Human Rights in India: Women's and Children's Rights

POSCO act is established in 2012 to protect the children against offences like sexual abuse sexual harassment and pornography while safeguarding the interest of the child at every stage of the judicial process. 

All offences under the POSCO act are considered as grave offences. Hence they are non believable.

Saudi Arabia is the most recent country to give Rights to women to vote. It has many curtailed rights not given to women.

The meaning of "Begar" means work without payment which involves free service to the master in the form of slavery and a pledge in return of shelter or food.

Bonded labor means forced labor as a pledge to the master as a repayment of debt. It involves the practice of exploitation of laborers who spend their whole life serving their masters for nothing. The constitution abolishes and makes bonded labor a punishable offense. 

Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, has been made effective from 1st November 2007.  This act is extended to all of India except Jammu and Kashmir. This act prevents child marriages, so as to protect children from emotional trauma. According to this act a male up to 21 years and female up to 18 years are considered as a child. Beyond this age they are called majors.

Child marriage is a marriage performed between any male below 21 years and female below 18 years according to Indian policy. Child marriages have following disadvantages: Lack of understanding ability, risk of miscarriage among women and sexual relation becoming strenuous.

Right to Anonymity of women is one of the important rights one has to be aware of. According to this right, sexually assaulted women may record her statement alone before the district magistrate to ensure her privacy. 

Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, which was passed in the year 1956, favours women against trafficking. Women trafficking is a kind of smuggling in which women are transported for sexual services. Women are protected against it through this act.

Woman reformer who supported women’s education by reinterpreting the Kuran in support of her arguments is Banu Begum. She was deeply convinced of the advantages of acquiring modem education for the Muslims of the Indian sub-continent.

Domestic violence is an act of abuse by physical violence of one person by another. It includes both physical and sexual violence. Government is taking necessary steps to prevent domestic violence against women. Main reason for domestic violence is dowry.

Any property or valuable security given or agreed to be given either directly or indirectly by one party to another party of a marriage is called dowry. It is of the many social evils leading to a number of women deaths. Government and many non-government organisations have been trying to abolish this social crime from many years. Act of accepting and receiving dowry is responsible for abuses which include Emotional trauma, depression, suicide etc.

Any property or valuable security given or agreed to be given either directly or indirectly by one party to another party of a marriage is called dowry. It is of the many social evils leading to a number of women deaths. Government and many non-government organisations have been trying to abolish this social crime from many years. Act of accepting and receiving dowry is responsible for abuses which include Emotional trauma, depression, suicide etc.

Stalking is defined as an unwanted and obsessive attention of a person or a group towards another. It refers to persistent following, observing and harassment of an individual. It is especially faced by movie stars and celebrities by common people.

The Head is the most exposed part of the body and is also considered most fragile part of the human body, Hence the chance of the nongenital injuries occur on the Head.  

The practice of untouchability was in vogue in Ancient which continued to prevail in modern India also. It is a practice of excluding or isolating persons of lower caste from social participation. Article 17 of the constitution abolishes untouchability and forbids its practice. The Untouchability Offences Act enacted in 1955 (presently Protection of Civil Rights, 1976) in the spirit of the constitutional mandate which provides for penalties of such practices so defined in it. The Hindu-Sikh Religion classified people on the caste system in the Vedic era whereby lower castes people are considered as untouchables.

Women in India face a lot of obstacles in their Social, Economic and Political life. This is also due to the feudal traditions and mindset of the people. The government is working towards measures for equality and is adopting various programs for the same.

Patriarchy is the system where men are considered superior to women. Due to this idea, more power and authority is granted to males which eventually leads to exclusion of women from higher positions in a political, social or economic setup. It many a times leads to exploitation, backwardness and oppression of women.

The parliament has enacted various laws in order to work for the welfare of women. The Special Marriage and the Dowry Prohibition act were responsible for the welfare of the martial life of the women. The Equal Remuneration Act is responsible for the workplace equality of women.

Dowry refers to transfer of property, gifts or money at the marriage of a daughter. The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 provides for a penalty if any person gives, takes or abets giving or receiving of dowry. The Act provides the penalty for directly or indirectly demanding dowry and provides for a penalty involving a prison term of not less than 6 months and extendable up to two years along with a fine of Rs.10,000.

Right Against Exploitation is a fundamental right and is expressed in Article 23 and 24. Article 23 deals with Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour. Violation of this provision shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law.

Bride trafficking is the practice of selling and buying girl bride against her will for the purpose of marriage. This derogatory practice has resulted in a decreasing number of females over males. In 1956 Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act was passed by the Parliament which was later amended and changed in 1986 to Immoral Traffic Prevention Act. It prohibits trafficking in human beings and provides punishment for persons doing so or engaged in such activities. The Act defines "trafficking", "child", "brothels" and other related terms. 

Swayamsidha Scheme is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The objectives of the scheme include empowerment through the creation of confidence and awareness among members of SHGs regarding women's status, health, nutrition, education, sanitation and hygiene, etc. The long-term objective of the scheme is to achieve an all round empowerment of women, both social and economic empowerment. Direct access to and control over resources through income generating activities would be the main purpose of women SHGs under Swayamsidha.

The Support to Training and Employment Programme (STEP) Scheme aims to provide skills that give employability to women and to provide competencies and skill that enable women to become self-employed/entrepreneurs. The Scheme is intended to benefit women who are in the age group of 16 years and above across the country. The assistance under STEP Scheme is available in any sector for imparting skills related to employability and entrepreneurship, including but not limited to the Agriculture, Horticulture, Food Processing, Handlooms, Tailoring, Stitching, Embroidery, Zari etc.

A Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) is a local, multi agency victim-focused meeting where information is shared on the highest risk cases of domestic violence and abuse between different statutory and voluntary sector agencies.The role of the MARAC is to facilitate, monitor and evaluate effective information sharing to enable appropriate actions to be taken to increase public safety

The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 was enacted by the Parliament with the objective prohibiting presenting, obtaining and demanding dowry from any party to the marriage and make penal provisions for the persons so offering, accepting or assisting. 

Family laws are laws that deal with family-related matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance, etc. In India, different family laws apply to followers of different religions.

The Division of labour in society has always been a criterion for the division of work on the basis of specialization. Sexual division of labour means specialized roles of men as compared to women. Women have been assigned or denied work in society solely based on sex differentiation while male strata continue to enjoy monopoly out of this discrimination. The Indian constitution provides the right to equality, dignity and freedom from discrimination. They have equality of opportunity in the matter of appointment and various legislation have been enacted e.g., The Equal Remuneration Act, The Maternity Benefit Act to ensure employment of women without any discrimination.

As per the data published by the 2011 census, India has managed to achieve an effective literacy rate of 74.04 percent in 2011. The female literacy levels according to the Literacy Rate 2011 census are 65.46% where the male literacy rate is over 80%.

The children are the supreme assets of the nation. The child marriage violates the right of the child to grow in a healthy and developing environment to grow up in a responsible adult. The child marriage hinders the natural development of children which proceeds with their age. A child is a person which requires special care and attention, child marriage brings early maturity in children with the burden of maintaining a family while girl child is exploited under the pressure of bearing a child while she herself is still a child. Child marriage denies the right to education of children and violates almost all human rights. 

Women have equal rights in all aspects of governing personal, social and public life. Women are entitled to have rights equal to that of men. The rights of women include the right to vote, right against discrimination, the right to take part in governance etc. In History of South Africa, women are treated as second class citizens and were not given nearly equal rights before the enactment of their Constitution. The participation is gradually increased while the Countries of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden have significant participation of women and almost cent percent literacy rate.

The children are the supreme assets of the nation. The child marriage violates the right of a child to grow in a healthy and developing environment to grow up as a responsible adult. The child marriage hinders the natural development of children which proceeds with their age. A child is a person which requires special care and attention, child marriage brings early maturity in children with a burden of maintaining a family while girl child is exploited under the pressure of bearing a child while she is still a child. Child marriage denies the right to education of children and violates almost all human rights. Many girl children face violence and abuse after marriage from the family of child groom which restricts the further mental and physical growth.