuse occurs when one partner is emotionally tortured by the other partner either verbally or non-verbally. It involves acts of humiliation like publicly criticising or denouncing, threatening, intimidating or blackmailing the other partner in order to cause emotional agony and pain which often result in the degradation of victim’sself-worth and self-respect making her emotionally pained and
• Financial abuse –this is one of the most commonly found abuse around the world but many people are not even aware of this abuse and do not know that this is a kind of domestic violence which is intolerable and is a crime against the partner.

This is a form of abuse related to financial resources of the spouses if one partner is having the control over the resources of the household and abandons the other from its usage and access.

By limiting the finance, the male partner tries to increase female`s dependence on perpetrator and by doing this his dominance and control remain continue to prevail on his partner.

Stalking and Harassment –stalking and harassment are assumed to be same in meaning but they do differ from each other they have a common disposition in which there is a forced and unwanted communication made by the offender which can affect the victim socially physically psychologically and emotionally.

Harassment: It is form of crime in which victim is put into a situation of fear by the offender because of his action which can be verbal or non-verbal. in this the wrongdoer knowingly tries to establish unwelcomed communication with the victim which causes a sense of fear and threat to the victim. The offender in harassment is well aware of the fact that his actions are directed in harassing the victim, a single act of threat is enough to establish crime of harassment. Harassment can be in the form of

• Unwanted calls, texts or
• Abuse verbal or on in social platforms
• Making physical gestures or expression
• Making public insults, unwanted physical contact, Indecent exposures by the offender

Harassment is a very wide concept which includes various ranges and degrees of assaults. Harassment can also happen to property or loved ones of the victim. Stalking is covered under harassment.

“Stalking: ‘A pattern of fixated and obsessive behavior which is repeated, persistent, intrusive and causes fear of violence or engenders alarm and distress in the victim”.²

Stalking is a series of acts which gives victim a feeling of distress, fear and threat. In this the victim is spied or followed virtually or in real world his actions are monitored by the wrongdoer which is not easily noticeable in only one act therefore a couple of such events can only help to know whether it is a crime of stalking or not. Like harassment in stalking too the victim experiencesthe unwanted attention, this type of behaviour is mostly for seeking romantic relationship.

Objectification of women–it means treating a human being as an object that is used to fulfil sexual desires. Objectification can be of both male and female but mostly it is experienced by the women in many kinds. In many societies this is a new concept which came into picture earlier people never realised it as an offence but now due to awareness brought by several feminist groups and activists people realised the seriousness of this crime. In this different body parts of woman are objectified in movies, social platforms, songs, advertisements etc and are seen as mere objects of sexual fantasy. Sexual objectification of women is a contributor as well as result of gender biasness, which will end up developing various social evils which will further result into heinous crimes such as murder rape etc.

Objectification of women does not only affect the woman facing it socially and mentally but also it affects the society morally.

Trafficking of Women– trafficking of women or girls means trading of females by coercion fraud or force. The main purposes of female trafficking are:

• Prostitution
• Forced labour
• Arranged marriages
• Economic exploitation
• Commercial work
• Domestic household
• Pornography

“It is one of the evillest crimes prevailing in the community as it violates human rights of freedom and liberty and affects the victim in a dreadful way she is harassed and molested and traded like commodities, they had to face unwanted circumstances. A study by LA Strada states that women trafficking is a result of gender inequality.”³Un estimates that more than 4 billion women trafficked every year. India, China, Pakistan, Canada, Iran, Israel are some countries with millions of cases of female trafficking.

Female trafficking should be treated as an epidemic and people around the world should realise the seriousness of this critical offence breathing in our society. there are different laws and rules made in regards to this issue that people must go through so that one can understand and protectthe innocents from falling into such traps by educating them and giving them equal rights and opportunities.

Forced prostitution – Prostitution means involving into sexual activities like sexual intercourse, non-penetrative sex, oral sex etc in return for money .it is basically selling oneself for money, the person doing prostitution is known as prostitute or sex worker. Mostly poor women are involved in prostitution as it becomes an easy and fast way to earn money as they are poor, they are not educated enough to get esteemed jobs so they are not left with any other alternative so they voluntarily get involve in prostitution and sometimes in countries like India women who are from low casts are also thrown into prostitution by the society.

This concept of prostitution varies from society-to-society region to region and culture to culture in some areas one may find it completely disgraceful and as an evil activity and in some cultures it would totally be accepted. So maybe a country may not have proper laws related to voluntary prostitution.

But on the other hand, forced prostitution is legally banned in almost every country and is a crime against a woman in which women are involuntarily tossed into prostitution by force fraud or coercion. It is a sexual slavery which again is violation of human rights and fundamental rights of an individual in which is her right of mobility choice and liberty is taken away.

Peru Venezuela and South Korea are some countries with the highest rate of prostitution in the world.

Female genital mutilation– This is the most brutal practise existing in the society. It is a practise in which all or some part of outer genitals of women is removed by cutting down. It is the practise also known as female genital cutting or female circumcision. It happens mostly between the age of 7 to 15 years during puberty, the woman genitals are mostly cut by local woman of old age with no experience in medical and in the most unsafe manner with a blade or knife, one cannot even imagine the amount of pain the girls have to face going through this process.

It is practised in Africa, Asia and some Middle East countries, the disturbing part about the practise is that it is not only practised in tribes but also in modern families. In India this practised is popular among Bohra a community in Shia Muslims and called this practise as Khatna and it kept as a secret or a taboo.

“World Health Organization”⁴ categorises female genital mutilation into 4 types:

• Clitoridectomy – in this the clitoris of women are removed partially or fully removed. Clitoris are the most sensitive and sexual part of women’s vagina is somehow responsible for sexual urges of
• Excision – in this along with clitoris labia of women’s vagina is also removed either partially or
• Infibulations – In this vaginal opening is narrowed to create a covering
• Type IV in this other practise of cutting or shaping vagina is

Female genital mutilation is said to be performed due to very rigid and narrow thinking of families following it:

1. People believe by circumcising a woman is given a boundary and is remains in control with no sexual urges before her
2. For some people it is a social believe that should be followed to mark girl’s initiation into
3. Some people try to justify this cruel practise in the name of their
4. In some communities FGM is performed to promote hygiene and aesthetic
5. In many communities FGM is a prerequisite for This mostly is common is communities where women are totally dependent on men socially and economically.

Forced marriage–A forced marriage is a kind of arrangement in which both or one party does not consent to the matrimonial arrangement. This is a crime as it is against human rights.

A marriage which is against the will of one of the party or both parties it is known as forced marriage, forced marriage in many regions is faced by men too but it is often observed female are majorly trapped into forced marriages.

When we use word force it does not specifically means physical force but also social, economic, psychological as well as emotional. There are many factors which can lead to forced marriage a mere blackmail by parents to marry at an early age is also kind of pressure applied on the female by her parents even if there is no bad intention involved but still it will be counted as an emotional or psychological pressure by parents on child.

Types of Forced Marriages:

1. Forced marriages due to Social Pressure – in this female are forced into matrimonial relationship by their families or
2. Forced marriage due to religious pressure – The parents of the victim are blind follower of their religious leaders and often takes advice in every family matter which even includes important decision like marriages therefore girls are not asked to give consent and are trapped into forced marriages planned by their religious
3. Marriage by trafficking is also a very common kind of forced marriage in which women are trafficked and put into marriage bonds without their consent. Common in countries with low female population.
4. Marriage by kidnapping – in this woman is kidnapped by a man against her will for the purpose of marriage. This is common in rural areas often older men kidnaps younger girls in this kind of forced marriage by
5. Forced marriage by violence – in this female is harassed and beaten into marriage by her

“In 2017 the highest number of forced marriage cases were in Pakistan (559), Bangladesh (144), India (65) and Afghanistan (54)”⁵

Honour crimes – It is an assault perpetrated by male members against female members of a family, in this woman is killed or murdered by own male family members as they believe that she has dishonoured the family or done something to breach their moral values, social norms or religious beliefs. The reason behind the honour killing can be anything which such as refusal to forced marriage, being a rape victim, having a love affair, asking for divorce, committing  adultery, inappropriate dressing, love marriage, inter caste marriage etc, refusal to forced marriage tops all the reason as it the most commonly found cause of honour killing.

It is a primitive crime surviving in the society since a very long time and mostly found in Asian countries where arrange marriages are still prevalent, it is often known as a shame killing because killing the female due to shame or for the purpose to safeguard the prestige of the family.

Pakistan has the highest number of honours killing cases, about one fifth of the world’s honour killings are executed in Pakistan.

Intimidation and harassment in workplace education or public – Harassment faced by females in workplace, education institution or in public is covered under this crime. Mainly women face a lot of harassment in their workplace based on their race, religion, disability etc and in different forms such as:

1. Verbal harassment – People in workplace when tries to molest women verbally through unnecessary criticism or offensive

• Sexual harassment – in this kind of harassment women are often discriminated on the basis of their sex and are even sexually assaulted by male employees some examples of sexual harassments are unwanted touching, asking sexual favours, vulgar gestures This kind of workplace harassment is a heinous crime recognised in many countries.

3. Psychological harassment–psychological harassment or emotional harassment is the emotional torture one faces in their workplace. Bullying is a key feature which lead to emotional abuse; bullying or mobbing is a kind of heinous abuse people start experiencing since very young age and almost at every stage of their lives bullying is popular in schools colleges and workplaces. Victims of bullying are dreadfully affected they experience a great amount of emotional torture by their colleagues, peers and sometimes even In workplaces when females are degraded verbally and are deprived of comfort they deserve and are mostly targeted in vain just to lower their self-esteem is known as psychological harassment. People around us find this less severe when compared with other kind of workplace harassment but, one should realise that it creates equal degree of harm to the victim.

4. Physical harassment – this is a kind of harassment is hard to recognise; women generally do face this often but still couldn’t spot these. This could include unwanted touching of clothes or skin, playing music with sexually offensive language or being physically close

Crime against Women (India) – Dowry death is a crime which is not common around the world it is most specifically found in Asian and European countries.

Dowry Deaths – This is the crime prominently existing in India, India has the highest cases of dowry deaths followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh and Iran.

Dowry, a dowry is the amount of money including estate, cash, jewelleries; good etc a bride brings with her to her husband’s house. It is common in societies, who follow patrilineal descent which means cultures having male dominance,

Dowry deaths refer to killing of brides by their husbands or in laws over disputes about their dowry. The killing can be direct or indirect by continuous harassment or torture which will eventually lead to death of the bride. Most of these killings are performed by poisoning the female, hanging her or setting her on fire. Bride burnt to death is the most common dowry death executed by the victim’s husband and in laws. In many cases women are tortured so much that they themselves commit suicide to get freedom from the pain they get to experience. This cruel practise is often impersonated as accident or suicide to escape the dreadful consequences.

This is a social evil which must get eliminated as soon as possible, although dowry is a crime existing in India but United Nations and other global organisation have recognised it as global crime against women. Efforts are being made on a national level to eliminate this monstrous crime many governmental and nongovernmental initiatives are being taken and on a positive note are somehow proving to be very useful.

GLOBAL LAWS AND STANDARDS ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

United Nations– United Nations is the union of countries committed towards maintain world peace, security, cooperation and harmony. It is an organisation which is responsible for making international laws and norms and taking decisions on various issues and essential topics of concern. United Nations was established in 1945 after Second World War. United Nations has 193 countries currently as its members.

United Nations have 6 organs which are given different kinds of responsibilities and they perform their duties by making international norms and standards which are regulated through charters treaties and conventions. International court of justice is one of the organ of united Nations which is responsible for settling matters related to criminal cases and other court related matters.

United Nations and many organisations under the UN are working in order to improve the situation of women around the world they are trying to lay rules and norms to end VAW (Violence against Women), there are specialised agencies involved to curb out the inhuman practises against women still existing around the world.

Some most of the prominent international norms and standards made in order to end VAW are:

• Convention on the elimination of all kinds of discrimination against women New York, 18 December 1979 actually came into force on 3^rd September

It acknowledges all the kinds discriminations faced by women around the world and aims at banishing them.

• World conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 1993 it came into action between 14 to 24 June 1993 it made decisions to strengthen and harmonise the working mechanism of united nations and it mainly worked in order to lay new steps to promote and safeguard the rights of women children and indigenous people in regards with women rights it appointed a new special mechanism known as SVAW (SPECIAL RAPPORRTEOUR ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN)
• Declaration on the elimination of violence against women, New York, 1993 was the first instrument explicitly addressing violence against women. It was adopted by the un without a
• International conference on Population and Development,1994 it creates a relation between violence against women and health and reproductive issues faced by
• The Beijing Platform for Action, 1995 recognises various steps that can be taken by governments around the world to initiate changes to prevent and safeguard females from any kind of
• Secretary – general’s in-depth study on all forms of violence against women was introduced by general assembly on 9 October, 2006; it recognised and aimed at ending all kinds of violence against women by strengthening the political framework across the world and increasing the accountability of
• Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating violence against women and domestic violence, Istanbul,2011; it was a landmark treaty by council of Europe which aimed at protecting women and their rights by serious methods it also established a specific monitoring mechanism to ensure implementation of its legal
• In 2012 UN general council adopted its first biannual resolutions on the issue of violence against women intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female trafficking and female genital
• UN human rights council adopted resolution on accelerating efforts to banish all forms of VAW in
• 64^th session of the Commission on the Status of women, 9 march 2020, New York it was adopted on the 25^th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference onWomen,which was held in 1995 in Beijing, it aimed entirely on the review and appraisal of Beijing

INDIAN LAWS AND SOME IMPORTANT JUDGEMENT ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Some important judgements on crime against women:

1. “Dhananjay Chatterjee vs. The State of West Bengal”⁶

A school girl was raped by a security guard both high court and supreme court-imposed death sentence and which was later imposed by lower courts.

2. “The State of Punjab Gurmit Singh”⁷, 1996

In this case three men abducted a 16-year-old girl while she had gone to give her exam. The girl was not able to name the car in which she was raped and the medical report of the girl showed she was habitual to rape. The Supreme Court held that being habitual to sex is no reason to question one’s character a 5-year rigorous imprisonment for the offense of rape was awarded.

3. “Mukesh& another state for NCT of Delhi”⁸

Famously known as Nirbhaya case is one of the cases which shocked the whole world and brought some major changes in laws regarding violence against women in India. A medical student was gang raped and dumped half dead on the road by six members in a bus while returning back to her house with her friend. Supreme courtawarede death penalty to all the offenders.

4. “Kans Raj The State of Punjab”⁹

In this case the deceased was dead within three years of marriage and parents of deceased were not informed about the death of their daughter and the circumstances of the death were also not normal hence the case was filed by the deceased’s parents against the in laws. The Supreme Court found the husband and his family guilty of the offense of dowry death.

5. “Vishaka State of Rajasthan”¹⁰

This was a case of sexual harassment at workplace and it was held that it was the urge to provide a safe environment to women which was free from sexual harassment and there were several guidelines laid on the same which was followed by the employers and the government.

6. Mary Roy state of Kerala
7. AIR 19942 SCC 220

6. AIR 1393
7. AIR 2017
8. 2000, 5 SCC 207
9. AIR 1997 SC 301

Women of Syrian Christian community were not granted inheriting rights in their parent’s property due to patriarchal dominance in the community the decree was challenged by Mary Roy. A landmark judgement was passed by supreme court and she was awarded equal inheritance rights.

7. Tamil Nadu SuhasKhatti

In this case, the offender was harassing the victim by sending her defamatory and vulgar messages as she refused to marry him later, she was harassed by phone calls soliciting sex workers. The complaint was filed in February 2004 and within seven months the offender was convicted under information technology act 2000.

8. Lata Singh State of Uttar Pradesh

The petitioner in this case was an adult woman Lata Singh who married into another caste lower than her own and went to stay with her husband. Her family was not satisfied with this alliance and therefore lodged a false missing complaint and stated that she is abducted as the result of which three people from her husband family were arrested. Due to which she filed a petition against her own family, which held that women have all the rights to marry anyone of their own choice irrespective of religion or caste.

LAWS

In India, women face a variety of crimes which somehow affects all aspects of their lives, women are treated inferior to men as they are found to be weaker when compared on the basis of their physical capacity but one should not ignore the strength women beholds in themselves they are the real fighters they have been fighting since ancient times for equality and the respect they deserve. India is a country where most of the states are patrilineal with male dominance where females are expected to live according to men but it would not be fair if we forget to mention that the condition of women has improved after a lot of feminist movements and government attempts but still the crime ratio against women is not decreasing but yet the government is trying its level best to stop these gender-based crimes in India. So therefore,there have been many laws made to safeguard women and their rights, some of them are mentioned below:

1. Indian penal code, 1860 is the ultimate book that has punishments regarding almost every crime committed in India. It has a separate part for women protection addressed as CRIME AGAINST WOMEN:

• Kidnapping (sec 359,360,366)
• Eve teasing (sec 509)
• Chain Snatching (sec 378)
• Rape (sec 376,376A, 376B, 376C, 376D)
• Sexual Harassment (sec 354A)
• Domestic Violence (sec 498A)
• Honour Killing
• Cyber crimes
• Dowry Deaths (sec 304B)
• Acid Attacks (sec 326A, 326B)
• Stalking (sec 354D)
• Assault to Outrage Modesty (sec 354, 354B)
• Women Trafficking (sec 370, 370A, 372, 373)

2. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006:

This law made to prevent girls from child marriages. The act was formulated in 2007.

3. Special Marriage Act,1954

This was made in order to provide marriage status to inter caste and inter religion marriages, in some certain cases where the couples are not supported by their communities and religions. This act helps them to establish marriage alliance in a very special form.

4. Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961

This act was established to penalise dowry system. It aims at prevention of giving and taking dowry at the time of marriage.

5. Indian Divorce Act, 1969

This act was made to provide divorce in cases of mutual consent, nullity of marriage, judicial separation and restitution of conjugal rights.

6. Maternity Benefit Act, 1861

This act helps employed women to enjoy maternity benefits including nursery break and other essential benefits.

7. Maternal Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971

This act works in order to lessen the number of illegal abortion and consequent maternal mortality and morbidity.

The act was formulated in 1972 and then amended 1975 and 2002.

8. Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013

This act tries to ensure women’s safety at workplace and provide them safe and sound environment to work.

9. Indecent Representation of Women (Prevention) Act, 1986

This act puts a light on one of the most neglected crime against women known as objectification and tries to prevent and stop that from happening on any social platform.

10. National Commission for Women Act, 1990

It is a statutory body designed by government which works with the motive of women’s equality and rights and works for their issues and concerns in economic as well as social circumstances.

11. Equal Remuneration Act, 1976

This act prevents biasness regarding the remuneration in between men and women. It provides for equal payment of men and women on working on same level.

CONCLUSION

 The conclusion we derive from this analysis is that women in our society have faced a lot and continues to suffer some very heinous and dreadful situation in their day to day lives but still are fighting and moving forward from such situations in every possible way.

Crime against women is not only a problem limited to any one region or country or community it is a problem prevailing in almost every country in this world and countries on their behalf are trying their best to tackle gender based violence, mostly the aim is to banish all kinds of crimes irrespective of against whom it is committed whether it be a women or men, but women when compared are harassed and molested to a great extent much more than the males so therefore it creates a need to give this section of the society a special privilege.

The shameful situation is that women even in 21^st century are required to ask and fight for what they actually deserve and supposed to be given from the day they are born but unfortunately the this situation of asking is born with them men are never asked or questioned the way women are people have different reasons for this question some say it is not good for women to be to vocal about her rights her believes her sexuality her needs and some say that they will be in a state of danger if they are given so much freedom the need of the hour is to know why women aren’t safe why still women are treated as objects to fulfil sexual desires or just a weaker part of the society who are meant to be suppressed. But as we know a change can’t be overnight so we must always look at the Brightside that our society although slowly but is developing and changing for females and governments around the world are trying their level best to improve the condition and somehow, we can see the results as well and it is the motivation that we all need to have faith to move forward bravely.

The various United Nations treaties and conventions are somehow very much successful in providing women an esteemed situation in the society and still many measures are been taken and be thought of to continue such growth.

1 2^nd-Year, B.A.LL.B., JIMS Engineering Management Technical Campus School ofLaw (affiliated to GGSIPU)