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Access to Justice for Women India’S Response to Sexual Violence in Conflict and Social Upheaval

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Access to Justice for Women India’S Response to Sexual Violence in Conflict and Social Upheaval Access to Justice for Women india’s response to sexual violence in conflict and social upheaval October 2015 Armed Conflict Resolution and People’s Rights Project, Center for Social Sector Leadership University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business International Human Rights Law Clinic University of California, Berkeley, School of Law Access to Justice for Women india’s response to sexual violence in conflict and social upheaval October 2015 Armed Conflict Resolution and People’s Rights Project, Center for Social Sector Leadership University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business International Human Rights Law Clinic University of California, Berkeley, School of Law ARMED CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND PEOPLE’S RIGHTS PROJECT, CENTER FOR SOCIAL SECTOR LEADERSHIP, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, HAAS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS The Armed Conflict Resolution and People’s Rights Project (ACRes) focuses on situations of internal armed conflict and mass social violence to define steps in transitional and transformative justice. Interdis- ciplinary in practice and rooted in local knowledge, ACRes contends with the condition of violence and the contested terrain of people’s rights and human rights to: understand how people live with long-term suffering and ameliorate its effects; define mechanisms for reparatory justice and psychosocial healing; create an archive of artifacts to assist in the work of memorialization; and identify opportunities for change. ACRes works with a collaborative network of victims-survivors, civil society partners, scholars, advocates, and academic and civil society institutions. For more information, please visit socialsector. haas.berkeley.edu/research/acr.html. INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW CLINIC, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, SCHOOL OF LAW The International Human Rights Law Clinic (IHRLC) designs and implements innovative human rights projects to advance the struggle for justice on behalf of individuals and marginalized commu- nities through advocacy, research, and policy development. The IHRLC employs an interdisciplinary model that leverages the intellectual capital of the university to provide innovative solutions to emerging human rights issues. The IHRLC develops collaborative partnerships with researchers, scholars, and human rights activists worldwide. Students are integral to all phases of the IHRLC’s work and acquire unparalleled experience generating knowledge and employing strategies to address the most urgent human rights issues of our day. For more information, please visit www.humanrightsclinic.org. Contents Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................1 Introduction .........................................................................................................................................3 Goals ..................................................................................................................................................4 Case Selection ...................................................................................................................................5 International Legal Standards ..........................................................................................................6 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................6 State Obligations .............................................................................................................................8 Indian Laws and Institutions.......................................................................................................... 10 Criminalization of Sexual Violence ............................................................................................ 10 Criminal Procedure ....................................................................................................................... 11 Civil Remedies ............................................................................................................................... 11 Non-Judicial Remedies ................................................................................................................ 12 Case Examples .................................................................................................................................. 13 Punjab ............................................................................................................................................. 13 Jammu & Kashmir ........................................................................................................................ 16 Gujarat ............................................................................................................................................ 19 Odisha ............................................................................................................................................ 23 Discussion .......................................................................................................................................... 26 Criminalization of Sexual Violence ............................................................................................ 26 Prevention ...................................................................................................................................... 27 Contextual Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 28 Reporting ...................................................................................................................................... 29 Registration of Complaints and Arrest of Suspects .................................................................. 30 Collection and Preservation of Evidence .................................................................................... 31 Timeliness of Court Proceedings ................................................................................................ 33 State Agents and Legal Immunity ............................................................................................... 34 Effective Remedy .......................................................................................................................... 35 Conclusion and Recommendations ............................................................................................... 36 Notes ................................................................................................................................................... 39 Authors & Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................ 55 This report is dedicated to the survivors of sexual violence and their brave and honorable struggle against impunity. executive summary The selected case examples span time and place, Executive Summary involve different national and local minority com- munities, different forms of sexual violence and perpetrators, arise from different political contexts, Analysis reveals commonalities in the and result in different legal outcomes. In particu- ways that the Indian justice system failed to lar, the history of partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 significantly defines the conflicts in Punjab “prevent, investigate, prosecute, and punish and J&K, and deeply rooted cultural and political perpetrators of sexual violence or to provide dynamics undergird the incidents of mass violence effective redress to female victims. in Gujarat and Odisha. Despite the complexities presented by these differ- ences, analysis reveals commonalities among the cases in the ways that the Indian justice system A 2014 report by the Special Rapporteur on failed to prevent, investigate, prosecute, and punish Violence Against Women on gender-based crimes perpetrators of sexual violence or to provide effec- describes the female experience in India as consist- tive redress to female victims. Impunity was the ing of a “continuum of violence . from the ‘womb norm even when members of state security forces to the tomb.’”1 According to Indian government carried out the crimes. data, a woman is raped in the country approxi- mately every twenty minutes.2 Women and girls The international community recently has placed are especially vulnerable to sexual violence during greater emphasis on legal accountability for sexual armed conflict and mass violence. Indeed, gender- violence by strengthening relevant institutions based crime is a common feature of the armed and standards. This Report aims to contribute to conflict and mass violence that has marred India greater accountability for sexual violence crimes since independence. against women and girls by examining India’s response to exemplary incidents of such attacks. Access to Justice for Women: India’s Response to The Report uses the case examples to explore legal Sexual Violence in Conflict and Social Upheaval and institutional obstacles to effective criminal examines emblematic case examples from conflict investigation, prosecution, and reparation of zones and incidents of mass violence to under- gender-based crimes against women along nine stand how the Indian State responds to sexual dimensions of the Indian legal system: criminal- violence against women and girls in these contexts. ization, prevention, contextual analysis, reporting, The goal of this Report is
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