Your Rights and Justice

For every hundred women who are subjected to sexual violence only one reports the crime against her. This act of hiding the truth under a veil of secrecy starts the journey of pain,humiliation,suffering and un imaginable misery that may have many pitfalls on the way like unwanted pregnancies, STD's untreated wounds and poor and low self esteem. So it is of utmost importance to report the matter and seek justice.Seeking justice is the first step towards redeeming oneself from the pain and suffering. It is also the declaration that you are not to be blamed for the act and it was not a fault of yours.

One should seek justice so that

1) Coming out as the survivor of an act of Sexual Violence one needs advice,solace and a patient hearing.The survivor needs people who around her who can comfort and soothe the frayed nerves and this is possible only by coming out into the open and reporting the crime.

Yes it is tough but the fact that not reporting is tougher as the incident keeps replaying  in our heads and letting it revisit the survivor as nightmares. To make this process easier the law pertaining to offenses of sexual violence have been amended. So when such a crime is reported the law states that a woman police needs to be present at the time of recording the statement so that the victim feels comfortable reporting the incident. It has also been made possible to let the survivor file an FIR at any police station instead of having to go to the police station that is nearest to the scene of the crime.

If even this is a problem then a family member , a witness or a friend can also file a complaint with the police. The only condition is that this should happen with the consent of the survivor and the survivor must go and file the FIR at some time in the future.

Even if the survivor or the crime wishes to send a complaint as email or phone it is considered to be valid complaint and action is initiated.

If the person is a physically or mentally challenged person who cannot go to the police then the police would come to that person and register the FIR.

2) Every time a case of sexual violence is reported more and more convictions will happen so the people who believe that they can get away with such an act will fear the wrath of law and eventually there would be lesser and lesser incidents of sexual violence against the women in our society.

3) Thirdly it increases the level of protection for the survivor against becoming a repeat victim of the crime as the law would be on the lookout for and eventually punishing the offender so he is less likely to be stalking the victim and committing a repeat of his heinous act.

All in all now with the new law against Sexual Violence Acts like stalking, Voyeurism and sexual harassment are also dealt with the same severity and must be reported immediately.

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