Bandewar Sunita Vs, Pitre Amita, Lingam Lakshmi
Senior Research Fellow, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai India; and Founding Trustee, Vidhayak Trust, Pune.,
Doctoral candidate, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India.,
Indian J Med Ethics. 2018 Jul-Sep;3(3):215-221. doi: 10.20529/IJME.2018.025. Epub 2018 Mar 28.
It is five years since the fatal gang rape of Jyothi Singh (Nirbhaya), a physiotherapy student, on December 16, 2012, in New Delhi, the capital of India. The legal and policy reforms triggered by the Nirbhaya case will remain a watershed moment in the history of efforts towards seeking justice for survivors of gender-based violence in India. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 and the "Guidelines and protocols: Medico-legal care for survivors/victims of sexual violence" issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in March 2014 are two landmark reforms. March 2018 marks four years since the issuance of these Guidelines and five years since the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013. Any reasonable tribute to Nirbhaya would constitute fair implementation of legal reforms, efforts to strengthen multi-sectoral response and sincere attempts to reduce crimes against women, gender and sexual minorities, and children. This paper reviews the issue, through a close study of recent cases of rape, police responses, court judgements, studies, news reporting and field-based observations. It brings forth the gaps in implementation that persist, and constitute a major obstacle in making these progressive policies and reforms effective. Given the fact that the reforms are intersectoral in nature, implementation has been particularly challenging. Lack of efficient implementation of such policies and reforms amounts to denying survivors their right to justice.
2012年12月16日，理疗专业学生乔蒂·辛格（“尼尔巴亚”）在印度首都新德里遭到致命轮奸。自该事件发生至今已有五年。“尼尔巴亚案”引发的法律和政策改革，仍将是印度为基于性别的暴力幸存者寻求正义之努力历程中的一个分水岭时刻。2013年《刑法（修正案）法案》以及2014年3月卫生和家庭福利部发布的“指南和议定书：性暴力幸存者/受害者的法医护理”，是两项具有里程碑意义的改革。2018年3月标志着这些指南发布四周年以及2013年《刑法（修正案）法案》颁布五周年。对“尼尔巴亚”的任何合理纪念，都应包括切实执行法律改革、努力加强多部门应对措施，以及真诚尝试减少针对妇女、性别和性少数群体及儿童的犯罪行为。本文通过仔细研究近期的强奸案件、警方反应、法庭判决、研究、新闻报道以及实地观察，对这一问题进行了审视。文中揭示了实施过程中仍然存在的差距，这些差距构成了使这些进步政策和改革发挥实效的重大障碍。鉴于这些改革本质上具有跨部门性质，实施起来尤其具有挑战性。此类政策和改革缺乏有效实施，就等于剥夺了幸存者获得正义的权利。
