Custodial Rape: A Dehumanizing Violence Against Society

Shrenitha Anantula, Jindal Global Law School

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to provide an insight into one of the most common human rights violation, custodial rape. It intends to highlight the current statutory provisions and suggests an amendment to the same for a better prevention of such crimes.

INTRODUCTION

Custodial violence is transforming into one of the worst human rights violations in India. Today, not just criminals but also economically , socially, educationally backward classes of the society have also become a victim to such violences against the body. The sad truth of day is that this has become common and a part of the procedure. These practices merely cause momentary distress in the minds of the public, forcing the government to deal with the large- scale public uproar. One such form of custodial violence is custodial rape cases1 these occur under the custody of the police, or judicial custody or any other custody. The National Crime Records Bureau’s last census of 2015 states that there occurred 95 cases of custodial rape out of the 34,651 rape cases registered in the country. Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of custodial rape cases that year.2 Despite the provisions mentioned in CrPC and IPC to curb such instances, there is a rise in custodial violence and rape cases. This research paper talks about the why there is a need for stringent laws to curb police violence and their arbitrary use of power against women , amendments to statutes for better protection of arrested persons are required because there arises difficulties once these acts are committed against them then the burden of proof lies upon the arrested to prove that there was sexual harm / violence committed against them.