Women cannot be punished for raising their voices against sexual abuse,” the Delhi High Court recently said in a judgement delivered in connection with #MeToo movement.
In this judgement the court acquitted Priya Ramani in a criminal defamation case filed against her by former Union Minister MJ Akbar. The court said, “Women cannot be punished for raising voice against sexual abuses in the pretext of complaint of defamation. A woman has the right to put her grievance at any platform of her choice and even after decades.”
The court highlighted the social stigma attached to such allegations. “The society must understand the impact of sexual abuse and harassment of its victims.
Sexual abuse takes away dignity and self-confidence,” the court observed. Undoubtedly, the judgement signals a historic win for the women who have been struggling for their equality in status in their work places. Some work places have become dirty now for women workers. The persons in high power and position sometimes are seen in sexually harassing their women employees. When the victims speak up against such misdeeds, the powerful men use defamation law both civil and criminal to silence these women. The law is misused and the women even if of being victim of sexual abuses remain silent for fear of being punished.
Ramani- Akbar case is a two years old case. The case originated from a tweet posted by the journalist, Priya Ramani on October 8, 2018 with reference to her an article published in Vogue magazine a year earlier.
In the tweet, Ramani named MJ Akbar as a perpetrator of sexual abuse caused to her. Akbar then resigned from the Union Ministry and filed criminal defamation against Ramani in October 2018. Ramani's article was both interesting and disgusting. It explained how the men in high power structure could be so brutal and abusive towards women. Ramani in her article had written about an incident which happened in 1993 when she had gone to a hotel to meet a newspaper editor for a job. The editor had called her to the room for an interview. She felt there uncomfortable. The interview looked just like a date for her. She found sexual inappropriateness in it. She was forcibly molested.
Ramani in her article had not mentioned the abuser's name and a year after in 2018; Ramani mentioned in her tweet that the editor who sexually exploited her was MJ Akbar, the then Editor of The Asian Age.
Alleging that Ramani had caused irreparable damage to his reputation, Akbar went to the court and the court rightly said in its judgement that a person's right to reputation could not be protected at the cost of another person's right to dignity. In fact, as Ramani’s case is a high profile case; its judgement will go a long way in encouraging the women to speak up and not to keep quiet against the sexual harassment. Of course, a little push was needed for this purpose. The court has provided that push.
A question is generally asked why the battle against sexual harassment is lost. In answer it is said, the battle is lost because of victims being inhibited or threatened into silence.
Both inhibition and threat have roles to play to keep the victims quiet. Inhibition is a cultural factor which makes a woman feel more shameful than shamed, and more embarrassed or worrying that prevents her for speaking up about her sexual torture.
And secondly, the threat emanates from traditional power structure which makes a male perpetrator empowered enough to get away from crime. The #MeToo movement now has made a sea change in this perception. The movement founded as early in 2006 has so far focussed on the experiences of the sexual violence survivors. It has encouraged the victims not to take the sexual assault lightly and instead to share their experiences fearlessly. It was an effort to effect the social change primarily through social media and mainstream media.
In India just a couple of years back, the effect of this movement was significantly felt when some high profile film actresses opened up about their experiences with sexual harassment in the film industries. The harassment most often was meted out by their male colleagues, they revealed.
To speak up one's own private life is not small thing. When sexual assault survivors unravelled their experiences in 2018, it got large responses with popular sympathy because sexual assaults impact people every day.
It is an undeniable fact that both sexual harassment and sexual assaults are regrettably happening in most of the work places. The persons in powerful position such as film producers, business executives, using their power, sexually abuse others. It is still possible for anyone to engage in wrongful harassment, no matter their position.
Again another question comes up as to which population is at higher risk of sexual violence now. Its answer explains, while anyone can be victim of sexual violence, certain populations statistically are more prone to sexual abuses. They are women and girls, more specifically girl students of universities, colleges and tuition centres, and persons belonging to transgender community and Dalits.
The aggressors who commit sexual deviance target such women due to their power of social position or suited by a thought that these women may be less willing to speak up against the misdeeds. A good society, nevertheless, needs more respect for women than sexual assaults. The #MeToo movement which was very popular some years back, it seems, has been weakened or died down. The activists are not as vocal now as they were earlier. Any social movement born through social media apparently is not lasting long because any movement which is momentum driven cannot be durable. A movement for social change should be structure based as well.
It was Mahatma Gandhi's experiments in nonviolent escalation which laid foundation for the modern field of civil resistance. But to sustain his work over a period of fifty years, Gandhi used a full range of social movement approaches including both structured and momentum- driven.
(A Gandhian author, columnist and lawyer, Parida is based at Puri, Ph No. 9861469328)