Crimes against women | The national shame

Crimes against women were no longer episodic shocks but a sustained moral crisis. Public anger rose sharply, legal responses hardened, yet the underlying structures that enabled violence remained stubbornly intact.The warning signs were already visible in the mid-2000s. A series of high-profile rapes in Delhi, Mumbai and Jaipur in 2005 underlined how vulnerable women were in public spaces, including police posts and moving vehicles. Opinion polls from the period showed that more than half of single women in major cities felt unsafe, and conviction rates remained abysmally low, reinforcing a culture of impunity. The justice system, when it did act decisively, demonstrated its own contradictions. In 2006, the Delhi High Court overturned earlier acquittals in two emblematic cases. Santosh Singh was convicted for the rape and murder of law student Priyadarshini Mattoo, and Manu Sharma was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing Jessica Lall. These verdicts were celebrated as triumphs of perseverance and public pressure, but they also exposed how wealth, influence and delay had nearly buried justice in both cases.The tipping point came on December 16, 2012. The gang rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student in a moving bus in Delhi was marked by a level of savagery that stunned even hardened investigators. The crime triggered an unprecedented public response. For weeks, young men and women occupied streets, defied police barricades and demanded accountability from the State. They reflected a generational anger that saw sexual violence as a failure of governance, policing and social attitudes combined..preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}The State responded with a speed that was rare by Indian standards. The Justice Verma Committee was constituted, and its recommendations led to sweeping amendments to criminal law in 2013. Definitions of rape were expanded, penalties enhanced, and new offences such as stalking and voyeurism introduced. The debate around juvenile culpability, sharpened by the role of a 17-year-old accused in the Nirbhaya case, eventually resulted in changes to the Juvenile Justice Act to allow harsher punishment for 16-18-year-olds in heinous crimes. On paper, the legal framework became significantly tougher. The decade also witnessed important but fragile shifts in the understanding of sexual autonomy. In 2009, the Delhi High Court decriminalised consensual homosexual relations by reading down Section 377, marking a watershed moment for sexual rights. The Supreme Court’s reversal of this judgment in 2013 exposed the limits of judicial progressiveness in the face of conservative social currents. That homosexuality was finally decriminalised again only in 2018 showed how uneven and contested this journey remained.The years between 2005 and 2014 stand as a reminder that legal reform, while necessary, is not sufficient. Without sustained institutional reform and social change, outrage risks becoming cyclical, flaring after each atrocity and fading before justice is fully delivered.- EndsPublished By: Yashwardhan SinghPublished On: Jan 3, 2026Must Watch

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Crimes against women | The national shame

Repeated crimes against women triggered public outrage and tougher laws, but entrenched power structures, weak enforcement and social attitudes ensured that legal reform outpaced real safety and lasting justice

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