The System Will Not Magically Start Working One Morning: Vrinda Grover

Vrinda Grover is a Delhi-based human rights lawyer and advocate working for women's rights. In her submission before the J.S. Verma Committee in January this year, she had argued that while the 16/12 gangrape had led to nationwide outrage, the issue of violence against women itself had been the subject of rigorous debate, research, analysis and study,spearheaded by the women’s movement for over 25 years. It was high time the laws changed for the better, she had argued then and change they did. Here, we ask her how she assesses the situation a year on and what are the issues that remain to be addressed.

Interview by Vidya Venkat

The Criminal Law was amended based on the recommendations of the Justice Verma Committee Report. It was a hard-won battle for the women's movement. How do you assess the situation a year on?

In Delhi, at least, because of the kind of protests and pressure FIRs are now being registered. We do not know enough but what we do know is that the police are nowadays less discouraging when it comes to reporting cases of sexual assault. But there is more that needs to be done. 

If you could elaborate on what needs to be done now...

There must be a protocol in place in order to ensure a professional, prompt and gender sensitive response to crimes against women. The police must follow this strictly. Doctors continue to use the two-finger test to establish whether rape has happened or not. It is an unacceptable practice. Also there is absolutely no change in the way the police conduct themselves. There is need to institutionalise change. 

And what measures do you suggest in order to achieve that?

Because sexual assault has now been graded into different types of crimes, there is need to set up  specialised units of police for handling gender crimes. Similarly, only those judges who have received some orientation in the new law must be allowed to hear cases of sexual assault. People who are working in the area of law enforcement must undergo specialised training and evaluation to to ensure that they are fit to handle cases of gender crimes. If these measures are not taken then both the police and judges will continue to operate on the basis of received wisdom. 

Our criminal justice system is patriarchal and misogynistic. And there is no way that the system can be made to magically start working one morning unless concerted efforts are made to make it deliver justice for women. 

In the first place there is need to make police stations and courts accessible to victims of sexual assault. Also the role of paralegals is important. An integrated cadre of paralegals must be available to assist victims in the process of filing complaints and getting justice.

Monitoring and evaluation of the actual workings of the law is important. The judiciary has to do this in conjunction with professional organisations. 

The data relating to gender crimes and cases being filed has to be in the public domain and so do  judgments delivered in these cases so that they can be monitored. Only public activism on this issue can bring visible changes of the kind we dream of.