The challenge of gender stereotyping in Indian courts

Abstract

Women’s negotiations towards achieving justice are elusive due to patriarchal, cultural and caste norms. The expectation of “compromise” permeates Courts, even in rape cases. In spite of the prevalence of well-formulated substantive and procedural aspects of law, the constitutional promise of equality is still a distant dream for women. Intersectional factors like tradition, caste, religion and culture—all act as impediments to securing justice for women in India. In fact, gender bias plagues the criminal justice administration. This paper relies on landmark cases to demonstrate the biases exhibited by Courts, in matters of sexual assault and rape. The paper will also rely on feminist ideas to highlight the need for the law to understand the deep-rooted historical and socio-political contexts from which issues related to gender originate. The paper concludes by giving suggestions as to how gender bias can be done away with, by Courts. Law has to act as a transformative instrument if gender justice has to be achieved. Lawyers and judges should not be carried away by personal biases and prejudices and need to be socially sensitive while handling cases of crimes against women.