Suggestions to the Justice Verma Commission – II
Saad Aangan
G) The State has an obligation to put technological applications to use (as in to be able to respond to women in distress), but always without violation of any person’s human rights.
H) It must be obligatory to have Standard Operating Procedures and protocols for police and various personnel and functionaries under the law, in dealing with violations of women’s rights including violations of women’s rights to their body and to their lives. These standard operating procedures must reiterate the call for empathy, the sensitivities involved in eliciting information from the survivor, provision of privacy for recording of complaint unless the woman opts otherwise, etc.
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I) Punishments for rape must be harsh enough to create a deterrent effect, but this may not be interpreted to mean an endorsement for death penalty or castration.
J) Audits/ monitoring of police handling of cases with due special emphasis on looking at indicators of vulnerability of survivors due to intersection with caste, class, ‘ability’ and norms conformity based divides,
K) Audits/monitoring of handling of cases by all functionaries under the law, with a prescribed periodicity again with due special emphasis on looking at indicators of vulnerability of survivors due to intersection with caste, class, ‘ability’ and norms conformity based divides. Periodic Reports to be furnished to a nodal agency/formal monitoring mechanism, which may be designated with the task of monitoring and could include the National and State Commissions for Women. With a caveat that these Commissions also need to be monitored and there has to be an accountability of the State to respond to the Monitoring Body’s reports.
L) Gender sensitization and sensitization about other forms of marginalization, at all levels of education, through inclusion in school curriculum, and also for the families through parent teacher associations and other modalities. Where there is provision for value education, there has to be a paradigm shift in the nature of value education to uphold rights perspectives.
M) Marital rape and mass sexual crimes against communities must be acknowledged by the law by way of special provisions for dealing with the same.
N) Situations enabling vulnerability to sexual assault, including overcrowding of public transport must be addressed.
O) Sex and sexuality education to be disseminated in an age appropriate and contextualized manner at all levels of education.
P) Both gender sensitization and sex and sexuality education need to be a foundation subject like EVS.
Q) Media policy should be reviewed from the point of view of prescriptive measures to have imagery of women as human beings and rights holders, not commodities and not from a censorship point of view.
R) Transparency in case handling with public reports on the net and in other accessible fora, with due provision for confidentiality of the survivor, and also periodic meetings with civil society organizations.
S) CCTVs at police stations to facilitate monitoring of police functioning
T) There has to be a time bound disposal of cases so as to facilitate a closure to the survivor and her family.
(to be concluded)
