I have been wondering, in light of recent events in our country, how is it Women`s Constitutional Equality which forms the basis of the Justice Verma Commission Report has still not come to frame every discussion about women and s*xual violence includign within this Forum. Is it because we can`t see beyond criminal law which tends to minimise women`s concerns around s*xual vioelence. Having attended the Verma Commission hearings over two days, what struck me was how pervasive s*xual violence is at all levels- from education, to security issues, to justice, to law enforcement, to transport, to allocation of funds. More significantly is the reason for such neglect. Institutionalised `s*xism`. People don`t like to hear that because we like to assume the mere presence of a Constitution means we live in a fair and equal reality. The fact is we don`t. One of the most poignant comments I heard from a foreign male participant in program I conducted on s*xual harassment was ``I have never witnessed more oggling towards women than I have in India``. Any Indian woman would verify the shocking truth of that observation. Over the years, when it comes to their dignity, s*xual integrity and autonomy in terms of the experience of s*xual violence, legally, women have been treated in piecemeal fashion which all boils down to 4 provisions in the IPC, two of which are so offensively outdated (s. 354 and 509). Yet our discussions don`t extend beyond this to how each act of s*xual harassment and the systemic absence of any action to prevent it is in fact a violation of each women`s Constitutional Equalit in this Country. In the UK, as a result of the brutal beating and death of a black man called Steve Lawrence by the Police, the Macphearson Commission was finally called upon to address what came to be known as `institutional racism` which eventually led to widespread systemic change. That is how you build a culture of change. If there is one thing the Verma Commission has done, it is that it has brought us to the cross road of such change- one which first asks us to acknowledge what we`ve silently, complacently endured for all of these years- the denial of women's constituional equality in perception and in practice.
