Thorising the Political and RTI in Notes

Crimes against women

Right from the time of her birth or even before a girl could become victim of a crime or
target of a crime. Lets look at the stages in a woman’s life and discuss the threats briefly.
Just as the stages vary, nature of crimes vary too. Below are illustrations/tables that
highlight important aspects of the issue. The 2012 National Crime Records Bureau report
of India states a reported crime rate of 46 per 100,000, rape rate of 2 per 100,000, dowry
homicide rate of 0.7 per 100,000 and the rate of domestic cruelty by husband or his
relatives as 5.9 per 100,000. A 2014 study in the Lancet states, “Whereas an 8·5%
prevalence of sexual violence in the country [India] is among the lowest in the world, it is
estimated to affect 27·5 million women in India [given India’s large population]. Further,
the 2006 survey found that 85% of women who suffered sexual violence, in or outside of
marriage, never sought help, and only 1% report it to the police.”

Where there is an economic or cultural preference

Stage 1 Foeticide and infanticide for sons, the pregnancy diagnostic tools can lead to

female foeticide

Many Girls are not given the access to and

completion of proper primary and secondary

Stage2 School going age education as compared to boys and otherwise may

also suffer from discrimination at the hands of

parents and teachers in their upbringing.

Stage3 Adolescence Many adolescent girls become victims of sexual

abuse both on internet and otherwise, exploitation

and violence, acid attacks, rape ,early marriage, or

 even HIV/AIDS.

Many women are tortured physically, economically

Stage 4 Marriage and emotionally after their marriage by their

husband and inlaws.

Women are sometimes not provided proper medical

care and healthy food during and after her

Stage 5 Motherhood
pregnancy .She is often compelled to abort a female

foetus.

often women suffer from exploitation , unequal pay

Stage6 Workplace for equal work , lack of promotions despite merit

and physical, economic and emotional abuse

All these stages woman quietly suffers or even if raises her voice it is silenced or
suppressed… she neither knows she has rights to fight these crimes and what remedies
are available in law to protect herself .It is time women rise to protect themselves.Report
any incident of cruelty, or crime to firengo.com.
In its first ever gender gap study covering 58 nations, the World Economic Forum has
 ranked India a lowly 53. The report titled ‘The Women’s Empowerment: Measuring the
Global Gender Gap,published in 2005 measures the gap between women and men in five
critical areas like economic participation, economic opportunity, political empowerment,
access to education and access to reproductive health care. The report is based on United
Nations Development Fund for Women’s findings on global patterns of inequality between
men and women. The low ranking reflects the large disparity between men and women in
all five areas of the index.

CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN

1. Sexual Harassment at Workplace

Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace

(Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 was passed with the objective of providing
protection to the women at workplace. Sexual harassment is when one person subjects another
person to an unwelcome act of physical intimacy like grabbing, brushing, touching, pinching, eve
teasing, makes an unwelcome demand or request directly or by implication for sexual favors from
another person, shows a person any sexually explicit visual material, in the form of
pictures/cartoons/pin-ups/calendars/ screensaver version computers/any offensive written
material / pornographic e-mails or any other form of unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, eve
teasing, jokes likely to cause awkwardness or embarrassment, innuendos, sexist remarks.This
statute superseded the Vishakha Guidelines for prevention of sexual harassment introduced by
the Supreme Court of India. Every employer is required to constitute an Internal Complaints
Committee at each office or branch with 10 or more employees.The Act covers students in schools
and colleges as well as patients in hospitals, employers and local authorities will have to set up
grievance committees to investigate all complaints.Any aggrieved woman may file a complaint in
writing to the Internal committee/ Local Committee within 3 months from the date of incident or
the date of the last incident in case of a series of incidents. The victim can also file a complaint
with Police under Indian Penal Code 1860 under Sections 294,354, 354A, 509.
2. Acid Attack

Acid throwing, also called an acid attack is a

form of violent assault defined as the act of throwing acid or a similarly corrosive substance onto
the body of another with the intention to disfigure, maim, torture, or kill. Perpetrators of these
attacks throw acid at their victims, usually at their faces, burning them, and damaging skin tissue,
often exposing and sometimes dissolving the bones.The long term consequences of these attacks
may include blindness, as well as permanent scarring of the face and body, along with far-reaching
social, psychological, and economic difficulties. Section 326A and Section 326B of the Indian Penal
Code, 1860 provide the punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid and
voluntary throwing or attempting to throw acid respectively. Section 100 of the Indian Penal Code
allows the right of private defense to the extent of causing death if there is acid is thrown or there
is an attempt of throwing acid.

3. Rape

Rape is one of the most heinous atrocities

committed on a woman in our society .It is known to be the fourth most common crime against
women in India.Rape takes place if a man has sexual intercourse i.e, penetrates his penis, to any
extent, into the vagina, mouth, urethra or anus of a woman or makes her to do so with him or any
other person; or inserts, to any extent, any object or a part of the body, not being the penis, into
the vagina, the urethra or anus of a woman or makes her to do so with him or any other person; or
manipulates any part of the body of a woman so as to cause penetration into the vagina, urethra,
anus or any part of body of such woman or makes her to do so with him or any other person; or
applies his mouth to the vagina, anus, urethra of a woman or makes her to do so with him or any
other person, under the circumstances falling under any of the following seven descriptions:—
 1. Against her will.

2. Without her consent.

3. With her consent, when her consent has been obtained by putting her or any person in whom
she is interested, in fear of death or of hurt.

4. By getting her consent by pretending to be her husband.

5. When she does not understand the nature and consequences of what she has consented to
because of unsoundness of mind or under the influence of alcohol.

6. With or without her consent, when she is under eighteen years of age.

7. When she is unable to communicate consent.

A rape victim can file an FIR in the local police station under following Sections of Indian
Penal Code.

8. 376-Punishment for Rape

9. 376A-Punshment for causing death or resulting in persistent vegetative stage of victim.

10. 376B- Sexual Intercourse by Husband upon his wife during separation

11. 376C- Sexual Intercourse by Person in Authority

12. 376D-Gang Rape

4. Obscenity and Pornography

Pornography is printed or visual material

containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate
sexual excitement or seems lewd from a responsible reader standpoint.. Pornography is the
portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purpose of sexual arousal. Pornography may be
presented in a variety of media, including books, magazines, postcards, photographs, sculpture,
drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video, and video games, websites. Increased
use of information technology, such as Internet and communication devices has led to
 proliferation of illegal websites containing obscene and pornographic materials.Obscenity and
pornography have not been specifically defined under any Act in India but The Indian Penal Code,
1860, The Information Technology Act, 2000, The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition)
Act, 1986, deal with obscenity and pornography and make publishing or transmission, sale of
obscene and pornographic materials as punishable offences under various porovisions.

1. Sections 292,293,294,354,354A,354B,354C,509 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

2. Sections 66E, 67,67A, 67B of the Information Technology Act, 2000

3. Section 6 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986

5. Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence can be described as where

one adult in a relationship misuses power in order to control another. It is the establishment of
fear in a relationship through violence that includes other forms of abuse. The violence may
involve physical abuse, sexual assault and threats. At times it can be more subtle, such as making
someone feel worthless, not letting them have any money, or not allowing them to leave the
home.An Application can be filed to the Magistrate under Section 12 of the Domestic Violence Act,
2005. Orders such as residence, protection, monetary relief, compensation order can be passed by
the Magistrate. Complaint can also be filed under Section 498A for cruelty by husband or his
relatives along with demand for dowry.The words “shared household” were considered by
Supreme court in SR Batra v TarunaBatra AIR 2007 SC 1088, to mean house belonging to or taken
on rent by husband or house which belongs to joint family of which husband is a member .If it is
exclusive property of mother in law , it cannot be called a joint family property.A wife cannot claim
and is not entitled to stay in her father in law’s house using the Domestic Violence Act- It was held
by the Delhi Court in Sudha Mishra v. Surya Chandra Mishra RFA 299/2014.
6. Cruelty/Dowry demand

To curtail the growing incidents of dowry

torture and dowry death , a new Section was incorporated into Indian Penal Code , that is, Section
498A .According to this Section, whoever being husband or relative of husband of a woman ,
subjects her to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three
years and fine. Cruelty herein means any willful conduct that is likely to drive a woman to commit
suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to her life, limb or health ( whether physical or mental_)
of the woman Or harassment to force her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or
security or on failure to meet the demand. Later, Section 198A was added to the Criminal
Procedure Code in 1983. In 2005, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act was
passed, which added to protect women from dowry harassment. Section 304B was added to
the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (“IPC”), which made dowry death a specific offence punishable with a
minimum sentence of imprisonment for 7 years and a maximum imprisonment for life.Further,
under Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 a demand for Dowry is an offence wherein
demand is made at the time of or even after marriage even where no cruelty is involved .

Crime against Children: A Critical Analysis

By Jahnvi_sen29 | Views 22250
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Children's are the future of a nation as they are the ones who will take the country in the track of
progress and prosperity but in present scenario the crime rate against the builders of the nation
i.e. "children" are increasing day by day. They are being forcefully indulged in various activities
such as trafficking, begging, they are being sold just for the sake of money, and are being killed
also.

Sexual offence against the children is a very serious crime which not only affects them physically
but also, they are mentally affected. This article deals with the various offences against the
children including the sexual offences. It also focuses on various case laws for better
understanding. Though various laws are being made in order to protect the future of our country
but still they are not safe, as in the year 2016-2017 there was an increase in the crime rate up to
20%. It is the need of the hour to rethink on the present law in order to prevent the crime against
the children.

Introduction
Since ages, children have been the victims of the one abuse or the other. Though it is highly
unbelievable that, where we consider children's to be the future of our nation but it would not be
wrong to say that they have been neglected a lot. The crimes which are committed against
children are not restricted to any specific gender or age group, rather it happens because of their
incapability to appreciate the nature of the offences which are being committed against them and
their consequences thereof, which ultimately makes them a soft target of the offender. It is due to
their inherent innocence and maturity which are usually related to a children's age make them an
offender's favorite victim.

Various offences are being conducted against children, they are either being sold, enslaved,
exploited, physically abused and are killed too. And this victimization starts before the birth of a
child itself.

For example, foeticide, gender determination of foetus and causing the miscarriage and if it is
found to be a girl child then she is being killed in the mother's womb itself. This practice is going
since ages and with the technological development, the act has been done, though various laws
have been made but still in some parts of the country they are still in existence.

Not only this, there are several other offences that a child is victim of. These offences are, child
trafficking, sex tourism, incest, child rape, child pornography, devadasi system, and prostitution.

Though, India with the second largest child population in the world and there are certain
provisions that are being made for the protection of children, but still the crime rate against the
builder or future of our nation is increasing day by day. There is a need to prevent these acts with
the help of stricter laws.

Crime Against Children

Children are the most vulnerable and innocent victims of crime. They can be easily targeted and
many a times they being targeted by the known. They can be parents, relatives, caretakers,
guardian or any other who are being appointed to look after them.

Following are the crimes that are being committed against children and they are as
follows:
Child Abandonment: - it occurs when a parent, guardian or a person in charge of a child either
deserts a child without any regard for the child's safety or welfare of the child and without
considering child's physical health. It includes:

 Unwillingness in providing the care, support or supervision for the child

 Abandoning an infant in a trash cans or at the road side or leaving at some other
doorsteps.
 Being absent from the home for a particular time period, which creates a substantial risk
of serious nature to a child left in the home.
 Making only less efforts to support and communicate with the abandoned child

Statutory Rape or Sexual Assault: - It refers to sexual relations with someone below the "age of
consent" i.e. not in a state of understanding the concept of consent. In such cases individuals are
too young to give the consent and it ultimately results into child molestation.[1]

Sexual abuse and exploitation: - According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), every
15 minutes a child is sexually abused in India. And the crime rate is increasing day by day. [2]

Child sexual abuse also known as child molestation is a form of child abuse, where an adult uses
the child for sexual stimulation. It includes engaging a child in sexual activities, indecent
exposure, child grooming, child sexual exploitation or including a child to produce child
pornography.[3] Molestations and rapes are not solely restricted to any gender at present. A child
irrespective of its gender can be exposed to sexual offences such as molestation or rape. Such
offences might be committed by some outsiders but it is also committed by a family member,
school teacher, friend, house help etc.

Generally, a child fails to comprehend the severity of the nature of the act due to lack of
knowledge. Or sometimes, even the child is going through this pain but the child stays silent due
to the threats given from the perpetrators, or sometimes the family advises them to be silent for
the purpose of maintaining the so-called family honour. There has been an increase in the sexual
offences against a child and the majority of the cases do not get reported as the family members
are concerned with their family honour or the reputation.

Cruelty:
Basically, cruelty is any act or omission which inflicts mental or physical harm upon an individual,
irrespective of the age, gender, mental capacity etc.

Yelling at a child just to scare him or her can amount to cruelty. Our society feels that 'spare the
rod shall spoil a child'. Society is of view that unless parents or guardian behaves like a martinet
with a child, such child shall never be capable of being disciplined in life. Even educational
institutions have the impression that physical punishment for mistakes is the sole way of inducing
discipline within a child. But in present scenario, cruelty towards child in educational institutions
has seen a decline due to strict legislative enactments. But the domestic abuse of children goes
on unaddressed as they are unaware of their rights. Therefore, cruelty has become an accepted
notion.

Employment of child for begging:

Children are being forcefully employed for the purpose of begging. Employment of children as
beggars exists on a global scale, irrespective of country's economic scenario. The most shocking
factor is that, the child is sometimes being used by his or her parents to beg for alms. The money
that they have received for begging ends up with those who find a child as a convenient source
of earning.

Intoxicating a Child: - Children who fall prey to such kinds of racket, are sometimes forced to
consume intoxicants such as alcohol, drugs, cigarettes etc. so that it becomes easier for the
people i.e. the racket leader to control them and they can in order to fulfil their greed, they can
force the children to do any kind of unlawful activities.

Child pornography: - It refers to the inducing or coercing a child or indulging a child in sexually
explicit acts and recording them. Such inducing acts can be done by tempting a minor through
monetary or some other means. Child pornography is banned in all nations and pornographic
websites are strictly directed for removal of any kind of such content which involves a child in it.

Among crime against children, kidnapping and abduction continued to be the most prevalent in
nature. Around 42 % of the total 1,29,032 cases of crime were being reported. Apart from that,
the other major crime against children include violation of the protection of children from sexual
offences (POCSO) Act, rape, sexual assault and procuring of minor girls.[4]

The effects of child sexual abuse include depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, as
well as some physical injuries. Though physical injuries can be healed with the passage of time
but it takes time to heal with the mental injuries.

Generally, in most of the cases the offender is acquainted with victim. And around 30% of the
abuse on children is being done by the family members itself (relatives).

Though, various laws have been made at international level as well.

  United States, Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), is an international treaty that
legally obliges the states to protect the children's rights. CRC's Article 34 and 35 states
about the protection of children from sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. As of
November 2008, there are 193 countries that are being bounded by the CRC.
 Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation
and Sexual abuse, Council of Europe has adopted this convention in order to prohibit
child sexual abuse that occurs within the family or at the home.[5]

In the eyes of law, any sexual activity is done with the child then it constitutes a criminal offence
i.e. if any of such activity is done on a child below the age of 18 years then it is considered as a
crime against children. As they are too young and immature to make such kind of decisions.

Possibly, there are many reasons for crimes against children. Few of them are mentioned below:

 Poverty:
Poverty is the main reason which forces many people to choose the path of crime and
somehow, children are the preys to these crimes. Sometimes, due to the problem of
poverty parents often sell their own children just for the sake of money, in the hands of
criminal minded people and then they have to face the various crimes.

 Lack of awareness and carelessness by parents:

In rural parts of the country there are many poverty-stricken families with number of
children's, which ultimately results into inadequate care to each and every child and
eventually they become the victims of various crimes.

 Society:
Well, society is equally responsible for the increase in crime rate against children. People
who indulge children in such heinous offences, and people who overlook the crimes
taking place etc. are all equally responsible for the current scenario. And another area of
concern is the dramatic increase in the rape incidents, which is also a serious issue.

 Internet:
Internet has played a major role in increasing the crime rate against children, as a lot of
inappropriate stuff is being provided over there which somehow affects the mentality of
an individual. So, more care and stricter measures must be taken so that these types
stuffs do not reach the non-desirable audiences.

 Television:
Television has somehow changed the mind set of people. As the crime shows which are
being aired on television. They have their pros and cons. Where somehow, it focuses on
how to be safe and what all is going in the society, whereas on the other hand, it provides
people with criminal mind the new ideas as how to prey kids.

Apart from this there are various other offences that are mentioned under IPC and Special
and Local laws (SLL) and they are as follows:

 Abetment of suicide of child (sec 305)

 Infanticide (sec 315)
 Exposure and abandonment of child under12 years, by parent or person having care of it
(sec 317 IPC),
 Procuration of minor girls (sec 366A)
 Importation of girls from foreign country, below the age of 18 years (sec 366-B)
 Selling of minors for prostitution (sec 372)
 Buying of minors for prostitution (sec 373) [6]
Laws under Special Local Laws (SLL) are as follows:

 Transplantation of Human Organs Act1994(for persons below 18 years of age)

 Child labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act,1986
 Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956
 Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2000
 Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO)
 Prohibition of child marriage Act, 2006[7]

There are certain constitutional provisions which deal with the rights of children, they are
as follows:

Article 21- it provides for right to life and personal liberty

Article 24- it states that child below the age of 14 years shall not be employed to work in factory
or a mine nor shall be engaged in any kind of hazardous work'

Article 39(f)- it makes obligatory for the state to direct its policy towards securing that children are
given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy environment and in conditions of
freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against
moral and material abandonment

Article 45- states that, free and compulsory education to all children upto the age of 14 years.[8]

Though various laws are being made by the legislation and various rights are being provided to
the children but still the crime against them is increasing. It has been seen that the main reason
of these offences against children could be poverty and illiteracy. As they have played an
important role for the exploitation of children, in order to earn their meal for the day. It ultimately
results into their sexual exploitation. Though certain laws have been implemented for the
protection of the children but still improvement is still required, as in the year 2016-2017 there
was an increase in the crime rate of upto 20%.

Due to such offences not only a child's physical health gets affected but they are being mentally
affected too. And due to this, there is an impact of offences against children on society.

Children are so innocent in nature, that their innocence can be easily misused by others, which
leaves an unforgettable impression on their lives as well as on their family members. When such
kind of offences is being committed against children, there is a threat in the minds of people
living in the society and it also leaves an impact on the parent's psychology. Because, in a
country like India where a normative structure like socialization plays quite significant role in
one's life.

Here, people have to suffer a lot because of the crime which not only destroy their social
conditions merely by labeling perspective. Though, govt. has implemented various laws and
policies in order to protect children by assuring them some rights and that are being mentioned
above.

Protection of children from sexual offences Act, 2012

Earlier there was no separate legislation for the protection of rights of children but with the
increasing rate of grave sexual offences against them and low rate of conviction, there was a
need for the separate legislation.
So, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act,2012 (POCSO) was enacted to protect
the children from various types of sexual offences and to establish Special Court for providing
speedy disposal of cases.

Offences against children (Prevention) Bill, 2005 was an attempt to address the issue of child
abuse. It mainly focuses on the rights and remedies available to them. It also includes instances
of sexual abuse which includes touching a child directly or indirectly with sexual intent. It also
includes the provisions of enhanced punishment for abuse of trust and for those individuals who
were previously convicted for child sexual abuse.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015

This act was enacted to consolidate and amend the law regarding juvenile in conflict with law and
children in need of care and protection by providing proper care, protection and treatment and by
providing them child friendly environment in the adjudication and disposition of matters which is
in the best interest and which ultimately helps them in their rehabilitation which are being
established by law.

Conclusion
Rapid increase in the crime rate indicates that children are no longer safe neither at home nor
outside. We consider them to be the future of our country but still they belong to the most
vulnerable section of the society. There are laws that are being made for their protection and
even the constitution also guarantees certain rights to the children but still there is a need to think
about the consequences of offences against children.

Children are victimizing due to many factors which not only affects the child's mental state but
also affects them physically. They may cure physically but the psychological trauma may remain
which ultimately impact on child's future. The roots of all offences thus can be traced to their
immaturity and weakness, physical as well as mental.

They bear all this from their procreation till their adulthood. The rigid law and criminal justice, as
well as law agencies are taking over all the challenges to prevent the offences against children.
Society and community play a major role in the prevention of offences against children so, it is
also the duty and the responsibility of the society members to fight against this social evil while
taking into consideration the morality and the human values.

The law, as of now, already enshrines stringent punishments which are to be imposed against
those who commit any kind of offence or crime against children, such punishments with time
requires a higher degree of severity so as to prevent and deter the perpetrators from committing
such offence.

Suggestions:

 As mentioned above, poverty can be the main reason to choose the path of crime and
also due to poverty and lack of education parents are ignorant towards their children
rights. So, they must be made aware of child rights, must demand for it and also fight to
obtain for the same.

 There is a need to develop a national, child-centered, integrated, multidisciplinary and

time bound strategy to address violence against children and these multidisciplinary child
professionals should work together and monitor the government efforts in protecting the
child rights.

 If parents are unable to provide proper care and protection, then it shall be the
responsibility and accountability of the government, elected representatives, policy
makers, NGO'S to look after the same.
  Government must invest in law enforcement and should enact an explicit legal ban on
violence against children backed by effective enforcement.

 Strict implementation and enforcement of laws are required in order to protect them.

 There is a need to generate social awareness among people and also to enhance
legislation and nurturing action towards ending violence, sexual abuse and exploitation of
children.

Books Referred:

 Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Prof. T Bhattacharya)

 Constitution of India,1950 (bare act)
 POCSO Act, 2012
 Offences against children (prevention) bill,2005
 Juvenile justice (care and protection),2015

End-Notes:

1. https://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/crimes-against-children.html(last seen 13th

nov 2020 08:00AM)
2. https://www.ourbetterworld.org/story/breaking-silence-child-sexual-abuse?
gclid=CjwKCAjw8-
78BRA0EiwAFUw8LEf_fzQYRBfBJc7zhECVD26mfWXgqIzU6C29A1ZoMQze7l2-
IN25LRoCTXsQAvD_BwE (last seen 30th oct 2020 11:25 AM)
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sexual_abuse (last seen 13th nov 2020 08:00 AM)
4. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/national/crimes-against-children-rise-by-20-
per-cent-cry-report/article30084689.ece(last seen 11th nov 2020 11:02 PM)
5. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40484.pdf (last seen 11th nov 2020 11:30 PM)
6. https://www.latestlaws.com/bare-acts/central-acts-rules/children-laws/legal-provision-
related-children/ (last seen 13th nov 2020 08:53 AM)

Criminalizing adolescent sexuality – The protection of children from

sexual offences act and the rights of adolescents
11
March 4, 2021
11 Min Read

Swagata Raha
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 [POCSO Act] was enacted with a

view to protect children from different forms of sexual abuse and to provide for child-friendly

procedures. Significantly, it raised the age of consent for sexual intercourse from 16 years to

18 years. Further, with a view to address the silence surrounding child sexual abuse, the

POCSO Act made it mandatory for any person having information about the commission of a

sexual offence to report to the police or Special Juvenile Police Unit. Both these aspects of the
POCSO Act have rendered adolescents in India in consensual and non-exploitative sexual

relationships vulnerable to criminal prosecution. The legal regime also contradicts India’s

health policies and programmes for adolescents, which envisage a barrier free access to sexual

and reproductive health information and services. This article examines this conflict and the

impact of the POCSO Act on the rights of adolescents in non-exploitative consensual

relationships. It also offers recommendations that can balance the interest of protecting

adolescents from sexual violence with their evolving autonomy.

Need to recognise vulnerability of adolescents

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, adolescents are persons between the

ages of 10 – 19 years.In the context of labour, adolescents are persons above 14 years and

below 18 years. A significant proportion of cases under the POCSO Act pertain to consensual

relationships among or with children who fall under the middle adolescence category (15-18

year olds). Crime in India, 2019, reveals that in 36.97% cases, the alleged offender of

penetrative or aggravated penetrative sexual assault under the POCSO Act, was the child’s

“friend/online friend on pretext of marriage”. While this does not confirm that all such cases

were consensual, a five-state study by the Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School

of India University (CCL) on the functioning of the Special Courts revealed that in at least

20% of decided cases, the victim admitted to being in a consensual relationship or marriage

with the accused. The criminal justice system was invariably triggered by the parents of girls

who lodged a complaint against their partner for kidnapping and rape. Another study revealed

that the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA) “is used twice as much against

elopements or self-arranged marriages, than it is used in relation to arranged marriages.”

These studies point to the disproportionate impact of protectionist provisions on adolescents.

They also demonstrate that laws meant to protect children have become an instrument to

induce fear, regulate and control normative expressions of sexuality, and to punish adolescents

for engaging in relationships that families or society do not approve of.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child describes adolescence as “a unique defining stage of

human development characterized by rapid brain development and physical growth, enhanced
 cognitive ability, the onset of puberty and sexual awareness and newly emerging abilities,

strengths and skills.” An expert report considered by the South African Constitutional

Court examining the constitutionality of criminalization of consensual sex among adolescents,

affirmed that sexual activity and exploration during adolescence is developmentally normative

– “What is of utmost importance is ensuring that children are appropriately supported by the

adults in their lives, to enable them to make healthy choices.” Closer home, the Ministry of

Health and Family Welfare’s Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram [RKSK] recognizes the

vulnerability of adolescents to early and unwanted pregnancies, unsafe sex, STI/HIV/AIDS,

among other preventable health problems. On 29 January 2021, while examining a petition

seeking the quashing of criminal proceedings against a man in his early 20s involved in a

consensual relationship with a minor, the Madras High Court recognised that “adolescent

romance is an important developmental marker for adolescents’ self-identity, functioning and

capacity for intimacy” and adolescents need to be supported, not criminalized.

Areas of Concern in the POCSO Act

1. Criminalization of Adolescents engaging in consensual sex

Based on the POCSO Act and IPC, the age of consent for sexual intercourse as well as other

sexual activity is 18 years. In Independent Thought v. Union of India , the Supreme Court read

down the marital rape exception vis-a-vis wives above the age of 15 years and below the age

of 18 years, and observed that “[t]here is no question of a girl child giving express or implied

consent for sexual intercourse.” Repeated penetrative sex, sex with a minor spouse, or sex that

results in a pregnancy constitute aggravated penetrative sexual assault under Section 5,

POCSO Act and is punishable with a minimum of 20 years rigorous imprisonment, which may

extend to life imprisonment till the remainder of a person’s natural life, or death. Consensual

non-penetrative sexual acts such as hugging, kissing, sexting, among or with minor

adolescents are also criminalized under the POCSO Act.

The justice system predominantly treats girls as “victims” incapable of agency, maturity, or

understanding , and their male partners as “perpetrators of child sexual abuse”. The boys/men

are subjected to criminal prosecution and detention, and a minimum sentence of 20 years

imprisonment, if found guilty. Adolescent boys aged 16 and 17 years are also affected
as Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 , allows them to be transferred

to an adult court for trial as an adult in heinous offences. Penetrative and aggravated

penetrative sexual assault constitute heinous offences and these offences are invariably

invoked in consensual cases involving adolescents. Adolescent couples in interfaith

relationships are at an additional risk of being persecuted under ‘love jihad laws’ in certain

States .

The girls are invariably institutionalized in Child Care Institutions if they refuse to live with

their parents. They are detained till they attain 18 years or until they are ready to go back to

their parents provided their parents are willing to accept them. Institutionalization is justified

in their “best interest” to protect them from early pregnancy, marriage, or further ‘abuse’. This

is ironic as many girls are compelled to leave their homes with their partner to avoid a forced

marriage being arranged by their families. On the ground, High Courts have oscillated

between protectionism and recognition of adolescent autonomy while dealing with habeas

corpus petitions usually filed on behalf of the girls, seeking their release from Children’s

Homes.

Although most romantic cases end in acquittal, where the age of the victim and evidence of

sexual intercourse between the parties is established, especially if it has resulted in a

pregnancy, courts have little discretion in the matter. For instance, placing reliance

on Independent Thought, in State of Gujarat v. Ashokbhai, the Gujarat High Court held that

consent of the minor could not be considered and enhanced the sentence of a 19 year old man

in a consensual relationship, from seven years to ten years to comply with the minimum

sentence prescribed for aggravated penetrative sexual assault.

Unlike Romeo-Juliet laws in the United States of America and Canada , the POCSO Act does

not carve out any such exception to protect from prosecution adolescents in close-in-age

consensual non-exploitative relationships. During the drafting of the POCSO Bill, the National

Commission for Protection of Child Rights had proposed decriminalization of consensual

penetrative sexual acts between persons above 14 years and of the same age of within three

years of each other, and specified grounds under which a sexual act with a child between 16

and 18 years would be unlawful. However, this was rejected in favour of protectionist
provisions, which operate under the assumption that consensual expressions of sexuality

among adolescents constitute “abuse” and can be deterred only through punishment.

The South African Constitutional Court in 2013 struck down a law criminalising underage

consensual sex for violating children’s right to dignity, privacy, and best interests. It observed

that risky sexual behaviour is best addressed through comprehensive sex education. Although

courts in India have not considered the constitutional implications of similar provisions in the

POCSO Act, in Sabari v. Inspector of Police , a Single Judge of the Madras High Court dealing

with an appeal against conviction in a case of consensual sex involving a minor, observed the

severe impact of the application of the POCSO Act on the lives of the young people involved

and remarked that such relationships should not be treated as being “unnatural”. The High

Court proceeded to recommend that (a) the definition of ‘child’ in the POCSO Act be reduced

from 18 years to 16 years; (b) consensual sexual activity with persons above 16 years be dealt

with more liberally; and (c) to ensure that the “impressionable age of the victim girl cannot be

taken advantage of by a person who is much older”, the Act can prescribe that the “offender

ought not to be more than five years” in consensual clases. More recently, in Vijaylakshmi v.

State, the Madras High Court observed that “[t]he scheme of the Act clearly shows that it did

not intend to bring within its scope or ambit, cases of the nature where adolescents or

teenagers involved in romantic relationships are concerned.”

2. Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services impeded by Mandatory

Reporting

Under Section 19(1), POCSO Act, any person having the knowledge of a sexual offence being

committed against a child is obligated to report to the police or Special Juvenile Police Unit,

and failure to do so is a punishable offence . Similar obligation has been imposed on public and

private hospitals providing first aid and treatment to victims of sexual offences under the Code

of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Mandatory reporting complicates access of adolescents to sexual and reproductive health

services and information, and social protection schemes aimed at pregnant women . It

contradicts the privacy and confidentiality requirement for provision of medical treatment

under the POCSO Rules, 2020 , termination of pregnancy under the Medical Termination of
Pregnancy Act, 1971 and Regulations , and the provision of health information and services

under the RKSK .

A strict interpretation suggests that anyone including health care professionals, counsellors,

social workers, etc., are obligated to report to the police if adolescents below the age of 18

years seek advice or services for pregnancy care or termination, contraception, testing and/or

treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and infections, or display any signs of sexual

activity or sexual abuse. Adolescent girls seeking medical termination of pregnancy risk a

criminal case being lodged against their partner or husband if they approach doctors for a safe

termination. Married minor girls are at an additional risk when they access any service,

benefits, or treatment because marriage ipso facto raises a presumption of sexual activity.

Legal barriers in the form of mandatory reporting will impede adolescents’ confidential access

to SRH information and services, including HIV counselling and testing, and push adolescent

girls towards unsafe abortions or deliveries, and undermine efforts to ensure maternal health

and reduce maternal and infant mortality rates. It has also affected conduct of evidence-based

studies as National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, which conducts the National

Family and Health Survey (NFHS) declared that sexual abuse related questions to respondents

under 18 years of age would be avoided in NFHS-5 .

Compatibility with human rights standards

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 (UNCRC) which India acceded to in

1992, recognises children as right-holders and encapsulates four core overarching principles

that are critical for the fulfillment of all child rights – best interests, right to equality and non-

discrimination, right to life, and the right to be heard. While protection of children from sexual

violence is a key obligation under the UNCRC, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

(CRC) urged States to balance protection and evolving capacities and “avoid criminalizing

adolescents of similar ages for factually consensual and non-exploitative sexual activity. ”In

2019, in its General Comment No.24 on children’s rights in the justice system, the CRC

recommended that “States parties remove status offences from their statutes” such as

criminalization of adolescents who engage in consensual sexual acts with each other.
The failure of the POCSO Act to distinguish between consensual non-exploitative sexual acts

among adolescents from sexual violence perpetrated against children raises constitutional

concerns. In Justice K.S. Puttuswamy & Anr. v. Union of India , the Supreme Court recognised

the right to privacy as a fundamental right, and interpreted it to include “at its core the

preservation of personal intimacies….” Further, in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India , the

Supreme Court recognised the constitutional protection of “consensual intimacies”, and

interpreted individual autonomy to choose one’s partners as an integral aspect of personal

liberty under Article 21.

Blanket criminalization of adolescents for consensual sexual acts and mandatory reporting

violate the standards of best interest, non-discrimination, dignity, privacy, and right to health

in the UNCRC. International treaty bodies, as well as the RKSK have stressed on the critical

link between privacy and health , and the need for comprehensive education on SRH, bearing in

mind the evolving capacity of children. RKSK seeks to empower adolescents with critical

sexual and reproductive health [SRH] information and services to enable them to make well

informed and responsible health related decisions. Although the CRC expressly recommended

India to introduce mandatory reporting for sexual abuse of girls, the Independent Expert for

the United Nations Secretary General’s Study on Violence Against Children recommended that

mandatory reporting systems should be framed as a “help-oriented service offering public

health and social support rather than as being primarily punitive.” The current framing of the

mandatory reporting obligation, however, is punitive and does not enable confidential access

to sexual and reproductive health services.

Conclusion

The POCSO Act does not offer any safety net for adolescents who are exploring or exercising

their agency and engaging in non-exploitative consensual sexual activity. Criminalization of

adolescents involved in consensual non-exploitative sexual relationships is severely intrusive

and disproportionate to the objective of protecting them from sexual harm. It violates their

fundamental right to life, liberty, privacy, and dignity by allowing State interference, control,

stigmatization, and punishment for normative expressions of sexuality. The failure to balance

the need for protecting adolescents with their evolving autonomy places adolescents in greater
situations of vulnerability and offends their best interest. It also disrupts their rights to

education, health, survival and development, and impedes access to safe sexual and

reproductive health services and information.

The growing evidence of the disproportionate impact of the POCSO Act on adolescents

necessitates evidence-based reviews. The treatment of such cases by the judiciary and the

police also needs to be examined. These will also aid the identification of reforms necessary to

harmonise the legal regime with governmental adolescent health programs aimed at barrier

free access to sexual and reproductive health services, and meet domestic and international

standards on human rights. It is also important to create platforms for adolescents, particularly

those who have entered the criminal justice or juvenile justice system in consensual cases, to

express their views and opinions on the existing laws and the sexual and reproductive health

services and information they would like to access. To advance protection of children and

adolescents, positive enabling legal provisions that mandate the introduction of comprehensive

life skills and sexual and reproductive health education programs within schools, as well

as communities need to be introduced. Finally, investments needs to be made in community-

based mechanisms to effectively enable the translation of constitutional norms on dignity,

liberty, privacy, and best interest, through creation of safe and inclusive spaces for open,

sensitive and difficult dialogues among children and adults about sex, gender, sexuality,

equality, identity, consent, autonomy, power, and violence.

Swagata Raha heads the Restorative Practices team at Enfold Proactive Health Trust. She

led studies on the implementation of the POCSO Act by Special Courts and has authored

several publications on juvenile justice and laws relating to sexual offences against

children.
Offences under the Scheduled
Caste And Tribe (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act, 1989
June 26, 2017
6358

In this article, Himanshi Khurana of Rayat Bahra Law College Chandigarh

discusses, Offences under the Scheduled Caste And Tribe (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act, 1989.
Introduction
Being in a country like India where Indian Constitution is above all, where all
the citizens are treated equally can anyone imagine that discrimination is
practised among the people?

The answer to this imagination is yes! The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes which are the officially designated group of historically disadvantaged
people in India have existed since the 1850s. These communities were
considered as the most depressed classes. In early 20th century, various
reforms were introduced by Britishers like Morley Minto reform, reforms by
Simon commissions in order to increase their position in society. In 1935
Indian Government has introduced “Government of India Act, 1935” under
which reservations for the depressed classes were made for the very first
time.

Post Indian Independence also provisions were made acts were introduced
for the sake of development of such depressed groups.

Constitutional Provision
In order to stop this discrimination or offences that are going on against the
people of scheduled caste or tribe the Constitution of India provides with
various articles such as;

 Article 17 of the Constitution which provides for the abolishment of

Untouchability.
 Article 46 of the Indian Constitution makes it a provision for the
state to take special care of the educational and economic interests
of the weaker section of society specially scheduled castes and
scheduled tribes and protect them from all forms of social injustice.
 Article 330 and 332 of the Constitution provides for the reservation
of seats for the Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes in the House
of People and in the Legislative Assemblies and state.
 Article 14 to Article 18 of the Indian Constitution deals with the
fundamental right to Equality and Equality means equality before
law, prohibition of discrimination on the basis of caste religion,
gender etc. and provides for equal opportunities to all.
The Scheduled Caste And Tribe (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act, 1989
Only constitutional provisions are not sufficient for the upliftment of the
members of backward classes need is to specify certain offences with its
strict punishments and implementing authorities.So for this a separate act
called “The Scheduled caste and tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989
was introduced.

Under this act the term ‘atrocities’ has been used as any act of inhumane
nature against the members of scheduled caste and scheduled tribes these
acts also includes the crimes that are mentioned under Indian Penal Code.

This act specifically deals with certain offences of atrocities against scheduled
caste and tribes commission of which is punishable.

Offences Under The Scheduled Caste And Tribe

(Prevention of Atrocities) Act. 1989
Offences of atrocities under the Act are listed below:

Whoever, not being a member of Scheduled castes or

scheduled tribes:
1. Forces any person who is scheduled caste and scheduled tribe to eat
or to drink any inedible or awful substance.
2. Commits the act of dumping excreta, waste matters, carcasses or
any other bad substance in the premises or neighbourhood of any
member of Scheduled caste and tribe with intention to cause injury,
insult or annoyance.
3. Commits any act against any member of Scheduled caste and
Schedule tribe which is derogatory to human dignity like the act of
forcibly removing clothes or parades him naked or with painted
body or face
4. Wrongfully takes over or cultivates the land which is owned by or
allotted to or notified by any competent authority to be allotted to
any member of Scheduled castes and tribes
5. Wrongfully dispossesses or interferes with the enjoyment of any
right over the land which is specially given to the members of
scheduled castes and tribes.
 6. Compels any member of Scheduled castes and tribes to do a form of
“beggar” or bonded labor or any other forced labour
7. Forces or intimidates any member of Scheduled castes or tribes to
caste a vote in favor of some particular person or stop them to caste
the vote or to vote in a manner other than provided by law.
8. Institutes false or malicious suit or any other criminal proceedings
against any member of Scheduled caste and tribes.
9. Gives any wrongful information or malicious information to any
public servant which makes that public servant to use its official
power against any member of scheduled caste and tribes.
10. Intentionally insults any member of scheduled caste or tribe to
humiliate him/her in public
11. Assaults or uses any force against any women member of
scheduled caste or tribe in order to outrage her modesty
12. Any person being in a position to dominate the scheduled castes
or tribe uses that position to sexually use women which otherwise
she would not allow.
13. Corrupts or fouls the water of any source which is used by the
member of scheduled caste or tribe and makes it unfit for their
consumption.
14. Denies or creates obstruction in the use of any customary
passage of place which is of public resort to the member of
scheduled caste or tribe
15. Forces a scheduled caste or tribe to leave his house or village or
any other place of his residence shall be punishable with an
imprisonment which shall not be less than 6 months but not more
than 5 years and with fine.

Whoever not being a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe

1. Gives false or fabricated evidence with the intention of convicting
any member of scheduled caste or tribe with any offence which is
capital by law for the time being in force shall be punished with the
imprisonment for life and fine. If because this false evidence any
innocent member of scheduled caste or tribe be convicted, then the
person who has given that evidence shall be punished with death.
2. Gives false or fabricated evidence with the intention of convicting
any member of scheduled caste and tribe with any offence which is
not capital but punished with the imprisonment of 7 years or
upwards, shall be punished with the imprisonment which shall not
be less than 6 months but may increase to 7 years or upwards and
with fine.
 3. Commits mischief by fire or by any other explosive substance in
order to cause damage to the property belonging to any member of
scheduled caste and tribe shall be punished with the imprisonment
minimum of 6months but can expand to 7 years or more with fine.
4. Commits mischief by fire or by any other explosive substance to any
place or building which is ordinarily the place of worship or a place
of human dwelling and such place or property is under the custody
of the member of any scheduled caste and tribe shall be punished
with the imprisonment for life and fine.
5. Commits any offence under IPC which is punished with the
imprisonment of 10years or more against any person or property
because that person is the member of scheduled caste or tribe or
that property belongs to the member of scheduled caste or tribe
shall be punished with the imprisonment of life and fine.
6. Being a public servant commits any offence under this section shall
be punished with the imprisonment which shall not be less than 1
year but which may extend to the punishment mentioned for that
offence.

Amendments to the Act

The act was introduced with the basic objective of delivering justice to the
Scheduled caste and tribes and enable them to live in the society with full
dignity, security and without any fear of violence or suppression.

But the need was felt by the Central government to amend the act and to
introduce certain more offences with speedy justice process to the members
of Scheduled caste or tribes further to have more stringent provisions for
prevention of Atrocities. this amendment had come into force from 26
January 2016.

List of the new offences

1. Shaving or cleaning of head or moustache or doing any other act

which derogate the dignity of any member of Scheduled caste or
tribe.
2. Garlanding with chappals
3. Not giving the access of irrigation facility or forest right.
4. Committing any scheduled caste or tribe women to devadasi
5. Abusing in caste name
6. Doing social or economic boycott
 7. Preventing scheduled caste or tribe candidate from contesting
elections.
8. Doing the act of removing garments of any scheduled caste or tribe
women.
9. Forcing any member of scheduled caste or tribe to leave his village
or home
10. Defiling objects sacred to scheduled caste or tribe.
11. Doing or passing any comments of sexual nature against any
member of scheduled caste or tribe.

Present Scenario
Indian Government not only introduced various legislative or constitutional
measures but also introduced various other measures for the development of
the members of Scheduled caste or tribes or various other backward classes.
Some of the reforms are:

 EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT- Much importance or attention was

paid towards the educational development of the members of
scheduled caste or tribes. They are provided with free educational
facilities, books, uniforms and other basic necessities which helps
them in getting education and raising their living standards.
 ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES- Government has paid attention to
their economic upliftment also by providing them certain economic
benefits also like providing loans on less rate of interest. Giving
facilities to the poor farmers in terms of seeds, cultivating machines
etc.
 OTHER PLANS- Different plans for their upliftment has been
introduced like Special Component Plan (SCP) for SCs and Special
Central Assistance (SCA) for ensuring that proportionate flow of
funds for SCs from the other general development sector.
After introducing various reforms in almost every sphere of life the result can
be seen from the the data that was released by the Planning Commission
according to which between 2004-05 to 2011-12 more than half of the SC ST
population are brought above the poverty line. Earlier near about 53.5% of
the SC population are living below poverty line but in 2011-12 this number
has been reduced to 22% only.

The path of their development is still very long to go contribution not only
from government but from other citizens is also required because it was
rightly said by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar “ so long as you do not achieve social
liberty, whatever freedom is provided by the law is of no avail to you.”
Law of Contracts
Law of contracts in India defines Contract as an agreement enforceable by law which offers
personal rights, and imposes personal obligations, which the law protects and enforces against the
parties to the agreement. The general law of contract is based on the conception, which the parties
have, by an agreement, created legal rights and obligations, which are purely personal in their nature
and are only enforceable by action against the party in default.

Section 2(h) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872[2] defines a contract as "An agreement enforceable by
law". The word 'agreement' has been defined in Section 2(e) of the Act as ‘every promise and every
set of promises, forming consideration for each other’

Law of Contract and Contribution of Lord Denning:

Lord Denning was perhaps the greatest law-making judge of the century and the most controversial.
His achievement was to shape the common law according to his own highly individual vision of
society. Lord Denning was one of the most celebrated judges of his time. He is popular as a dissenting
judge.

Lord Alfred Thompson Denning (1899-1999) was a Populist English judge whose career spanned 37
years. He was known as a fighter for the underdog and a protector of the little man's rights against big
business. He served for 20 years as the head of the Court of Appeals, one of the most influential
positions in the English legal system. Denning was a controversial judge who was often the dissenting
voice on the bench. His decisions were based more on his religious and moral beliefs than the letter of
the law and he was often criticized for his subjectivity. Denning retired from the bench in 1982 under a
cloud of controversy regarding some racially insensitive views that he published. Denning continued to
publish books during his retirement and died at the age of 100

Validity & formation of a Contract:

According to legal scholar Sir John William Salmond, a contract is "an agreement creating
and defining the obligations between two or more parties" For the formation of a contract
the process of proposal or offer by one party and the acceptance thereof by the other is
necessary. This generally involves the process of negotiation where the parties apply their
minds make offer and acceptance and create a contract.

Standard Form Contracts:

The law of contract has in recent time to face a problem, which is assuming new
dimensions. The problem has arisen out of the modern large scale and widespread
practice of concluding contracts in standardized form. People upon whom such exemption
clauses or standard form contracts are imposed hardly have any choice or alternative but
to adhere. This gives a unique opportunity to the giant company to exploit the weakness of
the individual by imposing upon him terms, which may go to the extent of exempting the
company from all liability under contract. It is necessary and proper that their interests
should be protected. The courts have therefore devised some rules to protect the interest
of such persons

Post-Termination non-compete clauses in employment contracts:

Indian courts have consistently refused to enforce post-termination non-compete clauses
in employment contracts, viewing them as “restraint of trade” impermissible under Section
27 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (the Act), and as void and against public policy
because of their potential to deprive an individual of his or her fundamental right to earn a
livelihood

Contract- II: Bailment:

Contracts of Bailment are a special class of contract. These are dealt within Chap. IX from
S.148 to 181 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872. Bailment implies a sort of one person
temporarily goes into the possession of another. The circumstance in which this happens
are numerous. Delivering a cycle, watch or any other article for repair, delivering gold to a
goldsmith for making ornaments, delivering garments to a drycleaner, delivering goods for
carriage, etc. are all familiar situations which create the relationship of ‘Bailment’.

A Study of Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970:

Contract labourers also suffer from inferior labour status, casual nature of employment,
lack of job security and poor economic conditions. It was also observed that in some
cases the contract labourers did the same work as the workers directly employed by the
industrialist but were no paid the same wages and the same working conditions. This
practice of contract labour has also lead to the exploitation of these labourers as they are
not employed directly under the employer. This practice of exploitation was and still is very
much prevalent in India, therefore to encounter such problem and also to regulate the
conditions of these labourers the Govt. passed an Act called the Contract Labour
(Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970

Contract Labour:
Basic instinct. Hearing the concept of labour, what strikes the minds of the layman is the
name sakingly clad men and women who work at construction sites, factories and
alongside the roads, working in the scorching sun and pitiful conditions. Does it ever come
to the minds of the general public that these labourers have a huge set of laws governing
and safeguarding their rights ? yes. Probably some of us do know about labour laws. Ever
given a second thought about the implementation of these laws and regulations which are
painstakingly formulated? Not that they are not followed at all but come on! We’re aware
of the scene here in our country

E-Contracts:
It’s an undisputed fact that E-Commerce has become a part of our daily life. One such
justification for the popularization of E-Commerce would be immoderate technological
advancement. E-Commerce, as the name suggests, is the practice of buying and selling
goods and services through online consumer services on the internet. The ‘e’ used before
the word ‘commerce’ is a shortened form of ‘electronic’. The effectiveness of E-Commerce
is based on electronically made contracts known as E-Contracts. Although E-Contracts
are legalized by Information Technology Act but still majority feels insecure while dealing
online. The reason being lack of transparency in the terms & conditions attached to the
contract and the jurisdiction in case of a dispute that may arise during the pendency of a
transaction with an offshore site

Specific performance of Contracts:

Specific performance is equitable relief, given by the court to enforce against a defendant,
the duty of doing what he agreed by contract to do. Thus, the remedy of specific
performance is in contrast with the remedy by way of damages for breach of contract,
which gives pecuniary compensation for failure to carry out the terms of the contract.
Damages and specific performance are both, remedies available upon breach of
obligations by a party to the contract; the former is a ‘substitutional’ remedy, and the latter
a ‘specific’ remedy. The remedy of specific performance is granted by way of exception.

The Contract Labour (Regulation And Abolition) Act, 1970:

The Object of the Contract Labour Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 is to prevent
exploitation of contract labour and also to introduce better conditions of work. A workman
is deemed to be employed as Contract Labour when he is hired in connection with the
work of an establishment by or through a Contractor. Contract workmen are indirect
employees. Contract Labour differs from Direct Labour in terms of employment
relationship with the establishment and method of wage payment.

Regulation of Contract Labour:

Contract Labour is one of the acute form of unorganized labour. Under the system of
contract labour workers may be employed through contractor on the contract basis.
Workmen shall be deemed to be employed as contract labour or in connection with the
work of an establishment when he is hired in or in connection with such work by or through
a contractor, with or without the knowledge of the principal employer. In this class of
labour the contractors hire men (contract labour) who do the work on the premises of the
employer, known as the principal employer but are not deemed to be the employees of the
principal employer. The range of tasks performed by such contract workers varies from
security to sweeping and catering and is steadily increasing. It has been felt, and rightly
too, that the execution of a work on contract through a contractor who deployed the
contract labour was to deprive the labour of its due wages and privileges of labour class.

Doctrine of Frustration & Force-Majeure Clause:

The requirements of Force-Majeure are:
(a) It must proceed from a cause not brought about by the defaulting party’s default.
(b) The cause must be inevitable and unforeseeable.
(c) The cause must make execution of the contract wholly impossible.

The Calculation of Damages in EPC Contracts in India:

The engineering & construction industry, especially that in India, is dynamic and highly
volatile, making it susceptible to tremendous amounts of litigation and other forms of
alternative dispute resolution. The rapid and substantial growth in the magnitude of this
industry has resulted in the increased need for information about the rights and obligations
of the various players involved in the execution of a particular work of construction. It has
become essential that proper attention is given to assert one’s rights and discharge one’s
obligations as laid down by the law and also by a correct understanding of the meaning
and interpretation of the terms of the contract governing such relationships, as otherwise
the basis of estimates and calculations made will become infructuous

Liquidated Damages:
The Indian Contract Act, 1872, provides a basic structure of the law of contract in India, its
enforcement, various provisions regarding non-performance and the breach of contract.
This report is aimed to highlight provisions regarding liquidated damages in case of the
breach of the contract and to bring about a comparative study between India and England
regarding it. Thus, before knowing what exactly liquidated damages are, it is important to
understand the consequences of breach of contract and the damages awarded in case of
breach. A party who is injured by the breach of a contract may bring an action for
damages and Damages means compensation in terms of money for the loss suffered by
the injured party. Thus, in contract when these damages are awarded it is known as
liquidated damages

Privity of contract and third party beneficiary in a contract:

The doctrine of privity of contract means that only those involved in striking a bargain
would have standing to enforce it. In general this is still the case, only parties to a contract
may sue for the breach of a contract, although in recent years the rule of privity has
eroded somewhat and third party beneficiaries have been allowed to recover damages for
breaches of contracts they were not party to. There are two times where third party
beneficiaries are allowed to fall under the contract. The duty owed test looks to see if the
third party was agreeing to pay a debt for the original party. The intent to benefit test looks
to see if circumstances indicate that the promisee intends to give the beneficiary the
benefit of the promised performance. Any defense allowed to parties of the original
contract extend to third party beneficiaries[1]. A recent example is in England, where the
Contract (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 was introduced

Contract Ratification:
Ratification is in law equivalent to previous authority it may be expressed or it may be
affected impliedly by conduct.[1] Section 196 and 197 of the act show that an act done by
person who is not authorized to do it, but who purports to act as an agent for another
person, can retrospectively ratified by such other person. From this it follows logically, that
such an act on the part of the person purporting to act as agent is not void but voidable. If
it is not ratified it becomes void but if it is ratified it will be validated.

Relevance of Quasi-Contracts:
There are certain situations wherein certain persons are required to perform an obligation
despite the fact that he hasn’t broken any contract nor committed any tort. For instance, a
person is obligated to restore the goods left at his home, by mistake, and keep it in good
condition. Such obligations are called quasi-contracts

Choice of law by the parties to the contract:

In this era of globalization where a contract contains one or more foreign elements, the
difficult and complicated question in proceeding that arises is that of ascertaining its
applicable law. Such difficulty stems from the multiplicity and diversity of connecting
factors and each of them may arise in a different jurisdiction for instance the place where
the contract was made; the place of performance; the place of business of the parties; the
place of payment; the currency of payment; domicile or nationality o the parties and so on.
So to avoid this situation parties are granted with the freedom to select the law to govern
their contract under the provisions of Rome convention. The inclusion of a choice of law
clause is such an everyday matter in international contracts that its absence would be to
ignore commercial realities

E-contracts & issues involved in its formation:

With the advancements in computer technology, telecommunication and information
technology the use of computer networks has gained considerable popularity in the recent
past, computer networks serve as channels between for electronic trading across the
globe. By electronic trading we don’t just mean the use of computer networks to enter into
transaction between two human trading partners by facilitating a communication but
electronic trading or electronic commerce also means those contracts which are entered
between two legal persons along with the aid of a computer program which acts as an
agent even when it has no conscious of its own but also by initiating it

Standard Form Contract:

The Law of Standard Form Contracts rests on intuitions of the common mass. This
research paper explores these intuitions and examines intended consumer behavior on
common contracting contexts. Firstly, the research paper focuses on the need of Standard
Form Contracts and its justification. After the clear explanation of the term and its use in
the practical world, the focus shifts to the legal issue, as to what are the problems with the
issuance of Standard Form Contracts on a large scale, and how it can prove to be of
 exploitative nature. Further, the paper discusses the basic tendency of the consumers
towards the acceptance of the Standard Form Contracts, the reasons for such acceptance
and how the party issuing the Standard Form Contract can take advantage of the
consumer’s ignorant behaviour

Section 65 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 with special reference to Discharge of a
Contract by Frustration:
The effects of frustration with special reference to the restitution of advantages or benefits
received by a party, not entitled to such advantage or benefit. On account of an agreement
being deemed void, subsequent to certain obligations being fulfilled by either party, there
would continue to subsist, rights to make good the loss caused. Section 65 of the Indian
Contract Act, 1872, states

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Consumer Protection Laws in India

Acuity Law

India June 25 2021

Consumers form an integral part of the growth of a business and the economy at large.
Consumer protection laws focus on controlling the standard of products and services
and safeguarding the interest of the consumers to help them in making informed
decisions. Keeping in view the rapid change in the industry and commerce across the
globe, the (Indian) Consumer Protection Act, 1986 has been amended with a new
enactment with wider scope which came into effect in the year 2020 along with new
rules and regulations.
In this primer, we have set out below an overview of the consumer protection laws in
India and the key provisions relating to consumer rights and duties and obligations of
manufacturers / sellers, advertisers and e-commerce entities operating in India.
1. What are the applicable laws governing protection of consumer rights in India?
In India, protection of consumer rights is primarily governed by the Consumer Protection
Act, 2019 (Consumer Protection Act), and the rules and regulations made thereunder.
Some of the rules and regulations made under the Consumer Protection Act include
Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, Consumer Protection (Mediation)
Regulations, 2020, the Consumer Protection (Consumer Dispute Redressal
Commissions) Rules, 2020 and the Consumer Protection (General) Rules, 2020. Other
than the Consumer Protection Act, there are various other laws and regulations which
have been enacted with respect to protection of consumer interests covering specific
subject matters such as food, drugs and cosmetics.
2. Which is the governing authority with respect to consumer protection in India?
The Department of Consumer Affairs of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and
Public Distribution, and the Consumer Protection Authority.
3. To whom does the consumer protection laws apply to?
The consumer protection law applies to various players and entities including:

1. consumers;
2. product manufacturers;
3. product sellers;
4. product service providers;
5. traders;
6. advertising agencies;
7. endorsers; and
8. e-commerce market players such as e-commerce entities, e-commerce sellers.
4. Who is a consumer as per the Consumer Protection Act?
Consumer means any person who: buys any goods or hires or avails of any service, for
a consideration, either online or through offline modes. Further, any person who uses
any goods or hires or avails any services with the approval of any other person who has
paid consideration for such goods or services, is also considered to be a consumer
under the Consumer Protection Act.
5. Who is not a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act?
Any person who obtains goods for resale or for any commercial purpose or a person
who avails any services for any commercial purpose is not considered to be a consumer
under the Consumer Protection Act.
The expression "commercial purpose" does not include buying or using any goods or
services by a person for the purposes of earning his/ her livelihood, by means of self-
employment.
6. What are the rights of a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act?
Some of the major rights of a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act include:

1. protection against the misleading advertising or marketing of goods, products or

services which are hazardous to life and property;
2. access to adequate information relating to quality, quantity, potency, purity,
standard and price of goods, products or services;
3. access to a variety of goods, products or services at competitive prices; and
4. seek redressal against any practice detrimental to the interest of the consumer or
against unfair trade practice.
7. What is a product?
A product means any article or goods or substance or raw material in any physical state
which is produced for introduction to trade or commerce.
8. Who is liable for a defective product?
Under the Consumer Protection Act, for a defective product, the product manufacturer or
the product service provider or a product seller may be held liable.
9. Who is a product manufacturer / product service provider / product seller?
A product manufacturer is a person who (a) is a manufacturer; or (b) makes a product
and sells, distributes, leases, installs, prepares, packages, labels, markets, repairs,
maintains such product or is otherwise involved in placing such product for commercial
purpose; or (c) designs, produces, fabricates, constructs or re-manufactures any product
before its sale; or (d) a product seller of a product, who is also the manufacturer of such
product.
A product service provider is a person who provides any service in respect of such
product.
A product seller is a person, who imports, sells, distributes, leases, installs, prepares,
packages, labels, markets, repairs, maintains, or otherwise is involved in placing such
product for commercial purpose.
10. What are the liabilities of a product manufacturer?
A product manufacturer shall be liable for any harm caused to a consumer if the
product:

1. contains a manufacturing defect;

2. is defective in design;
3. deviates from manufacturing specifications;
4. does not conform to the express warranty; or
5. fails to contain adequate instructions of correct usage to prevent any harm or any
warning regarding improper or incorrect usage.
11. What are the liabilities of a product seller?
A product seller shall be liable for any harm caused to a consumer in the following
events:

1. If the product seller has exercised substantial control over the alteration or
modification, designing, testing, manufacturing, packaging or labelling of a
product that caused harm;
2. If the product seller has made an express warranty of a product independent of
any express warranty made by a manufacturer and such product fails to conform
to the express warranty;
3. If the identity of product manufacturer of such product is not known, or the service
of notice or process or warrant cannot be effected on the manufacturer or the
manufacturer is not subject to the applicable laws in India;
 4. If the product seller fails to exercise reasonable care in assembling, inspecting or
maintaining such product resulting in a harm; or
5. If the product seller does not pass on the warnings or instructions of the product
manufacturer regarding the dangers involved or proper usage of the product
while selling such product.
12. What are the liabilities of a product service provider?
A product service provider shall be liable for any harm caused to a consumer in the
following events:

1. If the service provided by the product service provider was faulty, imperfect,
deficient or inadequate in quality, nature or manner of performance which is
required to be provided as per applicable laws or under a contract;
2. If there was an act of omission or commission or negligence or conscious
withholding any information which caused harm;
3. If the product service provider did not issue adequate instructions or warnings to
prevent any harm; or
4. If the service did not conform to express warranty or the terms and conditions of
the contract.
13. What is an advertisement under the Consumer Protection Act?
It means any audio or visual publicity, representation, endorsement or pronouncement
made by means of light, sound, smoke, gas, print, electronic media, internet or website
and includes any notice, circular, label, wrapper, invoice or such other documents.
14. What are the guidelines relating to advertisements in India?
14.1. Advertisements in India are generally required to comply with the standards set by
Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI). The standards set out by the ASCI include
the following:

1. The advertisement should be a truthful and honest representation;

2. The advertisement should encourage fairness in competition;
3. The advertisement should not be offensive to generally accepted standards of
public decency in India;
4. The advertisement should not be similar to any other advertisement; and
5. The advertisement should not encourage promotion of harmful/ dangerous
products.
14.2. Further, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has issued a draft guideline on
advertisement the Central Consumer Protection Authority (Prevention of Misleading
Advertisements and Necessary Due Diligence for Endorsement of Advertisements)
Guidelines, 2020 (Draft Guidelines).
14.3. The Draft Guidelines, when finalised and implemented will be applicable to the
manufacturers / service providers whose products / services are the subject of the
advertising / marketing communications, as well as to advertisement agency and
endorser (wherever applicable) of the product/service. The Draft Guidelines provide
certain standards which should be complied with in order to make an advertisement
valid. Some of the standards prescribed under the Draft Guidelines include:

1. advertisement should contain truthful and honest representation;

2. advertisement should not mislead consumers;
3. advertisement should be offensive to generally accepted standards of public
decency in India; and
4. advertisement should not exaggerate the capability or performance or service of
the product.
14.4. In this regard, it is also important to note that advertisements in India are also
required to comply with the standards set by ASCI.
15. What is a misleading advertisement?
A misleading advertisement shall include any advertisement, which:

1. falsely describes a product or service;

2. gives a false guarantee to consumers;
3. is likely to mislead the consumers with respect to the nature, substance, quantity
or quality of the product or service;
4. conveys a representation which would constitute an unfair trade practice; or
5. deliberately conceals important information.
16. What is an endorsement and what are the liabilities of an endorser?
16.1. Endorsement means any message or depiction with respect to a seller /
manufacturer or its products or services to consumers to indicate any opinion, finding or
experience of the endorser with respect to such seller / manufacturer or its products /
services.
16.2. Endorser has not been expressly defined under the Consumer Protection Act. As a
general understanding, an endorser shall mean any person who makes an
endorsement.
16.3. Under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, an endorser can be held
liable for false and misleading advertisements and penalty will be imposed on such
endorser which may extend up to INR 1,000,000. In addition to monetary penalty, the
endorser may also be prohibited from making an endorsement for a period up to one (1)
year.
17. What is an unfair contract?
An unfair contract means a contract between a manufacturer or trader or service
provider and a consumer, having such terms which cause significant change in the rights
of the consumer.
18. What are unfair trade practices and restrictive trade practices?
18.1. Unfair trade practice means a trade practice which, for the purpose of promoting
the sale, use or supply of any goods or for the provision of any service, adopts any unfair
method or unfair or deceptive practice.
18.2. Restrictive trade practice means a trade practice which tends to bring about
manipulation of price or its conditions of delivery or to affect flow of supplies in the
market relating to goods or services in such a manner as to impose on the consumers
unjustified costs or restrictions.
18.3. In the event of any unfair or restrictive trade practices, the Central Authority will
have the power to pass an order for discontinuation of such practices. Whoever fails to
comply with such order, shall be liable to be punished with imprisonment up to 6 months
or fine up to INR 2 million or both.
19. What are the regulations governing e-commerce entities?
19.1. The Department of Consumer Affairs of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and
Public Distribution has issued the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 (E-
Commerce Rules).
19.2. The E- Commerce Rules are applicable to (a) all goods and services brought or
sold over digital or electronic network including digital products; (b) all models of e-
commerce, including marketplace and inventor models of e-commerce; (c) all e-
commerce retails; and (d) all forms of unfair trade practices across all models of e-
commerce.
20. Who are the key players covered under the E-Commerce Rules?
Some of the key players covered under the E-Commerce Rules are:

1. E-commerce entity that is, any person who owns, operates or manages digital or
electronic facility or platform for electronic commerce.
2. Inventory e-commerce entity that is, an e-commerce entity which owns the
inventory of goods or services and sells such goods or services directly to the
consumers. For example, single brand retailers and multi-channel single brand
retailers.
3. Marketplace e-commerce entity that is, an e-commerce entity which provides an
information technology platform on a digital or electronic network to facilitate
transactions between buyers and sellers.
4. Seller that is, a product seller as defined under the Consumer Protection Act.
5. User that is, any person who accesses or avails any computer resource of an
ecommerce entity.
21. What are the key duties of a marketplace e-commerce entity?
Some of the key duties of an e-commerce entity are:

1. appointing a nodal person of contact or an alternate senior designated

functionary who is resident in India, to ensure compliance with applicable laws;
2. provide its legal name, principal address of headquarters and all branches, and
contact details on its platform in a clear and accessible manner;
3. adopt fair trade practices in its course of business or on its platform;
4. establish grievance redressal mechanism;
5. disclose details of the importers and sellers; and
 6. not discriminating among the consumers or manipulating the price of the goods
or services offered on its platform.
22. What are the key duties of a seller in respect of sale of products through e-
commerce mode?
Following are some of the key duties of a seller under the E-Commerce Rules:

1. adopt fair trade practices;

2. Not make any false representation about the product;
3. not refuse to take back products, or withdraw or discontinue services in case
there is a defect or deficiency arising because of the product seller;
4. not refuse to refund consideration in case of defect or deficiency arising because
of the product seller;
5. appoint a grievance redressal officer;
6. ensure advertisement of the goods or services are consistent with the actual
product or service; and
7. provide information relating to price in single figure along with breakup price,
expiry dates, country of origin, name and details of the importer, guarantees, to
the ecommerce entity to be displayed on such e-commerce platform.
23. What are the key duties of the inventory e-commerce entities?
The key duties of an inventory e-commerce entity are:

1. Providing accurate information relating to return, refund, exchange, warranty and

guarantee, delivery and shipment, costs and any other similar information which
may help consumer to make informed decision;
2. Disclosing notices and information as required under applicable laws;
3. Providing information on payment methods;
4. Providing information on pricing of good or services, in single figure or with the
breakup price;
5. Disclosing contractual information as required to be disclosed under applicable
laws;
6. Ensure advertisements of the good or service are in consistent with the actual
good or service; and
7. Accept to take back goods or withdraw or discontinue services if such goods or
services are defective or deficient.
24. Who can make a complaint for a defective product or service?
Following person can make a complaint:

1. A consumer;
2. Any voluntary consumer association registered under any law;
3. The Central Government or any State Government;
 4. The Central Authority established under the Consumer Protection Act;
5. Legal heir or legal representatives of a consumer in case of death of a consumer;
or
6. Parents or legal guardian of a consumer in case such consumer is a minor.
25. What are the grounds for making a complaint?
A complaint can be made on grounds relating to violation of consumer rights or unfair
trade practices or false or misleading advertisements which are prejudicial to the
interests of consumers as a class.
26. What is the mechanism of making a complaint?
26.1. A complaint can be made under the Consumer Protection Act before the
Consumer Dispute Redressal Commissions established at:

1. District level having jurisdiction over matters involving amount upto INR 10
million;
2. State level having jurisdiction over matters involving amount between INR 10
million to INR 100 million; and
3. National level having jurisdiction over matters involving amount more than INR
100 million.
26.2. A complaint relating to violation of consumer rights or unfair trade practice or false
or misleading advertisements may be made to any one of the authorities, namely, the
district collector or the commissioner of regional office or the central authority.
26.3. A complaint should be made in writing and can be made before the competent
forum in offline or online mode after paying the requisite fees. A complaint can be
presented by the complainant in person or by his agent. It can even be sent by
registered post along with the court fee. An online complaint can be made at
http://edaakhil.nic.in/.
26.4. A complaint should be filled within two (2) years from the date on which the cause
of action has arisen.
27. What is the procedure for making an appeal?
27.1. Any consumer who is aggrieved by the order of a commission can make an appeal
before the higher commission subject to the timelines prescribed in the Consumer
Protection Act.
27.2. An appeal against the order of district commission can be made before the state
commission on grounds of facts or law within a period of forty-five (45) days from the
date of the order. Similarly, an appeal against the order of state commission can be
made before the national commission within a period of thirty (30) days from the date of
such order. The national commission shall also be the competent forum for an appeal
against the order of the central authority established under the Consumer Protection Act
and such an appeal should be made within thirty (30) days from the date of receipt of
such order. An appeal before the state or national commission shall be heard and
disposed within a period of ninety (90) days from the date of admission.
27.3. An appeal against the order passed by the national commission shall be made
before the Supreme Court of India within a period of thirty (30) days from the date of the
order.
28. Is there any alternate dispute resolution mechanism under the Consumer
Protection Act?
28.1. Under the provision of the Consumer Protection Act, the State Government is
required to establish a consumer mediation cell to be attached to each of the District
Commissions and the State Commissions of that State. The National or State or the
District Commission shall prepare a panel of the mediators to be maintained by the
consumer mediation cell.
28.2. At the first hearing of the complaint after admission or at any later stage, the
National or State or the District Commission, as the case may be, may direct the parties
to settle the dispute by mediation if there exist any elements of a settlement which may
be acceptable by the parties to the dispute. And where a dispute could not be settled by
mediation, the concerned Commission shall continue to heal all the issue and dispose
the said dispute.
29. What are various penalties under the Consumer Protection Act?
IDC Understanding Governance

Module II
5. Major issues in Governance II: Citizens Charter; Right to Information.

Citizen’s Charter: Importance, Objective,

Features, Problems faced in
implementation, Guidelines
In any nation, there is a need of good governance for
sustainable development, both economic and social.

The three major aspects highlighted in good

governance are transparency, accountability and
responsiveness of the administration.

Citizens’ Charters initiative is a response to the

mission for solving the problems which a citizen
meets, day in and day out, while dealing with the
organisations providing public services.

The charter is the declaration of commitment to

superiority in service to customers of the
department. The citizen charter declares the
standards for various services offered. It includes
expectations of the Organisation from the Citizens for
fulfilling its commitment. Citizen charter is available
on India post website.

The concept of Citizens’ Charter protects the trust

between the service provider and its users.

Citizens’ Charter was first expressed and

implemented in the United Kingdom by the
Conservative Government of John Major in 1991 as a
national programme with aim to constantly improve
the quality of public services for the people of the
 country so that these services respond to the needs
and wishes of the users.
Importance of Citizen’s Charter

1. To make administration accountable and citizen friendly.

2. To ensure transparency.
3. To take measures to improve customer service.
4. To adopt a stakeholder approach.
5. To save time of both Administration and the citizen.
Objective of the Citizens’ Charter

Fundamental objectives of Citizens’ Charter are as

follows:

Goal of Citizens’ Charter is to empower the citizen in

relation to public service delivery.

Six principles of the Citizens’ Charter movement as

originally framed were:
1. Quality: Improving the quality of services
2. Choice: Wherever possible
3. Standards: Specify what to expect and how to act if
standards are not met
4. Value: For the taxpayers’ money
5. Accountability: Individuals and Organisations
6. Transparency: Rules/ Procedures/ Schemes/Grievances

Later on, these were elaborated by the Labour

Government as following nine principles of Service
Delivery (1998):
1. Set standards of service
2. Be open and provide full information
3. Consult and involve
4. Encourage access and the promotion of choice
5. Treat all fairly
6. Put things right when they go wrong
7. Use resources effectively
8. Innovate and improve
9. Work with other providers
10. The Indian Scenario

Since many years, in India, noteworthy progress has

been made in the field of economic development.
This, along with a considerable increase in the literacy
rate, (from 51.63% to 65.38% in the last decade) has
made Indian citizens increasingly aware of their
rights.

Citizens have become more articulate and expect the

administration not merely to respond to their
demands but also to anticipate them. It was in this
climate that since 1996 a consensus had evolved in
the Government on effective and responsive
administration.

Department of Administrative Reforms and Public

Grievances in Government of India (DARPG)
initiated the task of coordinating, formulating
and operationalising Citizens’ Charters.
Guidelines for formulating the Charters as well as a
list of do’s and don’ts were communicated to various
government departments/organisations to enable
them to bring out focused and effective charters.

For the formulation of the Charters, the government

agencies at the Centre and State levels were advised
to constitute a task force with representation from
users, senior management and the cutting edge staff.

Principally, an adaptation of the UK model, the Indian

Citizens’ Charter has an additional constituent of
‘expectations from the clients’. Involvement of
consumer organisations, citizen groups, and other
stakeholders in the formulation of the Citizens’
Charter is highlighted to confirm that the Citizens’
Charter fulfills the needs of the users.

Regular monitoring, review and evaluation of the

Charters, both internally and through external
agencies, are commanded.

Till April, 2006, 111 Citizens’ Charters had been

articulated by the Central Government Ministries/
Departments/ Organisations and 668 Charters by
various agencies of State Governments &
Administrations of Union Territories.
 Most of the national Charters are posted on the
government’s websites and are open to public
scrutiny. The organisations with Citizens’ Charters are
advised to give publicity to their Charters through
such means as print/ electronic media and awareness
crusades.
Salient Features of a Citizen’s Charter

The salient features of a Citizen’s Charter are:

1. Agreed and published standards for service delivery;
2. Openness and information about service delivery;
3. ‘Choice’ and Consultation with users;
4. Courtesy and helpfulness in service delivery; and
5. Provision of redressal of grievances.

Let us elaborate these points:

Standards: The Charter should lay out explicit

standards of service delivery so that users understand
what they can reasonably expect from service
providers. These standards should be time‐bound,
relevant, accurate, measurable and specific. The
actual performance vis‐à‐vis the standards adopted
must be published and independently validated. The
tendency among organizations to develop targets
and standards based on their own convenience as
opposed to the needs of the citizens must be
avoided.
Information and openness: A key attribute of good
service is the availability of relevant and concise
information to the users at the right time and at the
right place. The Charters should contain, in plain
language, full and accurate information about
services available, levels and quality of service to be
expected, available channels for grievance redressal
etc. Handbooks, guides, posters, websites are some
of the channels through which information can be
provided to citizens.

Choice and consultation: The Charter should

provide choice of services to users wherever
practicable. There should be regular and systematic
consultation with the users of the service to fix service
standards and to ascertain quality of service delivery.

Courtesy and helpfulness: The Charter can help

embed a culture of courteous and helpful service
from public servants. In addition, small initiatives such
as ‘name badges’, ‘May I help you’ counters etc. can
go a long way in building customer confidence.

Grievance redressal and complaints

handling: There is a strong link between the
provision of quality service and effective handling of
complaints. Firstly, by facilitating and responding to
complaints, the causes for complaint can be reduced.
 Secondly, by identifying ‘trends’ in complaints, the
service provider can resolve systemic and recurring
problems.
Problems faced in implementing the Charters

As indicated, the Citizens’ Charters initiative in India

had started in 1997 and the Charters formulated are
in embryonic stage of implementation. Introduction
of a new thought is always difficult in any
organisation. Introduction and implementation of the
concept of Citizens’ Charter in the Government of
India was much more complicated due to the old
bureaucratic set up/procedures and the rigid
attitudes of the work force.

The major obstacles encountered in this initiative

were:
1. The general perception of organisations which formulated
Citizens’ Charters was that the exercise was to be
performed because there was a direction from the top. The
consultation process was minimal or largely absent. It thus
became one of the routine activities of the organisation
and had no focus.
2. For any Charter to thrive the personnel responsible for its
implementation should have proper training and
orientation, as commitments of the Charter cannot be
expected to be delivered by a workforce that is unaware of
the spirit and content of the Charter. However, in many
 cases, the concerned staff was not sufficiently trained
and sensitised.
3. Sometimes, transfers and reshuffles of concerned officers
at the critical stages of formulation/implementation of a
Citizens’ Charter in an organisation severely destabilised
the strategic processes which were put in place and
hampered the progress of the initiative.
4. Awareness campaigns to teach clients about the Charter
were not conducted systematically.
5. In some cases, the standards/time norms of services
mentioned in Citizens’ Charter were either too negligent
or too tight and were impractical and created an
unfavourable impression on the clients of the Charter.
6. The notion behind the Citizens’ Charter was not accurately
understood. Information brochures, publicity materials,
pamphlets produced earlier by the organisations were
mistaken for Citizens’ Charters.
Deficiencies in the Existing Citizens’ Charters

1. Lack of awareness and knowledge and inadequate

publicity, hence loss of trust among service seekers
2. No training to the operative and supervisory staff
3. Lack of infrastructure and initiative
4. Hierarchy gap between the Officers and the Operative
Staff-Need of team effort
5. Different mind-sets of officers and the Staff-
Insensitiveness on the part of the Supervisors and the Staff
because they are yet to be sensitized
6. Staff is not prepared to shoulder the responsibility due to
lack of motivation and accountability
7. Non-revision, complicated and restrictive rules &
procedures
Guidelines for the Citizens’ Charters in India

1. List all Offices according to type of services they

provide to public – Indicate their location, areas they
cover, type of services being rendered to public, and phone
numbers.
2. There should be a separate Citizens’ Charter (i.e., Local
Citizens’ Charters) for each office covering the services
they provide. For example, there should be a separate
Charter of the Directorate, its subordinate offices,
Hospitals, Schools, etc. according to the particular services
they provide.
3. Mention Service Standards – Step-by-step-Procedure
based on ‘Where to go; how to proceed’, simple and easy
to fill-in Forms, specimen of duly-filled in forms,
documents, fees, etc. required, reasonable time schedule,
Do’s & Don’ts, etc., names, addresses and Tele. Nos. of
concerned Officials, his alternate for each service, etc.
4. Minimum documentation, self-attestation and self-
declaration.
5. No duplication – In case desired information and
document submitted earlier like proof of residence (if there
is no change), birth certificate, etc., it should not be asked
again.
6. If promised services are not provided as per specified time
schedule, an effective grievance redressal mechanism
(including the provision of compensation to the concerned
citizen in order to introduce accountability) should be
introduced.
7. Provision of TATKAL (Immediate) Services if somebody
is in urgent need (as in the case of Passport, Railways, etc.)
to avoid touts, bribery, etc.
8. Simultaneous changes in the Performa and other
requirements to be effected along with the changes made
in the Citizens Charter.
9. Database of frequently required information, like
ownership of property, vehicle, etc., tax and dues paid or
pending, etc.
10. If possible, the services and their related information
may be presented in a tabular form.
11. Salient features of each service should be prominently
displayed in simple and easy language at all places likely
to be visited by the service seekers.
Key lessons

The following pitfalls need to be avoided:

1. Since Citizen’s Charters are likely to raise the aspirations
of the users of the service, the departments should guard
against the tendency to promise more than they can
deliver. A realistic assessment of the capabilities of the
service provider must be taken into account in drafting the
Charter.
2. A critical review of the current systems and processes in
the department should be undertaken to examine whether
they are likely to have an adverse impact on the Charter.
3. Implementing the Charters without the staff owning
them will defeat the purpose of the Charter. Motivating
the staff and involving them in the preparation of the
Charter are extremely important.
4. The Charters will remain merely a paper exercise of
limited value if there is no consultation with the
users. Departments should ensure user involvement at all
stages of preparation and implementation of the Charter.
5. Independent audit of results is important after a period of
implementation of the Charter.
6. Complex systems for lodging complaints or poor access to
officers for redressal of grievances defeat the purpose and
the spirit of the Charter.

To summarize, A Citizens’ Charter denotes the

promise of an organisation towards standard, quality
and time frame of service delivery, grievance
redressal mechanism, clearness and accountability.

Based on the foreseen expectations and aspirations

of public, Citizens’ Charters are to be drawn-up with
care and concern for the concerned service users.

They allow the service seekers to avail the services of

the government departments with minimum
inconvenience and maximum speed.