Tag Archives: women prisoners

The Justice Verma Commission constituted in the wake of the Delhi gang-rape to provide recommendations to the government for amending existing laws for ensuring speedier trials and enhanced punishment in cases of crimes against women, has interpreted its terms of reference widely to include connected areas such as gender justice, respect towards womanhood, and ancillary matters. In response to the Commission’s call to the public for suggestions, WSS has submitted the following recommendations which can be accessed as a pdf or in the following post.

WSS notes with concern that the entire public debate arising out of the recent Delhi gang rape incident has centered round the issues of “enacting a strong law” and “prescribing harsher sentence.” It has failed to recognize more basic issues – the enormous social obstacles encountered in registering complaints, in the conduct of thorough investigation, in the protection of witnesses, in fast and efficacious prosecution and in unbiased adjudication – in other words, the issues of implementation of the law, and the functioning of the police and judicial machinery – which necessarily precede sentencing. The debate has also largely failed to take into account the deeply patriarchal character of our social institutions, and law enforcement machinery which render women vulnerable to violence in the family, in the larger community, in their work places and public places. Continue reading →