In the current circumstances, everyone throughout the world is witnessing violence and escalating crimes against women in some form. This fact is demonstrated by the global campaign to end violence against women. The quick change in lifestyle, economic standards, and social ethos, has created an imbalance in society, with a harsh attitude toward women and the assumption that women are the weaker party, leading to an increase in the number of crimes against women.

Furthermore, such incidents are cause for severe worry. Its structure is essential so that the women of India can live in an atmosphere devoid of abominations, denigration, and heinous abuses and live with pride, deference, freedom, honor, and harmony. There are a number of legal laws that penalize those who commit crimes against women. The Indian Penal Code, on the other hand, provides for women as victims of a variety of wrongdoings, including murder, burglary, robbery, and so on, but there are some crimes that are specifically targeted at women and are known as Offenses Against Women.

Women are victims of crimes from the moment they are born, or even before, in the form of female infanticide. According to the National Crimes Record Bureau, 46 out of every 1,000,000 women are victims of crime in some way. However, according to the survey, just 1% of women disclose it, while most women are unaware of their rights and the legal remedies available in the event that these rights are violated. The Indian Penal Code of 1860 identifies a variety of offenses against women, and in recent years, harsher penalties have been imposed.

• Sexual Harassment at Workplace 

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act of 2013 was enacted with the goal of protecting women at work. Sexual harassment occurs when a person engages in unwelcome physical intimacy with another person, such as grabbing, touching, eve-teasing, or pinching,  makes an unwelcome request or demand for sexual favours from another person. Also, when a person shows any sexually explicit visual material, such as pictures/cartoons/calendars/screensaver version computers/any offensive written material/pornographic e-mails or any other form of unwelcome conduct of sexual cause that might cause embarrassment or awkwardness. The Supreme Court of India’s Vishakha Guidelines for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment was superseded by this Act. At each office or branch with ten or more employees, each employer is obligated to form an Internal Complaints Committee. Employers and local governments would be required to set up grievance committees to investigate all complaints under the Act, which includes students in schools and colleges as well as patients in hospitals. Any aggrieved woman can submit a written complaint to the Internal/Local Committee within three months from the incident date or last date of the incident in the case of a series of incidents. Under Indian Penal code 1860 under Sections 294, 354, 354A, 509, the victim may also file a complaint with police.

Procedure for remedy: If any such offense occurs, a person must file a report with the nearest police station. The remaining procedure will be conducted in accordance with the law.

• Acid Attack

Acid throwing, also known as acid attack, is a type of violent assault that involves throwing acid or another corrosive liquid against another person’s body with the intent to maim, torture, disfigure, or kill them. Acid is thrown at the victims’ faces, generally on their faces, burning them and injuring skin tissue, often exposing and even sometimes dissolving the bones. The long-term outcomes of acid attack can include permanent scarring of the body and face, blindness, along with far-reaching social, economic, and psychological difficulties. The Indian Penal Code, 1860, with sections 326A and 326B provide punishment for intentionally causing serious harm with acid and voluntarily throwing or attempting to hurl acid, respectively. However, if acid is thrown or an attempt is made to throw acid, Section 100 of the Indian Penal Code enables the right of private defense to the point of inflicting death.

Procedure for remedy: Anyone who witnesses an acid attack upon a woman must immediately report the incident to the local police station. The remaining procedure will be conducted in accordance with the law.

• Rape

Rape is a heinous, inhuman, and serious crime committed against women. When a man forcefully has sex with a woman is known as rape. Section 375 of IPC deals with rape and define assault as sex with a lady without desiring to, against her consent, by force, distortion or misrepresentation, or when she has been drunk or misled, or is of weak psychological well-being, irrespective of whether she is under 18 years old. In clear words, rape is the forcible molestation of a lady without her consent, misrepresentation, or dread. Overall, it is the coitus (entry of any of the smallest levels of the male organ of proliferation) of any woman without even wanting to.

Under the following sections of the IPC, an FIR can be filed by the rape victim in the local police station.

• 376: Punishment for rape
• 376A: Punishment for killing a person or leaving a person in a permanent vegetative state.
• 376B: Sexual Intercourse by Husband upon his wife during separation
• 376C: Sexual Intercourse by an Authority person
• 376D: Gang rape

Procedure for remedy:

• A police report must be made at the nearest station.
• Since 2013 (Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013), any information that is submitted by a woman on the attempt of sexual harassment, outraging her modesty, or rape, then such info must be documented by a woman police officer or any woman officer.
• From the time an FIR is filed at the police station until the case is finally resolved, the victim has the right to be represented by a lawyer.
• The victim’s medical requirements should be given top priority by the doctor. No hospital can refuse to undertake a medical-legal checkup (M.L.C) on a victim who arrives at the hospital without being referred by the police.

• Obscenity and Pornography

Pornography is defined as printed or visual material that contains the explicit description or depiction of sexual organs or activities in order to elicit sexual excitement or appears obscene to a responsible reader. The depiction of sexual subject matter for the aim of sexual stimulation is known as pornography. Pornography can be shown in various forms such as magazines, books, pictures, postcards, sculpture, painting, drawing, animation, sound recording, film, video, video games and websites. The rise of illicit websites featuring obscene and pornographic items has resulted from increased usage of information technology, such as the Internet and communication devices. Obscenity and pornography are not particularly mentioned under any Indian Act. However, The Indian Penal Code, 1860, The Information Technology Act, 2000, The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 deal with pornography and obscenity, sale of obscene and pornographic materials, punishable offences under numerous provisions.

1. Sections 292, 293, 294, 354, 354A, 354B, 354C, 509 of the IPC, 1860.
2. Sections 66E, 67,67A, 67B of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
3. Section 6 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986.

Procedure for remedy: If any such offense occurs, a person must file a report with the nearest police station. The remaining procedure will be conducted in accordance with the law.

• Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is defined as when one adult in a relationship uses his or her position to assert power over another. It is the use of violence to instil fear in a relationship, which can encompass other forms of abuse. Physical abuse, sexual assault, verbal and emotional abuse and threats are all possible forms of violence. It can also be more subtle, such as making someone feel useless, denying them access to money, or preventing them from leaving the house. Under Section 12 of the Domestic Violence Act of 2005, an application can be made with the Magistrate. The Magistrate can issue orders such as protection, residency, compensation, and monetary relief. A complaint about cruelty by the husband or his relatives, as well as a demand for dowry, can be made under Section 498A.

Rights women’s have under the Domestic violence Act: 

• Right to live in a shared household
• Protection orders
• Right to the issuance of orders
• Custody orders
• Residence orders
• Monetary orders
• Interim and Ex parte orders
• Compensation orders
• Right to obtain relief granted by other suits as well as legal proceedings.

• Cruelty/Dowry Demand

According to Section 2 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, “dowry” refers to valued security or any property agreed or given, directly or indirectly, by one party to the other at any time before or after marriage.

Dowry is the demand for gold, cash, car, or any other sort of property. It is illegal to give, take, demand, or even advertise dowry.

Procedural Laws and Dowry Death:

• Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 has been changed to secure. In the event of a woman’s suicide or death within seven years of her marriage, a postmortem will be performed.
• The Evidence Act of 1872 added Section 113-A to the law. According to section 498-A of the IPC, if the wife commits suicide during seven years of her marriage, it is considered that she was subjected to cruelty by her husband and his relatives.

The Indian Penal Code’s introduction of section 304 B created a new crime known as “dowry death.”

• Any burns or bodily injury that causes a woman’s death.
• Under typical circumstances, this does not happen.
• Within seven years of her marriage.
• She was exposed to brutality or harassment by her husband or any of his relatives in connection with any dowry demand shortly before her death.

The penalty is at least 7 years in prison, with the possibility of life imprisonment.

Procedure for remedy

• A complaint can be made to the nearest police station by anyone.
• Within ten years of marriage, a complaint can be filed.
• A metropolitan magistrate or a first-class judicial magistrate could take cognizance of an offense under the act based on his own knowledge, a police report, or a complaint received from the aggrieved person, a parent or a relative of the aggrieved person, or any recognised welfare institution or organization. (section-7).
• Family Court Act, 1984: Except for dowry fatalities and the burning of the bride, all dowry-related crimes would be handled by Family Courts.