HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN INDIA WITH SPECIAL ATTENTION TO WOMENS

RIGHTS

INTRODUCTION

Human rights are defined as “rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex,
nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status”.1 These rights are enshrined all
over the world in different countries in different forms. The human rights have evolved over
the years with the growth and advancement in civilisation.

Human rights are a dynamic concept which is synonymously associated with fundamental
rights, basic social rights. Human rights are a basic requirement for a civilised society. 2
Human rights are needed for ensuring equality to the citizens of any sovereign country.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a milestone document which has provided for
basic rights which ensures equal treatment for everybody. Many basic rights have been
provided in 30 articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 3 India is a signatory to
this convention and it has made efforts to enforce the rights given under the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights by enshrining them under the Constitution of India. For
instance, Equality before law under Article 7 and Article 14, Prohibition of discrimination
Art. 7 Art. 15(1), Freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) etc,.4

Over the years, the Parliament has also passed legislations purported for the protection of
such human rights. The State has also established the National Human Rights Commission to
ensure that the basic rights purported are being provided to the citizens of this country. There
are human rights bodies established at different hierarchical levels of the country. But these
have not proved to be enough to ensure that there are no human right violations in India.

Human rights violations occur in India on a large scale and one of the most heavily affected
portion of the society is women. They are mostly harassed and ostracised in extreme cases in
the conservative Indian society and need upliftment to improve the social and economic
conditions of this country.

HUMAN RIGHTS IN INDIA

1 Human Rights, United Nations, http://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/human-rights/ (last visited Jan 12,
2018).
2 Article on Human Rights in India Important India, https://www.importantindia.com/1781/article-on-human-
rights-in-india/ (last visited Jan 12, 2018)
3 Ibid
4 Articles 7, 14,15 and 19 of the Constitution of India.
Many of the rights provided under the UDHR have been enshrined under various Articles of
the Constitution of India. But however, human rights violations do take place in the world’s
biggest democracy. There are a variety of reasons for this particular act taking place in the
Democratic Republic of India.

These violations can be attributed to many reasons to the conservative nature of a majority of
the people and the mentality of the people in the country. Common trend of violation of
human rights in India generally includes the misuse of power by the police and other is the
mentality of the people being influenced by caste and other such social structures which have
existed for a long time. The concept of human rights is said to have existed in India since the
ancient periods. There have been mentions about human rights such as equality from the
Vedic ages, which is circa fifteenth century BC. The Charter of equality of all as defined in
the Vedas in the following words-No one is superior inferior all should strive for the interest
of all and should progress collectively. It is well understood now that the concept of human
rights have existed since the Vedic age and the societal structure in the Vedic age was well
organised and was based on the principles of equality and justice.5

The current system of basic rights which we follow is modelled after the influence of the
British colonial rule and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which India is a
signatory. As mentioned above, they are enshrined in the Constitution of India under various
articles.

Historically, the violations of civil rights are due to the prejudices present on cultural lines in
a diverse country as India.6 The caste system can be considered as one of the reasons for such
rights being violated. The caste system has deep roots in the society since time immemorial
and its influence still continues in the modern day. Honour killings in the name of caste
continue even today in many parts of the country. Honour killings have increased by as much
as 8 times in India over the last few years. 7 This either shows that the number of such killings
has actually increased or it just shows the willingness of the public to report or file a
complaint regarding such incidents. Honour killings are widely prevalent in the rural parts of

5 A. Yakub Matondang & Dja’Far Siddik, http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol.

%2022%20Issue6/Version-1/A2206010106.pdf, 22 IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science 07–16
(2017).
6 Pulapre Balakrishnan, The Hindu , The Hindu , December 12, 2017,
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/human-rights-and-indian-values/article21537130.ece (last visited Jan 13,
2018).
7 India sees huge spike in 'honour' killings, Al Jazeera , December 7, 2016, http/: (last visited Jan 13, 2018).
the country, where youngsters are killed for bringing shame to the family or the sect to which
they belong to.

Such violations and abuse of human rights in the name of culture is very common in India. 8
Such events have been happening for a long time in this country. Discrimination on the lines
of caste was prevalent in India for a long time and it still continues in many parts of India.
The caste system is a complex system of various subdivisions. The caste based sentiments are
intense and in many parts of the nation. Furthermore, it is also accentuated by the caste based
politics practiced in India. The political scenario in the nation is in such a state where the
dominant caste/religion in terms of population in an area is used to provide seats to
prospective candidates in order to boost the parties chances of winning in that particular
constituency.
Another common form of violating human rights is by abuse of authority conferred by the
state to the police. This generally takes place when a person who is detained dies while in
police captivity. A famous case regarding this is the case of Nilabati Behera v State of Orissa.9
In this case, the petitioners’ son was arrested in connection to a case by the police. He was
killed in police captivity. The petitioner filed a suit asking for redresses. The Supreme Court
held that it was a case of lock up death and the police would have to be held culpable for this.
Such kind of abuse of powers and privileges by the police is not uncommon in India.

This can be partly attributed to the ignorance of a majority of the population regarding their
rights and the privileges conferred to the police. This ignorance is often unscrupulously used
by the policemen to exert undue influence over the affairs relating to a case brought to their
notice.

It is reported that over forty five thousand human rights violations happened in India against
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.10 These people are still persecuted on the basis of
cultural differences alone.

Over the last few months, there has been an increase in the violation of minorities rights in
the name of the beef ban introduced by the government. Many traders who dealt in meat were

8 Huffpost Staff, These Were The 12 Major Human Rights Violations In India In 2015, Finds Amnesty Report,
Huffington Post , February 22, 2017, http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/02/22/these-were-the-12-major-human-
rights-violations-in-india-in-2015_a_21719034/ (last visited Jan 13, 2018).
9 1993 AIR 1960, 1993 SCR (2) 58
10 Amnesty International, India 2016/2017, https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/asia-and-the-
pacific/india/report-india/ (last visited Jan 14, 2018)
murdered by Hindu vigilante groups under the suspicion that they were dealing in beef. 11
These killings are a blatant violation of the basic rights guaranteed to a person under Article
19.

Surprisingly, a case was filed against amnesty international by the Police Department of the
State of Karnataka on charges of sedition alleging that anti-Indian slogans were raised at a
meeting organized by Amnesty on abuses in Kashmir. The case was however discharged due
to lack of evidence.12

Various incidents of human rights violations took place in those regions where the influence
of Maoist extremists by both the government individuals and the terrorists. These include
killings and rapes by the terrorist outfit and arrests and other related violations by the security
forces in the area.13 The tribal people residing in such areas are subject to such abject and
blatant violations of their rights.

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS OF WOMEN

The violence and incidents of violation of rights against women and children are increasing in
the country. There has been a five percent increase in the number of crimes against children. 14
Crimes against children generally includes child pornography, trafficking, physical or
emotional abuse and neglect of such children emotionally etc,. Such crimes have a
detrimental effect on the children. Over 10,000 cases were registered in 2015 alone. 15 The
number of crimes against children has been increasing since 2013.16

The country has also seen an increase in the violence against women in recent times. These
attacks had been there for a long time, only in recent years have they become public and the
Nirbhaya case had added some form of credibility and has increased the punishment for
sexual crimes against women. Domestic violence and domestic spousal violence is also now
recognised as a violation of rights against women and is also recognised as a widespread
problem that needs to be addressed immediately. Most common methods of spousal violence

11 India, Human Rights Watch (2017), https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2017/country-chapters/india (last

visited Jan 14, 2018)
12 Ibid
13 Ibid
14Amnesty International, India 2016/2017, https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/asia-and-the-
pacific/india/report-india (last visited Dec 23, 2017).
15Statistics regarding violence against women (http://ncrb.nic.in/StatPublications/CII/CII2015/chapters/Chapter
%206-15.11.16.pdf)
16 Ibid
include alcohol abuse, dowry harassment and other such problems in marriage. 17 The
probability of such incidents of domestic violence is high among the lower socio-economic
classes. Spousal violence is committed by either the husband or the wife against each other.
Domestic violence on the other hand can be committed by any person who is related to the
victim like their in-laws and dowry related incidents still take place in India. The sad part is
that dowry is still being given and demanded by families in spite of knowledge that
demanding dowry is illegal.

Rape crimes happen a lot in India but only 25 percent of the cases are reported. The rest of
the cases are not reported and most of the crimes are committed against women who were
under the age of 16 years. Most of such crimes are not reported due to the fact that the family
of the victim feels that their reputation and honour in the society would be negatively
impacted by such incidents if reported.

The problem with incidents related to women is that since the society is still conservative,
any woman who has faced such problems is mostly shunned by rest of the society which just
adds to the trauma which the woman is undergoing due to that incident. The same society
which held marches for the Nirbhaya case will not accept a victim who underwent a similar
tragic incident because of many factors which have had an impact in framing the mentality of
the people. People generally don’t want themselves to be associated with such people as they
are made to think that being associated with such people will harm their reputation within
their social circles.

This society has been patriarchal for a long time and hence the same is being followed even
today in major parts of the country. This is due to the majority of the populations desire to
stick to traditions and not move ahead. Even today, mostly women are raised with the
mentality to be married off and not for helping the family. Women are mostly educated
because most conservative parents feel that if they do not educate their children, the society
would mock them. Hence, most women are educated but are not mostly allowed to work in
case the family situation is financially stable. Mostly women in India who are housewives are
allowed to work only if the financial situation of the family is in dire need of extra income.
This is very prevalent in India as it is the traditional role of the woman to take care of the
household. Such is the role of woman which has been embedded in the minds of the people in
the society.
17 L. JEYASEELAN et al., PHYSICAL SPOUSAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN INDIA: SOME RISK
FACTORS, 39 Journal of Biosocial Science 657–670 (2007).
This particular attitude is at the heart of all problems. The common perception is that women
are not fit for working both physically and intellectually while the truth is the opposite. Most
women are capable of more intellectual handling of work and can multitask with ease. The
idea has changed lately but still the society’s mentality is still largely conservative.

It is a sad fact that women empowerment in India is still not up to the mark. Facets of woman
empowerment include social, economic, political and legal strength of the women, to ensure
equal-right to women, and to make them confident enough to claim their right. 18 On one
hand, the country is slowly progressing on the intellectual fronts but is not up to a really
progressive level.

It is quite known that most of the women constitute a majority of the illiterate population in
the country. It is common that women are the target for many cases of violence and other
such issues are commonly faced by women. In the ancient Indian society, there was a custom
of sati system, dowry system, sexual violence, domestic violence, female infanticide, sati,
sexual harassment at work place, child marriage, child labour, devadashi pratha, etc including
other discriminatory practices. All such type of ill practices is because of male superiority
complex and patriarchal system of the society.19

Women empowerment is critical for the development of the nation. Women constitute
approximately 50% of the population and preventing their development will only hinder the
development of this nation. Women are also human resources and not utilising their talent
does not help in the development of the nation. Statistics point out that women are more
adept at multitasking but their talent is not used productively and is wasted away tending to
children and households.20

A well educated and working woman is an asset both to her family and her nation. Only when
women are empowered completely will it mean that a society is well developed.21

Another measure of a woman’s productivity is the value of their household work. It is well
known that women, irrespective of housewife or a working woman, performs household

18 Essay on Women Empowerment: Its Meaning and Importance Important India (2017),
https://www.importantindia.com/19050/essay-on-women-empowerment/ (last visited Jan 13, 2018).
19 Essay on Women Empowerment: Its Meaning and Importance Important India (2017),
https://www.importantindia.com/19050/essay-on-women-empowerment/ (last visited Jan 13, 2018).
20 Bharath Gujar, Essay On Women Empowerment: It's Meaning and Why Is It Important. Cultural India
(2016), http://learn.culturalindia.net/essay-women-empowerment-meaning-important.html (last visited Jan 13,
2018).
21 Ibid
chores which if they can be valued in terms of money, will be worth more and still they are
unpaid for such work.

Women are mostly denied their right to equality, education and equal opportunity in many
places the work that women do in the name of household chores, if done in the name of any
economic or productive activity. It is quite well established that women spend a lot of time on
unpaid work and not in paid activities.22 In a study globally, it was established that if unpaid
work is to be valued and compensated, then it would be close to $300 billion on a global
scale and in a case, it was decided by the Supreme Court that if a woman’s household work is
to be valued, it will amount to forty thousand rupees to be paid to her for her services.23

The government has also mulled an idea to make husbands share a percentage of their
incomes with their wives for the household chores done by them.24

We can also assume that women work full time as daughters, wives, mothers etc,. If the
household work they do is valued as good or services provided, it will yield a significant
amount as income to every household and India’s GDP could potentially increase by 16 per
cent to 60 per cent by the year 2025 if more women participated in the labour force.25

The government has seriously mulled providing some sort of monetary compensation similar
to the line of honorarium for work done by housewives in the name of household chores. It
has also gone up to the level of devising a model for compensation for this purpose. 26 But
nothing concrete has taken place.

The social status of women is not on an equal footing in the Indian society. In case of
separation from marriage, most women suffer on an economic level due to lack of any
savings in their name and they suffer as they are not able to get any adequate maintenance
from their husbands from legal proceedings.27

22 http://ljournal.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/a-2017-023.pdf, (2017).
23 Guruprasad, Economics for Everyone: Evaluating Economic Activity-Home Economics – Housewives
Contribution to the Economy, www.indiainfoline.com, May 28, 2016,
https://www.indiainfoline.com/article/news-top-story/economics-for-everyone-evaluating-economic-activity-
home-economics-–-housewives-contribution-to-the-economy-116052800707_1.html (last visited Jan 14, 2017).
24 Government considering salary for housewives from husbands, Times of India, September 11, 2012,
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/edit-page/Government-considering-salary-for-housewives-from-
husbands/articleshow/16341380.cms (last visited Jan 14, 2018).
25 Amritha Nandy , The Work Women Do, The Indian Express, November 7, 2015,
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/the-work-women-do/ (last visited Jan 14, 2018).
26 Aparna Ray , In India, Husbands to Pay Wives for Doing Household Chores?, VitaminW, September 17,
2012, http://vitaminw.co/world/india-husbands-pay-wives-doing-household-chores (last visited Jan 14, 2018).
27 Kirti Singh , https://books.google.co.in/books?id=5Z6HAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=Household
chores must be paid case in India&source=bl&ots=smR7CnRaip&sig=prJtPrA-
It is well understood and is a common idea that women fell underserved. Inspite of all the
progress made in different facets of life and society, they still have to make a lot of sacrifices
to balance their work at home and workplace.

From a study conducted, it has been observed that in probability of doing household chores
and attending school, women have a higher probability of not completing secondary school in
India.28

This sad situation of women is due to deep rooted ideas ingrained in the minds of the
population for a long period of time. This has resulted in the oppression of the rights and
underuse of the talents of women in the household rather than using them productively in
works which will pay them something for the work or service rendered which will be useful
both to the society and to the household on a financial level. If both the persons in the house
work, then it will be highly beneficial to everybody involved including the woman who is
earning.

It is also a long standing and common problem that women are paid less than what men earn
in any profession. In a recent study it has been concluded that the gender pay gap stands at
25% as in 2016.29 Women mostly lose earnings for causes such as maternity and 22.6% of
women are not provided health benefits which are not provided for working women. Though
in most government sectors, benefits to women such as maternity benefits are provided for,
still a majority of women are not afforded or are not able to avail such benefits. Such
disparites in payment exists in on a large scale.30

Migrant workers in the country, especially female workers are paid lower wages than men for
which even men are paid very low. They are exploited more than men at work and yet are not
afforded any protection or not even equal wages.31

owKgcfCSCWSLqtraTp4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiX7uCb9NbYAhWJHJQKHc0jDLo4FBDoAQgzMAI
#v=onepage&q=Household%20chores%20must%20be%20paid%20case%20in%20India&f=false (2013).
28Shreya Roy Chowdhury, Gender gap in secondary education: Domestic chores the largest contributor, says
study Scroll.in (2017), https://scroll.in/article/836687/domestic-chores-the-largest-significant-contributor-to-
gender-gap-in-secondary-education-study (last visited Jan 14, 2018).
29 ET Bureau, Women in India earn 25% less than Men: Survey , Economic TImes , March 6, 2017, Women in
India earn 25 per cent less than men: Survey Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/57491534.cms?
utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst (last visited Jan 14, 2018).
30 Ibid.
31 Arun George , Underpaid, vulnerable and overworked: India's unseen women labourers, www.firstpost.com ,
January 12, 2015, http://www.firstpost.com/business/underpaid-vulnerable-overworked-indias-unseen-women-
labourers-2041003.html (last visited Jan 14, 2018).
So, woman empowerment must be an important issue in the agenda of the governments in the
future for improving the nation and woman emancipation.

CONCLUSION

It is well understood that in India, the situation regarding human rights is still not as good as
what it is in other countries. The situation of minorities and specifically women is not exactly
bright even though progress has been made in the past few decades; it still is not enough to
make the society to be labelled as a progressive and developed one. The society is still in the
grips of conservative practices in the name of tradition and is not able to realise the
significance of emancipating women in the society.

Many remote and underdeveloped parts of the country are still in the grips of conservative
traditions and other such beliefs.

Many women in this country, despite working in jobs which require a high level of skill and
proficiency are still underpaid than men and many women are forced to work as household
helpers in cases where the parents are not able to provide for the education of the woman.
They are forced to work in multiple homes for salaries ranging from 5,000 rupees to 10,000
rupees a month in total.

The situation of women in this country is like this, despite being highly productive and able
to handle both work and household, they are not allowed to work in case a child is born or in
cases where handling household work becomes difficult. In such cases, women are forced to
quit their jobs and tend to the household.

The chores which when given economic value will equate to a substantial amount of money
and even if they want to work, they are being forbidden and this is a violation of their right to
practice profession under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution.

In cases of where women are harassed physically, their right to privacy is being adversely
violated in the case of stalking on the internet. Such cases negatively impact both the woman
and her family. Such incident in the case of a conservative society like India has led to many
women committing suicides due to the impact of such harassments fearing backlash from the
society. This is a violation of their right to privacy.

Being paid less than what a man earns for an equal amount of work done is a violation of a
citizen’s right to equality under Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.
If all able women are allowed to work, then the economic situation of this country will
radically change due to a significant amount of well qualified and able bodied persons being
added to the workforce and this in itself will change the scenario of the country. No one can
deny the right of a person decision as to whether to practice any trade or profession or not and
also violate the privacy of the person so as to harass and damage their reputation.

Hence, it is the opinion of the researcher that if the human rights situation in India is
alleviated, then the society will reap the rewards of this in the future in different aspects of a
society and a nation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Human Rights, United Nations, http://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/human-rights/ (last visited
Jan 12, 2018).
Article on Human Rights in India Important India, https://www.importantindia.com/1781/article-on-
human-rights-in-india/ (last visited Jan 12, 2018)
Ibid
Articles 7, 14,15 and 19 of the Constitution of India.
A. Yakub Matondang & Dja’Far Siddik, http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol.
%2022%20Issue6/Version-1/A2206010106.pdf, 22 IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science
07–16 (2017).
Pulapre Balakrishnan, The Hindu , The Hindu , December 12, 2017,
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/human-rights-and-indian-values/article21537130.ece (last
visited Jan 13, 2018).
India sees huge spike in 'honour' killings, Al Jazeera , December 7, 2016, http/: (last visited Jan 13,
2018).
http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/02/22/these-were-the-12-major-human-rights-violations-in-india-
in-2015_a_21719034/
1993 AIR 1960, 1993 SCR (2) 58
Amnesty International, India 2016/2017, https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/asia-and-the-
pacific/india/report-india/ (last visited Jan 14, 2018)
India, Human Rights Watch (2017), https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2017/country-chapters/india
(last visited Jan 14, 2018)
Ibid
Ibid
Amnesty International, India 2016/2017, https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/asia-and-the-
pacific/india/report-india (last visited Dec 23, 2017).
http://ncrb.nic.in/StatPublications/CII/CII2015/chapters/Chapter%206-15.11.16.pdf
Ibid
L. JEYASEELAN et al., PHYSICAL SPOUSAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN INDIA:
SOME RISK FACTORS, 39 Journal of Biosocial Science 657–670 (2007).
Essay on Women Empowerment: Its Meaning and Importance Important India (2017),
https://www.importantindia.com/19050/essay-on-women-empowerment/ (last visited Jan 13, 2018).
Essay on Women Empowerment: Its Meaning and Importance Important India (2017),
https://www.importantindia.com/19050/essay-on-women-empowerment/ (last visited Jan 13, 2018).
Bharath Gujar, Essay On Women Empowerment: It's Meaning and Why Is It Important. Cultural India
(2016), http://learn.culturalindia.net/essay-women-empowerment-meaning-important.html (last
visited Jan 13, 2018).
Ibid
http://ljournal.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/a-2017-023.pdf, (2017).
Guruprasad, Economics for Everyone: Evaluating Economic Activity-Home Economics –
Housewives Contribution to the Economy, www.indiainfoline.com, May 28, 2016,
https://www.indiainfoline.com/article/news-top-story/economics-for-everyone-evaluating-economic-
activity-home-economics-–-housewives-contribution-to-the-economy-116052800707_1.html (last
visited Jan 14, 2017).
Government considering salary for housewives from husbands, Times of India, September 11, 2012,
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/edit-page/Government-considering-salary-for-housewives-from-
husbands/articleshow/16341380.cms (last visited Jan 14, 2018).
Amritha Nandy , The Work Women Do, The Indian Express, November 7, 2015,
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/the-work-women-do/ (last visited Jan 14, 2018).
Aparna Ray , In India, Husbands to Pay Wives for Doing Household Chores?, VitaminW, September
17, 2012, http://vitaminw.co/world/india-husbands-pay-wives-doing-household-chores (last visited
Jan 14, 2018).
Kirti Singh , https://books.google.co.in/books?
id=5Z6HAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=Household chores must be paid case in
India&source=bl&ots=smR7CnRaip&sig=prJtPrA-
owKgcfCSCWSLqtraTp4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiX7uCb9NbYAhWJHJQKHc0jDLo4FBDo
AQgzMAI#v=onepage&q=Household%20chores%20must%20be%20paid%20case%20in
%20India&f=false (2013).
Shreya Roy Chowdhury, Gender gap in secondary education: Domestic chores the largest contributor,
says study Scroll.in (2017), https://scroll.in/article/836687/domestic-chores-the-largest-significant-
contributor-to-gender-gap-in-secondary-education-study (last visited Jan 14, 2018).
ET Bureau, Women in India earn 25% less than Men: Survey , Economic TImes , March 6, 2017,
Women in India earn 25 per cent less than men: Survey Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/57491534.cms?
utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst (last visited Jan 14, 2018).
Ibid.
Arun George, Underpaid, vulnerable and overworked: India's unseen women labourers,
www.firstpost.com , January 12, 2015, http://www.firstpost.com/business/underpaid-vulnerable-
overworked-indias-unseen-women-labourers-2041003.html (last visited Jan 14, 2018).