Women As A Victim or As A Survivor

A Dissertation On
“Women as a victim or as a survivor”
SUBMITTED TO THE
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj University
In the partial fulfilment of the award of the degree of

Masters in Law (LL.M)
2020-2022
BY
Researcher Name: Kazi Mohammad Junaid
ENROLLMENT NO:- 204111181409
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

DR. AVANI MISTRY
DEPARTMENT OF LAW
CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ UNIVERSITY
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PANVEL, NAVI MUMBAI 410216
DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE
I declare that this thesis entitled Title “women as a victim or as a survivor” is

my own work of which I have collected the information from and through
various articles and resources over the Internet as well as by conducting
interviews of numbers of women victims conducted under the supervision of Dr.
Avani Mistry and the co-supervision of Dr. Bhanu Saxena approved by the
Research Degree Committee of the University and that I have put in more than
600 hrs. Of attendance with the supervisor.
I further declare that to the best of my knowledge this thesis does not contain
any part of any work which has been submitted for the award of any degree
either by this university or by any other university/ deemed university without a
proper citation.
Date:- Researcher Name: Kazi Mohammad Junaid
Place:- Enrollment Number: 204111181409
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CERTIFICATE OF THE SUPERVISOR
It is certified that this work entitled “Women as victim or as a survivor” is an

original research work done by Mr. Kazi Mohammad Junaid under my
supervision for the degree of Doctor of Master in LAW to be awarded by
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj University, Panvel, India and that the candidate has
put the attendance of more than 200 days / 600 hrs. with me.
To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis
I. Embodies the work of candidate himself,
II. Has duly been completed,
III. Fulfills the requirements of the ordinance related to LL.M Degree of the
university and,
IV. It is up to the standard in respect of both content and language for being referred
to the examiner.
Date:- Signature of the Supervisor
Place:- DR. AVANI MISTRY
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I express unequivocal thanks to God for providing me courage to complete the

said research work, without whose blessings I wouldn’t have been at the position,
where I am today. I thank my family members for their grace and blessings in the
completion of this research successfully.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my visionary & research guide DR.
AVANI MISTRY and co-supervisor DR. BHANU SAXENA, who have devoted
their valuable time thereby providing invaluable guidance throughout this
research.
Last but not the least, my implied thanks to all those not named, as it is impossible
to name everyone and I also appreciate the affectionate, valuable co-operation and
help of my colleagues.
Researcher Name:- Mr. Kazi Mohammad Junaid
Enroll. No. 204111181409
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Plagiarism Report
5|Page
ABSTRACT
Women who have been sexually attacked once are more likely to be sexually
assaulted again, according to research (re-victimized). Social support, personal
behaviour, and psychological health are all elements that influence the chance of
a woman being re-victimized. According to this study, a combination of these
characteristics lead to a woman's self-perception as a sexual assault victim or
survivor. Re-victimization is determined by this self-perception. Twenty women
were interviewed in order to learn more about the victim or survivor experience.
The relationship between mentality and re-victimization. The incident had
serious implications for all of the women. Some women develop a victim
attitude as a result of negative repercussions. Some women were able to see the
good side of their assault and developed a survivor mindset as a result of it. The
negative repercussions of the initial victimisation were linked to re-
victimization, as was the victim mindset that emerged from the negative
outcomes. Non-re-victimization reasons were similar to non-re-victimization
reasons, and they were linked to good outcomes of the assault and the survivor
attitude that arose from the positive results. A sexual assault victim's general
attitudes and behaviours affect whether she regards herself as a victim or a
survivor, which has a considerable impact on her chances of re-victimization.
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TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS
ABBREVIATIONS FULL FORMS

IPC Indian Penal Code 1860
Etc Ex carta
& And
Vs. Versus
Ors. others
i.e. That is
u/s Under section
AIR All india reporter
SCC Supreme court cases
e.g. example
No. Number
FGM Female genital mutilation
PIL Public interest litigation
ATSA Association for the treatment of sexual

abusers
CDC Center for disease control and prevention
WHO World health organization.
POCSO Protection of children from sexual

offences.
WHO World health organization.
NCBI National center for biotechnology

information.
IPS Indian police service.
IAS Indian Administrative service.
Cr.P.C. Criminal procedure code.
IAF Indian Air Force.
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LIST OF AUTHORITIES
1. Madhu kishwar & Ors. Etc Vs State of Bihar & Ors.
2. State of Maharashtra Vs Bharat Shanti Lal Shah & Ors.
3. Devanand Vs State.
4. Tukaram and Arr Vs State of Maharashtra.
5. Prabhakar Mohite and Anr Vs The State of Maharashtra and Anr.
6. Nishanth harishchandra salvi Vs The State of Maharashtra.
7. Mukherjee Vs Vodafone Essar Ltd & Ors.
8. Rohit Vedpaul Kaushal Vs State of Maharashtra & Ors.
9. Bhiku Tukaram Jadhav Vs The State of Maharashtra.
10. Usha Badri Poonawalla Vs K. Kurien Babu.
11. Suryanelli Rape Case Kerala 1996.
12. State of Maharashtra Vs Rajendra J Gandhi.
13. Roshni Manoj Patil Vs State Of Maharashtra.
14. Mukesh and Anr Vs State for NCT of Delhi and Anr.
15. Ajay katara Vs State of UP and Anr.
16. Rupeshwar Tanti Vs State of Assam.
17. Tarunjit Tejpal Vs the State of Goa.
18. Prof. P.J. Kurien Vs State of Kerala.
19. State Vs Shiv Kumar Yadav.
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LIST OF STATUES
1. Child marriage restraint Act.
2. Protection of women from domestic violence, Act.
3. The Hindi Widow remarriage Act, 1856.
4. Hindu women right to property Act, 1937.
5. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
6. The national commission for women Act, 1990.
7. The prohibition of child marriage Act, 2006.
8. The sexual harassment of women at workplace(prevention and
redressal) Act, 2006.
9. Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.
10. The factories Act, 1948.
11. Maternity benefit Act, 1961.
12. Equal remuneration Act, 1976.
13. MTP Act, 1971.
14. Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
15. THEINDIANPENALCODE, 1860.
16. The Indecent Representation of Women Prohibition Act, 1986.
17. THE IMMORAL TRAFFIC (PREVENTION) ACT, 1956.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page. 111-111
DecJhanvition by the candidate. 111-111
Certificate of the supervisor. 111-111
Acknowledgement. 111-111
Plagiarism Report. 111-111
Abstract. 111-111
Table of Abbreviations. 111-111
List of Authorities. 111-111
List of Statues. 111-111
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

I. Prevalence of the problem. 111-111
II. Statement of the problem. 111-111
III. Purpose of the study. 111-111
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

I. Survivor or Victim. 111-111
II. Re-victimization defined. 111-111
III. Social support. 111-111
IV. Personal behavior. 111-111
V. Psychological health. 111-111
VI. Conclusion. 111-111
VII. Research question. 111-111
CHAPTER THREE: METHODS

I. Sampling / Participants. 111-111
II. Interview Schedule. 111-111
III. Designs. 111-111
IV. Procedures. 111-111
V. Limitations. 111-111
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CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS
I. Introduction to the participants. 111-111
II. Introduction to results. 111-111
Victim thoughts
I. Believed she deserved it. 111-111
II. Negative self-perception. 111-111
III. Emotionally damaged. 111-111
IV. Sexual remission . 111-111
V. Personal relations and perceptions. 111-111
Survivor thoughts
I. Moving on from the assault. 111-111
II. Empowered by the assault and 111-111
experience.
III. Positive impact on her character. 111-111
CHAPTER FIVE: ARTICLES AND STATUTORY

PROVISIONS
I. Compensation scheme for women 111-111
victim / Survivor of sexual assault/other
crimes-2018 drafted by NALSA.
II. Stopping Rape 2015 by Sylvia Walby, 111-111
Philippa Olive, Jude Towers, etc.
III. The immoral traffic prevention Act, 1956. 111-111
IV. The indecent representation of 111-111
women(prohibition) Act, 1986.
V. The sexual harassment of women at 111-111
work place(prevention, prohibition, and
redressal) Act, 2013.
VI. Indian Penal Code, 1860 Section 354 to 111-111
Section 354D.
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CHAPTER SIX: CASE STUDY
I. Suryanelli Rape Case, Kerala 1996. 111-111
CHAPTER SEVEN: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION,

REFERENCES
Discussion. 111-111
Conclusion. 111-111
References. 111-111
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
PREVALENCE OF THE PROBLEM
One of the biggest problems in our society today is the prevalence of sexual
assault. Official police records of female sexual assault differ greatly from the
actual occurrence of female sexual assault. The Uniform Crime Report (UCR)
states that throughout the India 58.6 per 100,000 female inhabitants were
forcibly raped (which includes attempts or assaults to commit rape) in 2008
(INDIAN Department of Justice, 2009). The NCVS (National Crime
Victimization Survey) found that 140 per 100,000 females over the age of 12
were raped or sexually assaulted in 2008 and only 47% were reported to the
police (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2009). While these numbers are high, the
actual occurrence of rape is even higher than that reported by the NCVS because
the NCVS only includes the statistics for women who acknowledge that they
were sexually assaulted or raped. Furthermore, the NCVS only collects data for
children age 12and older, so children under the age of 12 who are sexually
assaulted or rapedare not included in these statistics.
There are several important questions to ask in regard to the problem of sexual
assault and rape in our society: What is sexual assault? What is rape? Who is
susceptible to gaining the attention of a voyeur, being sexually assaulted, 2 or
raped? What happens after a rape is committed? The Bureau of Justice Statistics
(2010) provides this definition of sexual assault:
These crimes include attacks or attempted attacks generally involving unwanted
sexual contact between victim and offender. Sexual assaults may or may not
involve force and include such things as grabbing or fondling. Sexual assault
also includes verbal threats. (p.7)
According to this definition, it is reasonable to assume that many women have
been sexually assaulted and never reported it to the police. Here is an illustration
of a common occurrence of sexual assault by definition: a woman is in a bar and
13 | P a g e
walks by a man who squeezes her buttocks. This is sexual assault that will not
likely be reported to the police.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (2010) provides this definition of rape: Forced
sexual intercourse including both psychological coercion as well as physical
force . . . This category also includes incidents where the penetration is from a
foreign object such as a bottle. Includes attempted rapes . . . [which] includes
verbal threats of rape. (p.7) By this definition of rape, there are many instances
where the woman may not even consider that she was raped. For example, a
boyfriend threatens to break up with his girlfriend if she does not have sex with
him; this is psychological coercion and is rape according to its definition. Many
young women in this type of 3 situation may not believe themselves to have
been raped and would not report this to the police or in a victimization survey.
All women are susceptible to sexual assault and rape. However, after a woman is
raped or sexually assaulted, either as a child or an adult, she is significantly more
susceptible to additional incidents of rape or sexual assault (i.e. re-
victimization). Instances of re-victimization in victims of child sexual abuse,
adolescent sexual assault, and adult sexual assault range from 15% to 72%
(Mason, Ullman, Long, Long, & Starzynski, 2009). In a report from the
Department of Justice, women who were not raped prior to age 18 had a 9%
victimization rate; women who were raped prior to age 18 were twice as likely
to be raped after age 18, an 18% re-victimization rate (Tjaden & Thoennes,
1998).
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Research shows that that re-victimization is more likely than an initial

victimization. There are many theories as to why re-victimization occurs and the
literature on re-victimization is widespread. There are studies which have
examined various factors associated with re-victimization such as: social support
(Macy, Nurius, & Norris, 2006; Ullman, Starzynski, Long, Mason, & Long,
2008; Phanichrat & Townshend, 2010; Ullman, 1996; Mason et al., 2009), self-
blame and/or self-perception (Burt, 1980; Niehaus, Jackson, and Davies, 2010),
substance use (Kilpatrick et al., 1997) alcohol use (Kilpatrick, Acierno, Resnick,
14 | P a g e
Saunders, & Best, 1997; Koss & Dinero, 1989; Combs-Lane & Smith, 2002; 4
Fargo, 2009) and acknowledgment status (Littleton, Axsom, & Grils-Taquechel,
2009), and PTSD symptoms (Messman-Moore, Ward, & Brown, 2009; Fortier,
DiLillo, Messman-Moore, Peugh, DeNardi, & Gaffey, 2009).
Though many studies delve into re-victimization and one other element, they do
not conduct an overall assessment of factors leading to re-victimization (Macey
et al., 2006; Mason et al., 2009;; Combs-Lane & Smith, 2002; Messman- Moore,
Walsh, & DiLillo, 2010; Phanichrat & Townshend, 2010; Niehaus et al., 2010).
It would be naive to think that only one factor leads to re-victimization. Rather it
is a combination of situational factors and ounselling tendencies. If these factors
are included into one research study, the ability to predict re-victimization will
increase substantially, as will the ability to protect women from re-victimization.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
In the present study, in-depth interviews will be conducted with 20 participants

to learn about their victimization and whether their victimization and self-
perception lead to a second victimization. The present study is an exploratory
research design to identify the important combined factors. Using factors
identified in previous research commonly associated with re-victimization (e.g.,
social support, self-blame, social reactions, substance use, alcohol use, risk
taking ounselli, risky sexual ounselli, acknowledgment status, PTSD symptoms,
and coping strategies). Analysis of the interviews will determine if 5 such factors
combined with self-perception of victim or self-perception of survivor increased
vulnerability to re-victimization or insulated them from re-victimization. Many
of these factors are interrelated, such as social reactions to a woman’s
victimization and the use of alcohol or acknowledgment status and PTSD
symptomology. Through previous research, it is clear that these factors each
have a high correlation to re-victimization. This research will look into how each
factor affected the victim herself, how these aspects influenced her perception of
herself, and which factors she believes had the most significant impact on her re-
victimization or non-re-victimization. Central themes of re-victimization,
survivor or victim mentality, and the women’s perception of herself will be
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assessed. The present study suggests that the overall attitudes and behaviors of a
sexual assault victim determines whether she views herself as a victim or
survivor which significantly impacts the likelihood of her re-victimization. The
information gathered from previous literature will demonstrate that various
characteristics associated with a woman viewing herself as a victim predispose
her to re-victimization; whereas the characteristics associated with a woman
viewing herself as a survivor insulates her from re-victimization.
1
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
SURVIVOR OR VICTIM
After a person has been sexually abused, many factors have the potential to
contribute to her re-victimization. Social support, self-blame, social reactions,
substance use, alcohol use, risk taking ounselli, risky sexual ounselli,
acknowledgment status, PTSD symptoms, and coping strategies all impact a
woman’s experience after her sexual assault and lead to her becoming either a
survivor or a victim. A woman who has been sexually abused and is supported
by family and police; blames the perpetrator rather than herself; refrains from
substance use and alcohol abuse; does not engage in risky ounselli and utilizes
constructive coping strategies will be substantially less likely to be re-
victimized. Healthy management strategies can help a woman better understand
her victimization. In better understanding her victimization she has the potential
to live (survive) in a way that puts her less at risk for being re-victimized. A
person who does not understand her victimization has little potential to change
the circumstances she finds herself in and will remain at risk for re-
1
“FEMALE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER’S EXPERIENCE OF WORKPLACE HARASSMENT”(2018)
https://scholarshipworks.llib.csub.edu/etd/621
“NATIONAL LEGAL SERVICE AUTHORITY REPORT” (2018)
Compensation Scheme for Women Victims/Survivors of
Sexual Assault/other Crimes – 2018
www.nalsa.gov.in
16 | P a g e
victimization. There are two ways a woman can view her victimization: she can
be a survivor or a victim. A woman who is a survivor of sexual victimization has
learned to deal with her victimization in a positive way, rather than allow her
victimization to define who she is as a person. A woman who is a victim has not
yet learned to deal with her victimization in a positive way and allows her
victimization to define who she is. The terms “victim” and “survivor” are
utilized in many different areas of study, such as in domestic violence, sexual
abuse, and in the medical field in relation to cancer diagnoses. Throughout
various research studies, a woman with a victim mentality is described as being
powerless, hopeless, passive, feelings of worthlessness, and having a lack of
agency in the circumstances of her life (Dunn, 2005; Kuban & Steele, 2011;
Brosi & Rolling, 2010; Park, Zlateva & Blank, 2009). A survivor mentality is
depicted as a woman being empowered, creating a meaning out of her
experiences, being equipped with choice, participating in her own healing,
feeling safe and validated, having hope, and living after a traumatic experience
(Hunter, 2010; Kuban & Steele, 2011; Brosi & Rolling, 2010; Park et al., 2009).
In general, a victim mentality is when a person allows things to happen to
him/her; whereas a survivor mentality is when a person takes control of the
circumstances.2
RE-VICTIMIZATION DEFINED
Current literature has inconsistent definitions of re-victimization. Stevens,

Ruggiero, Kilpatrick, Resnick and Saunders (2005) create a distinction between
multiple victimization and subsequent victimization. Multiple victimization is
when a person is exposed to several different types of violence, such as sexual
abuse and physical abuse; however, subsequent victimization is within the same
8 violence category, such as child sexual assault leading to adult sexual assault
(Stevens et al., 2005). According to other sources, “re-victimization refers to the
blame and stigmatizing responses to victims by police or others and the trauma
that victims experience following the rape itself” (Maier, 2008, p. 787). Re-
2
(Hunter, 2010; Kuban & Steele, 2011; Brosi & Rolling, 2010; Park et al., 2009)(e-book)
(Dunn, 2005; Kuban & Steele, 2011; Brosi & Rolling, 2010; Park, Zlateva & Blank, 2009)
17 | P a g e
victimization is most often defined as a subsequent abuse in the same violence
category (i.e. being sexually victimized and then being sexually victimized again
at a later time) (Barnes, Noll, Putnam, & Trickett, 2009; Ullman, 1996; Macy et
al., 2006; Ullman et al., 2008; Mason et al., 2009; Combs-Lane & Smith, 2002).
While some scholars agree on the definition of re-victimization, society as a
whole differs on what is classified as re-victimization. In this report, the term re-
victimization will refer to sexual victimization that occurs in more than one
incident.
SOCIAL SUPPORT3
Social support is one important factor that contributes to a victim’s mentality of

being a victim or survivor and, in turn, the risk of her being re-victimized.
Empowering a woman to place the blame on the assailant has significant
positive effects on the woman during and after sexual aggression (Macy et al.,
2006). Women who place the blame on herself rather than the assailant for her
victimization is more likely to be re-victimized (Macy et al., 2006) and have a
higher correlation to more negative social reactions (Ullman et al.,2008). Our
society often blames victims of sexual assault for their victimization, unlike
other victims of crime (Burt, 1980). For example: if a person’s house is broken
into, society rarely blames the homeowner for their victimization. Society
sometimes believes that a woman who has been sexually assaulted brought it
upon herself by being in certain situations, such as a fraternity party and
drinking excessively, which leads to her sexual assault. If she had not put herself
in that situation, she would not have been assaulted; therefore, the blame is on
the victimized woman. It is this societal ideology that can damage the victim’s
recovery process. The “stigma attached to the abuse, the fear of social
implications, rejection, and negative connotation of the self-image” may inhibit
victims from disclosing their victimization and seeking social support
3
(Stevens et al., 2005), (Maier, 2008, p. 787), (Barnes, Noll, Putnam, & Trickett, 2009; Ullman, 1996; Macy et al., 2006; Ullman et
al., 2008; Mason et al., 2009; Combs-Lane & Smith, 2002)
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(Phanichrat & Townshend, 2010, p. 73). Rather, the victims suffer the abuse
without seeking social support.
Self-blame is tied to problem drinking, which will later be discussed as a
personal ounselli linked to re-victimization. However, problem drinking impacts
self-blame and the social reactions to a woman’s sexual assault. Self-blame and
problem drinking have a reciprocal relationship: women who blame themselves
for the sexual assault are more likely to have problem drinking and women who
have problem drinking are more likely to blame themselves for the sexual
assault (Macy et al., 2006; Ullman et al., 2008). Additionally, problem drinkers
who are victims of sexual assault disclosed their sexual assault to more formal
and informal support sources, resulting in more positive and negative social
reactions to their sexual assault (Ullman et al., 2008). For example, a woman
who tells her friends, parents, police, and peers about her sexual assault will
have more
reactions (negative and positive) from these people compared to a woman who
solely reports her victimization to one friend. Negative social reactions, such as
being treated differently, not being believed, and having someone take control,
were related to psychological symptoms and poor recovery from the sexual
assault (Ullman, 1996). Unfortunately, positive social reactions toward a victim
of sexual assault have had mixed results, whereas negative social reactions
(Borja, Callahan, & Long, 2006) and societal blame of the victim (Ullman,
1996) have had destructive effects on recovery. The pattern within these studies
is that victims who have self-blame and problem drinking are not given social
support, whether the lack of social support comes before or after the self-blame
and problem drinking is still to be determined. As a society, the mentality of
victim blame must shift to a mentality of assailant blame in an effort to help
evolve the recovery of the victim into the life of a survivor.
Social support alone has varied results. The type of social support sought by the
sexual assault victim has varying degrees of effectiveness. Almost three quarters
of respondents in a study on social support and sexual assault re-victimization
disclosed to formal and/or informal sources about the assault (Mason et al.,
2009). Of those sources, religious sources were rated as the most supportive by
nearly 80% of the respondents who disclosed to this source;
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medical professionals, police, and parents were the least supportive– all were
rated as being helpful less than 60% of the time, according to those who
disclosed to this source (Mason et al., 2009). Though reasons for reporting to the
police vary, the most common reason women reported their sexual assault to the
police was the desire to prevent their offender from raping another woman or
themselves (Patterson & Campbell, 2010).
Interestingly, re-victimized survivors were less likely to disclose to parents,
police, and rape crisis centers than non-re-victimized survivors (Mason et al.,
2009). Even though police, medical professionals, and parents were considered
least supportive, victims who disclosed to these sources were less likely to be re-
victimized, leading to the conclusion that these sources were actually the most
helpful. Women who felt they were listened to had fewer psychological
symptoms and better recovery from the sexual assault (Ullman, 1996).
“Survivors who receive less positive support in the form of information and
emotional support may be more susceptible to being reassaulted” (Mason et al.,
2009, p. 69).
PERSONAL BEHAVIOUR
In addition to social support, a woman’s personal ounselli after a sexual

victimization contributes to her victim mentality or survivor mentality. There has
been much research on the types of personal behaviors that increase the risk of
sexual re-victimization; such as substance use, alcohol use, sexual ounselli, and
the victim’s acknowledgement status. Victimization itself may not be the main
factor linked to re-victimization; rather it is the behaviors subsequent to
victimization that leads to re-victimization.
Victimization in a sexual assault incident can initiate or maintain substance use.
In a two-year analysis on the relationship between substance use and sexual
assault in women, Kilpatrick et al. (1997) found that substance use lead to
assault and assault lead to substance use. A reciprocal relationship was
supported, indicating that “assault and substance use might each increase risk of
experiencing the other” (Kilpatrick et al., 1997, p. 841). This study found that re-
20 | P a g e
victimization was most likely in women who used drugs and had previously
been assaulted. The relationship between substance use and sexual victimization
may be due to the illegal transaction that must occur to obtain illegal drugs and
the people they associate with when they use the drugs. The people who sell the
illegal drugs or associate with the drug dealers may be more predatory and the
drug purchaser (the woman victim) is a “safe” target or easy prey because she
may be less likely to inform the police due to her involvement in illegal ounselli
(Kilpatrick et al., 1997). Risk taking ounselli is a mediator between a person’s
victimization and a subsequent victimization (Fargo, 2009). In fact, no direct
pathway between childhood sexual abuse, adolescent sexual abuse, and adult
sexual abuse existed in a study on the pathways to adult re-victimization;
however, risky ounselli and risky sexual ounselli were linked to re-victimization
(Fargo, 2009). Messman-Moore et al. (2010) conducted a study on emotional
dysregulation that yielded similar results. They found that childhood sexual
abuse was not significantly correlated with rape; yet childhood sexual abuse was
associated with emotion dysregulation, which influenced risky sexual ounselli
and number of lifetime sexual intercourse partners, and increased vulnerability
for adult rape (Messman-Moore et al., 2010). These findings suggest that the
person’s reaction to the childhood sexual abuse leads to re-victimization, not the
childhood sexual abuse itself.
The acknowledgement status of a victim of sexual assault can be a predictor of
re-victimization. Unacknowledged rape victims are individuals who have
conceptualized their experience as something less significant than rape (Layman,
Gidycz, & Lynn, 1996), such as a miscommunication, seduction, or bad sex,
perhaps due to a rape script of a violent, stranger rape (Kahn, Mathie, & Torgler,
1994). In a study of acknowledged and unacknowledged rape victims,
unacknowledged victims were significantly more likely to report hazardous
drinking than acknowledged victims (Littleton et al., 2009) which is known to be
a predictor of re-victimization (Kilpatrick et al., 1997; Koss & Dinero, 1989;
Combs- Lane & Smith, 2002; Fargo, 2009). Though there was no significant
difference in the proportion of victims reporting completed rape,
unacknowledged rape victims were significantly more likely than acknowledged
victims to experience an attempted rape (Littleton et al., 2009).
21 | P a g e
Littleton et al.’s (2009) study revealed unacknowledged assaults were
significantly more likely to involve binge drinking by the victim than
acknowledged assaults. Unacknowledged victims were significantly more likely
to report continuing the relationship with the assailant after the assault and less
likely to change their ounselli after the assault to prevent future victimization
(Littleton et al., 2009). Because unacknowledged victims have not recognized
their victimization, there is no opportunity for them to have engaged in positive
coping strategies to survive the traumatic event. Those who have acknowledged
their victimization may or may not have altered their ounselli, but the possibility
of a change from victim to survivor exists for that person.
PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH
As much of the literature has found, the factors that contribute to re-
victimization are interlinked. The psychological health of a woman who
experienced sexual assault is no exception. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD) is intertwined with many other factors associated with re-victimization,
including social support, risky personal ounselli, risky sexual ounselli, and
acknowledgement status. In their study on social support and sexual assault re-
victimization, Mason et al. (2009) found that re-victimized participants had
significantly higher PTSD symptom severity scores than non-re-victimized
participants. PTSD is related to alcohol consumption and social reactions.
Ullman et al. (2008) found that problem drinkers had higher levels of PTSD
symptoms; additionally, participants who exhibited PTSD symptoms had more
negative social reactions. Those with PTSD symptoms disclosed their sexual
assault more often, and, in turn, received more negative social reactions;
however this disclosure may not have occurred directly after the assault and
delayed disclosure was related to more severe PTSD symptoms (Ullman et al.,
2008). Those who acknowledged their victimization were more likely to exhibit
greater PTSD symptomology (Littleton et al., 2009; Layman et al., 1996). Of the
acknowledged victims, 19% experienced an attempted rape and 31%
experienced a completed rape within a six-month follow-up period (Littleton et
al., 2009).
22 | P a g e
PTSD is highly associated with re-victimization as well as many other factors
also linked with re-victimization. Substance use and sexual ounselli was
predicted by PTSD symptomology; in this study the women who experienced
PTSD symptoms may have engaged in substance use or risky sexual ounselli to
reduce the stress (Messman-Moore et al., 2009). Both PTSD symptoms and
substance use was a factor highly associated with re-victimization; however, the
causal relationship between substance use and PTSD symptoms is unknown
(Messman-Moore et al., 2009). The women experiencing PTSD symptoms were
more likely to engage in risky sexual ounselli, which is linked to re-victimization
(Fargo, 2009). Perhaps it is necessary to address the PTSD symptoms of women
who have experienced sexual assault to better understand other issues such as
alcohol consumption, negative social reactions, acknowledgement status,
substance use, and risky sexual ounselli.
PTSD is highly associated with re-victimization as well as many other factors
also linked with re-victimization. Substance use and sexual ounselli was
predicted by PTSD symptomology; in this study the women who experienced
PTSD symptoms may have engaged in substance use or risky sexual ounselli to
reduce the stress (Messman-Moore et al., 2009). Both PTSD symptoms and
substance use was a factor highly associated with re-victimization; however, the
causal relationship between substance use and PTSD symptoms is unknown
(Messman-Moore et al., 2009). The women experiencing PTSD symptoms were
more likely to engage in risky sexual ounselli, which is linked to re-victimization
(Fargo, 2009). Perhaps it is necessary to address the PTSD symptoms of women
who have experienced sexual assault to better understand other issues such as
alcohol consumption, negative social reactions, acknowledgement status,
substance use, and risky sexual ounselli. After a person has been sexually
assaulted there are limitless ways to cope with the traumatic event. People can
cope in two broad categories: constructively or destructively. Constructive
coping strategies are aimed at gaining family and social support, whereas
destructive coping strategies include increased drinking, smoking, or staying
away from friends and family members (He, Zhao, & Ren, 2005). In a study on
the role of coping strategies in relation to sexual abuse and re-victimization,
coping was defined as “cognitions reflecting a desire to avoid” (Fortier et al.,
23 | P a g e
2009, p. 316). Avoidant coping is the most frequent strategy used by childhood
sexual abuse survivors (Sigmon, Greene, Rohan, & Nichols, 1996). As severity
of childhood sexual abuse and trauma symptoms increased, avoidant coping
increased (Fortier et al., 2009). The level of childhood sexual abuse severity
predicts avoidant coping, which predicts trauma symptoms, which predicts re-
victimization severity (Fortier et al., 2009). Another study by Phanichrat and
Townshend (2010) on coping strategies utilized by victims of sexual assault
found that avoidance coping is characterized by three themes: suppression of
thoughts and feelings, escapism, and dissociation. Suppression of thoughts and
feelings included: denial, keeping busy, substance abuse, alcohol, and self-harm.
Escapism is a conscious process that included: hiding, running away, finding a
safe place, and attempted suicide. Dissociation is an unconscious process that
includes floating off, disconnection, and forgetfulness. All participants in this
study undertook avoidance coping prior to utilizing problem-focused coping (a
more healthy form of coping). Problem focused coping can be separated into
four categories: seeking support, cognitive engagement, acceptance, and seeking
meaning. Seeking support included: sharing with others, disclosure, joining
survivors groups, and spiritual support. Cognitive engagement included:
reframing, self-reflective strategies, positive thinking, and external attribution of
abuse responsibility. Acceptance included: self-acceptance, acceptance of the
abuse, and life-long process of coping. Seeking meaning included: helping
others/survivors and advocacy. Avoidant coping was a temporary necessity to
prepare the participants to cope with the sexual abuse in a healthy manner
(Phanichrat & Townshend, 2010).
Sexual assault can have a significant effect on the way a woman views herself
and her actions in the future, contributing to her self-perception as a victim or
survivor. Niehaus et al. (2010) found that childhood sexual abuse has an
emotional impact on the survivor and can affect the way she views her sexuality.
Survivors were more likely than non-victims to have a negative perception of
their own sexuality (i.e. describing their sexual ounselli as immoral or dirty
rather than passionate and loving); yet survivors were “less inhibited and more
likely to approach rather than avoid sexuality and sexual situations when
compared to nonvictims” (Niehaus et al., 2010, p. 1370). As has been discussed
24 | P a g e
above, engaging in greater amounts of sexual activity increases the risk of re-
victimization. Therefore, the way a person views herself and her sexuality after
her initial sexual assault can be an influential factor in re-victimization.
CONCLUSION
The literature has demonstrated that the factors that contribute to re-
victimization are extremely complex and interrelated. Each element linked with
re-victimization is correlated to another element linked with re-victimization;
however, there has not been a study conducted that involves all of these factors.
Therefore, it is important to discover which factors are the most important and
which factors combined together most significantly influences re-victimization.
The purpose of this study is to discover if overall healthy management strategies
help a woman better understand her victimization, live in a way that puts her less
at risk for being victimized, and view herself as a survivor rather than a victim.
The self-perception as survivor and healthy management strategies may insulate
a woman from re-victimization.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Several research questions can stem from the previous literature presented. The
literature clearly illustrates that numerous factors (i.e. social support (Macy et
al., 2006; Phanichrat & Townshend, 2010; Niehaus et al., 2010), self-blame
(Burt. 1980), disclosure (Ullman et al., 2008; Ullman, 1996; Mason et al., 2009),
alcohol abuse (Kilpatrick et al., 1997; Koss & Dinero, 1989; Combs-Lane &
Smith, 2002; Fargo, 2009), substance use (Kilpatrick et al., 1997), risk taking
ounselli (Fargo, 2009; Messman-Moore et al., 2009), risky sexual ounselli
(Niehaus et al., 2010), acknowledgement status (Littleton et al., 2009), PTSD
symptoms (Messman-Moore et al., 2009; Fortier et al., 2009), and coping
strategies (Phanichrat & Townshend, 2010) can influence re-victimization.
There are two major research questions to be asked in this qualitative research,
which are directly related to the relationship between re-victimization and
victim/survivor status.
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Research Question 1: Is a woman with a survivor mentality of her sexual assault
protected from re-victimization?
Research Question 2: Is a woman with a victim mentality of her sexual assault
vulnerable to re-victimization?
For this research, the terms “victim” and “survivor” will be defined based on the
descriptions used throughout various research studies. A woman with a victim
mentality is defined as being powerless, hopeless, passive, feelings of
worthlessness, and having a lack of agency in the circumstances of her life
(Dunn, 2005; Kuban & Steele, 2011; Brosi & Rolling, 2010; Park et al., 2009).
4
In summary, a person with a victim mentality allows things to happen to her. A
survivor mentality is defined as a woman being empowered, creating a meaning
out of her experiences, being equipped with choice, participating in her own
healing, feeling safe and validated, having hope, and living after a traumatic
experience (Hunter, 2010; Kuban & Steele, 2011; Brosi & Rolling, 2010; Park et
al., 2009). In other terms, a person with a survivor mentality takes control of the
circumstances of her life.
4
A survivor’s mentality(Dunn, 2005; Kuban & Steele, 2011; Brosi & Rolling, 2010; Park et al., 2009)(e-book), women against
sexual assault (Hunter, 2010; Kuban & Steele, 2011; Brosi & Rolling, 2010; Park et al., 2009)(e-book),self support (Macy et al.,
2006; Phanichrat & Townshend, 2010; Niehaus et al., 2010(e-book)
26 | P a g e
CHAPTER THREE
METHODS
SAMPLING/PARTICIPANTS
The purpose of this study is to obtain in-depth interviews and ferret out central
themes of how outside factors affected the victim herself, how these aspects
influenced her perception of herself, and which factors she believes had the most
significant impact on her re-victimization or non-re-victimization. The
participants in this study are women who have been sexually assaulted or raped
and women who have been re-victimized (or sexually assaulted or raped on
more than one occasion). These women were selected through snowball
sampling and found through various means. Psychologists, sexual assault
victim’s advocates, and personal acquaintances were asked to inquire if the
sexual assault victims were willing to participate in a confidential survey. The
research sought to obtain a survey representative of the women within the
sampling frame. The sampling frame is women who have been sexually
victimized and re-victimized. Snowball sampling is one method to find victims
of a crime that is not openly discussed and often bound by confidentiality
(Patten, 2009). Each woman participating in the survey was distributed a
demographic survey and interviewed by me. In ethnographic research, or
participant research with in depth interviews, the participants are typically few in
number (Hughes, King, Rodden, & Andersen, 1995). This research’s goal is to
gather in-depth interviews from twenty women participants in total to discover
their personal stories of sexual assault.5
INTERVIEW SCHEDULE
5
Few women (Hughes, King, Rodden, & Andersen, 1995)(e-book).
27 | P a g e
The materials to be used in the research experiment are relatively few. One of
the materials used was previous literature. Through the literature, many
questions about the women’s perceptions of her sexual assault arose. The
previous research facilitated the discovery of different interview questions to be
asked.
Another material used was a mobile phone as a recording device. An important
aspect of the interview process is recording the interview either through the use
of a voice recorder, thorough note taking, or a combination of the two; some
participants may initially be uneasy with the recorder, but later become more
comfortable with the device (Francis, 2004). The use of a recorder allowed me to
return to the interview when ounselli certain themes at a later stage of the
research process (Francis, 2004). The interviewee was asked if she had any
issues with being recorded throughout the interview, informed that any questions
could be skipped if necessary, and, most importantly, that the interview could be
terminated at any time (see Appendix C). The interviewee was provided a list of
emergency contacts with professionals who are available to them 24 hours a day
(see Appendix D). The interview process was recorded, including the questions
asked and the answers given by the respondents. The tape recorder was set up
directly between the interviewer and the interviewee. The interview asks
questions about the women’s perception of the important factors that influenced
her re-victimization or non-re-victimization, including: social support, alcohol
use, substance use, personal ounselli, and psychological health. No other
technical equipment was used throughout the interview process.
DESIGN
Though quantitative research provides more data, it typically provides more data
that is not as in-depth and personal as qualitative research, especially when
discussing highly personal topics such as sexual assault and rape, and the factors
that may have contributed to re-victimization (Babbie, 2005). In-depth
interviews are useful because they “allow for exploration, reflexivity, creativity,
mutual exchange and interaction” between the researcher and the participants
(Caine, Davison, & Stewart, 2009, p. 489). For these reasons, this research study
28 | P a g e
is constructed as qualitative research, rather than quantitative research. The
purpose of this research is to discover personal stories and the women’s
perception of her victimization. Qualitative research was chosen for this research
project because the in-depth interviews with these women produces original
answers that cannot be predicted and incorporated into a multiple choice
questionnaire (that a quantitative study would employ).
Conducting interviews produces a better understanding of the women’s
experience of sexual assault or rape because every incident is different and
unique. The story-telling nature of qualitative research is more desirable in
understanding the woman’s sexual victimization and the factors that lead to her
re-victimization or lack thereof. When a factor appears to be important, more
time can be spent on that topic or if a factor is not as applicable to a certain
person that factor can be discussed to a lesser degree and the interview
continued. The disadvantages of using a qualitative research technique are the
limited number of interviews that can be conducted because of time, access, and
monetary limits. This research is exploratory in nature and can be utilized to
shape future quantitative research. It is generalizable to populations who have
been sexually assaulted on one or more occasions. Table 1 below describes the
design and rationale for developing the questionnaire I used when interviewing
the participants.
TABLE 1. QUESTIONNARE DESIGN AND RATIONALE
Questionnaire Item Supporting Study Rationale for Question

1. At what age did your first experience of N/ Background information
sexual assault occur?
A
2. How old was the perpetrator? N/ Background information
A
3. Can you describe your first experience N/ Background information
of sexual assault?
A
4. Whom did you disclose this assault to Mason et al., These studies discuss the importance of
and how soon after the assault did you 2009; Ullman, disclosure, who the woman disclosed to,
report 1996; Borja et al., and re-victimization.
it? 2006
5. What types of people did you tell? Mason et al., This study discusses various different
29 | P a g e
Friends, family, police, rape 2009 forms of social support, how helpful the
crisis centers? women perceived these disclosures and
repeated victimization rates. Women
perceived informal social support to be
more helpful; however, women who
disclosed to formal
social support systems were less likely to
be re-victimized.
6. How did those you told react to your Ullman, 1996; Ullman’s study shows that
disclosure? Borja et al., 2006; negative social reactions lead to poor
Mason et al., recovery from the assault. Borja’s study
shows that positive social reactions had
2009
mixed results with neutral and+ve effects
on recovery.Mason’sstudy suggests that
women who receive less positive social
support may be more likely to be re-
victimized.
7. In what ways did each of their reactions Ullman, 1996; This study shows that negative social
affect you? If it was a positive reaction, Borja et al., reactions lead to poor recovery from the
how did it help you? If it was a negative assault. Borja’s study shows positive social
2006
reaction, how did it impact you? reactions had mixed results with neutral
and positive effects on recovery. Mason’s
study suggests that women who have less
positive social support may be more likely
to be re-victimized.
8. What types of ways did you deal with Macy et al., 2006; These studies suggest that selfblame leads
your first sexual assault? Ullman et al., to re-victimization. This question allows
2008; Phanichrat the participant the opportunity to provide
& Townshend, her own perception of how she coped with
2010 the trauma.
9. Do you feel there is anything that could Macy et al., 2006; Macy’s study found that placing the blame
have been done that may have made you Ullman et al., on the assailant has significant positive
less likely a target for sexual assault? 2008; Phanichrat effects on the
& Townshend, woman during and after sexual aggression
2010 and women who place blame on herself
are more likely to be re-victimized.
Ullman’s study found that women who
place blame on herself have more negative
social reactions. Phanichrat’s study
suggests that the stigma of abuse and fear
of
rejection and public perception may inhibit
a victim from disclosing their assault.
10. Thinking back, is there anything you Macy et al., 2006; Macy’s study found that placing the blame
believe you could have done to prevent the Ullman et al., on the assailant has significant positive
assault? 2008; Phanichrat effects on the
of
rejection and public perception may inhibit
a victim from disclosing their assault.
11. Initially, who did you think was Macy et al., 2006; Macy’s study found that placing the blame
30 | P a g e
responsible for the assault? Has that Ullman et al., on the assailant has significant positive
changed for you today? 2008; Phanichrat effects on the
of rejection and public perception may
inhibit a victim from disclosing their
assault.6
12. 14 Did your personal ounselli remain Fargo, 2009; Fargo’s study found that risky ounselli and
the same as prior to your first sexual Messman-Moore risky sexual ounselli were linked to re-
assault or did it change? What is your et al., 2010 victimization. Messman’s study found
typical ounselli? emotion dysregulation influenced risky
sexual behaviour and number of lifetime
sexual intercourse partners and increased
vulnerability for
re-victimization.
13. 15 After your first sexual Combs-Lane & Smith, 2002; Comb’s study stated that one way to
victimization, did you intend on drinking Fargo, 2009; indicate re-victimization may be to
heavily? Engaging in sexual ounselli? Kilpatrick et al.,1997 question victims of their intentions to be
Participate in activities involving exposure involved in risky behaviors. Fargo’s study
to potential perpetrators? found women who knew they would
engage in risky behaviors were actually
involved in more risky
behaviors.Kilpatrick’s study suggested that
women who are in contact with drug
dealers are more likely to be re-victimized
because they are around potential
predators.
14. 16 How has being a victim of sexual Fargo, 2009; Messman- These studies all discuss sexual ounselli
assault impacted your sexual ounselli? Moore et al., 2010; and re-victimization and this question
Combs-Lane & Smith, 2002; allows the respondent to give and account
Kilpatrick et al.,1997 of how the sexual assault impacted her
sexual ounselli.
LIMITATIONS
Qualitative research is extremely valid because the participants are able to

provide the answers, rather than choose an answer the researcher predetermined
in a multiple-choice selection (Babbie, 2005). I will be able to gain a more valid
description of the phenomena studied with qualitative research, instead of
quantitative research. The answers provided by participants are unlikely to be
superficial, which is a great advantage to the researcher (Babbie, 2005). The
6
Assault after effects Fargo, 2009; Messman-Moore et al., 2010;(e-book)
Perception of women Combs-Lane & Smith, 2002; Kilpatrick et al.,1997(e-book)

31 | P a g e
research questions being asked have strong face validity, meaning the questions
“appear to measure what [they purport] to measure” (Patten, 2009, p. 63). The
purpose of the research is to discover central themes of how outside factors
affected the victim herself, how these aspects influenced her perception of
herself, and which factors she believes had the most significant impact on her re-
victimization or non-re-victimization. The research questions ask these questions
specifically and include extra questions that seek more in-depth knowledge on
these topics. In addition, the research questions have strong content validity,
meaning the questions cover a large range of meanings within a concept
(Babbie, 2005). The questions asked of the participants were specifically
designed to discover the amount of social support they were given, their personal
ounselli and how it varied because of their experience of sexual assault or rape,
their psychological health and how they dealt with the emotions that accompany
a traumatic experience, and their perception of themselves as a victim or
survivor. There are several questions that target each of those specific topics.
Although there are numerous advantages to in-depth interviews, there are a few
limitations. The participants in the study are limited to those who are willing to
discuss her sexual assault, which indicates that she had acknowledged her sexual
assault. Additionally, the participants are limited to those found through the
psychologists, victim’s advocates, and personal connections which are skewed
towards those women who have, at least in part, sought social support for their
sexual assault. Those who do not acknowledge their sexual assault or have not
spoken to others about their sexual assault were not included in the interview.
The interview is limited by the questions asked and the honesty of the women
responding to the interview questions. If the women believe that the answers to
the questions are indeed confidential, her answers will be more honest. If the
women believe that their story can be identified though the research report, she
may not respond honestly. Another limiting factor is that the participants may
answer the questions based on what they think the “right” answer is or what I
wants to hear. The answers could potentially be biased based on the mood of the
participant, the chemistry between the participant and the interviewer, or the
willingness of the participant to disclose personal information to another person.
If a woman has previously had a negative experience with disclosing her assault,
32 | P a g e
the results may be different than if the participant had a positive or neutral
experience with disclosing her assault. Though there are numerous advantages to
using qualitative research, there are a few disadvantages. Qualitative research is
time consuming; it takestime to interview all the participants and compile it into
cohesive data. Qualitative research can put a mental and physical toll on the
researcher (Morris & Marquart, 2010). It can also pose ethical and moral
dilemmas for the researcher, such as when the researcher knows she is being lied
to and whether the researcher should confront the participant about those lies
(Wood, 2006). Qualitative research can be found to have weak reliability, if the
researcher is not careful to account for his/her own biases and points of view
(Babbie, 2005). However, if the researcher makes comparative statements about
the research opposed to simply descriptive measurements, reliability can be
maintained (Babbie, 2005). This research surveys twenty women who have been
sexually assaulted or raped on at least one occasion and can be generalized to
populations that have been sexually assaulted on one or more occasions. This
qualitative data cannot provide the level of statistical data that quantitative
research allows, meaning it cannot be used to provide statistical descriptions of
large populations; however, it can shape future quantitative research (Babbie,
2005).7
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULT
INTRODUCTION TO PARTICIPANTS
I conducted 20 interviews and I have stated and mentioned in this dissertation

work 10 interviews out of 20 interviews which I have conducted with 20 women
who have previously been raped or sexually assaulted on one or more than one
occasion. The names of the women have been changed to ensure confidentiality.
Using a false identity protects the confidentiality of the women and gives the
participants greater dimensionality and allows for ease of flow in the discussion.
7
Assault after effects Fargo, 2009; Messman-Moore et al., 2010;(e-book), Perception of women Combs-Lane & Smith, 2002;
Kilpatrick et al.,1997(e-book), Point of view of an assaulted women (Babbie, 2005)(internet article)
33 | P a g e
Table 2 below is a chart depicting the general demographics / summary of
assault history of the participants.
TABLE 2. SUMMARY OF ASSAULT HISTORY

NAME SUMMARY OF ASSAULT HISTORY
Munira At 8 years old, her 32-year-old step-dad assaulted
her and her sister multiple times. At 10 years old
her mom’s 28-year-old boyfriend assaulted her
multiple times. When she was 12 years old her 32-
year-old father assaulted her while her father’s
mother in- law sat by her idly.
Mabiha When Mabiha was 11 years old her uncle, who
was in his 40’s, read to her and her brother from
Tijuana Bibles and sexually assaulted her about 3
times. Two years later a different uncle, who was
in his 30’s, assaulted her in a car. When she was
14 years old, a 19- year old stalker raped her
multiple time, eventually causing her to get
pregnant. Her parents later forced her to marry her
stalker because of the pregnancy.
Aamina When Aamina was 6 years old,a 16-year old,
Drew, attempted to have intercourse with her.
Two years later her uncle Tom assaulted her along
with her two brothers and her cousins. He also
made his daughter and Aamina’s brother have sex
in a bathtub. At the age of 10 she was assaulted by
a soldier in his 50’s.
Tanuja Tanuja was 2 1/2 years old when she was first
assaulted by her mother’s friends – one male and
one female – in the front seat of a car while her
mother sat idly in the backseat. When she was 5
years old, her uncle assaulted her in a swimming
pool. At the age of 15, she was beaten and raped
on a daily basis by a 16-year-old who eventually
impregnated her. He later kidnapped her from a
maternity home and took her to New Mexico
where his girlfriend stabbed her several times
while she was pregnant.
Bilquis Bilquis was drugged and sexually assaulted by her
40-year-old step-father when she was 13 years old
on a monthly basis. The drugs caused her to be
unconscious for three days at a time. Her 26 year
old husband beat and raped her when she was 18
34 | P a g e
years old.
Jasmin Jasmin was 18 years old when her 35-year-old

ounselli sexually assaulted her by grabbing her by
the waist and humping her.
When she was 20 years old she was attacked by
three men in their 20’s, one of whom was a police
officer.
Sandhya Sandhya’s 68-year-old grandfather sexually
assaulted her when she was 8 years old. Her
grandmother stood frozen when Sandhya asked
her for help during the assault. Sandhya told her
parents who told the police and got her ounselling
to deal with the trauma.
Pooja Pooja’s 35-year-old teacher sexually assaulted her

and her friend at least three times per week when
she was 13 years old. He made them stay after
class because they were “in trouble.” Pooja was at
a club and had been using copious amounts of
drugs and alcohol, when she was assaulted,
beaten, and raped by numerous perpetrators. She
only remembers parts of the assault but had
significant bruising around her neck and on her
body.
Rashmi Rashmi was 20 years old when she was sexually
assaulted by her 19-year-old friend in a cemetery.
She had been sexting with him the night before,
which caused her to pause before saying no.
Prajakta When Prajakta was 18 years old, she was stalked
by a 25-year-old who made a book with pictures
of him and her stitched together. While she was
still 18 years old a 45-year-old man pushed her
down and licked her toes. When she was 20 years
old a 40-yearold man showed her inappropriate
pictures and grabbed her.
8
INTRODUCTION TO RESULTS
8
Assault after effects Fargo, 2009; Messman-Moore et al., 2010;(e-book)
Perception of women Combs-Lane & Smith, 2002; Kilpatrick et al.,1997(e-book)
35 | P a g e
I have stated and mentioned in this dissertation work 10 interviews out of 20
interviews which I have conducted with 20 women who have previously been
raped or sexually assaulted on one or more than one occasion. Of those 20
women, 15 were re-victimized and only 5 were victimized on one occasion.
Within the group, there were a total of 27 re-victimizations; meaning, there was
a total of 47 sexual assaults or rapes amongst the 20 women. Out of all 47 sexual
assaults or rapes, only two qualify as stranger rape. In all other instances, the
woman was familiar with the perpetrator in some aspect. He may have been a
relative, a friend, or an acquaintance. There was a significant difference in the
average age of the victim and the average age of the perpetrator. Many of the
women were victimized during their childhood; however, many of the men who
victimized them were much older. The youngest woman who was victimized
was 2 1/2 years old and the oldest woman victimized was 27 years old. The
average age of victimization was 12.65 years old. The youngest perpetrator was
13 years old and the oldest perpetrator was about 65 years old. The average age
of the perpetrator was 31.8 years old. The average age difference between the
victim and perpetrator was 19.19 years. On average, the perpetrator was 19 years
older than the woman he victimized. There was only one case in which the
perpetrator was younger than the victim. In this instance, the victim was 20 years
old and the perpetrator was 19 years old.
Throughout the interviews, four categories became evident. The four categories
are as follows: victim thoughts, survivor thoughts, reasons for re-victimization,
and reasons for non-re-victimization. Table 4 on page 68 is a chart that
summarizes each woman and her status as victim, survivor, or a person who
transformed from a victim to a survivor. It also describes how each woman was
linked to that category.
VICTIM’S THOUGHT
The women in the study had both victim thoughts and survivor thoughts. Some
women had only victim thoughts, some women only had survivor thoughts,
while other women had victim thoughts at one point in her life and then had a
transformation where she began developing survivor thoughts.
36 | P a g e
BELIEVED SHE DESERVED IT
Victim thoughts were passive or hopeless or powerless. Every woman had

negative consequences resulting from her victimization. These negative
consequences lead some of the women to develop a victim mentality. Some
women wondered what they did to deserve to be assaulted. Two women actually
believed they asked to be assaulted. Bilquis, who was sexually assaulted by her
step-father and raped by her husband, believed she “made her bed and now she
had to lay in it” (Bilquis, personal communication, November 2013). Mabiha,
the teenager who was impregnated by her assaulter, believed her husband, also
her perpetrator, was taking her parent’s burden away. These feelings of believing
they deserved to be sexually assaulted are victim thoughts of being hopeless and
powerless and passive.
NEGETIVE SELF PERCEPTION
The sexual assault affected women in regard to how they view themselves and
their emotional health as well. Five women reported feeling dirty or disgusting.
Eight had feelings of low self-esteem. Bilquis, who was sexually assaulted by
her step-father and raped by her husband, said, “Boys told me they wanted to put
a bag over my head and screw me” (Bilquis, personal communication,
November 2013). Six women felt numb inside. Stacy, for example, whose
physically abusive husband raped her, said she felt numb inside and simply went
through the motions. Five women dissociated themselves from the event. Six
were insecure. Ruby, who was sexually assaulted on five occasions, said, “I
became very insecure; I became the girl that everyone liked to pick on … the
loser” (Ruby, personal communication, February 2013). One woman was
nervous and one was depressed. Self-blame was a prominent negative
37 | P a g e
consequence of the assault; a startling twelve women blamed herself for the
assault in some aspect. Vandana, at
13 years old ran into the bathroom in an attempt to escape her two 13 year
oldassailants, said the sexual assault changed her perception of herself
becauseshe “felt crappy and ashamed” (Vandana, personal communication,
August 2013).These thoughts of self-blame, numbness, dissociation, insecurity,
and low selfesteem are evidence of a woman with a victim mentality.
SEXUAL REMISSION
There were numerous negative consequences relating to the sexuality of the

women. Thirteen women became promiscuous or engaged in sexual
experimentation after the assault. Aamina, who was assaulted three times before
she was 11 years old, says, “If it had pants on, I would jump into bed” (Aamina,
personal communication, December 2013). Lillian, who was dragged into a
closet and assaulted at 7 years old, said, “I became promiscuous because I liked
the power I held over other boys who would become interested and I couldget
things from them” (Lillian, personal communication, July 2013).Eight women
experienced a sexual remission or a lack of initiation. Samirah, who was
assaulted by her step-father from the age of 5 to age 12, had the motto, “Wine
me, dine me, but you’re never gonna find me” (Samirah, personal
communication, September 2013).
Several women stated they experienced both promiscuity and remission at
different points after the assault. Pooja, whose teacher made her stay after class
because she was “in trouble” and assaulted her, said, “I would just fuck
anybody” (Pooja, personal communication, April 2013). Pooja also said, “I’d
have sex everywhere and anywhere, but when I was married, I didn’t want to
have sex anymore” (Pooja, personal communication, April 2013).
Two women believe they entered into an inappropriate marriage due to being
sexually assaulted. Samirah, who was made to move in with her uncle who raped
her, said the most detrimental aspect of the assault was the inappropriate
marriage she entered into. She was 19 when she married someone who was 17
years older than her, which lead her to a “whole new world of victimization and
38 | P a g e
abuse” (Samirah, personal communication, May 2013). Mabiha was 14 years old
when she was continually stalked and assaulted by a 19 year old man. Mabiha
became pregnant by her perpetrator and her parents forced her into marriage
with the perpetrator. Mabiha said, “I felt like Brian [her husband/perpetrator]
was taking her parent’s burden away” (Mabiha, personal communication,
August 2013). These feelings of insecurity or having a lack of agency in their
lives portray a woman who has a victim mentality rather than a survivor
mentality.
PERSONAL RELATIONS AND PERCEPTIONS

Other women had victim mentalities that were brought on by their lack of
support from their families and friends. Negative consequences of the assault as
a result of the lack of support altered the way women related to people and how
they perceived them. Ten women stated they had issues trusting people after the
assault. Sandhya was assaulted by her grandfather at the age of eight and her
grandmother walked in on the assault, but did nothing to protect her; Sandhya
said because of this incident and her grandmother’s flippant reaction she
developed issues with trusting people. Rashmi, whose sexting lead to a fear and
delayed reaction of saying “no” to the perpetrator, said she became more
distrusting of men; “I now see all men as having the potential to be a perpetrator
or rapist” (Rashmi, personal communication, December 2013). Five women
became introverted and two became perfectionists or overachievers. Two
women became attention seeking or extroverted and five became rebellious.
Samirah, who was made to move in with her uncle who raped her, said her
drinking made her be rebellious and mean, but she never wanted to hurt other
people. Three women became controlling and six stated they had anger
management issues. Pooja, whose teacher made her stay after class because she
was "in trouble" and assaulted her, said she was constantly angry and acted out
violently (Pooja, personal communication, April 2013).
SURVIVOR’S THOUGHT
MOVING ON FROM THE ASSAULT

39 | P a g e
The survivor thoughts women had were significantly different from the
victim thoughts. There were numerous positive consequences resulting
from the assaults the women experienced. They were able to see how
they positively changed due to the negative experience in their lives.
Typically the positive changes due to the assault were highlighted with
the development of survivor thoughts. Some of the survivor thoughts
were indicative of moving on from the experience. Two women believed
the positive aspects of the assault involved the consequences for the
perpetrators. When asked about a positive aspect of the assault,
Tanuja, who was first assaulted at 2 1/2 years old, said the person who
assaulted her went to jail and later committed suicide while
incarcerated. Another woman stated a positive aspect was that her
perpetrator went to jail for a significant amount of time.
EMPOWERED BY THE EXPERIENCE
Other survivor thoughts were indicative of being empowered by the

experience. The sexual assault positively affected how these women
identified with other people. Six women believe they were better mothers
due to the sexual assault. Eight women either became victim’s advocates
or helped others to be less prone to abuse through their careers or
volunteer work. Munira, who was assaulted by her step-father, mother's
boyfriend, and father, became a law enforcement officer and Lillian, who
was dragged into a closet and assaulted at 7 years old, became a
teacher. Both Munira and Lillian said they can better identify children who
are being abused. Three women think they can spot perpetrators better
than they could prior to the assault. Two women believe they have a
better understanding of men and the world. Jasmin, who was sexually
assaulted by a co worker and three other men (including a police officer),
stated, “I am more aware of risky situations, so it will not happen again”
(Jasmin, personal communication, May 2013). Lillian said she was able
to develop new relationships had it not been for the assault. She
40 | P a g e
connected with other people who had similar experiences; they had
similar topics to discuss and feelings toward the incidents. Two women
believe they are more aware of their surroundings.
POSITIVE IMPACT ON HER CHARACTER

9
Some survivor thoughts were indicative of being active in their own
healing. Some women were positively affected by the assault because of
how it impacted them as a person. Six women believe they are stronger
as a person due to the assault. One woman said she became a writer
and another woman said she developed faith. Two women said a positive
result of the victimization was her children. Two women are more patient
than they were prior to the assault. The following are a few of the survivor
thoughts that the women had. Lita, whose assailant rubbed himself on
her to the point of pain, said, "I got through it" (Lita, personal
communication, April 2013). Jhanvi, who was assaulted by her
grandfather in a cabin, says, „it didn’t affect me horribly; I came through it
well” (Jhanvi, personal communication, December 2013). Samirah, who
was made to move in with her uncle who raped her, says, “I am blessed
and fortunate” (Samirah, personal communication, May 2013). Lillian,
who was dragged into a closet and assaulted at 7 years old, said, “I am a
success; I have my Master’s Degree, a house, two children, and two
grandchildren” (Lillian, personal communication, July 2013). Soniya,
whose 33 year old step-brother forced her to perform oral sex at a
slumber party, said, “the assault won’t hold me down” (Soniya, personal
communication, December 2012).
9
Personal interviews of assaulted and victimized women
41 | P a g e
10
CHAPTER FIVE
ARTICLES AND STATUTORY PROVISIONS
Compensation Scheme for Women Victims/Survivors of

Sexual Assault/other Crimes – 2018 set up by the NATIONAL LEGAL SERVICE AUTHORITY,
12/11, Jam Nagar House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi
INTRODUCTION / BACKGROUND
Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in W.P. (C) No. 565/2012 titled Nipun Saxena
Vs. Union of India opined that “it would be appropriate if NALSA sets up a
Committee of about 4 or 5 persons who can prepare Model Rules for Victim
Compensation for sexual offences and acid attacks taking into account the
submissions made by the learned Amicus. The learned Amicus as well as the
learned Solicitor General have offered to assist the Committee as and when
required. The Chairperson or the nominee of the Chairperson of the National
Commission for Women should be associated with the Committee.”
The Committee held rounds of meetings and it was decided to prepare a separate
“Chapter” or a “Sub-Scheme” within the existing Victim Compensation Scheme
for victims of sexual assault.
The Committee drafted Part – II of the Victims Compensation Scheme and
invited suggestions/comments from various stakeholders on the draft. Taking
into consideration the suggestions/comments, the Committee has finalized the
Compensation Scheme for women Victims/Survivors of Sexual
Assault/other Crimes and submitted the same before the Hon’ble Supreme
Court of India on 24.04.2018.
Submissions were made before the Hon’ble Bench and other stakeholders were
also heard on 10.05.2018. Additional suggestions received during the hearing
10
www.nalsa.gov.in, nalsa-dla@nic.in
42 | P a g e
were also incorporated and final Scheme was filed before the Hon’ble Supreme
Court of India on 11.05.2018. On this day, after hearing NALSA and Ld.
Amicus Curiae, Hon’ble Bench was pleased to accept this Scheme and directed
all the State Governments/UT Administrations to implement the same in their
respective States/UTs.
Hon’ble Supreme Court of India further observed that while nothing should be
taken away from this Scheme, but it does not preclude the State
Governments/UT Administrations from adding to the Scheme.
11
1. SHORT TITLE AND COMMENCEMENT
(1) This Chapter may be called the Compensation Scheme for Women
Victims/Survivors of Sexual Assault/other Crimes, 2018.
(2) It shall come into force on the date as and when ordered by Hon’ble Supreme
Court of India.
(3) It shall apply to the victims and their dependent(s) who have suffered loss,
injury, as the case may be, as a result of the offence committed and who require
rehabilitation.
11
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2. DEFINITIONS
1) In this Chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:—

(a) “Code” means the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974);
(b) ‘Dependent’ includes husband, father, mother, grandparents, unmarried

daughter and minor children of the victim as determined by the State Legal
Services Authority or District Legal Services Authority on the basis of the report
of the Sub- Divisional Magistrate of the concerned area/Station House
Officer/Investigating Officer or on the basis of material placed on record by the
dependents by way of affidavit or on its own enquiry.
(c) “District Legal Services Authority” means the District Legal Services
Authority (DLSA)constituted under section 9 of the Legal Services Authorities
Act, 1987(Act 39 of 1987) for a District of the National Capital Territory of
Delhi;
(d) ‘Form’ means form appended to the Scheme as applicable to this Chapter.
(e) ‘Fund’ means State fund i.e. victim compensation fund constituted under the
State Victim Compensation Scheme.
(f) ‘Central Fund’ means funds received from CVCF Scheme, 2015.
(g) ‘Women Victim Compensation Fund’ – means a fund segregated for

disbursement for women victim, out of State Victim Compensation Fund and
Central Fund.
[Within the State Victim Compensation Fund, a separate Bank Account shall be
maintained as a portion of that larger fund which shall contain the funds
contributed under CVCF Scheme by MHA, GOI contributed from Nirbhaya
44 | P a g e
Fund apart from funds received from the State Victim Compensation Fund
which shall be utilised only for victims covered under this Chapter]
(h) ‘Government’ means ‘State Government’ wherever the State Victim
Compensation Scheme or the State Victim Compensation Fund is in context and
‘Central Government’ wherever Central Government Victim Compensation
Fund Scheme is in context and includes UTs.
(i) ‘Injury’ means any harm caused to body or mind of a female.
(j) ‘Minor’ means a girl child who has not completed the age of 18 years.
(k) ‘Offence’ means offence committed against women punishable under IPC or
any other law.
(l) ‘Penal Code’ means Indian Penal Code, 1860 (45 of 1860);
(m) ‘Schedule’ means schedule applicable to this Chapter/Part of the scheme.
(n) “State Legal Services Authority” means the State Legal Services Authority
(SLSA), as defined in Section 6 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (39
of 1987)
(o) ‘Sexual Assault Victims” means female who has suffered mental or physical
injury or both as a result of sexual offence including Sections 376 (A) to (E),
Section 354 (A) to (D), Section 509 IPC.
(p) ‘Woman Victim/ survivor of other crime’ means a woman who has
suffered physical or mental injury as a result of any offence mentioned in the
attached Schedule including Sections 304 B, Section 326A, Section 498A IPC
(in case of physical injury of the nature specified in the schedule) including the
attempts and abetment.
45 | P a g e
(2) Words and expressions used in this Chapter and not defined here, shall have
the same meaning as assigned to them in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
or/and the Indian Penal Code, 1860.12
3. WOMEN VICTIMS COMPENSATION FUND
(1) There shall be a Fund, namely, the Women Victims Compensation Fund
from which the amount of compensation, as decided by the State Legal Services
Authority or District Legal Services Authority, shall be paid to the women
victim or her dependent(s) who have suffered loss or injury as a result of an
offence and who require rehabilitation.
(2) The ‘Women Victims Compensation Fund’ shall comprise the following:-
(a) Contribution received from CVCF Scheme, 2015.
(b) Budgetary allocation in the shape of Grants-in-aid to SLSA for which
necessary provision shall be made in the Annual Budget by the Government;
(c) Any cost amount ordered by Civil/Criminal Tribunal to be deposited in this
Fund.
(d) Amount of compensation recovered from the wrong doer/accused under
clause 14 of the Scheme;
(e) Donations/contributions from International/ National/ Philanthropist/
Charitable Institutions/ Organizations and individuals permitted by State or
Central Government.
(f) Contributions from companies under CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)
(3) The said Fund shall be operated by the State Legal Services Authority
(SLSA).
4. ELIGIBILITY FOR COMPENSATION –
12
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A woman victim or her dependent (s) as the case may be, shall be eligible for
grant of compensation from multiple schemes applicable to her. However, the
compensation received by her in the other schemes with regard to Section 357-B
Cr.P.C., shall be taken into account while deciding the quantum in the such
subsequent application.
5. PROCEDURE FOR MAKING APPLICATION BEFORE

THE SLSA OR DLSA—
Mandatory Reporting of FIRs: - SHO/SP/DCP shall mandatorily share soft/hard
copy of FIR immediately after its registration with State Legal Services
Authority/District Legal Services Authority qua commission of offences covered
in this Scheme which include Sections 326A, 354A to 354D, 376A to 376E,
304B, 498A (in case of physical injury covered in this Schedule), so that the
SLSA/DLSA can, in deserving cases, may suo-moto initiate preliminary
verification of facts for the purpose of grant of interim compensation.
An application for the award of interim/ final compensation can be filed by the
Victim and/or her Dependents or the SHO of the area before concerned SLSA or
DLSA. It shall be submitted in Form ‘I’ along with a copy of the First
Information Report (FIR) or criminal complaint of which cognizance is taken by
the Court and if available Medical Report, Death Certificate, wherever
applicable, copy of judgment/ recommendation of court if the trial is over.
6. PLACE OF FILING OF APPLICATION—
The application/recommendation for compensation can be moved either before

the State Legal Services Authority or the concerned District Legal Services
Authority or it can be filed online on a portal which shall be created by all State
Legal Services Authorities. The Secretary of the respective DLSA shall decide
the application/ recommendation moved before him/her as per the Scheme.
47 | P a g e
Explanation: In case of acid attack victim the deciding authority shall be
Criminal Injury Compensation Board as directed by Hon’ble Supreme Court in
Laxmi vs. Union of India W.P.CRML 129/2006 order dated 10.04.2015 which
includes Ld. District & Sessions Judge, DM, SP, Civil Surgeon/CMO of the
district.
7. RELIEFS THAT MAY BE AWARDED BY THE STATE OR

DISTRICT LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITY. –
The SLSA or DLSA may award compensation to the victim or her dependents to the
extent as specified in the scheduled attached hereto.
8. FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED WHILE AWARDING

COMPENSATION –
While deciding a matter, the State Legal Services Authority/District Legal
Services Authority may take into consideration the following factors relating to
the loss or injury suffered by the victim:
(1) Gravity of the offence and severity of mental or physical harm or injury
suffered by the victim;
(2) Expenditure incurred or likely to be incurred on the medical treatment for

physical and/or mental health including counselling of the victim, funeral,
travelling during investigation/ inquiry/ trial (other than diet money);
(3) Loss of educational opportunity as a consequence of the offence, including

absence from school/college due to mental trauma, bodily injury, medical
treatment, investigation and trial of the offence, or any other reason;
(4) Loss of employment as a result of the offence, including absence from place
of employment due to mental trauma, bodily injury, medical treatment,
investigation and trial of the offence, or any other reason;
(5) The relationship of the victim to the offender, if any;

48 | P a g e
(6) Whether the abuse was a single isolated incidence or whether the abuse took
place over a period of time;
(7) Whether victim became pregnant as a result of the offence, whether she had
to undergo Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP)/ give birth to a child,
including rehabilitation needs of such child;
(8) Whether the victim contracted a sexually transmitted disease (STD) as a

result of the offence;
(9) Whether the victim contracted human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as a
result of the offence;
(10) Any disability suffered by the victim as a result of the offence;
(11) Financial condition of the victim against whom the offence has been
committed so as to determine her need for rehabilitation and re-integration needs
of the victim.
(12) In case of death, the age of deceased, her monthly income, number of
dependents, life expectancy, future promotional/growth prospects etc.
(13) Or any other factor which the SLSA/DLSA may consider just and
sufficient.13
9. PROCEDURE FOR GRANT OF COMPENSATION—
1) Wherever, a recommendation is made by the court for compensation under

sub-sections (2) and/or (3) of Section 357A of the Code, or an application is
made by any victim or her dependent(s), under sub-section (4) of Section 357A
of the Code, to the State Legal Services Authority or District Legal Services
Authority, for interim compensation it shall prima-facie satisfy itself qua
13
NALSA’s “Compensation Scheme for women Victims/Survivors of Sexual Assault/other Crimes -2018”
49 | P a g e
compensation needs and identity of the victim. As regards the final
compensation, it shall examine the case and verify the contents of the claim with
respect to the loss/injury and rehabilitation needs as a result of the crime and
may also call for any other relevant information necessary for deciding the
claim.
Provided that in deserving cases and in all acid attack cases, at any time after
commission of the offence, Secretary, SLSA or Secretary, DLSA may suo moto
or after preliminary verification of the facts proceed to grant interim relief as
may be required in the circumstances of each case. (2) The inquiry as
contemplated under sub-section (5) of Section 357A of the Code, shall be
completed expeditiously and the period in no case shall exceed beyond sixty
days from the receipt of the claim/petition or recommendation: Provided that in
cases of acid attack an amount of Rs. One lakh shall be paid to the victim within
15 days of the matter being brought to the notice of DLSA. The order granting
interim compensation shall be passed by DLSA within 7 days of the matter
being brought to its notice and the SLSA shall pay the compensation within 8
days of passing of the order. Thereafter, an amount of Rs. 2 lakhs shall be paid
to the victim as expeditiously as possible and positively within two months of
the first payment* Provided further that the victim may also be paid such further
amount as is admissible under this Scheme.
(3) After consideration of the matter, the SLSA or DLSA, as the case may be,
upon its satisfaction, shall decide the quantum of compensation to be awarded to
the victim or her dependent(s) taking into account the factors enumerated in
Clause 8 of the Scheme, as per schedule appended to this chapter. However, in
deserving cases, for reasons to be recorded, the upper limit may be exceeded.
Moreover, in case the victim is minor, the limit of compensation shall be deemed
to be 50% higher than the amount mentioned in the Schedule appended to this
chapter.
* Victims of Acid attack are also entitled to additional compensation of Rs. 1 lac
under Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund vide memorandum no.
24013/94/Misc./2014-CSR-III/GoI/MHA dated 09.11.2016(copy attached)
50 | P a g e
Victims of Acid Attack are also entitled to additional special financial assistance
up to Rs. 5 lacs who need treatment expenses over and above the compensation
paid by the respective State/UTs in terms of Central Victim Compensation Fund
Guidelines-2016, no. 24013/94/Misc/2014-CSR.III, MHA/GoI
(4) The SLSA/DLSA may call from any record or take assistance from any
Authority/Establishment/Individual/ Police/Court concerned or expert for
smooth implementation of the Scheme.
(5) In case trial/appellate court gives findings that the criminal complaint and the
allegation were false, then Legal Services Authority may initiate proceedings for
recovery of compensation, if any, granted in part or full under this Scheme,
before the Trial Court for its recovery as if it were a fine.14
10. THE ORDER TO BE PLACED ON RECORD—
Copy of the order of interim or final compensation passed under this Scheme
shall be placed on record of the trial Court so as to enable the trial Court to pass
an appropriate order of compensation under Section 357 of the Code. A true
copy of the order shall be provided to the IO in case the matter is pending
investigation and also to the victim/dependent as the case may be. 11.
METHOD OF DISBURSEMENT OF COMPENSATION—
(1) The amount of compensation so awarded shall be disbursed by the SLSA by

depositing the same in a Bank in the joint or single name of the
victim/dependent(s). In case the victim does not have any bank account, the
DLSA concern would facilitate opening of a bank account in the name of the
victim and in case the victim is a minor along with a guardian or in case, minor
is in a child care institution, the bank account shall be opened with the
Superintendent of the Institution as Guardian. However, in case the victim is a
foreign national or a refugee, the compensation can be disbursed by way of cash
14
51 | P a g e
cards. Interim amount shall be disbursed in full. However, as far as the final
compensation amount is concerned, 75% (seventy five percent) of the same shall
be put in a fixed deposit for a minimum period of three years and the remaining
25% (twenty five percent) shall be available for utilization and initial expenses
by the victim/dependent(s), as the case may be.
(2) In the case of a minor, 80% of the amount of compensation so awarded, shall
be deposited in the fixed deposit account and shall be drawn only on attainment
of the age of majority, but not before three years of the deposit. Provided that in
exceptional cases, amounts may be withdrawn for educational or medical or
other pressing and urgent needs of the beneficiary at the discretion of the SLSA/
DLSA.
(3) The interest on the sum, if lying in FDR form, shall be credited directly by
the bank in the savings account of the victim/dependent(s), on monthly basis
which can be withdrawn by the beneficiary
12. INTERIM RELIEF TO THE VICTIM—

The State Legal Services Authority or District Legal Services Authority, as the
case may be, may order for immediate first-aid facility or medical benefits to be
made available free of cost or any other interim relief (including interim
monetary compensation) as deemed appropriate, to alleviate the suffering of the
victim on the certificate of a police officer, not below the rank of the officer-in-
charge of the police station, or a Magistrate of the area concerned or on the
application of the victim/ dependents or suo moto. Provided that as soon as the
application for compensation is received by the SLSA/DLSA, a sum of
Rs.5000/- or as the case warrants up to Rs. 10,000/- shall be immediately
disbursed to the victim through preloaded cash card from a Nationalised Bank
by the Secretary, DLSA or Member Secretary, SLSA. Provided that the, interim
relief so granted shall not be less than 25 per cent of the maximum compensation
awardable as per schedule applicable to this Chapter, which shall be paid to the
victim in totality.
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Provided further that in cases of acid attack a sum of Rs. One lakh shall be paid
to the victim within 15 days of the matter being brought to the notice of
SLSA/DLSA. The order granting interim compensation shall be passed by the
SLSA/DLSA within 7 days of the matter being brought to its notice and the
SLSA shall pay the compensation within 8 days of passing of order. Thereafter
an additional sum of Rs.2 lakhs shall be awarded and paid to the victim as
expeditiously as possible and positively within two months.
13. RECOVERY OF COMPENSATION AWARDED TO THE

VICTIM OR HER DEPENDENT(S)—
Subject to the provisions of sub-section (3) of Section 357A of the Code, the
State Legal Services Authority, in proper cases, may institute proceedings before
the competent court of law for recovery of the compensation granted to the
victim or her dependent(s) from person(s) responsible for causing loss or injury
as a result of the crime committed by him/her. The amount, so recovered, shall
be deposited in Woman Victim Compensation Fund.
14. DEPENDENCY CERTIFICATE—
The authority empowered to issue the dependency certificate shall issue the
same within a period of fifteen days and, in no case, this period shall be
extended: Provided that the SLSA/DLSA, in case of non-issuance of
Dependency Certificate, after expiry of 15 days, may proceed on the basis of an
affidavit to be obtained from the claimant.
15. MINOR VICTIMS –

That in case the victim is an orphaned minor without any parent or legal
guardian the immediate relief or the interim compensation shall be disbursed to
the Bank Account of the child, opened under the guardianship of the
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Superintendent, Child Care Institutions where the child is lodged or in absence
thereof, DDO/SDM, as the case may be.
16. LIMITATION-
Under the Scheme, no claim made by the victim or her dependent(s), under sub-
section (4) of Section 357A of the Code, shall be entertained after a period of 3
years from the date of occurrence of the offence or conclusion of the trial.
However, in deserving cases, on an application made in this regard, for reasons
to be recorded, the delay beyond three years can be condoned by the
SLSAs/DLSAs.
17. APPEAL:
In case the victim or her dependents are not satisfied with the quantum of
compensation awarded by the Secretary, DLSA, they can file appeal within 30
days from the date of receipt of order before the Chairperson, DLSA.
Provided that, delay in filing appeal may be condoned by the Appellate
Authority, for reasons to be recorded, in deserving cases, on an application made
in this regard.
18. REPEAL & SAVINGS–
(1) In case this Chapter is silent on any issue pertaining to Victim Compensation
to Women, the provisions of Victim Compensation Scheme of the State would
be applicable.
(2) Nothing in this Scheme shall prevent Victims or their dependents from
instituting any Civil Suit or Claim against the perpetrator of offence or any other
person indirectly responsible for the same.
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Explanation: It is clarified that this Chapter does not apply to minor victims
under POCSO Act, 2012 in so far as their compensation issues are to be dealt
with only by the Ld. Special Courts under Section 33 (8) of POCSO Act, 2012
and Rules (7) of the POCSO Rules, 2012.
SCHEDULE APPLICABLE TO WOMEN VICTIM OF

CRIMES
S. No. Particulars of Minimum Upper Limit of

loss or injury Limit of compensation
Compensation
1 Loss of Life Rs. 5 Lakh Rs. 10 Lakh
2 Gang Rape Rs. 5 Lakh Rs. 10 Lakh
3 Rape Rs. 4 Lakh Rs. 7 Lakh
4 Unnatural Rs. 4 Lakh Rs. 7 Lakh
Sexual Assault
5 Loss of any Rs. 2 Lakh Rs. 5 Lakh
Limb or part of
body resulting in
80% permanent
disability or
above
6 Loss of any Rs. 2 Lakh Rs. 4 Lakh
Limb or part of
body resulting in
40% and below
80% permanent
disability
7 Loss of any limb Rs. 1 Lakh Rs. 3 Lakh
or part of body
resulting in
above 20% and
below 40%
permanent
disability
8 Loss of any limb Rs. 1 Lakh Rs. 2 Lakh
or part of body
resulting in
below 20%
permanent
disability
9 Grievous Rs. 1 Lakh Rs. 2 Lakh
physical injury
or any mental
55 | P a g e
injury requiring
rehabilitation
10 Loss of Foetus Rs. 2 Lakh Rs. 3 Lakh
i.e. Miscarriage
as a result of
Assault or loss
of fertility.
11 In case of Rs.3 Lakh Rs.4 Lakh
pregnancy on
account of rape.
12 Victims of Burning:
a. In case of Rs. 7 Lakh Rs. 8 Lakh
disfigurement of
case
b. In case of more Rs. 5 Lakh Rs. 8 Lakh
than 50%
c. In case of injury Rs. 3 Lakh Rs. 7 Lakh
less than 50%
d. In case of less Rs. 2 Lakh Rs. 3 Lakh
than 20%
13 Victims of Acid Attack-
a. In case of Rs. 7 Lakh Rs. 8 Lakh
disfigurement of
face.
b. In case of injury Rs. 5 Lakh Rs. 8 Lakh
more than 50%.
c. In case of injury Rs. 3 Lakh Rs. 5 Lakh
less than 50%.
d. In case of injury Rs. 3 Lakh Rs. 4 Lakh
less than 20%
15
FORM –I
APPLICATION FOR THE AWARD OF COMPENSATION UNDER COMPENSATION
SCHEME FOR WOMEN VICTIMS/SURVIVORS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT/OTHER CRIMES,
2018 FOR INTERIM/FINAL RELIEF FOR WOMEN
15
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(ARTICLE)
STOPPING RAPE
Towards a comprehensive policy
By “Sylvia Walby, Philippa Olive, Jude Towers, Brian Francis, Sofia Strid, Andrea Krizsán, Emanuela
Lombardo, Corinne May-Chahal, Suzanne Franzway, David Sugarman, Bina Agarwal and Jo Armstrong”
( I will just use some of the content to the above article to support my research)
INTRODUCTION
Rape shatters lives. Its traumatising effects can linger for many years after the
immediate pain and suffering. Rape is a consequence and a cause of gender inequality.
It is an injury to health; a crime; a violation of women’s human rights; and costly to
both the economy and society. Stopping rape requires changes to many policies and
practices. There is no simple solution; rather, a myriad of reforms are needed to prevent
rape. New policies are being innovated around the world, north and south, which are
often intended to prevent rape and to support victims/survivors simultaneously. This
book provides an overview of the current best practice from around the world for
ending rape. In order to prevent rape, it is necessary to know what causes rape. The
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selection of the examples of good and promising practice in this book is guided by a
theory of the causes of rape. The causal pathways that lead to rape involve many of
society’s institutions. These pathways are embedded in the state and public services,
including the criminal justice system and healthcare; culture, media and education; in
other forms and contexts of violence; and in the economy. Stopping rape requires the
effective mobilisation of all of these actors and institutions. It is not a single institution
that needs to change, however: most social institutions need reform, and society needs
transforming. Prevention is not a simple matter of changing attitudes such as by
‘educating’ boys, although every reform makes a contribution. Preventing rape
requires reforms in the many institutions that make up the social system. This, in
turn, requires the deepening of the gender dimension of democracy, and a
reduction in overall gender inequalities. The enormity of the task of preventing
rape does not make it impossible. Stopping rape can be achieved step by step. In
order to achieve this goal we need institutions that support the health and welfare
of victims, deliver justice, deepen democracy, reduce gender inequalities, and
reduce other forms of violence, as well as cultural change. The theories,
evidence and practice presented in this book are a contribution to the knowledge
base needed to prevent rape.
WHAT WORKS TO PREVENT RAPE
This book is concerned with ‘what works’ to prevent rape. It identifies and
evaluates recent strategies and policy practices from around the world, including
the UK and the European Union (EU), drawing on the international academic
and policy literature. Preventing rape requires reforms to policies for major
institutions concerned with: strategy, planning and coordination; victim and
healthcare services; law and the criminal justice system; conflict zones; culture,
media and education; and the economy. Separate chapters of the book address
the reforms needed in each of these policy fields.
Strategy, planning and coordination

Strategy is needed to guide effective policy development and its implementation.
This requires the development of expertise as to ‘what works’ to reduce rape,
followed by the mainstreaming of this expertise into all relevant fields of public
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policy. It requires coordination of the actions of a myriad of relevant institutions.
It requires research, supported by data and statistics, to build theory about the
causes of rape and in order to evaluate the effectiveness of policy practices.
These developments depend on reform of the policy-making apparatus itself
through the deepening of gendered democracy, for example, by reducing the
gender imbalance in decisionmaking, from Parliament to the police. The
developments concern: strategic planning; coordination; development of
specialist services for victim-survivors; research, data and statistics; and deepening
gendered democracy.
The strategic development of effective policy to stop rape requires both the
development of specialist expertise and for actions by mainstream institutions to be
routinely informed by such expertise. The concept and practice of ‘gender
mainstreaming’ was developed when it was recognised that effective policy
development for gender equality required both the development of specialist expertise,
and also that normal policy actors incorporate these new practices into their mainstream
work. There is often a tension between the specialist expertise and the mainstream, but
this is, or at least can be, productive of deep positive changes in a broad range of policy
developments. The concept of ‘mainstreaming’ is applied here to the policy and
practices needed to stop rape. There needs to be both specialist units focused on the
development of expertise in stopping rape, and also the application of this expert
knowledge by normal policy actors in a wide range of mainstream policy domains. •
Coordination of service provision: the multiplicity of responses from a myriad of
specialist and mainstream services requires coordination at national and local level in
order to be effective. There is a need for national-level coordination and funding of
policies, and also local-level cooperation of the services needed to serve victims. At the
local level, services need coordination in order to ensure that a focus on the needs of the
victim is achieved. The international and regional levels are important for exchanging
best practice.
• Specialised services for victim-survivors: The development of specialised services
focused on the needs of the victimsurvivors is very important.
• Research, data and statistics: strategic planning requires a knowledge base to provide
the evidence to evaluate policy developments. It requires research, data and statistics.
Policies need to be assessed to find out ‘what works’ best in particular locations. It is
necessary to know how frequent rape is and how it is patterned, which requires
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population surveys. It is necessary to know how successful services are in their specific
contribution to the stopping of rape, which requires relevant administrative data. It is
necessary to develop theories, tested against evidence, as to what causes rape in order to
help theevaluation of what is effective in preventing rape.
• Deepening gendered democracy: the development of a viable strategy to prevent rape
requires the deepening of gendered democracy, reducing the gender imbalance in
decisionmaking, so that women as well as men have an effective voice in the myriad of
relevant institutions where decisions are made as to policy priorities. This includes the
voices of those who have suffered rape. Deepening the gender dimension of democracy
is part of the overarching strategy to develop the institutions, policies and practices
needed to stop rape. It is unlikely that this can be achieved without a reduction in
overall gender inequality.
Victim services and healthcare systems
It is important to look after the victim-survivors. The hurt and harms from rape
are considerable and often long lasting. It is possible to mitigate the effects of
rape by good practice, speeding healing and recovery. This is potentially offered
both by specialised standalone support services and by expert practices based
within mainstream health services. The health system is potentially an important
source of assistance to victims of rape, helping them to recover, but, if poorly
organised, it may exacerbate the problem. Looking after the victims of rape is
not only important in its own right, but it also contributes to the effectiveness of
preventative practices, for example, by helping victim-survivors to endure the
gruelling processes of the criminal justice system to secure the convictions
necessary to remove impunity from rapists. Survivors of rape also have the
potential to contribute knowledge to assist the development of the best form of
services for victims, to educate the public in the realities of rape, and to
contribute to the improvement of policies. Strengthening the ability of victim-
survivors to contribute to these processes of deterrence, public education and
policy reform is important for the prevention of rape in the future.
Law and the criminal justice system
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Rape is illegal in most places in the world, but the implementation of laws
against rape is notoriously inadequate and still needs reform. The purpose of the
criminal justice system is to stop people from committing crime by deterrence
through punishment, and by rehabilitation in prisons and treatment programmes.
But most rapists are not convicted, which generates impunity. The deterrent
effect of potential punishment depends on rapists being convicted in the courts.
This requires reforms of the criminal justice system so that rapists are more
usually convicted. This is not to promote a punitive state, but rather the
development of a gender-sensitive state, which responds to the concerns of
victim-survivors of rape.
Conflict zones
Rape is more common when other forms of violence are more common. Rape is
more frequent in zones of conflict than of peace. The use of rape as a weapon of
war has consequences for the long-term perpetuation of ethnic hatred and
political instability. The absence of effective sanctioning of offenders can be
significant in conflict zones, where informal interventions to sanction offenders
may also be absent. Attempts to reduce the higher rates of sexual violence in
conflict zones have included reducing the gender imbalance in decision-making
in peacekeeping forces. Improving the gender balance in decision making is
important in decisional arenas, from peace keeping to parliaments. Reducing war
and other forms of violence is important for reducing rape.
Culture, media and education
The prevention of rape requires the changing of minds so that no man wants to
rape. The public decJhanvition that rape is a crime, and hence wrong, offers
significant symbolic power, which may be further enhanced by the successful
use of criminal sanctions. But contemporary culture is ambiguous and
contradictory on the status of rape, not least in the new social media. Aspects of
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pornography and the commercialisation of sex can contribute to gendered
images that can be conducive to rape. Such ‘rape culture’ can have detrimental
effects on the treatment of victims by the police, juries and others. Hence,
culture, media and
education have become additional sites of action to prevent rape.
Economy
Gender inequalities in the economy matter, since it is hard to recuperate from

rape without a stable source of livelihood. In the case of domestic rape, where
sexual violence may be part of domestic violence, of a pattern of coercive
control by an intimate partner, economic inequalities are complexly entwined
with vulnerabilities to rape and other violence. Further, higher rates of violence
are in general associated with economic inequality: countries that have reduced
rates of economic inequality have lower rates of violence. Hence action to
reduce gendered economic inequalities can have immediate effects on the
wellbeing and resilience of victim-survivors as well as longer term effects on the
structure of other institutions that could act to prevent rape. Rape and other
forms of violence are linked to the economy. This perspective can be found
within both the global north and south. There are at least two major strands to
this approach identifying both processes in which violence damages the
economy and those in which economic inequality produces violence. Research
for The World Bank has identified violence as a detriment to economic
development (Moser and Shader, 1999).Redwood, a departmental director of
The World Bank, notes:‘Crime and violence erode physical, human, natural, and
social capital, undermine the investment climate, and deplete the state’s capacity
to govern. Previously regarded as an issue of criminal pathology or human
rights, violence is now recognized as a macroeconomic problem’ (quoted in
Moser and Shader, 1999, pv). The negative impact of violence on the economy
is identified in studies that estimate the cost of violence, in particular the cost of
gender-based violence against women, for economy and society. In the EU, this
is estimated to be €258 billion a year(Wallaby and Olive, 2014).There is also a
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causal pathway in the reverse direction, which appears to flow from economic
inequality to violent crime, asFajnzylber et al (1998) found in a study for The
World Bank Indeed, there are a multitude of criminological studies, largely
based in the global north, finding that economic inequality is linked to violent
crime, as in the meta-review of 63 studies by Chirico’s (1987) of 34 studies by
Hsieh and Pugh (1993),and the meta-analysis of over 200 studies by Pratt and
Cullen(2005). This is part of a wider social science literature that links violence
to other aspects of society (Wallaby, 2009, 2013; Ray,2011; Wallaby et al,
2014).Further, reductions in the amount of resourcing for services to prevent
violence against women (Towers and Wallaby, 2012) can have effects on the
level of violence. Changes in the financing of services for victim-survivors can
have an impact not only on their well-being but also on their ability to respond
through engaging in the prosecution of the rapist and in public education about
the realities of rape. These wider consequences of the funding of services for
victim-survivors can assist the prevention of further rapes.16
Gender equality
Each of these fields relevant to rape is shaped by wider gender inequalities in

society. Policy interventions to prevent rape are linked to the wider policy field
of gender equality. Addressing gendered inequalities in the economy,
governance, security and culture can improve the likelihood of successful
interventions in specific institutions that contribute to the prevention of rape.In
particular, reducing gender imbalance in decision-making improves the quality
of the decisions that are taken about priorities for resources. Violence against
women, of which rape is a particularly serious form, is a consequence of gender
inequality as well as itself contributing to that inequality (Brown miller,
16
STOPPING RAPE Towards a comprehensive policy By “Sylvia Walby, Philippa Olive, Jude Towers, Brian Francis, Sofia Strid,
Andrea Krizsán, Emanuela Lombardo, Corinne May-Chahal, Suzanne Franzway, David Sugarman, Bina Agarwal and Jo
Armstrong”(article e-book).
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1976;Kelly, 1988; Wallaby, 2009; Brown and Walk late, 2012). This connection
operates at several levels: gendered economic and cultural inequalities increase
the vulnerability of the victim and the motivation and capacity of the rapist;
gendered inequalities indecision-making and politics reduce the likelihood of
institutions prioritising rape prevention policies; and the form of the gender
regime affects the structuring of gendered institutions and the relations between
them. The development of effective policy requires input from those who have
experienced rape and from gender experts, and it requires gender balance in the
key decision-making arenas in order to secure this. Making the relevant changes
in policies requires the mobilisation of relevant actors. This in turn also requires
gender balance in each of the relevant domains of decision-making, from the
police to peacekeepers to parliamentarians. The gender imbalance in decision-
making means that women’s experiences and interests are underrepresented
when crucial decisions are made in professional bodies, parliaments and conflict
zones. Gender inequalities in the governance and practice of culture, media and
education have implications for the likelihood that these institutions propagate
rather than contest rape myths, which affect juries making
verdicts of guilt and innocence in trials.'
Rethinking ‘prevention’
The prevention of rape requires the development of practices that disrupt the
causal pathways leading to rape. In order to prevent rape, it is thus necessary to
identify the causes of rape. One approach includes ‘prevention’ within an
ambitious attempt to identify the policy architecture needed for effective
national strategies to end violence against women, articulated in the6Ps of
‘perspective, policy, prevention, provision, protection and prosecution’ (Coy et
al, 2008; Kelly et al, 2011), which has contributed to the development of UK
national strategy and plans (HM Government, 2009, 2010, 2015). Another
approach, led from public health, distinguishes between primary,secondary and
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tertiary prevention, drawing on an ‘ecological model’ (Bronfenbrenner, 1977,
1979; Heise, 1998; WHO, 2002,2014b; Loots et al, 2011; Walden and Wall,
2014). Each of these approaches to ‘prevention’ contributes important elements
to a model of causation of rape, but each has some limitations. Three revisions
of two approaches to the theorisation of prevention are proposed. First, looking
after victim-survivors helps to prevent rape.It not only helps to mitigate the
harms, but it is necessary: for the proper functioning of the legal and justice
system, that rape victims be supported to endure its processes so as to end
impunity for rapists; for the education of the public, policy-makers and
politicians, that rape victims are supported to speak out; and for the reform of the
institutions that engage with rape, that survivors confidently engage in their
reform. Services for victims are part of prevention. Second, prevention concerns
more than changes to culture, norms and attitudes. It requires reforms in all
major social institutions, not only culture, media and education; changing
attitudes is not enough. All the sites of intervention that have been identified are
relevant and important, even if of varying importance. Hence it is necessary to
have and to improve interventions in: strategic planning and decision-making;
specialised victim support; health services; law and the criminal justice system;
conflict zones; culture, media and education; and the economy. Third, the theory
of rape that underpins the strategy for prevention should draw on the concept of
‘institution’ in preference to that of ‘risk factor’, and connect the components of
the analysis using complex systems theory rather than merely statistical
correlations. It should draw on social scientific understandings of social
institutions and how these constitute the social system that is a society. The
model of prevention needs to be able to address both negative and positive
feedback loops (for example, the treatment and subsequent conduct of the
survivor).The evidence that is included should be all evidence: the field is not
yet so maturely developed, and nor is rape the type of phenomenon for which
relevant evidence can be restricted to the standards possible in medical science
(for example, random control trials and experimental methods written up in pee
review ed journals). When reviewing the knowledge base in this book, a broad
range of evidence is admitted for critical scrutiny. A more fully developed model
or theory of gender-based violence is needed. The effort put into developing an
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effective approach to ‘prevention’ (Coy et al, 2008; Kelly et al, 2011;WHO,
2002, 2014b) indicates the importance of this agenda. This new approach to
theorising rape is developed during the course of the book, and is found in the
concluding chapter.
Definitions of rape
Rape is a very serious form of violence. It is an important form of gender-based

violence against women. While all forms of gender-based violence against
women are serious, rape is especially hurtful and damaging, and can have long-
lasting consequences. Although some men are victims of rape, this is much less
common than among women. There are several approaches to defining rape.
Definitions have been developed by international bodies, in particular the United
Nations (UN)and the World Health Organization (WHO), although these are not
always in agreement. There are slight variations in definition between different
legal regimes, both those at a national level, and those of international regimes,
such as that of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (2011a).
Popular culture often uses a concept of rape that is narrower than legal
definitions, especially as concerns the conduct of the victim. Social science has
used a range of concepts of rape and their operationalization in research.
Definitions may also vary by context, for example, depending on whether it
takes place in conflict zone or not. The UN (2010a) treats violence against
women, including rape, as a form of ‘gender-based discrimination’ as well as
‘violation of women’s human rights’. Over the past two decades, violence
against women has come to be understood as a violation of women’s human
rights and as a form of gender-based discrimination. Legislation on violence
against women should be in conformity with the UN General Assembly
DecJhanvition on the elimination of violence against women (Resolution
48/104of 1993), read together with Article 1 of the Convention on the
elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (UN, 1979),and
general recommendations No 12 (1989) and 19 (1992) of the Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women (UN, 2010a, p 13).The WHO
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(2002) treats rape, other forms of sexual violence and violence in general, as
issues of public health. WHO Resolution WHA49.25 in 1996 ‘declares that
violence is a leading worldwide public health problem.’ Rape is defined as:
‘Physically forced or otherwise coerced penetration – even if slight – of the
vulva or anus, using a penis, other body parts Oran object’ (WHO, 2002, p
149).The legal definition of rape varies slightly between legal regimes. At its
core, rape is coerced violation or penetration of the body. The nature of the
coercion is variously understood as the absence of consent, the use of force, the
threat of use of force, or a wider context of generalised coercion. There are
variations in whether the penetration can be with any object or is restricted to the
penis; whether the part of the body penetrated can include the mouth or anus, or
is restricted to the vagina. In legal terms, variations in the object and orifice
determine whether rape is only ever an offence by a man against a woman, or if
men can also be victims, or women can also be perpetrators. Legal developments
are discussed in more detail in the review of law below. The popular definition
of rape is often more restricted than the legal definition. Not only the general
public, but also even survivors of actions that are legally rape are reluctant to use
the term ‘rape’ unless the circumstances are more extreme than thelaw requires
(Wallaby and Mayhill, 2001). This is probably relatedto the stigmatisation of
rape victims in popular culture (Southland Wallaby, 1991). This discrepancy
between popular and legal definitions of rape has consequences for the treatment
of victims of rape and for the conviction of rapists by courts that use juries.
Social scientific research has investigated the range of meanings attached to the
term ‘rape’, and explored the implications of the different ways in which rape is
defined in both law and popular culture. The findings from this research mean
that some recent surveys offer behavioural descriptions rather than the summary
term ‘rape’ to respondents, gaining better understanding of the meaning of the
act to the survivor (Wallaby and Allen, 2004;Fisher, 2009). Further research has
developed the concept of ‘continuum of sexual violence’ so as to capture the
way in which small events are connected to create a context that is more
threatening than the sum of its parts (Kelly, 1988).The terms ‘victim’ and
‘survivor’ are used interchangeably in this book, although there are different
connotations attached to them. The use of the more conventional term, ‘victim’,
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has-been subject to the criticism that it denies agency to the raped woman, and
hence that the term ‘survivor’ should be used instead to take account of her
actions (Kelly, 1988). However, it is also argued that to attribute agency to the
person who has-been raped is misleading since it might imply that actions bythis
person could have made a difference, and is thus consistent with victim blaming.
This study follows the practice that has developed in the field of using both
terms, ‘victim-survivor’, but when this is overly complex, the term ‘victim’ is
used, while cognisant of its limitations. ‘Forced marriage’ might be considered
to include rape, since the sex is without consent because the marriage was
‘forced’. However, since the coercion into the marriage may be from the family
and kin of the woman, rather than from the man she marries, it is not clear that
the man, who did not coerce the marriage, is, in law, a rapist. A similar issue
arises in the case of trafficking of women for purposes of sexual exploitation,
where the sex is without consent since the victim was trafficked, but where the
man may be unaware that this is the case and believes the woman to have
consented. It is not clear that the man who buys the (coerced) sex is, in law, a
rapist. In law, the rapist is person who knows that he is coercing the woman as
he rapes her, but in the cases of forced marriage and trafficking, the coercionist
being done by someone other than the person engaging in the sex. Hence, while
the man doing the sex in both of these cases is not usually considered in law to
be a rapist, from the woman’s point of view this is nevertheless sex without
consent, because of the coercive context created by others.
Comprehensive rape crisis services: sexual assault crisis team in

the US (Such services should be started in India too):-
Specialist services to support victim-survivors of rape are a necessary part of the
best practice response, with the potential to mitigate the long lasting harms
inflicted. In supporting the victim-survivors, these services also act to prevent
rape, through supporting the victim in challenging the impunity of rapists
through the criminal justice system. There are a variety of components to these
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services and their coordination so that the victim-survivor receives the best
support. SACT (Sexual AssaultCrisis Team) practice is an example of best
practice in the provision of these services. SACT is a rape crisis shelter
intervention in the US that provides residential-based support for victim-
survivors of rape, sexual assault and sex trafficking, including those in the
immediate aftermath of a rape; those coming to terms with historic rape
experiences, including as a child; and those who have returned to the area to
testify at trial. SACT has been identified as an example of best practice by a
2011 resource sharing project for the National Sexual Assault Coalition (see
www.nsvrc.org/organizations/84).The shelter was established in 2002, and
serves around 20-30 victim survivors in its shelter overnight. Unlike many
domestic violence shelters, all residential accommodation is in solo rooms to
accommodate the specific need for privacy of many rape victim-survivors. The
shelter works with both female and male victims of rape and sexual violence. Its
designed to have two completely separate sides, allowing female and male
victim-survivors’ privacy. Clients are also less likely to have young children
with them compared with those staying in domestic violence shelters.
Importantly, the board that oversees SACT is made up of people from the
communities it serves. The average stay in the shelter is three to five days,
although individuals who are looking for new housing options or who have other
needs might stay longer. There is no limit to the time SACT permits a survivor
to stay; as long as they are working towards their goals, they can keep their
residential place (Bein and Hurt, 2011).As well as residential accommodation,
SACT provides a 24-hour sexual assault hotline answered by trained advocates,
and a range of advocacy services for both residential and non-residential clients,
including hospital advocacy, legal advocacy, attorney consultation through a
specialist law project, education, training and support programmes, information
and training on date rape, stranger rape, surviving incest, inner child workshops,
ritualised or sadistic abuse, different types of harassment, support groups, for
profit, worship, or group/gang-related sexual violence and criminal activity, and
school and community safety programmes. SACT is now certified to provide
bystander training and offers an onsite campus office at the local military
academy, adding prevention programming to all aspects of the SACT
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programme (SACT, 2013). SACT is a non-profit organisation staffed by
personnel with over 40 hours of initial training in sexual violence, and ongoing
training in supporting victim-survivors of rape and sexual assault. Recipients are
female victim survivors of rape and sexual assault and male victim-survivors of
rape and sexual and domestic assault. As well as serving the local community,
referrals to SACT have also come from across the country, including California,
Connecticut, New York and Boston. The goal of SACT is to provide
comprehensive services to victim-survivors of sexual violence, including
emergency shelter and transitional housing for female victims of sexual violence
and male victim-survivors of sexual or domestic violence, legal and medical
advocacy, crisis services, support groups and educational forums. To address the
problem of sexual violence in the community, these services are designed to
meet the needs of both female and male victim-survivors, and services are also
available to victim-survivors’ non-offending family members and support
networks(SACT, 2013). SACT’s vision is that ‘the shelter serves every non-
offending human being’ (2013). SACT is designed to provide immediate support
to victim-survivors of rape, including accessing health and legal services; tore-
build victim-survivors’ self-esteem and self-confidence; and to come to terms
with what has happened to them no matter when the rape occurred (that is,
SACT works with victim-survivors in the immediate aftermath of a rape and
with those who were raped longer ago, including those adults who experienced
rape or sexual abuse as children). In addition, SACT provides training around
prevention, dating violence and healthy relationships to help prevent re-
victimisation in the future by enabling victim-survivors, non-offending family
members, high schools and colleges, the community at large, and other
professionals to better understand the nature of sexual violence, and to develop
access to independent living through education and training. Prior to the opening
of the shelter, SACT was already providing outreach services, but was having
difficulty finding appropriate shelter for victim survivors of rape. While the local
domestic violence shelter would certainly take in female sexual assault victim-
survivors, the shelter’s massive workload prevented the development of specific
services tosupport rape and sexual assault victim-survivors in their recovery.
SACT already had this expertise from running the 24-hour hotline and outreach
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services for victim-survivors of rape, and therefore the shelter was conceived of
to fill an identified need using the knowledge and skills already available in the
local rape and domestic and sexual assault support community (Bein and Hurt,
2011).In keeping with its vision (to serve every non-offending human
being),SACT provides residential services to male victims of rape, sexual and
domestic violence, as well as female victims of rape and sexual violence. This
enables SACT to address a gap in local provision because the local domestic
violence shelter was not able to house men, so male clients were being housed in
hotel rooms that did not enable a good model of support and recovery to be
delivered, and created additional concerns around client safety and client-
advocate meetings (Bein and Hurt, 2011).The shelter ensures issues of privacy
and personal safety are taken very seriously. For example, they recognised that
the shelter would need to offer bathrooms and showers that individuals could use
privately, and that shelter residents would need to be able to lock their doors and
be alone whenever they chose. All bedrooms are designed for solo occupation,
unless there is a non-offending partner whom the survivor chooses to accompany
them. While many of these requirements are similar to those for domestic
violence victim-survivors, other ‘rules ‘that work well in these types of shelters
need to be adapted to support victim-survivors of rape. SACT also houses family
members of victim survivors who have come to town to provide support in the
immediate aftermath of a rape, as well as victim-survivors who are returning to
town to deal with legal processes and trials. SACT works collaboratively with
organisations across the country, which enables it to meet the needs of diverse
range of recipients. For example, through collaborative work with the state-wide
Vermont Pride Center, SACT provides specialised services to the lesbian, gay,
bisexual, trans or questioning (LGBTQ) community, especially the transgender
community and bias/hate crime victims. Their needs for safe housing and shelter
are for longer periods of time as the violence often occurs in the home or they
are already on the streets and cannot return to their home of origin. They must
re-establish their lives in a different location. SACT also works in collaboration
with the local children’s advocacy centre, for child victims and non-offending
parents or guardians, and receives referrals from mental health agencies,
therapists, other community programmes such as the Council on Aging, as well
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as other shelters and network programmes when they have reached capacity.
SACT also provides shelter and services for victim-survivors and the
professionals who are involved in the work of stopping human sex trafficking,
including law enforcement, attorneys and both state and federal professionals.
Top ten policy reforms
1. Plan. Have a plan, a strategy, a gender-sensitive perspective, a policy, a form

of coordination, and systematic evaluation. All states should have NAPs; all
major policy bodies should have a plan.
2. Data. Have data to assess if the plan is working – surveys to measure the
extent of rape and sexual assault in society; administrative statistics to assess if
each policy body is achieving their planned contribution; and research to
investigate newinterventions.
3. Services for victim-survivors. Provide expert services and healthcare for

victim-survivors – specialised services, including mental health, expert
advocates and well-trained personnel in mainstream services.
4. Law. Ratify the Istanbul Convention and implement its provisions.
5. Criminal justice. Reduce the attrition of cases as they proceed through the
criminal justice system, from a police report to conviction, and reduce secondary
victimisation.
6. Conflict zones. Include women in decision-making in all relevant forums,

from peacekeeping troops to peace negotiations to disaster committees; prioritise
political negotiations rather than armed conflict.
72 | P a g e
7. Culture, media and education. Challenge the new and old media to reduce the
propagation of rape myths and rape culture.
8. Economy. Ensure all victims have access to income to mitigate the effects of
rape – reduce gendered economic inequalities to reduce vulnerability.
9. Reduce gender inequality. Reduce the gender inequalities that contribute to

rape and other forms of gender-based violence, such as gender imbalance in
decision-making.
10. Reduce violence. Prioritise policy options that reduce violence, so as to cease
feeding violence with violence.17
Conclusions
Hence we conclude that theories of the causation of rape need to deepen in
sophistication in order to better establish the foundations for policy based on
‘what works’. It is necessary to go beyond the simple models of rape that
identify only the ‘risk factors’ that affect the vulnerability of victims to rape and
the propensity of men to rape. It is important to build a complex systems model
that includes each of the institutions that currently contributes to rape, and that
could potentially be part of prevention. Each of the relevant institutions has an
effect not only on individuals, but also on the other institutions relevant to rape.
The effects of institutions on institutions are important – they should not be
neglected, as is often the case in the ‘risk factor’ model. One implication is that
better provision for victim-survivors of rape can prevent rape, in addition to
mitigating its harms. Better provision of services has been focused on mitigating
the harms of rape on the victim-survivor. But it has wider effects. Abetter
supported victim-survivor is more able to effect change son relevant institutions.
Stronger victim-survivors are better able to endure the criminal justice system,
thereby leading to higher conviction rates; to speak out and educate the public
and policy-makers on the reality of rape, thereby challenging rape myths; and
17
Tewksbury, R., Jennings, W.G. and Zgoba, K. (2012) ‘A longitudinal examination of sex offender recidivism prior
to and following the implementation of SORN’, Behavioral Sciences and the Law, vol 30, no 3, pp 308-28.
73 | P a g e
thus to contribute to rape prevention. The institutions relevant to the causation
and prevention of rape are themselves shaped by wider societal forms, including
the gender regime and the system of violence. Gender regimes vary in gendered
economic inequalities, gendered imbalances in decision-making, gendered
participation in civil society, and gendered violence. Variations in gender
inequality shape the institutions of the system of rape: reducing gendered
inequalities reduces rape. Societies vary in the extent to which they are violent:
institutions generating violence cluster so that if there is more of one form of
violence, there are more of the other forms of violence. Reducing violence
overall reduces rape. The production and prevention of rape can be understood
to occur at three levels of analysis: societal-level systems (gender regimes,
overall violence); social institutions (planning/political, health, law and criminal
justice, conflict/military, civil society, economy); and individual victims and
rapists.18
IMMORAL TRAFFIC PREVENTION ACT, 1956

( Let us go through some of the relevant part and sections of the Immoral
traffic prevention Act, 1956)
2. Definitions.—
In this Act. unless the context otherwise requires—(a) “brothel“ includes any
house, room, conveyance or place, or any portion of any house, room,
conveyance or place, which is used for purposes of sexual exploitation or abuse
for the gain of another person or for the mutual gain of two or more prostitutes;
(aa) “child“ means a person who has not completed the age of sixteen years;
(b) “corrective institution“ means an institution, by whatever name called (being
an institution established or licensed as such under Section 21), in which
persons, who are in need of correction, may be detained under this Act, and
includes a shelter where under trials may be kept in pursuance of this Act;
(c) “magistrate“ means a Magistrate specified in the second column of the
Schedule as being competent to exercise the powers conferred by the section in
18
Tewksbury, R., Jennings, W.G. and Zgoba, K. (2012) ‘A longitudinal examination of sex offender recidivism prior
to and following the implementation of SORN’, Behavioral Sciences and the Law, vol 30, no 3, pp 308-28.
74 | P a g e
which the expression occurs and which is specified in the first column of the
Schedule;
(ca) “major“ means a person who has completed the age of eighteen years;19
(cb) “minor“ means a person who has completed the age of sixteen years but has
not completed the age of eighteen years;
(d) “prescribed“ means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(e) [1] [ * * * * * * ].
(f) “prostitution“ means the sexual exploitation or abuse of persons for
commercial purposes, and the expression “prostitute” shall be construed
accordingly;
(g) “protective home“ means an institution, by whatever name called being an
institution established or licensed as such under Section 21), in which persons
who are in need of care and protection, may be kept under this Act and where
appropriate technically qualified persons, equipment’s and other facilities have
been provided but does not include,—
(i) a shelter where under trials may be kept in pursuance of this Act, or
(ii) a corrective institution;
(h) “public place“ means any place intended for use by, or accessible to, the
public and includes any public conveyance;
(i) “special police officer” means a police officer appointed by or on behalf of
the State government to be in charge of police duties within a specified area for
the purpose of this Act;
(j) “trafficking police officer“ means a police officer appointed by the Central
Government under sub-section (4) of Section 13.
Comments
Prostitution—Police raid—Nine girls recovered—Enquiry conducted under Sec.

17—Medical examination report stating to have had sexual intercourse within a
week before examination— Detention order—Appeal—No evidence as to
petitioners living in or carrying on prostitution brothel at time of raid—No
evidence to prove that petitioners were seducing any person for the purpose of
19
Immoral traffic prevention Act, 1956(https://legislative.gov.in)
75 | P a g e
prostitution—Profession of accused stated to be dancing & singing—Held :—
Sexual intercourse by itself is not an offence—Prostitution by itself is not an
offence—Petition allowed. Kumari Sangeeta v. State and another. 1996 Cr.R.
129 (Delhi)
2-A. Rule of construction regarding enactments not extending to Jammu and

Kashmir .—Any reference in this Act to a law which is not in force in the State
of Jammu and Kashmir shall in relation to that State, be construed as a reference
to the corresponding law, if any, in force in that State.
3. Punishment for keeping a brothel or allowing premises to be used as a brothel.

— (1) Any person who keeps or manages, or acts or assists in the keeping or
management of, a brothel, shall be punishable on first conviction with rigorous
imprisonment for a term of not less than one year and not more than three years
and also with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees and in the event of
a second or subsequent to conviction with rigorous imprisonment for a term of
not less than two years and not more than five years and also with fine which
may extend to two thousand rupees.
(2) a any person who,—(a) being the tenant, lessee, occupier or person in charge
of any premises, uses, or knowingly allows any other person to use, such
premises or any part thereof as a brothel, or
(b) being the owner, lessor or landlord of any premises or the agent of such
owner, lessor or landlord, lets the same or any part thereof with the knowledge
that the same or any part thereof is intended to be used as a brothel, or is wilfully
a party to the use of such premises or any part thereof as a brothel, shall be
punishable on first conviction with imprisonment for a term which may extend
to two years and with fine which fine which may extend to two thousand rupees
and in the event of a second or subsequent conviction, with rigorous
imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and also with fine.
(2-A) For the purposes of sub-section (2), it shall be presumed, until the contrary
is proved, that any person referred to in clause (a) or clause (b) of that sub-
section, is knowingly allowing the premises or any part thereof to be used as a
76 | P a g e
brothel or, as the case may be, has knowledge that the premises or any part
thereof are being used as a brothel, if,—
(a) a report is published in a newspaper having circulation in the area in which

such person resides to the effect that the premises or any part thereof have been
found to be used for prostitution as a result of a search made under this Act; or
(b) a copy of the list of all things found during the search referred to in clause (a)
is given to such person.
(3) Notwithstanding any thing contained in any other law for the time being in
force, on conviction of any person referred to in clause (a) or clause (d) of sub-
section (2) of any offence under that sub-section in respect of any premises or
any part thereof, any lease or agreement under which such premises have been
leased out or held or occupied at the time of the commission of the offence, shall
become void and inoperative with effect from the date of the said conviction.
4. Punishment for living on the earnings of prostitution .—(1) Any person over
the age of eighteen years who knowingly lives, wholly or in part, on the earnings
of the prostitution of any other person shall be punishable with imprisonment for
a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to one
thousand rupees, or with both, and where such earnings relate to the prostitution
of a child or a minor, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term of not
less than seven years and not more than ten years.
(2) Where any person over the age of eighteen years is proved,—
(a) to be living with, or to be habitually in the company of, a prostitute; or
(b) to have exercised control, direction or influence over the movements of a

prostitute in such a manner as to show that such person is aiding abetting or
compelling her prostitution; or
77 | P a g e
(c) to be acting as a tout or pimp on behalf of a prostitute, it shall be presumed,
until the contrary is proved, that such person is knowingly living on the earnings
of prostitution of another person within the meaning of sub-section (1).
5. Procuring, inducing or taking person for the sake of prostitution.—(1) Any

person who—
(a) procures or attempts to procure a person whether with or without his/her

consent, for the purpose of prostitution; or
(b) induces a person to go from any place, with the intent that he/she may for the
purpose of prostitution become the inmate of, or frequent, a brothel; or
(c) takes or attempts to take a person or causes a person to be taken, from one
place to another with a view to his/her carrying on, or being brought up to carry
on prostitution ; or
(d) causes or induces a person to carry on prostitution;
shall be punishable on conviction with rigorous imprisonment for a term of not

less than three years and not more than seven years and also with fine which
may extend to two thousand rupees, and if any offence under this sub-section is
committed against the will of any person, the punishment of imprisonment for a
term of seven years shall extend to imprisonment for a term of fourteen years:
Provided that if the person in respect of whom an offence committed under this
sub-section,—
(i) is a child, the punishment provided under this sub-section shall extend to
rigorous imprisonment for a term of not less than seven years but may extend to
life; and
(ii) is a minor, the punishment provided under this sub-section shall extend to
rigorous imprisonment for a term of not less than seven years and not more than
fourteen years.
[2] (2) [ **** ** ]

(3) An offence under this section shall be triable,—
78 | P a g e
(a) in the place from which a person is procured, induced to go, taken or caused
to be taken or from which an attempt to procure or taken such persons made; or
(b) in the place to which she may have gone as a result of the inducement or to
which he/she is taken or caused to be taken or an attempt to take him/her is
made.
6. Detaining a person in premises where prostitution is carried on.—(1) Any

person who detains any other person, whether with or without his consent,—
(a) in any brothel, or (b) in or upon any premises with intent that such person
may have sexual intercourse with a person who is not the spouse of such person,
shall be punishable on conviction, with imprisonment of either description for a
term which shall not be less than seven years but which may be for life or for a
term which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine:
Provided that the court may for adequate and special reasons to be mentioned in
the judgment, impose a sentence of imprisonment for a term which may be less
than seven years.
(2) Where any person is found with a child in a brothel, it shall be presumed,
unless the contrary is proved, that he has committed an offence under sub-
section (1).
(2-A) Where a child or minor found in a brothel, is, on medical examination,

detected to have been sexually abused, it shall be presumed unless the contrary
is proved, that the child or minor has been detained for purposes of prostitution
or, as the case may be, has been sexually exploited for commercial purposes.
(3) A person shall be presumed to detain a person in a brothel or in upon any

premises for the purpose of sexual intercourse with a man other than her lawful
husband, if such person, with intent to compel or induce her to remain there,—
(a) with holds from her any jewellery, wearing apparel, money or other property
belonging to her, or
79 | P a g e
(b) threatens her with legal proceedings if she takes away with her any jewellery,
wearing apparel, money or other property lent or supplied to her by or by the
direction of such person.
(4) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, no suit, prosecution or other legal
proceeding shall lie against such woman or girl at the instance of the person by
whom she has been detained, for the recovery of any jewellery, wearing apparel
or other property alleged to have been lent or supplied to or for such woman or
girl or to have been pledged by such woman or girl or for the recovery of any
money alleged to be payable by such woman or girl.
7. Prostitution in or in the vicinity of public place.—(1) Any person who carries

on prostitution and the person with whom such prostitution is carried on, in any
premises:(a) which are within the area or areas, notified under sub-section (3),
or(b) which are within a distance of two hundred meters of any place of public
religious worship, educational institution, hotel, hospital, nursing home or such
other public place of any kind as may be notified in this behalf by the
Commissioner of Police or Magistrate in the manner prescribed, shall be
punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months.
(1-A) Where an offence committed under sub-section (1) is in respect of a child

or minor, the person committing the offence shall be punishable with
imprisonment of either description for a term which not be less than seven years
but which may be for life or for a term which may extend to ten years and shall
also be liable to fine:
Provided that the Court may, for adequate and special reasons to be mentioned
in the judgment, impose a sentence of imprisonment for a term of less than seven
years.
(2) Any person who:

(a) being the keeper of any public place knowingly permits prostitutes for
purposes of their trade to resort to or remain in such place; or
80 | P a g e
(b) being the tenant, lessee, occupier or person in charge of any premises
referred to in subsection(1) knowingly permits the same or any part thereof to be
used for prostitution; or
(c) being the owner, lessor or landlord of any premises referred to in sub-section
(1), or the agent of such owner, lessor or landlord, lets the same or any part
thereof with the knowledge that the same or any part thereof may be used for
prostitution, or is wilfully a party to such use.
shall be punishable on first conviction with imprisonment for a term which may
extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees, or
with both, and in the event of a second or subsequent conviction with
imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months and also with fine,
which may extend to two hundred rupees, and if the public place or premises
happen to be a hotel, the license for carrying on the business of such hotel under
any law for the time being in force shall also be liable to be suspended for a
period of not less than three months but which may extend to one year:
17-A. Conditions to be observed before placing persons rescued under Section

16 to parents or guardians .—Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section
(2) of Section 17, the magistrate making an inquiry under Section 17, may,
before passing an order for handing over any person rescued under Section 16 to
the parents, guardian or husband, satisfy himself about the capacity or
genuineness of the parents, guardian or husband to keep such person by causing
an investigation to be made by a recognised welfare institution or organisation.
18. Closure of brothel and eviction of offenders from the premises .—(1) A
Magistrate may, on receipt of information from the police or otherwise, that any
house, room, place or any portion thereof within a distance of two hundred
metres of any public place referred to in sub-section (1)of Section 7 is being run
or used as a brothel by any person, or is being used by prostitutes for carrying on
their trade, issue notice on the owner, lessor or landlord or such house, room,
place or portion or the agent of the owner, lessor or landlord or on the tenant,
lessee, occupier of, or any other person in charge of such house, room, place, or
81 | P a g e
portion, to show cause within seven days of the receipt of the notice why the
same should not be attached for improper use there of,and if, after hearing the
person concerned, the Magistrate is satisfied that the house, room, place or
portion is being used as a brothel or for carrying on prostitution, then the
Magistrate may pass orders,—
(a) directing eviction of the occupier within seven days of the passing of the
order from the house, room, place, or portion;
(b) directing that before letting it out during the period of one year or in a case
where a child or minor has been found in such house, room, place or portion
during a search under Section 15,during the period of three years, immediately
after the passing of the order, the owner, lessor or landlord or the agent of the
owner, lessor or landlord shall obtain the previous approval of the Magistrate;
20. Removal of prostitute from any place.—(1) A Magistrate on receiving

information that any person residing in or frequenting any place within the local
limits of his jurisdiction is a prostitute, may record the substance of the
information received and issue a notice to such person requiring her to appear
before the Magistrate and show cause why she should not be required to remove
herself from the place and be prohibited form re-entering it.20
THE INDECENT REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN

PROHIBITION ACT, 1986
( Let us go through some of the relevant part and sections of The Indecent
representation of women prohibition Act, 1986)21
20
Immoral traffic prevention Act, 1956(https://legislative.gov.in)
The Indecent Representation of Women Prohibition, Act 1986 (https://legislative.gov.in)
21
82 | P a g e
An Act to prohibit indecent representation of women through advertisements or
in publications, writings, paintings, figures or in any other manner and for
matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

(a) “advertisement” includes any notice, circular, label, wrapper or other
document and also includes any visible representation made by means of any
light, sound, smoke or gas;
(b) “distribution” includes distribution by way of samples whether free or
otherwise;
(c) “indecent representation of women” means the depiction in any manner of
the figure of a woman, her form or body or any part thereof in such a way as to
have the effect of being indecent, or derogatory to, or denigrating, women, or is
likely to deprave, corrupt or injure the public morality or morals;
(d) “label” means any written, marked, stamped, printed or graphic matter,
affixed to, or appearing upon, any package;
(e) “package” includes a box, carton, tin or other container;
(f) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act.
3. Prohibition of advertisements containing indecent representation of

women.—No person shall publish, or cause to be published, or arrange or take
part in the publication or exhibition of, any advertisement which contains
indecent representation of women in any form.
4. Prohibition of publication or sending by post of books, pamphlets, etc.,
containing indecent representation of women.—No person shall produce or
cause to be produced, sell, let to hire, distribute, circulate or send by post any
book, pamphlet, paper, slide, film, writing, drawing, painting, photograph,
representation or figure which contains indecent representation of women in any
form:
Provided that nothing in this section shall apply to—

(a) any book, pamphlet, paper, slide, film, writing, drawing, painting,
photograph, representation or figure—
83 | P a g e
(i) the publication of which is proved to be justified as being for the public good
on the ground that such book, pamphlet, paper, slide, film, writing, drawing,
painting, photograph, representation or figure is in the interest of science,
literature, art, or learning or other objects of general concern; or
(ii) which is kept or used bona fide for religious purposes;
(b) any representation sculptured, engraved, painted or otherwise represented on

or in—
(i) any ancient monument within the meaning of the Ancient Monument and
Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 (24 of 1958); or
(ii) any temple, or on any car used for the conveyance of idols, or kept or used
for any religious purpose;
(c) any film in respect of which the provisions of Part II of the Cinematograph
Act, 1952 (37 of 1952), will be applicable.
5. Powers to enter and search.—(1) Subject to such rules as may be prescribed,

any Gazetted Officer authorised by the State Government may, within the local
limits of the area for which he is so authorised,—
(a) enter and search at all reasonable times, with such assistance, if any, as he
considers necessary, any place in which he has reason to believe that an offence
under this Act has been or is being committed;
(b) seize any advertisement or any book, pamphlet, paper, slide film, writing,
drawing, painting, photograph, representation or figure which he has reason to
believe contravenes any of the provisions of this Act;
(c) examine any record, register, document or any other material object found in
any place mentioned in clause (a) and seize the same if he has reason to believe
that it may furnish evidence of the commission of an offence punishable under
this Act:
Provided that no entry under this sub-section shall be made into a private
dwelling house without a warrant:
Provided further that the power of seizure under this sub-section may be
exercised in respect of any document, article or thing which contains any such
advertisement, including the contents, if any, of such document, article or thing,
84 | P a g e
if the advertisement cannot be separated by reason of its being embossed or
otherwise from such document, article or thing without affecting the integrity,
utility or saleable value thereof.
(2) The provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), shall,
so far as may be, apply to any search or seizure under this Act as they apply to
any search or seizure made under the authority of a warrant issued under section
94 of the said Code.
(3) Where any person seizes anything under clause (b) or clause (c) of sub-
section (1), he shall, as soon as may be, inform the nearest Magistrate and take
his orders as to the custody thereof.
6. Penalty.—Any person who contravenes the provisions of section 3 or section
4 shall be punishable on first conviction with imprisonment of either description
for a term which may extend to two years, and with fine which may extend two
thousand rupees, and in the event of a second or subsequent conviction with
imprisonment for a term of not less than six months but which may extend to
five years and also with a fine not less than ten thousand rupees but which may
extend to one lakh rupees.
7. Offences by companies.—(1) Where an offence under this Act has been
committed by a company, every person, who, at the time the offence was
committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the
conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company, shall be
deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against
and punished accordingly:22
Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person
liable to any punishment, if he proves that the offence was committed without
his knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence to prevent the
commission of such offence.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where any offence
under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the
offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable
to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of
22
85 | P a g e
the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall be
proceeded against and punished accordingly.
Explanation.—For the purposes of this section,— (a) “company” means any
body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and
(b) “director”, in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.
8. Offences to be cognizable and bailable.—(1) Notwithstanding anything

contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), an offence
punishable under this Act shall be bailable.
(2) An offence punishable under this Act shall be cognizable.
9. Protection of action taken in good faith.—No suit, prosecution or other

legal proceeding shall lie against the Central Government or any State
Government or any officer of the Central Government or any State Government
for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act.
10. Power to make rules.—(1) The Central Government may, by notification in

the Official Gazette, make rules to carry out the provisions of this Act.
(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power,
such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:—
(a) the manner in which the seizure of advertisements or other articles shall be
made, and the manner in which the seizure list shall be prepared and delivered to
the person from whose custody any advertisement or other article has been
seized;
(b) any other matter which is required to be, or may be, prescribed.
(3) Every rule made under this Act, shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is
made, before each House of Parliament, while it is in session for a total period of
thirty days, which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive
sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the
session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both Houses agree in making any
modification in the rule or both Houses agree that the rule should not be made,
the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no
effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment
86 | P a g e
shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that
rule.23
SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WOMEN AT

WORKPLACE ACT, 2013
( Let us go through some of the relevant part and sections of The Sexual
harassment of women at workplace Act, 2013)
An Act to provide protection against sexual harassment of women at workplace

and for the prevention and redressal of complaints of sexual harassment and for
matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
WHEREAS sexual harassment results in violation of the fundamental rights of a

woman to equality under articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India and her
right to life and to live with dignity under article 21 of the Constitution and right
to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business with
includes a right to a safe environment free from sexual harassment;
AND WHEREAS the protection against sexual harassment and the right to
work with dignity are universally recognised human rights by international
conventions and instruments such as Convention on the Elimination of all Forms
of Discrimination against Women, which has been ratified on the 25th June,
1993 by the Government of India;
AND WHEREAS it is expedient to make provisions for giving effect to the said
Convention for protection of women against sexual harassment at workplace.
2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, —

(a) “aggrieved woman” means— (i) in relation to a workplace, a woman, of any
age whether employed or not, who alleges to have been subjected to any act of
sexual harassment by the respondent; (ii) in relation to dwelling place or house,
a woman of any age who is employed in such a dwelling place or house;
23
Sexual harassment of women at workplace Act, 2013(https://legislative.gov.in)
87 | P a g e
(b) “appropriate Government” means— (i) in relation to a workplace which is
established, owned, controlled or wholly or substantially financed by funds
provided directly or indirectly—
(A) by the Central Government or the Union territory administration, the Central
Government;
(B) by the State Government, the State Government;
(c) “Chairperson” means the Chairperson of the Local Complaints Committee

nominated under sub-section (1) of section 7;
(d) “District Officer” means on officer notified under section 5;
(e) “domestic worker” means a woman who is employed to do the household
work in any household for remuneration whether in cash or kind, either directly
or through any agency on a temporary, permanent, part time or full time basis,
but does not include any member of the family of the employer;
(f) “employee” means a person employed at a workplace for any work on
regular, temporary, ad hoc or daily wage basis, either directly or through an
agent, including a contractor, with or, without the knowledge of the principal
employer, whether for remuneration or not, or working on a voluntary basis or
otherwise, whether the terms of employment are express or implied and includes
a co-worker, a contract worker, probationer, trainee, apprentice or called by any
other such name;
(g) “employer” means—
(i) in relation to any department, organisation, undertaking, establishment,
enterprise, institution, office, branch or unit of the appropriate Government or a
local authority, the head of that department, organisation, undertaking,
establishment, enterprise, institution, office, branch or unit or such other officer
as the appropriate Government or the local authority, as the case may be, may by
an order specify in this behalf;
(ii) in any workplace not covered under sub-clause (i), any person responsible
for the management, supervision and control of the workplace.
Explanation. —For the purposes of this sub-clause “management” includes the
person or board or committee responsible for formulation and administration of
polices for such organisation;
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(iii) in relation to workplace covered under sub-clauses (i) and (ii), the person
discharging contractual obligations with respect to his or her employees;
(iv) in relation to a dwelling place or house, a person or a household who
employs or benefits from the employment of domestic worker, irrespective of
the number, time period or type of such worker employed, or the nature of the
employment or activities performed by the domestic worker;
(h) “Internal Committee” means an Internal Complaints Committee constituted
under section 4;
(i) “Local Committee” means the Local Complaints Committee constituted
under section 6;
(j) “Member” means a Member of the Internal Committee or the Local
Committee, as the case may be;
(k) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(l) “Presiding Officer” means the Presiding Officer of the Internal Complaints
Committee nominated under sub-section (2) of section 4;
(m) “respondent’ means a person against whom the aggrieved woman has made
a complaint under section 9;
(n) “sexual harassment” includes any one or more of the following unwelcome
acts or behavior (whether directly or by implication) namely:—
(i) physical contact and advances; or
(ii) a demand or request for sexual favours; or
(iii) making sexually coloured remarks; or
(iv) showing pornography; or
(v) any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual
nature;
3. Prevention of sexual harassment.—(1) No woman shall be subjected to

sexual harassment at any workplace. (2) The following circumstances, among
other circumstances, if it occurs, or is present in relation to or connected with
any act or behavior of sexual harassment may amount to sexual harassment:—
(i) implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment in her employment; or

(ii) implied or explicit threat of detrimental treatment in her employment ; or
89 | P a g e
(iii) implied or explicit threat about her present or future employment status; or
(iv) interference with her work or creating an intimidating or offensive or hostile
work environment for her; or
(v) humiliating treatment likely to affect her health or safety.
7. Composition, tenure and other terms and conditions of 2[Local

Committee].—(1) The 2[Local Committee] shall consist of the following
members to be nominated by the District Officer, namely: —
(a) a Chairperson to be nominated from amongst the eminent women in the field
of social work and committed to the cause of women;
(b) one Member to be nominated from amongst the women working in block,
taluka or tehsil or ward or municipality in the district;
(c) two Members, of whom at least one shall be a woman, to be nominated from
amongst such non-governmental organisations or associations committed to the
cause of women or a person familiar with the issues relating to sexual
harassment, which may be prescribed:
Provided that at least one of the nominees should, preferably, have a background
in law or legal knowledge: Provided further that at least one of the nominees
shall be a woman belonging to the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes or
the Other Backward Classes or minority community notified by the Central
Government, from time to time;
(d) the concerned officer dealing with the social welfare or women and child
development in the district, shall be a member ex officio.
INDIAN PENAL CODE, 186024

( Let us go through some of the relevant part and sections of The Indian
Penal Code, 1860 2013)
24
Indian penal code. 1860 (https://legislative.gov.in),
. Subs. by Act 4 of 1898, s. 2, for section 4.
10. Subs. by the A.O. 1950, for cls. (1) to (4).
11. Ins. by Act 10 of 2009, s. 51 (w.e.f. 27-10-2009).
12. Subs. by s. 51, ibid., for the Explanation (w.e.f. 27-10-2009
90 | P a g e
Preamble.—WHEREAS it is expedient to provide a general Penal Code for
2[India]; It is enacted as follows:—
1. Title and extent of operation of the Code.—This Act shall be called the
Indian Penal Code, and shall 3[extend to the whole of India 4[except the State of
Jammu and Kashmir]].
2. Punishment of offences committed within India.—Every person shall be
liable to punishment under this Code and not otherwise for every act or omission
contrary to the provisions thereof, of which he shall be guilty within 5[India]
6****.
3. Punishment of offences committed beyond, but which by law may be
tried within, India.—
Any person liable, by any 7[Indian law], to be tried for an offence committed
beyond 8[India] shall be dealt with according to the provisions of this Code for
any act committed beyond 8[India] in the same manner as if such act had been
committed within 5[India].
9[4. Extension of Code to extra-territorial offences.—The provisions of this
Code apply also to any offence committed by—
10[(1) any citizen of India in any place without and beyond India;
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(2) any person on any ship or aircraft registered in India wherever it may be.]
11[(3) any person in any place without and beyond India committing offence
targeting a computer resource located in India.]25
12[Explanation.—In this section—(a) the word “offence” includes every act
committed outside India which, if committed in India, would be punishable
under this Code; (b) the expression “computer resource” shall have the meaning
assigned to it in clause (k) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Information
Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000);]
1[Illustration]
2***A, 3[who is 4[a citizen of India]], commits a murder in Uganda. He can be
tried and convicted of murder in any place in 5[India] in which he may be
found.
25
Indian penal code. 1860 (https://legislative.gov.in),
1. The Indian Penal Code has been extended to Berar by the Berar Laws Act, 1941 (4 of 1941) and has been
declared in force
in—
Sonthal Parganas, by the Sonthal Parganas Settlement Regulation 1872 (3 of 1872) s. 2;
Panth Piploda, by the Panth Piploda Laws Regulation, 1929 (1 of 1929), s. 2 and the Sch.;
Khondmals District, by the Khondmals Laws Regulation, 1936 (4 of 1936), s. 3 and the Sch; and
Angul District, by the Angul Laws Regulation, 1936 (5 of 1936), s. 3 and the Sch.
It has been declared under s. 3 (a) of the Scheduled Districts Act, 1874 (14 of 1874), to be in force in the following
Scheduled Districts, namely: the United Provinces Tarai Districts, see Gazette of India, 1876, Pt. I, p. 505; the
Districts of
Hazaribagh, Lohardaga [now called the Ranchi District, see Calcutta Gazetta, 1899, Pt. I, p. 44] and Manbhum and
Pargana Dhalbhum and the Kolhan in the District of Singhbum—see Gazette of India, 1881, Pt. I, p. 504.
It has been extended under s. 5 of the same Act to the Lushai Hills—see Gazette of India, 1898, Pt. II, p. 345.
The Act has been extended to Goa, Daman and Diu by Reg. 12 of 1962, s. 3 and Sch; to Dadra and Nagar Haveli
by Reg. 6
of 1963, s. 2 and Sch. I.; to Pondicherry by Reg. 7 of 1963, s. 3 and Sch. I and to Lakshadweep by Reg. 8 of 1965,
s. 3 and Sch.
2. The words “British India” have successively been subs. by the A.O. 1948, the A.O. 1950 and Act 3 of 1951, s. 3
and the Sch.,
to read as above.
3. The Original words have successively been amended by Act 12 of 1891, s. 2 and Sch. I, the A.O. 1937, the A.O.
1948 and the A.O. 1950 to read as above.
Https://devgan.in/ipc/section/354
4. Subs. by Act 3 of 1951, s. 3 and the Sch., for “except Part B States”.
5. The original words “the said territories” have successively been amended by the A.O. 1937, the A.O. 1948, the
A.O 1950 and
Act 3 of 1951, s. 3 and the Sch., to read as above.
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Basically assault on women is defined under Section 354 to 354 D of the
Indian Penal Code, 1680. And hence let us go through those sections of
Indian Penal code, 1860.
SECTION 354
Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty.—
Whoever Assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or
knowing it to be likely that he will there by outrage her modesty, 1[shall be
punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be
less than one year but which may extend to five years, and shall also be liable to
fine].
SECTION 354 A2627

Sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment.—(1) Aman
committing any of the following acts—
(i) physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual
overtures; or
(ii) a demand or request for sexual favours; or
(iii) showing pornography against the will of a woman; or
(iv) making sexually coloured remarks,
shall be guilty of the offence of sexual harassment.
26
27
A.O 1950 and
6. The words and figures “on or after the said first day of May, 1861” rep. by Act 12 of 1891, s. 2 and the First Sch.
7. Subs. by the A.O. 1937, for “law passed by the Governor General of India in Council”.
93 | P a g e
(2) Any man who commits the offence specified in clause (i) or clause (ii) or
clause (iii) of sub-section (1) shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a
term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.
(3) Any man who commits the offence specified in clause (iv) of sub-section (1)
shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may
extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.
SECTION 354 B
Assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe.—Any man
who assaults or uses criminal force to any woman or abets such act with the
intention of disrobing or compelling her to be naked, shall be punished with
imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than three
years but which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.
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Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any person, intending thereby to
dishonour that person, otherwise than on grave and sudden provocation given by
that person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term
which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.
Hence Any man who assaults or makes the use of criminal force on any woman
or abets such act with the intention of disrobing or compelling her to be naked,
shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall
not be less than three years but which may extend to seven years, and shall also
be liable to fine.
SECTION 354 C
VOYEURISM
Any man who watches, or captures the image of a woman engaging in a private
act in circumstances where she would usually have the expectation of not being
observed either by the perpetrator or by any other person at the behest of the
perpetrator or disseminates such image shall be punished on first conviction with
imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than one
year, but which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine, and be
punished on a second or subsequent conviction, with imprisonment of either
28
A.O 1950 and
6. The words and figures “on or after the said first day of May, 1861” rep. by Act 12 of 1891, s. 2 and the First Sch.
7. Subs. by the A.O. 1937, for “law passed by the Governor General of India in Council”.
95 | P a g e
description for a term which shall not be less than three years, but which may
extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Explanation 1.—For the purpose of this section, “private act” includes an act of
watching carried out in a place which, in the circumstances, would reasonably be
expected to provide privacy and where the victim's genitals, posterior or breasts
are exposed or covered only in underwear; or the victim is using a lavatory; or
the victim is doing a sexual act that is not of a kind ordinarily done in public.
Explanation 2.—Where the victim consents to the capture of the images or any
act, but not to their dissemination to third persons and where such image or act is
disseminated, such dissemination shall be considered an offence under this
section.
29
SECTION 354 D
STALKING
Stalking.—(1) Any man who—
(i) follows a woman and contacts, or attempts to contact such woman to foster
personal interaction repeatedly despite a clear indication of disinterest by such
woman; or (ii) monitors the use by a woman of the internet, email or any other
form of electronic communication, commits the offence of stalking:
Provided that such conduct shall not amount to stalking if the man who pursued
it proves that—
29
A.O 1950 and
96 | P a g e
(i) it was pursued for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime and the man
accused of stalking had been entrusted with the responsibility of prevention and
detection of crime by the State; or (ii) it was pursued under any law or to comply
with any condition or requirement imposed by any person under any law; or (iii)
in the particular circumstances such conduct was reasonable and justified (2)
Whoever commits the offence of stalking shall be punished on first conviction
with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three
years, and shall also be liable to fine; and be punished on a second or subsequent
conviction, with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend
to five years, and shall also be liable to fine.
30
CHAPTER SIX
CASE STUDY
Suryanelli Rape Case, Kerala 1996 31

(A brief discussion )
Point of discussion in Suryanelli Rape Case, Kearala 1996 is the condition in
which a rape survivor becomes a victim….
30
Https://devgan.in/ipc/section/354 1. Subs. by Act 13 of 2013, s. 6, for “shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both” (w.e.f. 3-2-2013).
2. Ins. by s. 7, ibid. (w.e.f. 3-2-2013).
31
https://kractivist.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/india-when-rape-survivor-becomes-victim-vaw-gender-justice-
mustread/
97 | P a g e
There is a constant demand for a change in the terminology from ‘rape victim’
to ‘rape survivor’ in the agenda of feminist concerns in discourses related to
rape. But beyond the feminist investment on surviving rape, a systematic reading
of public discourses presents the traumatic sustenance of layers of violence that
follows rape. The Suryanelli girl has survived rape, but the violent experience of
life after rape perpetrated by systemic structures of patriarchy places her at the
receiving end of a system that consciously alienates, humiliates and hunts her
down.
While referring to the Suryanelli rape case there are two kinds of discourses
circulated widely. One is the question of legality of the crime involved, with a
heavily prejudiced and unsympathetic legal frame work attempting to frame the
girl as an eternal victim subject for whom justice is almost impossible, mediated
through parallel machinery of the state, including law enforcement. The
impossibility of justice is not the intention of the legal machinery but it comes
through the operating forces of judgments, prosecution stands, law enforcing
offices like police stations and officers, and questions of evidence, alibis and so
on.
The second discourse is the moral discourse heavily prejudiced and antagonistic
to the survivor that happily relates the story of the fallen girl, punished for her
deviance thus providing a lesson to all women in the society. This discourse is
circulated through the specificities of the rape case but intentionally expecting to
form a larger field of reprimands, guidelines, moral lessons for any woman who
violates the unwritten codes of conduct. In both the discourses the survivor and
the harrowing experiences that she went through lie somewhere far off from the
domain of address, which rises from definitive intention to control and exploit
female sexuality. Alternatively this moral realm affects and manipulates the
operations of the legal discourse as clearly evident from the high court judgment
releasing all the accused from the Suryanelli case.
Suryanelli Rape Case Facts
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The Suryanelli rape, occurred in 1996 in Kerala, involves the abduction, severe
exploitation and rape of a sixteen year old school girl, abducted and taken to
different places in Kerala, by 42 men from all walks of life. Between January 16
and February 26 she was submitted to extreme and horrible forms of sexual
violence. The survivor named many high profiled politicians and professionals
including Congress leader and the present Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson PJ
Kurien as part of her assaulters, but they did not figure in the charge sheet given
the consideration of lack of evidence. Nair Service Society office bearer
Sukumaran Nair came up with a statement to support P J Kurien to say that
Kurien had met him at the office during the particular time of the day mentioned
by the girl. In 2000 September the special court for sexual assault convicted 35
of the accused for rigorous imprisonment and punishment. But in 2005, on the
basis of the appeal filed against this judgment the High Court of Kerala acquitted
all the convicted and punished just one, the third accused, that too reducing his
sentence to five years. The public which had already ostracized her got the right
weapon then to high light its moral judgment on the girl. The innuendos
promoted by many mainstream Malayalam dailies got affirmation through the
verdict.
In 2012 the girl was arrested for an alleged financial irregularity case in the
office where she was working. The lawyers of the girl say that vested interest
had set her up as her case was coming up in the Supreme Court. The recent
development in the issue is the Supreme Court’s directions to the High court to
re- examine the case, finding the High court judgment legally flawed. It should
be noted that this is based on an appeal filed by the Kerala Government against
the High court judgment, which remained pending for about seven years.
Another development in the case is the capture of the only convicted accused of
Suryanelli Case who had jumped bail earlier, making a statement that the deputy
chairman of Rajya Sabha , P.J Kurien was involved in the case and he personally
had taken Kurien to the Guest house referred to by the girl. In the light of this
statement there has been wide spread demands to re-open the case to include
Kurien in the list of the accused.
Justice delayed:
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Now the delay in the legal proceedings that adds to the intense suffering and
communal ostracising of the girl for 17 years has never been addressed. The
way, the case has been handled/mis handled by the law enforcing officers, the
survivor was taken from place to place as part of the enquiry and medical
examination and some of the Malayalam dailies made titillating stories out of a
sixteen year old who was brutally raped by 42 men, all add to the legal injustice
done to her. Being a constant spectacle for the demands of a sex-starved society,
the print media that covered her case through convoluted stories celebrated her
as a piece of spicy ingredient.
That seventeen years have passed and still the crime committed to a sixteen year
old has been denied justice shows the inadequacy of the legal mechanism in the
country. It is to be noted that the rampant criticism extended by the feminist
organizations regarding the delay in sexual assault cases in the light of the Delhi
rape has resulted a speedy dealing of the Suryanelli appeal. Now the delay in
justice has resulted in many things: the sixteen year old girl has lived seventeen
years through the humiliation of a rigid moral society, the girl has been
constantly chased and hunted down by a group of accused in a defensive mode,
the entire family goes through the social stigma towards the rape survivor…the
story goes on. While considering the case will all these be concerns for law?
Double standards of print journalism:
“Malayala Manorama, the leading Malayalam daily started the stories in a

melodramatic vein like a soap serial initially and portrayed her in the typical
victim’s cloth. Initially she was referred to as the Munnar girl and the daily came
out with front page reports on the issue. (Malayala Manorama, 19th March).
Titles like “forty days, forty monsters” added to the melodramatic effect. But
from 1996 April 2nd onwards the news paper changed its stand. Interestingly, it
was around this period the investigation turned to political leaders and
professionals. Though never included in the list of accused, college professors
like Jacob Mathew and Congress leader P.J Kurien were implicated during this
phase of the investigation. Malayala Manorama reported discrepancy in the
100 | P a g e
girl’s statement at this point. April 3, 1996 issue of the daily carried a front page
cartoon, titled Agniputri representing a girl with the list of UDF candidates and
someone from the background addressing her as comrade, prompting her to
pause and wail after reading out each name from the list. This was the most
naturalized form of misogyny that Kerala society received without any protest.
While attempting to protect P.J Kurien and those close to the Catholic
Church, Manorama violated all decencies of journalist etiquette and human
concerns”.
Violence of public discourses:
Recourse to family and sentiments of compassion are often revoked while

dealing with the rape accused. P.J Kurien’s wife’s statement gets wide public
circulation where she laments her plight and that of two daughters who are
severely affected by the image tarnishing that takes place. Presenting her
husband as a victim of vested interests she urges the feminists to consider her
family too in this game of political lobbying. Along the same lines, moral
statements regarding the character of the girl come out. Congress leader from
Kerala, Sudhakaran says there should be a border line between prostitution and
rape cases and that the victim of the Suryanelli case had a questionable
character. He also adds that those who support the girl should think that Kurien
has a family. Now this support to Kurien’s family evolves from a biased view
about family and sexuality. It becomes problematic because this discourse
exposes the moral grounds with which rapes have always been discussed in
India. More than Rape, the violation of family values becomes a concern. The
same concern also is denied to the survivor by branding her as morally
deviant.Thus the Suryanelli girl’s family should suffer because she is deviant,
capable of lying and possesses an objectionable character. The binary logic of
sexual promiscuity and sexual chastity helps in trivializing the rape, making the
survivor the deserving body upon which the crime can be acted. The binaries of
vicious mind reflecting the vicious body helps in justifying the alienation of the
victim and evoking sympathies for the accused. When a normative family
bonding and honor become a necessity to deserve justice, why is it that the same
concern and justice is denied to the victim? The double standards of this
101 | P a g e
discourse well justify Arundhati Roy’s response to Delhi rape that this
exceptional reaction derives from the fact that it plays into our idea of the
criminal poor: the rickshawallah and the vegetable vendor… The initial days of
Suryanelli investigation drew sympathetic support for the victim, as the
investigation proceeded through the involvement of the bus cleaner, the fruit
vendor, the police constable and similar images that cater to our idea of the
perfect criminal. These sympathies were turned around, as and when the upper
middle class, aristocratic Syrian Christians and political leaders appeared in the
frame. The empathisers leave her, she becomes the prostitute and references shift
to her non reliability as a person of character.
Many Victims in Sex Scams Awaiting Justice32
32
https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/2014/feb/15/Many-Victims-in-Sex-Scams-Awaiting-Justice-575992.html
Cortesy Indian Express
102 | P a g e
33
The legal discourse:
The Suryanelli case is also a typical example of a rape case fought for many
years (about seventeen years) and still reached nowhere. As in the case of
Mathura and other infamous judgments from apex courts, the Suryanelli
judgment also evokes questions on the irresponsible and insensitive functioning
of the criminal judicial system. The judgment that strives hard to prove that the
girl’s statements are false, relating to a previous experience of her lying about
the hostel fee of four hundred and fifty rupees and misusing it and also an
attempt on her part to pawn her ornament. These are the basic premise on which
the girl’s statements have been verified. The judgment reads while debating the
difference between rape and consensual sex:“When we read the evidence of
PW3, we have to be cognizant of her psyche- her mental makeup. Her past
conduct and behavior have to be borne in mind. She was only a student of 9th
standard. She had squandered Rs. 450/- entrusted to her by her father for
remitting hostel fees……That piece of conduct is admitted by her… a school girl
will always be obliged to account when hostel fee is not remitted. She was
prepared to take that risk. Added to this is, as suggested by the counsel for the
33
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion/op-ed/260217/suryanelli-rape-case-time-cant-end-this-ostracisation.html
Article by Sherin B.S.
103 | P a g e
appellants that she was even courageous enough to approach a jeweler for
pledging an ornament of hers which her parents had given her to wear, meaning
thereby that she had much capability of courage of even withstanding a question
by her parents as to the loss of such ornament. She admitted during the evidence
that she had done so. So this gives indications about the conduct and mental
makeup of PW3. … She was not a normal innocent girl of that age. She was a
different person. The peculiarity in her personality must realistically be borne in
mind. The evidence of a person of her age with such a conduct certainly has to
be viewed seriously and with caution. A court cannot meekly swallow her
version. It requires serious critical assessment.” (pp. 42-43)
The very idea that the crucial question of whether the sexual acts of violence on
a ninth standard student by 42 men in a period of 40 days have been consensual
or not is arrived at on the basis of these two past instances shows the non-
empathetic and inhuman impulses behind the judgment leading to the contention
that the prosecution failed in proving the absence of consent. Rather the
judgment further claims that the unwillingness spoken by the girl now before the
court is an excuse found by her to save her face in the family and among the
relatives for her long absence of forty days from her house. During the 40 days
of sexual assault the Bench finds several instances for the girl to escape her
assaulters, in the bus stand, at the doctor’s place, lodges etc. The consideration
extended to the accused related to corroborative evidences or circumstances are
denied to the girl, where her age, intimidated psyche, physical and mental agony
of violence she was undergoing were not enough reasons for the Bench to decide
that the ninth standard girl could not plan an escape. With a clean conscience the
judgment rules out possibilities of adopting the normal approach for appreciating
the evidence of a rape victim.
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34
The concurring observations by Justice Basant lamenting the failure of making

the consenting age for sexual intercourse to 18, is a pathetic justification for such
an unsympathetic judgment. Not only that this observation brings down the
entire question of sexual violence on the survivor to the concurrence of sexual
consent between that period of two years, it brings in binaries of experience of
sexual assault before 18 after 18, before sixteen after 16, and so on. The result of
such an in-capacious and tapered thinking would be to divert the focus from the
intensity of the violence and the damage done on the victim to the mental state
of the victim while producing or not producing the consent. The double
standards and heavy moral weightage of this observation get exposed in the
further paragraphs where he talks about the young girl who succumbed to
temptations of a consumerist society and also implications of not being groomed
in the proper atmosphere with a proper value system. The observation goes to
the extent of saying that such children can be termed as deviants but cannot be
merely condemned and left to their fate. Now the implications would be, the
Suryanelli rape survivor is deviant, her parents could not bring her up in a
healthy atmosphere, and that was the reason why she gave consent to the sexual
atrocities on her body to forty two men for forty days. And the recommendation
ends with a need for a change in law.
34
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion/op-ed/260217/suryanelli-rape-case-time-cant-end-this-ostracisation.html,
105 | P a g e
This is an easy washing off and shrugging away one’s responsibilities. The
constant urge to prove her evidences false overthrows and challenges this claim
to neutral justice. The non accountability of law to the female citizens and the
misogynist sentiments of arbitrators reflect in Suryanelli case as well. The recent
remarks of Justice Basant on the girl’s character reveal the prejudices underlying
the judgment.35
Paradoxes in Kerala’s modernity:
The ways in which Suryanelli case recurs in Kerala’s public sphere reveals the
aberrations in Kerala’s notion of modernity. While making a ponderous claim to
cultural elitism and modern consciousness related to its literacy rates, living
standards, health care and above all the pervasiveness of electoral politics and
thinking in the public sphere, the misogyny witnessed in this state is quite
ironical. Permeating all walks of life there lie misogyny and moral policing that
more or less affects all forms of political thinking in the state. No other Indian
state can parallel Kerala in misogyny regarding the way feminists and women’s
movements have been referred to in Kerala, female political party leaders have
been tarnished, and work places and other public places have alienated women.
The recent remark of a college teacher in a public function sponsored by the

government of Kerala aiming at women’s empowerment that it needs only ten
minutes for a man including him to insert sperm in a woman’s uterus, and then it
is for the woman to carry the child for the next ten months, shows the underlying
layers of prejudices, violence and misogyny in Kerala. In such a public sphere
innumerable stories flourish on the Suryanelli survivor, making her a titillating
piece for the consumption of the sex-starved male psyche of Kerala.The largest
political party in the country did not have any qualms in letting a person
implicated in a rape case to chair the Rajya Sabha proceedings during
discussions on gender justice and prevention of sexual violence against women.
The urge was rather to support him than the survivor. The heavy political bias
taken by the leading political parties have done enough damage to the survivor
and her family, as in many earlier cases. When the case is re-examined will
35
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion/op-ed/260217/suryanelli-rape-case-time-cant-end-this-ostracisation.html
106 | P a g e
there be a provision to address the irreparable damage in terms of mental,
physical and emotional harassment that has been done to a rape survivor and her
family for the past seventeen years? Who would choose this plight if this is
what it means to survive rape?
CHAPTER SEVEN
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION & REFERENCES
DISCUSSION
The purpose of this study is to obtain in-depth interviews and ferret out central
themes of how outside factors affected the victim herself, how these aspects
influenced her perception of herself, and which factors she believes had the most
significant impact on her re-victimization or non-re-victimization. The present
study suggests that the overall attitudes and behaviors of a sexual assault victim
determines whether she views herself as a victim or survivor which significantly
impacts the likelihood of her re-victimization. Previous research demonstrates
that various characteristics associated with a woman viewing herself as a victim
predispose her to re-victimization; whereas the characteristics associated with a
woman viewing herself as a survivor insulate her from re-victimization.
The findings of the interviews with the 20 women are consistent with the
findings in the research discussed in the literature review section and shed an
important light on the two research questions which are directly related to the
relationship between re-victimization and victim/survivor status. 1) Is a woman
with a survivor mentality of her sexual assault protected from re-victimization?
2) Is a woman with a victim mentality of her sexual assault vulnerable to re-
victimization?
The first research question is related to the survivor mentality and if it protects
the woman from being re-victimized. The results of this research suggest that a
survivor mentality does protect the woman from re-victimization. A woman with
107 | P a g e
a survivor mentality takes control of the circumstances of her life, creates a
meaning out of her experiences, participates in her own healing, has hope, and is
equipped with choice. None of the women who had a survivor mentality were
re-victimized. All 17 of the women with a survivor mentality (including those
who transformed from a victim mentality) were not re-victimized. Sixteen
women had a victim mentality and were re-victimized; however, the majority of
women developed survivor thoughts and were not re-victimized after they
embraced a survivor mentality. Even though a woman may have had a victim
mentality and was re-victimized, the study showed that a change in the thought
process is possible after the re-victimization. A woman was often able to
embrace a survivor mentality and was then not re-victimized after that change in
mentality. The second research question is related to the victim mentality and if
it makes the woman become vulnerable to re-victimization. The results of this
research suggest that a victim mentality does make a woman more vulnerable to
re-victimization. There were numerous positive consequences as a result of
being sexually assaulted; however, there were significantly more negative
consequences. These negative consequences often had a more profound effect on
the woman. A woman with a victim mentality allows things to happen to her, is
powerless, hopeless, passive, has a lack of agency in the circumstances of her
life, and/or feels worthless. Three women who had a victim mentality were not
re-victimized and 27 re-victimizations occurred among the women when they
had victim mentalities. Three of the women had a victim mentality at the time of
the interview but had not been recently re-victimized. Mabiha had a
circumstance that set her apart from the other women. Mabiha had a victim
mentality after she was sexually assaulted when she was young. Mabiha grew up
and became more mature before she was assaulted again and in her adulthood
developed more control and ability to think things through. Although she had a
victim mentality and was not assaulted, she developed a survivor mentality later
on in life and she was protected from re-victimization. Bilquis, who was
sexually assaulted by her step-father and raped by her husband, described herself
as “still here” and lacked agency in her own circumstances in her life. Gayatri,
another person with a victim mentality, said she has not been careful and is not
sure why she hasn’t been sexually assaulted again; however, it may be because
108 | P a g e
she has not gone on any dates in the last year. Prajakta was the other woman
with a victim mentality that had not been re-victimized; however, I interviewed
her only a few weeks after her most recent victimization.
CONCLUSION
Previous research had studied re-victimization and one specific other factor;
however, none of the research did a comprehensive study involving all of the
factors included in this study and how that leads to a woman’s perception of
herself whether it is as a survivor or as a victim. Additionally, previous research
did not connect how a victim mentality or a survivor mentality affected whether
or not a woman was re-victimized. The purpose of the study was to fill in the
gap where research was lacking. This study explored the important combined
factors that are common in women who have experienced re-victimization and
how she views herself as a victim or a survivor. The following factors were used
to gain a better understanding of a woman’s victim mentality or survivor
mentality: social support, self-blame, social reactions, substance use, alcohol
use, risk taking behavior, risky sexual behavior, acknowledgment status, PTSD
symptoms, and coping strategies. I conducted 20 interviews with 20 women who
have previously been raped or sexually assaulted on one or more than one
occasion. All of the women had negative consequences of the assault, such as
low self-esteem, promiscuity, sexual remission, insecurity, and self-blame. In
general, these negative consequences lead to a victim mentality. Some women
were able to find positive consequences resulting from the sexual assault, such
as becoming a better mother, being more aware of her surroundings, or they
were able to keep others from getting assaulted or helping them through it if they
were assaulted. The ability to find positive consequences allowed many women
to develop a survivor mentality. The women with a victim mentality were re-
victimized and the women with a survivor mentality were not re-victimized.
This research suggests that a survivor mentality protects a woman from re-
victimization and a victim mentality makes her vulnerable to re-victimization.
Because of the rather small sample size, the information was able to be managed
and analyzed by me. With a larger sample of participants and the many
109 | P a g e
variables, it might be advantageous for future researchers to explore the use of
the many options available today for qualitative research and analysis, such as
The SAGE Qualitative Research Kit. The fact that the present research sample
was small made the need for such a tool not as critical. This research largely fills
the void in current research, which was lacking a connection between the various
factors leading to re-victimization. However, future research should continue to
be done in the area of survivor and victim mentality. This is a qualitative study
where I conducted in-depth interviews with a small sample size. This area of
study would benefit from having a quantitative research study conducted with a
significant participant pool.
pathways study on the victim's transition from victim to survivor would be

extremely insightful into the reasons why a woman transitions into a survivor
mentality. Another beneficial area of research would be for male victims of
sexual assault, how a victim or survivor mentality affects them, and if the victim
or survivor mentality leads to re-victimization or becoming a perpetrator.
Based on the information discovered through the interviews and analysis, many
programs and policies can be developed to prevent or lessen the amount of re-
victimization that occurs. Early counselling for women who have been
victimized would be beneficial in decreasing re-victimization as it can lead
women to adapting a survivor mentality rather than a victim mentality.
Discussions with elementary age children about appropriate touching from

adults would likely teach children what is and what is not appropriate. If
children are victimized at a young age, they may begin to normalize
inappropriate touching by adults. Aamina, who was assaulted three times before
she was 11 years old, played with her Barbie dolls and made them act out sex
scenes. These types of behaviors display a concept that normalizes sex at a
young age. Parents and/or schools should discuss appropriate and inappropriate
touching. It could create an opportunity for a child to understand that a
relationship is not appropriate and want to speak out about that relationship. It
could also prevent a child from being sexually assaulted through them learning
110 | P a g e
that certain touching is inappropriate. Early discussion has the potential to help a
child from being sexually assaulted, but it also has the potential to help a child
from becoming a perpetrator later on in life. The early discussion could also
prevent children from learning bad behaviors from role models in their lives.
Children may witness sexual, physical, or emotional abuse on a daily basis and
they may begin to perceive it as acceptable behavior. Once those behaviors are
accepted they may adapt those unacceptable behaviors for themselves.
Discussing appropriate touching and appropriate behavior toward others could
prevent a child from becoming a perpetrator.
Support systems or groups, especially a group where the woman could remain
anonymous and feel safe in sharing her feelings, should be created to help
women develop a survivor mentality. These support systems should have the
same rules of confidentiality and acceptance as Alcoholics Anonymous or
Narcotics Anonymous. Self-defense classes where women are taught how to
walk and talk and act with confidence should be implemented in schools or after
school programs. If women learn how to walk and talk with confidence, they
will not look like prey to a predator and it will decrease the number of women
who are re-victimized. Sexual assault service programs often have advocates
who arrive at the hospital after a woman is raped or sexually assaulted. The
sexual assault service programs should focus on spending more time with the
women who were assaulted and providing counseling services more quickly to
help the women develop the survivor mentality sooner rather than later. Every
day a woman has a victim mentality is another day she is more likely to be re-
victimized. Though this research focuses on the person who was sexually
assaulted, there are policy implications that can be drawn, which focus on the
perpetrator. Related to the previous suggestion of discussing appropriate
touching, classes could be given to grade level students where they discuss
appropriate types of behavior in relationships and when a relationship is not a
healthy relationship and how to end unhealthy relationships. Often children
develop behaviors from observing their parents' relationships and adapting those
behaviors for themselves. If we are able to educate people (for this particular
study, it is males), how to treat their significant other and/or women in general, it
111 | P a g e
may prevent a person from adapting unhealthy behaviors. In addition to
preventing perpetrators, implications can be drawn for perpetrators who have
already been arrested and sentenced as perpetrators. Though it would be ideal, it
is unrealistic to believe that all perpetrators can change their ways. However, it
is realistic to believe that some perpetrators can change their ways. If one
perpetrator changes his ways and does not assault again, the program would be
successful. Perpetrators that have been sentence should be required to attend
classes that educate them on how to treat others, deal with anger management,
and divert the urge to commit sexual assault into a different, healthier behavior.
For those perpetrators that continually sexually assault others, there should be
harsher prison sentences and more significant restitution requirements. In recent
months, California has passed a bill which attempts to combat the significant
amount of sexual assaults that occur on college campuses. It is often referred to
as the "Yes Means Yes" bill. This law affects college state funding and will not
allow the college to receive state funds if they do not adhere to these new policy
implications. It changes the definition of sexual consent to require "an
affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity" by
all persons involved (Student Safety: Sexual Assault of 2014). The policy states
that the complainant cannot consent if he/she is asleep or unconscious, under the
influence of drugs, alcohol, or medication, or is unable to communicate due to a
mental or physical condition. Additionally, the standard for determining guilt of
the accused is the preponderance of the evidence which is a lower level of
certainty than beyond a reasonable doubt (the standard for determining guilt in a
court of law). Though this bill has negative and positive aspects, it demonstrates
that the public and lawmakers are aware of the ongoing issue and prevalence of
sexual assault in our community and are making an effort to effect positive
change (Student Safety: Sexual Assault of 2014).
112 | P a g e
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Women As A Victim or As A Survivor

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A Dissertation On

“Women as a victim or as a survivor”

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj University

In the partial fulfilment of the award of the degree of

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE

I declare that this thesis entitled Title “women as a victim or as a survivor” is

Date:- Researcher Name: Kazi Mohammad Junaid

Place:- Enrollment Number: 204111181409

It is certified that this work entitled “Women as victim or as a survivor” is an

To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis

I. Embodies the work of candidate himself,

II. Has duly been completed,

Date:- Signature of the Supervisor

Place:- DR. AVANI MISTRY

I express unequivocal thanks to God for providing me courage to complete the

Researcher Name:- Mr. Kazi Mohammad Junaid

Enroll. No. 204111181409

ABBREVIATIONS FULL FORMS

u/s Under section

AIR All india reporter

SCC Supreme court cases

FGM Female genital mutilation

PIL Public interest litigation

ATSA Association for the treatment of sexual

CDC Center for disease control and prevention

WHO World health organization.

POCSO Protection of children from sexual

WHO World health organization.

NCBI National center for biotechnology

IPS Indian police service.

IAS Indian Administrative service.

Cr.P.C. Criminal procedure code.

IAF Indian Air Force.

1. Madhu kishwar & Ors. Etc Vs State of Bihar & Ors.

2. State of Maharashtra Vs Bharat Shanti Lal Shah & Ors.

4. Tukaram and Arr Vs State of Maharashtra.

5. Prabhakar Mohite and Anr Vs The State of Maharashtra and Anr.

6. Nishanth harishchandra salvi Vs The State of Maharashtra.

7. Mukherjee Vs Vodafone Essar Ltd & Ors.

8. Rohit Vedpaul Kaushal Vs State of Maharashtra & Ors.

9. Bhiku Tukaram Jadhav Vs The State of Maharashtra.

10. Usha Badri Poonawalla Vs K. Kurien Babu.

11. Suryanelli Rape Case Kerala 1996.

12. State of Maharashtra Vs Rajendra J Gandhi.

13. Roshni Manoj Patil Vs State Of Maharashtra.

15. Ajay katara Vs State of UP and Anr.

16. Rupeshwar Tanti Vs State of Assam.

17. Tarunjit Tejpal Vs the State of Goa.

18. Prof. P.J. Kurien Vs State of Kerala.

19. State Vs Shiv Kumar Yadav.

2. Protection of women from domestic violence, Act.

3. The Hindi Widow remarriage Act, 1856.

4. Hindu women right to property Act, 1937.

5. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

6. The national commission for women Act, 1990.

7. The prohibition of child marriage Act, 2006.

8. The sexual harassment of women at workplace(prevention and

redressal) Act, 2006.

9. Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.

10. The factories Act, 1948.

11. Maternity benefit Act, 1961.

12. Equal remuneration Act, 1976.