Changing Facets Of Sexual Offences - An Indian Outlook

Man has learned and is able to control may of nature's forces, but so long as he is unable to control the forces within himself, there can be no question of real civilization. Human culture has not carried things beyond putting a finer polish on its animal impulses i.e. physically reacting to external stimuli, without emotional bonding and intellectual analysis. The human race may have become more developed materially and technically, but it is not happier. The great mechanical and urban advancement is being achieved to the detriment of the integrity and character of the human being, which values are the barometer of its development level in the real sense.

Taylor Caldwell wrote-

"Man is never victorious, never defeated,

The looters yield their loot to the cheated,

Honesty and folly can never be parted,

The waters return to the hills from where they started."

That is the ultimate Truth, Research may ultimately find that person involved in extramarital affairs get paralytic strokes, as nature reacts violently when disharmony is intentionally/deliberately created for every action has an equal and opposite reaction and whether one likes it or not, all karmas-physical, emotional and intellectual bear their fruits. There is always an ultimate justice.

Man is the first product of evolution who is capable of controlling his evolutionary destiny, Human being is constituted of five sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and flesh giving him the power of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch) emotions and intellect through which he perceives and analyses the other beings and nature around and express himself. In inter-personal relationships, more particularly when it relates to two different sexes, these five sense organs are used and on some occasions, their (mis) use results into an offence. Use of senses of smell and taste seldom lead to committal of any sexual offence but some movement of the eyes, some words spoken, sounds and noises made can be offensive and touch of flesh by way of bottom pinching, brushing past, embracing, indecent assault or rape would amount to suppression of will of the other by invading the privacy or the personal space which an individual requires for stable progression in life and will constitute sexual offences.

Every act of a human being whether on the physical, mental or intellectual plane of consciousness which leads to inflicting pain or suppression of the will of another being is an offence. All acts in the nature of offence done by a male human being against a female human being can be termed as sexual offence. Women are the victims of almost all sexual offences because the offenders, and they themselves think, they are unable and, therefore, unlikely to retaliate either with physical force or with recourse to law. They become victims and spiritual movies lambs on the altar of the fragile male ego. They are the victims of a cozy belief that they go willingly to the slaughter.

As human beings co-exist in the social system, one of the most important aspects of criminal law and human contribution is to effectively and efficiently deal with this aspect of social aberration, and see that no only the offender is convicted, the victim compensated, but this offensive nature is controlled and the thoughts and energies of perpetrator and victim channelised into constructive fields of development. The criminal justice system will also have to be vigilant that in the existing dangerous state of exploitation of every human being by another, either for political or economic gains, false facts are not sought to be established or supposed leading to more evil than reform.

A significant number of writers have explored the psychology behind human behaviour and while Sigmund Freud place emphasis sex-motivated expressions, Karl Marx on the economic motivation, Nietszhe on the power motivation, the Bhagwat Gita rests on theory of functional sense, in the evolution process, the division into two sexes was brought about by nature only for the purpose of procreation of reproductivity of species and must, therefore, should have limited to monogamous relationship behind closed doors. But in the changing social environment it has come out on the roads and places of work and as a result of constant awareness, easy accessibility has resulted in increasing exhibition of sexuality and thereby the commission of sexual offences. Sexual offences are acts or expressions of violence and perversion unleashed on the weakest available female in the safest possible circumstances by the stronger male as a result of feelings of anger, frustration, depression, insecurity, deprivation and hostility and arising out of ignorance of his true nature of sat, chitta and ananda.

Sexual offences are covered under the following Acts of Parliament-

1. Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986

2. Indian Penal Code, 1860

3. Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, 1956

4. Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961

Obscenity and indecent representation of women

The sexual representation of women in cross-culture is an issue of grave concern. Obscenity is a threat to the purity of women's sexuality and her modesty. It tends deflect an active involvement and participation so that men cannot be held to be at fault. Blame, however, lies with those who produce these obscene representations including the women who appear in it. Intelligent, well built and groomed, half clad women on the cover page of Cosmopolitan or Sports Illustrated-swimming suit issue all over the world provokes more sexuality than bare adivasi rustic females. Sex and violence in movies and media and erotic lucid details in best sellers or those which sell most is the material available to every citizen from rickshaw-pullers students to CEOs