human rights and violation of human rights.............

1. Human rights are thoseminimum rights which are compulsorily obtainable by
every individual as he/she is a member of human family. The constitution of
India also guarantees the equality of rights of men and women. However, in
the sphereof women’s human rights in India, there exists a wide gulf between
theory and practice. Indian society is a male dominated society wheremen are
always assumed to be superior to society. The women in India very often have
to face discrimination, injusticeand dishonour. Though women in India have
been given more rights as compared to men, even then the condition of
women in India is miserable. This paper will throw light on the human rights of
women in India and that how all the fundamental rights given to the women
are being violated in India, by focussing on the various crimes done against
them.
As we all know that India is home to a thriving democracy and to recent
stunning economic growth. Unfortunately, this has not prevented multiple
serious human rights abuses fromremaining a fact of life in many parts of the
country. Political and separatistviolence and the government's heavy-handed
responsehavethreatened the well-being and human rights of millions.
Economic development has often threatened the livelihoods, land, and lives of
the poor who are in its way. Hundreds of millions live in severe poverty, and
women, religious minorities, dalits , adivasis and LGBT Indians can face harsh
discrimination and shocking violence.
The constitution of India has granted equal rights to the men and women.
According to article
14 – „The State shall not deny to any person equality before law or the equal
protection of laws within the territory of India‟. And Article 15 states – „State
shall not discriminate againstany citizen on grounds only of religion, race,
caste, sex, place of birth or any of them,. But today, it seems that there is a
wide gulf between theory and practice. The women in India have always been
considered subordinateto men. Though the articles contained in the
constitution mandates equality and non – discrimination on the grounds of sex,
women is always discriminated and dishonoured in Indian society. Although
various efforts havebeen taken to improvethe status of women in India, the
constitutional dream of gender equality is miles away frombecoming a reality.
Though, Human Rights are the minimum rights which arecompulsorily

2. obtainable by every individual as he/she is a member of human society. But it
has been found that each and every rightof the women is being violated in one
or another way.
There is a need to discuss therights of the women separately as women
represents morethan half the population of India, yetshe is discriminated and
violated in every sphereof her life. Only women are a prey to crimes such as
rape, dowry, brideburning, sexual harassment, selling and importation,
prostitution and trafficking etc. Haveyou heard the men as a victim to all these
crimes? The answer is “NO”. This year there has been 20% increasein women
trafficking, procurementof minor girls accounted for 19.8%, importation of
girls accounted for 4.9% and buying of girls for prostitution accounted for 2.3%
approx. Then how these Human Rights are beneficial to women? Though
governmentis taking a number of steps to improvethe condition of women in
India, but there is a long way to go.
The notion of Human Rights was in existence in India sincethe Vedic period.
One can easily interpret the Human Rights . This shows Indian universal
perspectiveof Human Rights. No matter Further Human Right developed as a
western concept and got Internationalaccreditation and recognition in the
late18th century. The philosophy “Every man has a right to dignity” was
advocated in the US Declaration of independence in 1776.
Human Rights are naturally acquired by the Human beings on earth. A right
means freedoms that are guaranteed. Itis true to say that Human Rights are
nothing but various freedoms guaranteed to human beings. The present
situation is such that no one is aware aboutthings to which he is entitled.
Society consists of various smallgroups having different identities. Roscoe
Pound emphasised upon the concept of ‘balancing of interests’ in his theory
known as Social Engineering Theory , Pound had insisted that, “the structureof
public, social and individual interests are all, in fact, individual interests looked
at from different points of view for the purposeof clarity and therefore, in
order to makethe systemwork properly, itis essential that when interests are
balanced, all claims must be translated into the samelevel and carefully
labelled.” Onecan easily apply the said theory to the theme of the present
paper i.e. each and every unit of the society shall consider the welfareof all.

3. Robert Ingersollrightly stated that, “There will never be a generation of great
men until there has been a generation of free women-of free mothers.” Itis a
fact that women are physically weaker than men but No one can deny that
woman and man are two pillars of the society .Their rights, duties and
responsibilities are complementary and supplementary to each other. The
present socialbehaviour shows that a woman is treated as inferior to Man.
Especially the Indian society is male dominated over the years. There are N
number cases of violation of women’s rights. The religious view is wrong that
woman is weaker than man. History shows that women have been not given
full responsibilities in the society. All this is resulted into violation of women’s
Human Rights which they wereto entitle since birth. Various religious customs
are in existence in the society, like Child Marriage, Religious prostitution,
Widow Remarriage, and polygamy. Though religion gives equal status to
women along with men still the prevalence of these customs affects the
societal atmosphere and there is a need to educate people at large through
various Governmentaland Non Governmentalagencies.
The constitution of India confers special rights upon women. The constitution
makers werewell awareof the subordinateand backward position of women
in the society. They made some efforts for uplift of women in our society. The
state is directed to providefor maternity relief to female workers under Article
42 of the Constitution, whereas Article 51-A declares it as a fundamental duty
of every Indian citizen to renounce practices to respectthe dignity of women.
Indian Parliament has passed the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 for the
proper implementation of Article 51-A. Indian Parliamentover the years have
taken significant steps for through legislations to achieve the goal of
empowering the women in India. The significant among them are the Equal
Remuneration Act, the Prevention of ImmoralTraffic Act, the Sati Prevention
Act, and the Dowry Prohibition Act etc. Apart fromthese, the 73rd and 74th
Amendment Act 33% reservation for women in both panchayatand Nagar
palika institutions as well as for the positions of chairpersons of thesebodies
were provided. Thesetwo amendments removed the bottlenecks from the
paths of women empowermentat the local level. In fact it has been found that
the Karnataka sends maximumnumber of women to the PRIs followed by
Kerala and Manipur. In order to facilitate equal participation of women at the
national and state level politics, the bill providing for 33% reservation of seats

4. for women in national and States legislatures has been introduced in
Parliament. Besides this, the governmentin India have enacted a variety of
laws like Dowry Prohibition Act, Sati prevention Act etc to guarantee the rights
of the women. Apartfromthis, in India, National Commission for Women had
been established in 1990 to look into the women’s problem. NCW have
engaged them to deal with the cases relating to the violation of women’s
rights. They havepressurised the governmentto pass stricter laws to deal with
the rapecases, domestic violence and to create a separatecriminal code for
the women etc.
SOMEOF THE WOMENHUMAN RIGHTS ININDIA:
ight to live with dignity
r equal work
sickness

5. rsonallife, family, residence, correspondence
etc.
The Supreme Legislation (Suprema Lex) i.e. Constitution of India is true
guarantor of right of equality of women. It is a fundamentaldocument which
deals with women’s rightto Equality in India. Further the Constitution of India
provides special protection to women with the help of various provisions
inserted under Part III. Besides, theconstitutional framework Indian
Parliament has taken positive steps to protect women’s rights. Especially,
Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, SatiPrevention Act, 1987 and ImmoralTraffic
(Prevention) Act, 1956 are important legislations of the Parliament.
1) Human Rights of Women and the Constitution of India:
The Constitution of India adopted in 1950 provides certain rights to its citizens
known as the FundamentalRights (Part-3, Article 14-35). Though thewords
“Human Rights” are not included in the Constitution of India, the rights
provided are similar to those rights which are provided in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the rights provided in InternationalCovenant
on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenanton Social, Economic
and Cultural rights. In Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration, the apex court has
observed that Human Rights jurisprudencein India has constitutional status.
Again in Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India the SupremeCourt has held that
provisions of partIII of the Constitution of India should be given widest
possibleinterpretation. Article 14 guarantees equality beforelaw and the
equal protection of law. Article 15 prohibits discrimination on any basis. Italso
deals with the special provisions to be made for women which shall not be
considered as discriminatory. Article16 provides equal opportunity in matters
of public employment. PartIV of the Constitution of India deals with Directive

6. Principles of State Policy. These are not enforceable in the courts of law like
fundamental rights. Even though Directive Principles of State Policy are helpful
in guiding the State while making legislations and policies, it has its own
importance as binding on the States. “Equal Pay for equal work”, “Justand
Human conditions of work and for maternity relief” And Fundamental duty to
respect women and renunciation of practices derogatory to dignity of women
are the importantprovisions of Constitution of India. The 73rd
and 74th
Constitutional Amendment Acts are new dimensions in the advancement of
women in India. In spiteof all these provisions women in India are victims of
personallaws which restrictthem fromrepresentation in the society.
2) Versatile Judicial Response:
The Indian judiciary is playing a significant role in comparison to judiciaries of
the world. The public at large have faith in our Judiciary. The Supreme Courtis
the ultimate interpreter of the Constitution of India. The judiciary is the
protector of Human Rights over decades. Some of the unpleasant violations of
Human Rights like Sati, Child Marriage, Honour Killings, Slavery, and Child
Labour have been abolished by the initiative of Judiciary. Following are some
verdicts: The Supreme Courtin Hussainara Khatoon and others v. Home
Secretory State of Bihar expressed “travesty of justice” on accountof under
trial prisoners spending extended time in prison. In Prem Surana v. Delhi
Administration the SupremeCourt found the practice of using handcuffs and
fetters on prisoners violating the guarantee of human dignity .In Smt. Nilabati
Behera v. State of Orissa and others the Supreme Court referred Article 9(5) of
the InternationalCovenanton Civil and Political Rights, 1966which deals with
right to compensation in cases unlawfularrestand detention .In BodhiSatwa
Gautam v. Subra Chakraborty theApex Courthas held that Rape is a crime
against basic Human Right. The most versatilerole of judiciary is reflected in
the decisions of Supreme Court in Unnikrshnan P. J. v. State of A. P. and others
Right to Education and PUCL v. Union of India the right of access of those
below the poverty line to food supplies as essential to preserving human
dignity.

7. 3) SupremeCourt of India on Internationallaw concerning the human
rights of women:
The Supreme Courtof India has interpreted various provisions of international
instruments correlated with Constitutional law of India. India is a signatory to
various InternationalConventions and Treaties. The UniversalDeclaration of
Human Rights adopted on 10th
Dec. 1948, has greatly helped to create a
universalthinking that Human Rights are supremeshall preserve. In Madhu
Kishwar v. State Supreme Courthas considered the provisions of the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination againstWomen,
1979 and held that it is a mirror image of PartIII and PartIV of the Constitution
of India.
4) The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993:
The Supreme Courtof India had admitted that provisions of international
instruments are not in conflict with National Laws. The Human Rights Act, been
formed after consideration of said provisions. Thesaid Act defines Human
Rights as the rights relating to Life, Liberty and Equality and Dignity of the
individual. The Act provides for setting up of National Human Rights
Commission and Human Rights Courts to deal with the issues relating to
Human Rights.
5)National Commission for Women Act, 1990:
Itis a result of unequal status of women and grievances of women in India. The
activist demanded that there should be an Autonomous Agency for resolution
of their grievances. The commission shall monitor the proper implementation
of laws made to protect of rights of women. Further the Act provides for the
constitution of the National Commission for Women and shall performall
functions which involve issues of women.

8. VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN:
1) VIOLATIONOF “RIGHTTO EQUALITY” AND “RIGHTTO PROTECTION
AGAINSTGENDERDISCRIMINATION” :
Discrimination against the girl child starts the moment she enters into the
mother’s womb. The child is exposed to gender differences since birth and in
recent times even beforebirth, in the formof sex – determination tests leading
to foeticide and female infanticide. The home, which is supposed to be the
most secureplace, is where women are mortexposed to violence. If a girl child
opens her eyes in any way, she is killed after her birth by different cruel
methods in someparts of the country. Thus the very important “right to life” is
denied to women. In India, men are always assumed to be superior to women
and are given morepreference. The “World Human Rights Conference in
Vienna” firstrecognised gender – based violence as a human rights violation in
1993. Thesame was declared by “United Nations Declaration” in 1993.
2) VIOLATIONOF „RIGHTTO EDUCATION‟:
Education is considered as means of development of personality and
awareness. Education is one of the most importanthuman rights but the
position of women’s education in India is not at all satisfactory. Young girls
may be boughtup to believe that they are suited only to certain professions or
in some cases to serveas wives and mothers. Despite in the improvement in
the literacy rate after independence, there continues to be large gap between
the literacy levels of men and women. Almosthalf the women population are
even unable to recogniselanguage characters. Alleast 60 million girls lack
access to primary education in India. Due to large percentage of uneducated
women in India, they are not even aware of their basic human rights and can
never fight for them.
3) VIOLATIONOF „POLITICAL RIGHT‟:
The political status of women in India is very unsatisfactory, particularly their
representation in higher political institutions – Parliament and provincial
Legislation which is of great under – representation which hampers their
effective role in influencing the government initiatives and policies regarding

9. women’s welfareand development. Their representation has been unable to
reach even 10% in Lok Sabha.
Thus it is clear that: a) There is male domination in Indian politics and almost
all the parties give very little supportto women in election despite their vocal
supportfor 33% reservation of seats for women in Parliament and Provincial
Legislation. b) Women have made initiatives in political participation
but they have not been accepted in politics.
4) VIOLATIONOF „RIGHTTO PROPERTY‟:
In mostof the Indian families, women do not own property in their own names
and do not get shareof parental property. Due to weak enforcement of laws
protecting them, women continue to have little access to land and property. In
fact, someof the laws discriminate againstwomen, when it comes to land and
property rights. Though, women have been given rights to inheritance, but the
sons had an independent share in the ancestralproperty, while the daughter’s
shares werebased on the sharereceived by the father. Hence, father could
anytime disinherit daughter by renouncing his share but the son will continue
to have a sharein his own right. The married daughters facing harassment
have no rights in ancestral home.
5) VIOLATIONOF “RIGHTTO PROTECTIONOF HEALTH”:
According to the World Bank report, malnutrition is the major cause of female
infertility. The presenceof excessivemalnutrition among female children as
compared to male children is basically due to differences in the intra – family
allocation of food between the male and female children. Normally, the male
members are fed before the female members of the family. According to
Human Development Report, in rural Punjab, 21% of girls in low income
families suffer fromseveremalnutrition as compared with 3 % of boys in the
same family. Even the low income boys arefar better than upper income girls.
Girl babies are less breast– fed than boy babies. 60% of girl babies are born
with low birth weight. Sometimes due to economic distress and natural
calamities like floods, droughts or earthquakes, the discrimination against the
female child increases. Moreover it has been confirmed by various studies that
the girl’s diet is inferior to the boy’s diet both in quality and quantity. Boys are
given more nutritive foods like milk, eggs, butter, ghee, fruits, and vegetables

10. as compared to girls. Due to this inferior quality diet, girls are morevulnerable
to infections and diseases. The reason again is that families spend less on
medication for girls than for boys.
6) VIOLATIONOF “RIGHTTO EQUAL OPPERTUNITYFOR
EMPLOYMENT”AND “RIGHTTO GET EQUAL WAGES FOREQUAL WORK”:
The employment of the women in agriculture, traditional industries and in
sizeable section of new industries is declining at a very fastrate. The reason is
that the adoption of new technological changes requires new skill, knowledge
and training. And women in India, who constitute a large shareof world’s
illiterate lacks such skills and knowledge. The studies havealso showed that for
the sametask, women are paid less than the males. Technological changes in
agriculture and industry are throwing out women from the production process.
The women workers areconcentrated only for certain jobs which require so –
called female skills. Thus, Indian labour market is adverseto women workers. It
shows that, the role of women in large scale industries and technology based
businesses is very limited. But even in the small- scale industries their
participation is very low. Only 10.11% of the micro and small enterprises are
owned by women today. Statistics show that only 15% of the senior
management posts are held by the women. In agriculturewherewomen
compriseof the majority of agricultural labourers, theaverage wage of women
on an averageis 30 – 50 % less than that of men.
7) VIOLATIONOF „RIGHTTO LIVE WITHDIGNITY‟: EVETEASING AND
SEXUAL ABUSE:
Eve teasing is an act of terror that violates a woman’s body, spaceand self –
respect. Itis one of the many ways through which a woman is systematically
made to feel inferior, weak and afraid. Whether it is an obscene word
whispered into a woman’s ear; offensiveremarks on her appearance; any
intrusiveway of touching any part of Women’s body; a gesturewhich is
perceived and intended to be vulgar: all these acts represent a violation of
woman’s person and her bodily integrity. Thus, eve teasing denies a woman’s
fundamental right to move freely and carry herself with dignity, solely on the
basis of her sex. There is no particular places where eve – teasers congregate.
No place is really “safe” for women. Roads, buses, train, cinema halls, parks,

11. beaches, even a woman’s houseand neighbourhood may be sites whereher
self– worth is abused.
Conclusion
The Universal Rights belonging to an individual are the virtue of being human.
Studies haverevealed that women as a human being hampered since ancient
time. Dominanceon women in the society resulted into backwardness of
women in the civil, political, social, economic, political and educational spheres
of view. Gender equality and brotherhood in the society will change the
currentsituation. The attitude towards women can be changed with proper
policy implementation with the aid of Governmentaland Non - Governmental
organisations. Thedevelopment in science and technology has changed
everything in the society women are still living with less responsibility. In day
to day life women are facing violence in the society. Changing the mentality of
people is not an easy task but quality education to children at primary stageto
eradicate gender inequality and to bring about a change in typical thinking
about women, will bring drastic change in the society. The international and
national framework to protect rights of women has not attained satisfactory
results. Finally collaboration between all classes of society may be suggested
and Governmental, Non - Governmentalinstruments, an effective and efficient
Judiciary and conscious Media is the need of the hour.

12. REFERENCES
1) http://www.academia.edu/1771756/_Protection_of_Human_Rights_of_
Women_International_and_National_Perspective-_A_study_
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pacific/india
6) Crimes in India – 2010, NCRB, Ministry of Home Affairs.
7) Roscoe Pound’s SocialEngineering Theory.
8) Pattanayak Pradeepta Ranjan, “Human Rights A Protean Perspective”,
Indian Bar review, Vol. xxviii (1): 2001,p 51
9) Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 1967,
Article 1.