A RESEARCH PAPER ON ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND OFFENCES AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN – A STUDY OF THE CLAUSES AND REFORMS UNDER BHARATIYA NYAYA SANHITA (BNS)

AUTHOR – K.S.MADHUMATHI, STUDENT AT SCHOOL OF LAW CHRIST (DEEMED TO BE ) UNIVERSITY, BANGLORE

BEST CITATION – K.S.MADHUMATHI, A RESEARCH PAPER ON ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND OFFENCES AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN – A STUDY OF THE CLAUSES AND REFORMS UNDER BHARATIYA NYAYA SANHITA (BNS), INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 5 (1) OF 2025, PG. 1187-1196, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

ABSTRACT

Women have all the rights and privileges in every areas as possessed by the men. The Constitution of India has given equal rights, privileges and freedom that are enjoyed by the men for many years.  In ancient period women held a respectful position in society, but later on they lost their high place due to drastic changes in socio, political and economic environment.  In present scenario, Women and children’s safety and security are a significant issue, with many real incidents and assault reported each year.  National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reported that the number of cases of offences against women being registered have been on rise   from 228650 in 2011 to 445256 in 2022. 

     But gender biases and gender-based discrimination are still exist. The child sex ratio of India is 1020, the female literacy rate is about 70.3 percent, which is 14.4 percent less as compared to the male, the rate of child marriage is 27.3 percent and India’s global gender gap index is 64.1 per cent, which leads the country to rank 129th out of 146 countries in 2024. Every 16 minutes, a woman is raped in India, and the crime rate per lakh women population rose to 66.4 in 2022 from 64.5 in 2021. In 2022, the majority of crimes against women were categorized as cruelty by the husband or his relatives (31.4 ..
followed by kidnapping and abduction (19.2%), assault with intent to outrage modesty (18.7%), and rape (7.1).