Justice Verma Committee Report

The Verma Committee Report most basically alters the public discourse on crimes against women by placing these crimes within the framework of the Indian Constitution and treating these offences as nothing less than an extreme violation of the right to live with dignity of all women. What is particularly moving and inspiring about the Report is that it does so by placing the autonomy and indeed the sexual autonomy of women at the very centre of its discourse. It also offers us a rethinking of what's meant by the offence of rape. In the Committee’s thinking rape is a form of sexual abuse like any other crime against the human body. According to the Committee it is ‘the duty of the state as well as civil society to deconstruct the pattern of shame-honour in reference to a rape victim.’ According to the Committee, it is important that Indian society and the state move away from thinking of rape as a crime against honour and instead look at it as a serious violation of bodily integrity. In language which is seen perhaps for the first time in an official report, the Committee quotes a rape survivor. ‘Rape is horrible’. The discussion on rape is located in an understanding of women as full and equal citizens and it is intrinsic to the argument of the Report that it's only by guaranteeing women full and equal rights that sexual violence can even be tackled. It is in this context that the Committee discusses the phenomenon of honour killing and concludes that it is the responsibility of the state to ensure that ‘choices made by men and women in respect of marriage’ will not be interfered with by institutions like khap panchayats.

The Committee for the first time in the history of Indian law, acknowledges that the married woman is an autonomous individual with full power to refuse sexual intercourse with her ‘lawfully married husband’. There is nothing in the nature of the relationship, that entitles the husband to sexual access to his wife at his whim and fancy. While the Committee breaches the inner wall of patriarchy, it is also equally successful in breaching the public patriarchy of the state as a raping machine. For far too long, the Indian Armed Forces have enjoyed complete exemption for crimes of sexual violence committed against women in situations of armed conflict. The women in Chattisgarh, Kashmir as well as the North East have borne mute witness with their bodies to unspeakable acts of sexual violence. For the first time in history, the Committee has recognised that sexual violence against women committed by members of the armed forces within the purview of ordinary criminal law. The Committee also introduces the notion of ‘command responsibility’ whereby a public servant in command, control or supervision of the armed forces or police would be held responsible for failure to exercise control over the actions of his subordinates resulting in rape or sexual assault. Here again the Committee breaches the code of exemption of the Indian state for sexual offences committed by its personnel. The Committee has shown a sense of occasion by recognising that a historic moment such as this must be transformative for all. As such, it expressly suggests that the definition of those who could be affected by sexual assault should include both men as well as homosexual and transgender persons. It thus recommends that the law expressly protect  all  persons from  rape and sexual assault.

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