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Shubham Singh
Banaras Hindu University
Abstract
Rape is undeniably one of the most heinous crimes in the contemporary world. It not only inflicts physical wounds to the body of the rape survivor but also implants an incurable psychological trauma in her mind whose body has been brutally victimized, whose soul has been humiliated, whose spirit has been annihilated, whose sentiments have been strangulated and whose emotions have been miserably quelled by the rapist. It was rightly said by the first Prime Minister of independent India, namely Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru that the condition of a country can be predicted by looking at the status of women of that country. Now this status of women in a society can be estimated by looking at the number of rape cases being registered in that country in a given year. As per the “Crime in India” Report for the year 2022 released by the National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB) in 2023, India has recorded a total of 31,516 rape cases in the year 2022 which implies that 3 to 4 women, at an average, were being raped in every one hour in some corner of our country in 2022. Nothing can be more embarrassing and disgraceful for us than these numbers. The aforementioned statistics reflect the perverted mentality of Indian men who still consider women, even in this 21st century, as mere toys or objects for the fulfillment of their unnatural lust and satisfaction of their sexual appetite. This article aims to elucidate what a digital rape is, its nature and scope, its legal ramifications and how it is related to an ordinary rape in the light of some leading cases.
Introduction
Before delving into the concept of ‘Digital Rape', let us first understand the multi-dimensional meaning of an atrocious offense like rape, before the unfortunate 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape horrendous incident, which was dealt with under section 375 of the Indian Penal Code of 1860 (now repealed) that corresponds to section 63 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita of 2023.
In layman’s terms, rape, before February 3, 2013, means an act of coercive sexual intercourse by a man with a woman without the consent and against the will of that woman or where her consent was obtained by subjecting her or someone close to her to the fear of injury or where her consent was obtained through misrepresentation or where her consent was obtained when she was in an intoxicated state of mind or was suffering from mental unsoundness of such an extent that rendered her incapable of comprehending the consequences of giving such consent or where her consent was obtained when she was under sixteen years of age(this age of consent was later increased to eighteen years of age).
But it was in the aftermath of that barbaric 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case in Delhi that a need was felt to broaden the horizon of the existing definition of rape. Consequently, the ambit of section 375 of the Indian Penal Code(1860) was expanded through the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 2013(also known as the Nirbhaya Act) based on the recommendations made by the Justice Verma Committee to incorporate various other aspects of rape including digital rape as well.
Is Digital Rape A Cyber Crime?
Now many of you might have interpreted digital rape as some cyber offense wherein a cyber-crook attempts to disrobe a gullible female through electronic means, i.e., persuades that innocent woman to pose nude in an online video call with him by threatening her to share her sexually compromising information with her family and friends or to upload her obscene pictures on social networking sites to disseminate them to the public at large. But in reality, digital rape, contrary to its superficial meaning, has nothing to do with computer networks, social media or the internet. Although the terminology ‘digital rape' is nowhere explicitly mentioned, neither in the scrapped Indian Penal Code, 1860 nor in the prevailing Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, it is implicitly embedded in section 3(b) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act of 2012 and section 63(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita of 2023[previously in section 375(b) of the Indian Penal Code of 1860].
The term “digital rape” owes its origin to the English word “digit” which connotes a thumb, finger or toe. Therefore, section 63(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita of 2023, which is analogous to section 375(b) of the Indian Penal Code of 1860, contemplates digital rape as an absurd but aggravated form of a penetrative sexual assault in which a man forcefully inserts a foreign object or any part of his body such as his fingers or toes, other than his external genital(penis), up to any extent into the private parts of a woman such as her vagina, urethra or anus which is punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term that shall not be less than 10 years but may extend up to life imprisonment along with fine.
Similarly, section 3(b) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act of 2012 deals with the digital rape of a child, whether male or female, under the age of 18 years, which is punishable under section 4 of this Act with imprisonment for a term of not less than 10 years but that may extend up to life imprisonment along with fine, but if the child is below 16 years of age, then it shall be punishable with imprisonment of not less than 20 years but which may extend up to the imprisonment for the rest of the natural life of the perpetrator along with the imposition of fine.
However, until February 3, 2013, the offense of ‘digital rape' fell under the purview of 'molestation' within the scope of section 354 of the Indian Penal Code of 1860 which entailed assaulting a woman or applying criminal force on her intending to outrage her modesty.
Landmark Cases
It was the case of State v. Prahlad that necessitated the expansion of the then-existing definition of rape. In this case, the accused Pahlad was convicted under sections 366 r/w 367, 307 and 377 of the Indian Penal Code of 1860 for inserting a one-foot-long thick wooden stick into the vaginal opening of a poor 80-year-old infirm lady on the intervening night of 19-20 May in 2011 while she was lying lonely in a public park. Despite the occurrence of these events, the accused was not held guilty of committing the offense of rape. This sparked outrage amongst our legislators and policy-makers and triggered a wave of resentment among the feminists and social activists who soon realized the significance of enlarging the scope of section 375 to include digital rape as a punishable offense as well.
Subsequently, in a prominent case of 2019 which shook the nation and sent shockwaves throughout the country, a 75-year-old accused person named Akbar Ali was convicted under section 5(m) r/w section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act of 2012. In this case, the accused, at Salarpur village under Noida Sector 39, enticed a three-year-old minor girl from the neighboring family by offering her some candies and luring her to his room where he sexually exploited her vulnerability and digitally raped that girl child. Consequently, Ali was awarded the sentence of life imprisonment in addition to the imposition of a fine amount of Rs.50,000.3
On a similar pattern, in a very recent case of 2022 which attracted the attention of all sections of society, an 81-year-old sketch artist, who was a resident of Noida, Uttar Pradesh, was arrested and convicted for committing the digital rape of a 17-year-old girl for a continuous period of more than seven years since 2015.4
Conclusion
In a nutshell, it can be deduced from the above deliberations that there is a lack of societal awareness among the common masses regarding the spectrum of rape. Rape does not only imply non-consensual penile-vaginal intercourse but it also encompasses digital rape which embodies introducing parts of the body other than the reproductive organ into the private areas of a woman. Consequently, a comprehensive nationwide sex education program must be included within the course curriculum of our educational institutions to normalize the sexual behavior of our adolescents and to curb any animalistic instincts brewing inside them.
The overwhelming number of digital rape cases being reported in our country in recent years signifies our failure as a civilized society to cultivate a female-friendly atmosphere conducive to the sustainable growth of our economy. This, therefore, warrants the enactment of stringent statutes, prescribing harsher punishment, even extending up to the death penalty, to deter people from committing this grave offense of digital rape. Simultaneously, the law-enforcing agencies should also be strengthened and empowered with bureaucratic initiatives like launching a separate 24×7 Women Helpline Number, rendering e-FIR facilities, etc. to implement these laws on ground zero effectively.
However, the positive side of the story is that the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 2013 classified digital rape as a distinct offense punishable within the realm of rape which marked a monumental spring in the pursuit of justice for rape survivors. But still, in a country like India which is afflicted with the evil of victim-shaming and in which a social stigma is always associated with sexual offenses, it is imperative to create such an ecosystem where a digital rape survivor could feel safe and secure to register her grievance without being afraid of her identity being disclosed in the public domain.
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