The Mathura rape case was an incident of
custodial rape
Prison rape or jail rape refers to sexual assault of people while they are incarcerated. The phrase is commonly used to describe rape of inmates by other inmates, or to describe rape of inmates by staff.
China
In February 2021, BBC News re ...
in India on 26 March 1972, wherein Mathura, a young tribal girl, was allegedly raped by two policemen on the compound of Desaiganj Police Station in
Gadchiroli
Gadchiroli ( ¡É™É–t͡ʃiɾoliË is a city and a municipal council in Gadchiroli district in the state of Maharashtra, central India. It is located on eastern side of Maharashtra, and is the administrative headquarters of the district. Gadchi ...
district of
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
. After the Supreme Court acquitted the accused, there was public outcry and protests, which eventually led to amendments in the
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
rape law
Rape is a type of sexual assault initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, under threat or manipulation, by impersonation, or with a person who is incapa ...
via
The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1983 (No. 43) .
The incident
Mathura was a young orphan tribal girl living with one of her two brothers.
She was an ''
Adivasi
The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The term ...
''. The incident is suspected to have taken place on 26 March 1972, she was between 14 and 16 years old at that time.
Mathura occasionally worked as a domestic helper with a woman named Noshi. She met Noshi's nephew named Ashok who wanted to marry her, but her brother did not agree to the union and went to the local police station to lodge a complaint claiming that his sister, a minor, was being kidnapped by Ashok and his family members. After receiving the complaint, the police ahuthority brought Ashok and his family members to the police station. Following general investigation, Mathura, her brother, Ashok, and his family members were permitted to go back home. However, as they were leaving, Mathura was asked to stay behind while her relatives were asked to wait outside.
Mathura was then raped by the two policemen.
When her relatives and the assembled crowd threatened to burn down the police chowky, the two accused policemen, Ganpat and Tukaram, reluctantly agreed to file a panchnama (legal recording of evidence).
[
]
The case
The case came for hearing on 1 June 1974 in the sessions court. The judgment returned found the defendants not guilty. It was stated that because Mathura was 'habituated to sexual intercourse', her consent was voluntary; under the circumstances only sexual intercourse could be proved and not rape.
On appeal, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court
The High Court of Bombay is the high court of the states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily at Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), and is one of the ol ...
set aside the judgment of the Sessions Court, and sentenced the accused to one and five years imprisonment respectively. The Court held that passive submission due to fear induced by serious threats could not be construed as consent or willing sexual intercourse.[
However, in September 1979 the ]Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...
justices Jaswant Singh, Kailasam and Koshal in their judgement on ''Tukaram vs. State of Maharashtra''
reversed the High Court ruling and again acquitted the accused policemen. The Supreme Court held that Mathura had raised no alarm; and also that there were no visible marks of injury on her body thereby suggesting no struggle and therefore no rape.[ The judge noted, "Because she was used to sex, she might have incited the cops (they were drunk on duty) to have intercourse with her".][
]
Aftermath
In September 1979, only a few days after the verdict was pronounced, law professors Upendra Baxi
Upendra Baxi (born 9 November 1938) is a legal scholar, since 1996 professor of law in development at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. He is presently a Research Professor of Law and Distinguished Scholar in Public Law and Jurispruden ...
,Raghunath Kelkar and Lotika Sarkar
Lotika Sarkar (4 January 1923 – 23 February 2013) was a noted Indian feminist, social worker, educator and lawyer, who was a pioneer in the field of women's studies and women's rights in India. She was a founding member of Centre for Women's ...
of Delhi University
Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...
and Vasudha Dhagamwar of Pune wrote an open letter
An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally.
Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...
to the Supreme Court, protesting the concept of consent in the judgment. "Consent involves submission, but the converse is not necessarily true...From the facts of case, all that is established is submission, and not consent...Is the taboo against pre-marital sex so strong as to provide a license to Indian police to rape young girls."[ Khullar, p. 132] Spontaneous widespread protests and demonstrations followed by women's organisations who demanded a review of judgement, receiving extensive media coverage.
A number of women's group were formed as a direct response to the judgment, including ''Saheli'' in Delhi, and prior to that in January 1980, Lotika Sarkar, was also involved in the formation of the first feminist group in India against rape, "Forum Against Rape", later renamed "Forum Against Oppression of Women
The Forum against Oppression of Women is a Mumbai feminist organisation. It originated as the Forum against Rape in 1980, organising protests in the city to the judgement in the Mathura rape case.
Origins
A protest letter against the Mathura r ...
" (FAOW). A national conference was organised by FAOW which started the debate for legal reforms. Issues of violence against women
Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed against women or girls, usually by men or boys. Such violence is often consi ...
and the difficulty of seeking judicial help in sexual crimes was highlighted by the women's movement.[ Epp, p. 105][ Gamble, p. 59]
Following the same tradition, on the International Women's day women from various states including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Nagpur took to the streets. Seema Sakhare, the founder of the first organizations in India that worked on the issue of violence against women, met and supported Mathura. However, the courts ruled that there was no ''locus standi
Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to:
Entertainment
* Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front
* ''Locus'' (magazine), science fiction and fantasy magazine
** ''Locus Award' ...
'' (legal standing) in the case to rule in favour to Mathura. Eventually this led to Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
amending the rape law.[
]
Legal reform
The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1983 (No. 43) made a statutory provision in the face of Section 114 (A) of the Evidence Act made 25 December 1983, which states that if the victim says that she did not consent to the sexual intercourse, the Court shall presume that she did not consent as a rebuttable presumption
In common law and civil law, a rebuttable presumption (in Latin, ''praesumptio iuris tantum'') is an assumption made by a court that is taken to be true unless someone proves otherwise. For example, a defendant in a criminal case is presumed inn ...
.[ New laws were also enacted following the incident. The Section 376 (punishment for rape) of the ]Indian Penal Code
The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of first law commission of India established in ...
underwent a change with the enactment and addition of Section 376(A), Section 376(B), Section 376(C), Section 376(D), which made custodial rape
Prison rape or jail rape refers to sexual assault of people while they are incarcerated. The phrase is commonly used to describe rape of inmates by other inmates, or to describe rape of inmates by staff.
China
In February 2021, BBC News re ...
punishable. Besides defining custodial rape, the amendment shifted the burden of proof from the accuser to the accused once intercourse was established; it also added provisions for in-camera trials, the prohibition on the victim identity disclosure, and tougher sentences.[
]
Legacy
The case is seen as turning point in women right's movement in India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, as it led to just greater awareness of women's legal rights issue, oppression, and patriarchal mindsets. A number of women's organisations soon came forth across India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. Previously, rape misjudgments or acquittals would go unnoticed, but in the following years, women's movement against rape gathered force and organisation supporting rape victims and women's rights advocates came to the fore.[ Epp, p. 106] The criminal law amendment Act 1983 was enacted as a consequence of this case. Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code
The Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code was inserted into the Indian Penal Code 1860 by the Criminal Law amendment Act 1983 by the Parliament of India to prevent social victimization or ostracism of the victim of a sexual offence. The law pro ...
for example was enacted because of this incident.
See also
* Rape in India
Rape is the fourth most common crime against women in India. According to the 2021 annual report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 31,677 rape cases were registered across the country, or an average of 86 cases daily, a rise from 20 ...
* Anti-rape movement
The anti-rape movement is a sociopolitical movement which is part of the movement seeking to combat Violence against women, violence against and the abuse of women. The movement seeks to change community attitudes to violence against women, such ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* ''An Open Letter to the Chief Justice of India'', ''Supreme Court Cases'' (Journal), 1:17, 1979.
''Tuka Ram And Others vs State Of Maharashtra'' on 15 September 1979, Supreme Court of India ( AIR 1979 SC 185; (1979) 2SCC 143; 1978 CrLJ 1864; 1979 SCC 143)
External links
Women in India: How Free? How Equal?
(PDF Book)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathura Rape Case
Gang rape in India
Child sexual abuse in India
Crime in Maharashtra
Police misconduct in India
History of Maharashtra (1947–present)
Maharashtra Police
Legal history of India
Indian case law
1972 crimes in India
Social history of India
Violence against women in India
Chandrapur district
Incidents of violence against girls