CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN CELLS - THE DELHI POLICE EXPERIENCE

By Ms. Kanwaljit Deol*

I. INTRODUCTION
A steep decline is evident in the male female ratio in India over the last century. It has declined from 972
females for every 1000 males in 1901 to 927 per thousand in 1991. The northern states show even poorer
ratios than the national average. Along with some other countries in South Asia, India must hold itself
accountable for its missing women.

From cradle to grave there is a systematic discrimination against women. Nutrition, health care,
education are all withheld or provided grudgingly to daughters. Son preference is expressed in deep rooted
cultural mores: blessings and rituals at a marriage, foods prescribed for pregnant women, condolences at the
birth of a girl child.

Violent crimes against women are both a continuation of the systematic discrimination against women
and its results. The violator feels his acts are socially sanctioned; the evidence is manifest in all that he has
witnessed since childhood. Women must be kept in their place, else some great calamity may befall society.

The falling sex ratio should be of grave concern to law enforcement and criminal justice agencies.

In simple terms who will the extra men find to marry, start a family with, or harass in a domestic
relationship? Will it not lead to greater street crimes, more harassment of women in public places, more
rape, and more violence in marriage as husbands strive to keep control of the increasingly rare commodity
that they have managed to secure?

Looked at in this context an emergency response from law enforcement is almost mandatory. The
experience of the Delhi Police that this paper elaborates is one response that has met with some success.
There have been many course corrections along the way and it is clear that the way ahead may call for many
more.

II. ESTABLISHMENT
The Crimes Against Women Cell was set up in 1983 at a central level in the Delhi Police. It was the first
police response meant specifically for women in India; and most likely anywhere in the world.

For hitherto, crimes, or other forms of harassment faced by women were handled by the normal police
stations along with other crime and law and order issues.

The need for a gender-specific police response had been felt for some time earlier due to the following
reasons:
(i) The status of women was low and there was little inclination among them to take their problems to
police stations staffed largely by male police officers.
(ii) There were specific problems that women faced due to their low social status which could not
receive adequate attention from a largely overworked and understaffed police force.
(iii) It was being recognized that a more sympathetic response was needed in this area than it was
receiving.
(iv) The sensitiveness of the average police officer when dealing with a harassed and frightened woman
left much to be desired.

* Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi Police, India.

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III. THE INSTITUTION OF DOWRY

Womens organizations in Delhi had been lobbying for a more humane approach to crimes against women
for some time and had even taken their protests to the streets on several occasions. In particular the
pernicious influence of Dowry had been receiving vociferous condemnation from these non-governmental
groups and considerable media support had also been built up.

Dowry demands start at the time a marriage is being fixed up. Parents with sons regard them as a sort of
investment from the time of their birth and are hopeful that their boy will bring a rich dowry that will raise
the standard of living of the entire family. Equally, parents with daughters tend to regard them as a disability
and start to collect and save for their marriages from their infancy itself. In North India, in particular, dowry
can be considered as a major reason for son preference and evil practices such as female infanticide, and in
more modern times female foeticide, can be blamed largely on this retrograde social institution.

Once a marriage is performed the problem of dowry is not over, for demands on the brides family may
continue in various socially sanctioned forms. Thus, the brides family may be required to bring gifts for the
groom and his family at all major festivals such as Diwali, and at landmark family events such as the birth of
a child to the couple, a marriage of a sister-in-law of the bride, or even the death of the father-in-law. The
continuing comfort and status of a woman in her bridal home could often depend on the diligence and
generosity with which her parents meet these periodic social obligations and many a woman would complain
of frequent taunts and threats of divorce when her family had not been able to satisfy the needs of a
particular occasion. There were also complaints that, when these threats did not succeed, the groom and his
family were capable of taking the extreme step of doing away with the bride altogether so that another bride
and another dowry could be arranged. The death would be made to look like an accident and the most
commonly reviled form of such murder was by burning, given that the womans responsibilities in the
kitchen could offer many opportunities for such accidents.

IV. THE POLITICAL WILL

How true such allegations were is debatable, but these bride-burning cases, as they came to be called in
the seventies and eighties, rallied many organizations and womens groups to the cause. All such incidents
received sensational media attention. It is this concerted action and the public outcry that was generated
that was largely responsible for creating the necessary political will to set up a specialized unit to look into
cases of dowry harassment and death. The first such unit set up in Delhi in 1982 was initially named the
Anti-Dowry Cell. However it was some time before the necessary resources could be placed at the disposal
of the police.

There was already a Dowry Prohibition Act in existence since 1963, that banned the demanding, giving
and taking of dowry, but it was largely without teeth, and has remained more on paper than in practice. The
act exempts gifts given at a wedding from the definition of dowry and requires that all gifts must be
registered. However in a country where it is not mandatory to register marriages, there is little sense in
requiring that marriage gifts be registered. Both the giver and taker of dowry being proscribed effectively
ensures that there will hardly ever be a complainant. Dowry prohibition officers, empowered with initiating
suo moto action, are mandated to be notified in each district but most states have either not notified the
same or have loaded the task on to some already overworked official of the administration. That the act is
hardly ever used is an example of how laws enacted for largely cosmetic reasons, without social involvement
and consultation, can remain dead letters.

The first Anti-Dowry Cell was a lean unit, set up by the Delhi Police from within its own resources,
headed by a part-time Deputy Commissioner of Police who held substantive charge of another unit. The
experience of the unit was however to prove invaluable in assessing the need for changes both in the legal
and investigative framework.

The officers of the Cell visited the scene of every case in which a married woman had been burnt and
found that very few, if any, were outright murders for dowry. Rather, there were an inordinate number of
suicides by women who had been married only a few years and the method of choice was usually burning
with the help of kerosene oil, which was in common use in kitchens around the country.

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Investigations revealed the reasons for these suicides to be harassment within the bridal home usually
for material demands which could not be met by the brides family, aka, dowry.

The social system frowned on a bride leaving her husband and becoming, afresh, a burden on her parents,
but in the economics of that era women would rarely have much option, as there were few educated working
women of independent means among the lower and middle classes. Traditionally a girl child would be
considered as paraya dhan, anothers assets, in her parents home. Once they had arranged a suitable match
for her with an adequate dowry she was only supposed to ever leave her husbands home when carried to
her funeral pyre. Thus suicide was sometimes the only honourable way out.

The Indian Penal Code of 1862 contains a provision for abetment to suicide, section 306 IPC, but it was
not easy to prosecute the members of the grooms family for abetment if no overt act to aid the suicide had
been committed. There were judgements at that time to the effect that, unless the accused had handed the
kerosene and matchbox to the victim saying You should burn yourself, he or she could not be held as
abettor. The police were hard pressed, therefore, to find the method by which responsibility for these deaths
could be determined in a way that could lead to prosecution.

Moreover, as it became increasingly clear, there were many forms of domestic abuse which might not end
in the death of the wife and might not strictly arise out of demands for dowry. It was also the experience of
the Cell that women complainants and victims needed specialized attention for offences other than dowry
harassment and domestic violence, for example rape and sexual abuse. It also became increasingly evident
that the traditional police response of registration of an offence, investigation, arrest and prosecution left
something to be desired in many instances where women did not want to send their abusive husbands to jail,
but only wanted them to stop the abuse.

V. LEGAL CHANGES
The experiences of the Cell outlined above were to have a direct contribution in engendering several
legal changes between 1983 and 86 and even thereafter. Most important of these was a new provision,
section 498 A, that was added to the Indian Penal Code. Aiming at domestic violence and harassment for
dowry, this provision defines cruelty, physical or mental, within a marriage. Investigation by police with
powers of arrest is incorporated and responsibility can extend to the husband, his parents or other relatives.
The offence is punishable with up to two years imprisonment.

In addition the laws relating to rape were made more stringent with custodial and minor rapes giving rise
to presumptions against the accused and resulting in harsher penalties.

Some time later a section on Dowry Death was added. Section 304B IPC made the unnatural death of any
woman within seven years of her marriage a subject of investigation by the police and prosecutable if it was
found that the death was attributable to harassment for dowry by her husband or his family. Such a death was
also made enquirable by an executive magistrate by introducing changes in the Indian Criminal Procedure
Code. It was thereby ensured that no such death would be filed as an accident or suicide without a detailed
enquiry.

VI. CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN CELL

The Cell itself was re-christened as the Crimes against Women Cell to reflect the enhanced field of its
activities. In 1986 separate cells on similar lines were set up in each of the nine districts of Delhi. Most
importantly, the central Crimes against Women Cell was provided with enhanced manpower, infrastructure
and responsibilities. Counselling of families became an essential part of the functioning of these cells.
Although this was informal at first, and resented by many as not a police role, it is now a sanctioned activity
with staff being trained for the purpose and receiving support from social workers and recognized non-
governmental agencies.

Other cities and states in India have set up similar units within their police forces with some southern
states experimenting with all-woman police stations to provide a more enabling environment for women
complainants.

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A. Overview of Activities
Counselling as a Police Role
Counselling is the first response of the Crimes against Women Cells in domestic matters. Many families
in India still continue to live as joint families and counselling often involves other members of the family
besides the immediate protagonists. The aim of counselling continues to be to remove irritants in the
marriage, to prevent abuse or to ensure that there is no further abuse, and to secure the position of the
woman in the marriage.

There has been criticism of this approach from several quarters. Some womens groups in particular
were opposed to the police taking on the role of counsellors on the following grounds:
(i) That the police are not trained for the job and have no experience of counselling.
(ii) That there is a traditional patriarchal mind set displayed in trying to keep the marriage intact even
when the woman is patently unhappy in it.
(iii) That there is no guarantee that the woman will not be harassed even after the Crime against Women
Cell has closed the case. In fact intervention by police may be ham-handed and result in increased
abuse.

Over the years the police have responded to this criticism by ensuring better training, posting more
women officers into the cells, and involving social workers and NGOs to assist in counselling and follow-up.
In any case, the police resort to counselling in several routine and on-street situations, and, therefore,
cannot be said to be new to the experience. The same argument applies to criticism from within police
circles that the cells may be overstepping the role of the police. The early fear that it would be difficult to
stabilize a marriage once a complainant has brought her husband and his family before the police has also
been seen to be largely unfounded. Credit for this must go to the officers of the cell for handling matters
before them with sensitiveness and restraint. Out of the 8310 complaints brought before the central Crimes
Against Women Cell in 2004 almost 2000 have ended in settlements or compromise.

A secondary object of counselling is to ensure that, if a marriage has to be terminated, it does not end to
the detriment of the womans rights. Usually being in a weaker economic position than her husband the
woman is likely to end up deprived or inadequately compensated in a civil divorce action.

The Supreme Court of India, in a celebrated judgement, has defined the gifts a woman receives at her
marriage from her own and her in-laws family and from other relatives and friends as her Istridhan. In other
words these are her personal assets over which only she has absolute rights. If the marriage is to be
terminated, the officers of the Cells try to ensure that she is either given her complete istridhan, or is
adequately compensated for the same. As failure to do so would invite criminal action under section 406 IPC
for criminal misappropriation, most husbands would prefer to return all such gifts. In Indian society, these
gifts would generally comprise amounts of gold and precious jewellery of considerable value and in previous
times the husbands family routinely kept the entire lot. Other concomitants of divorce such as maintenance
and custody can also be worked out between the couple keeping the needs of the woman in mind so that a
petition can then be filed in the court for granting divorce by mutual consent, which is quick and largely
painless.

If the couple is unable to conclude the matter in the ways mentioned above over a period of three months
or so, the position is assessed as per the law and a criminal case registered under the relevant sections for
harassment, violence, misappropriation, etc. with a charge sheet being filed after investigation. The Crimes
Against Women Cells are not notified as police stations and the cases are registered by the police stations of
jurisdiction. Usually these police stations carry out further investigations, although some important cases
may be investigated by small investigative units attached to the cells themselves.

Needless to state, in matters where prima facie criminal cases are made out or overt violence is evident,
the above process is short-circuited and a criminal case registered at the outset. The wishes of the victim
may not be respected in such cases, although it is usual to first make intensive efforts to secure her consent
for prosecution.

Although no systematic evaluation is available, the process of dealing with domestic discord outlined
above has stood the test of time and overcome most of the criticism directed against it. It has been upheld by

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several courts and has been widely duplicated all over the country. In the conditions prevailing in India, it
can be said to be the most suitable way of dealing with domestic discord. It ensures, for instance, that
husbands and family members will appear when they are summoned by the police cells, which they may not
do if called by counselling services or other social service groups. It facilitates a conclusion in the womans
favour without resort to lengthy court procedures that, due to the time involved if nothing else, are always
against the interests of the woman. Most importantly, it strikes a balance between unnecessarily
criminalizing the domestic arena on the one hand, and totally screening it from intervention on the other.

An overview of the handling of complaints by the Cell over the last three years is offered as an
illustration below:

B. Other Activities of the Cell

Although a large part of their time is taken up with domestic cases, the cells also act on complaints of
sexual harassment, sexual abuse, molestation, rape, and other gender related crimes. Investigation of
selected cases is taken up by the officers of the Cell, while the progress of other cases registered by them is
monitored in the police stations where they are under investigation. The central Cell monitors the
functioning of the district cells through periodic evaluations and meetings although these cells are
operationally under the control of the supervisors of the districts where they are located. Women
complainants have a choice of approaching either the central Cell or one nearer to their homes at the district
centres.

The Crimes Against Women Cell has also developed as a hub for providing non-police services to women
complainants. Through liaison with psychological and legal counselling services they are in a position to
provide counselling and free legal advice to needy complainants with the help of reputed NGOs.
Organisations such as Swanchetan, a psychological victim counselling service, and Lawyers Collective, an
NGO that advises on both civil and criminal legal matters, hold weekly sittings in the premises of the Cell.
The Cell also forwards appropriate cases to Rescue shelters and Short Stay Homes run by the Government
and by non-governmental agencies.

C. Crisis Intervention Centres

The need for a multi professional approach to victims of crime has been recognized from the very
inception of the Cell. It has been formalized some years ago by setting up Crisis Intervention Centres in all
the nine districts to deal with cases of rape and sexual abuse. As soon as a case of this nature is reported, a
representative of non-governmental social organizations is associated to assist in the medical examination of
the victim and to provide assistance in treatment for trauma, counselling and rehabilitation. The
investigating officer remains in touch with this representative who also provides the necessary support to

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the victim right throughout the trial of the case. The Crisis Intervention Centres have been set up with the
cooperation of the Delhi State Commission for Women and associate social workers, doctors, lawyers,
psychologists and prosecutors with their functioning.

As far as possible, cases of rape and sexual abuse are assigned to women investigating officers and
women prosecutors. Three special courts headed by women judges have also been set up to give speedy
attention to these cases, as long delays in prosecution can inflict further trauma on the victims and dissuade
them from testifying in court. The experiment has met with some success in several high profile cases.
However, there is scope for improving and systematizing the process of consultation and providing
incentives to voluntary workers who have to diligently stay the course through sometimes lengthy legal
procedures. Moreover, although women victims are definitely more comfortable with women investigators,
prosecutors and judges, in the long term the need is to ensure sensitization of the large number of men
involved in these professions, rather than limiting the dealing of such cases to women alone.

D. Round the Clock Helpline

A significant service started by the Crimes against Women Cell is a 24 hour helpline that responds to
callers in distress. The helpline number, 1091, is managed by the Police Control Room which receives and
manages all calls for police help. A caller may directly access the helpline or be diverted from one of the
general 100 services. A Women Police mobile team is available round the clock at the Crimes against
Women Cell to attend to distress calls received through the helpline or directly in the Cell. The staff
receives continued training in dealing with distress calls, and are equipped both to initiate criminal action
and to provide counselling and other assistance. The team also provides links to emergency support services
such as shelters and short stay homes, besides offering on the spot counselling and legal advice in needy
cases. On an average the helpline receives 11 calls per day, with 4193 calls having been received in 2004.

Reaching out to women is not always easy. Even when women are aware of the services available, they
may be reluctant to seek help or approach the police. Some may not even have access to a phone. In such
cases the Cell provides an alternative through a post box number where women can send mail asking for
assistance. The letters are analysed to identify the kind of assistance that is being sought. Action may then
be initiated or the letters forwarded by the Cell to other concerned agencies.

E. Anti-Eve Teasing Drives

From time to time the Cell undertakes special drives against what is referred to as Eve Teasing, but is
actually a form of sexual harassment of women and girls on the street or in public transport. The officers of
the Cell may concentrate on areas around womens colleges and schools or conduct surprise checks in
buses, markets, cinemas, etc. Announcements are made in the buses to make the passengers aware of the
special drive and to encourage complaints. At other times officers may travel in plainclothes inside buses to
detect such cases or women officers may be used as decoys at public places such as bus stops or university
campuses. Sometimes women students who wish to volunteer, are also co-opted for such exercises. Periodic
Contact Programmes are launched in campuses and womens colleges to work out joint strategies for
achieving a more secure environment for the women students. Complaint boxes have been installed in such
campuses so that girls can complain anonymously if they so desire. This technique has often assisted the
Cell to identify areas of the city that need its focussed attention.

F. Self-Defence Training
One of the most acclaimed projects of the Cell has been the Self Defence Training Camps launched in a
major way in 2002. While the focus of such training has been school and college girls, working women and
housewives have also volunteered in significant numbers for these camps. The objective of the training is to
instil confidence in women and to make them think positive and act quickly in a vulnerable situation. The
curriculum includes simple concepts of unarmed combat coupled with the knowledge of using common
items that the woman may have on her person such as articles of clothing, bags, books, keys, etc. as
defensive weapons. Each module stretches over a period of ten working days with two hours of training per
day. After the training accredited non-governmental organizations are invited to interact with the trainees to
inform them about their rights and make them legally aware. The programme has trained about 17,000
women so far and is continuing to perform an invaluable service in building police-community relations, and
in making women more comfortable and confident in approaching the police with their problems.

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VII. LESSONS BEING LEARNT

Whenever any special provisions are made in the law for a particular group or segment of society in a
developing nation, initial problems take several generalised forms. Firstly, the persons who need the
protection of the specific provision the most urgently often lack awareness of it or are otherwise unable or
incapable of taking advantage of it. Thus the battered wife of a poor building labourer, whose likely source of
such knowledge is her husband alone, will probably never find out that she is legally empowered to protest
against the abuse. Despite extensive use of the media, posters and pamphlets to publicise the new
provisions, the Cell found it difficult to make a dent until it roped in NGOs to start mass contact and legal
literacy programmes in the poorest areas. In order to ensure better attendance such programmes were often
clubbed with sessions of religious discourses or devotional songs.

Conversely, the persons who will be the first to take advantage of the special provisions will often be
those who do not, in fact, have any need for the provisions. Thus women with the means to secure
expensive legal advice, who may have other problems of a non-abusive nature with their marital lives, will
be quick to produce excellently drafted complaints that fit into the four corners of the law and wrap into its
snare the whole extended families of their husbands. Although the Cells systems of counselling and enquiry
are capable of dealing with such false complaints fairly effectively, the dangers of the law getting a bad name
are quite obvious. In an essentially patriarchal society like we have in our country, there will be strong
voices questioning the very basis of a law that is so amenable to misuse. Essentially such misuse arises out
of the fact that the civil laws are relatively undeveloped and inefficacious in their operation, and the gap is
sought to be filled by the convenience of a powerful criminal law. However, instead of calling for better civil
laws, there is a tendency to focus on the misuse of the criminal law and to demand its substantive dilution.

Another area of concern that arises is the effective awareness and sensitization of the various elements
of the criminal justice system. Police officers, lawyers, prosecutors and judges are all equally wary of a law
that is moving at a faster pace than society. If they are convinced about the need for change, they can
effectively pull society up by its boot straps by the sincere and judicious implementation of the law. If they
are not, on the other hand, they can claim to be only products of society and focus on perceived
imperfections of the law that render it unimplimentable.

So far it would appear that the battle for retraining the system is being gradually won. The domestic
cruelty law has been understood more widely with applicability beyond the area of dowry harassment. There
have been a few carefully worded judgements that have helped to clarify its basic objectives. The police
response outlined above has been supported in many judgements as being in line with these basic
objectives. The difficult area of defining what constitutes criminal psychological cruelty has received
considered judicial attention also, with chronic verbal abuse being classified as one such criteria. However,
attention to the crucial factor of training all elements of the criminal justice system cannot be allowed to
slacken.

Many police officers observe that the proactive police approach in an area which is essentially a social
concern, has led to other relevant agencies taking a back seat, and that crimes against women are being
viewed as basically a police problem. When, for instance, a sensational rape case leads to widespread police
bashing in the media, internal debate in the police focuses on whether at all the crime was preventable by
police action. The fact is that in over ninety percent of rapes the accused is known to the victim and may
even be someone whom the victim holds in trust. Many of these are cases of sexual abuse of children by
adult relatives. Without dwelling overmuch on fields of responsibility, one of the issues that can be flagged
here is the need for institutionalizing a multidisciplinary approach so that the expertise of diverse agencies
can be optimally utilized in the interest of crime prevention and victim protection.

A comprehensive Domestic Violence Bill is currently receiving attention in the country. While it can be
argued that the legal provisions are already in place in the Penal Code and elsewhere, if the aim could be for
the comprehensive act to focus on institutionalizing a multidisciplinary approach in the interests of the
victim rather than on defining new offences, it would be a step in the right direction. At present the humbler
goal appears to be to merely gather all the offences at one place. This would probably succeed in drawing
greater attention to the area of domestic violence but could conversely lead to confusion for all concerned.

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VIII. CONCLUSIONS
The experience of the Delhi Police is singular and unique in many ways. Yet there are examples that it
can be duplicated in significantly different circumstances in the various states of the country. Law and order
is a state subject in India, but national laws are applicable everywhere, although the details of their
implementation may vary. The levelling factor of an all-India police service, that provides the supervisory
officers for all states, is also relevant in this context.

A common strategic thread that can be noted is the launching of specific units initially from within the
resources of the existing police force. Once these have met with success and public appreciation, it has not
been difficult to secure sanctioned resources.

Recruitment and staff training are ongoing issues to which solutions are still in the process of being
found. There is a greater need for women police officers at all ranks and several states have introduced
policies which envisage that a third of their police forces will comprise women. However, most police forces
are reluctant to give up posts of male police officers in exchange, and states are understandably reluctant to
sanction large increases ab initio. Currently, women do not comprise more than five percent of the police
forces nationwide; even if a third of all fresh recruitments were to be devoted to women it would take many
years before the composition of the police forces as a whole could reflect that percentage. Added to this is
the reality of many Indian women not seeing the police as an attractive career option and the consequent
difficulty in finding suitable recruits.

Notwithstanding, a point made earlier in this presentation needs repetition. It is not healthy to determine
that only women police officers, women lawyers, women prosecutors or women judges are required to deal
with issues of domestic violence and other crimes against women. The more pressing need is rather to make
the existing criminal justice system more responsive to what is essentially an exploitative situation with
social, economic, political and other dimensions. Training acquires centre-stage position.

Whether training of a limited duration can actually result in attitudinal change is a debatable point. A
person can be trained fairly easily to operate a space shuttle in comparison with changing an attitude that he
or she has acquired over years of socialization. Training is also time and resource intensive making it
difficult to secure these resources without being able to demonstrate the efficacy of better training in a
reasonable time frame.

Still, it is possible to end on a hopeful note because the importance of sensitization and training is
gradually receiving recognition in all sectors of the criminal justice system. In a somewhat complex
relationship it has been the setting up of the Crimes against Women Cells itself that has drawn attention to
the inadequacies of training and helped to secure this recognition.

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