Offences Kinds of Women

Offences against Women:
Assault or Criminal Force to Woman with Intent to outrage her modesty:

Sec.354 IPC states any act of criminal force committed on a woman to outrage her modesty. The
term Modesty has been defined nowhere in the Penal Code
Section 354 A- Sexual Harassment and Punishment for Sexual Harassment To constitute the
offence under Sec.354 A, the following conditions needs to be fulfilled Physical contact and
advances including specific sexual gestures A demand or request for any kind of sexual favours
Showing pornography against the will of a woman Making sexually created remarks.
Section 354 B- Assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe Whoever assaults
or uses criminal force upon another with intent to disrobe her or force her to be naked, is guilty
under Sec.354 B and is liable for a prescribed term of punishment. Salient Features of Sec.354 B
are as follows: It should have been committed against a woman. It constitutes both: an Act and an
Omission. To book a charge under Sec.354 B, the accused must have used criminal force or should
have assaulted the victim. There must have been an intension or knowledge on the part of the
accused, that such act would outrage her modesty. The liability of the accused cannot be absolved
just because the victim did not react or retaliated. A female of any age, including an infant can be
molested and such acts fall under the ambit of section 354 B.
Section 354 C- Voyeurism Voyeurism in simple language means the practise of gaining sexual
pleasure while watching others naked or while they are engaged in some sexual activity. According
to Sec.354 C- any man who captures or watches the image of a woman when she is privately
engaged with someone else and she do not want to be seen by anybody else in that particular
moment, such a person is guilty of Voyeurism.
Section 354 D- Stalking Any man is said to have commit the offence of stalking who: Follows a
woman or tries/attempts to contact her repeatedly despite an indication Monitors any form of
electronic information used by her like Internet, e-mail etc. Exceptions of Sec.354 D: If stalking
is done with the purpose and responsibility of preventing and detecting the crime by the state If its
permitted from the law or any other person /condition/requirement imposed under any law If such
conduct was reasonable and justified in a particular circumstance
Sexual offences:
Rape (Section 375): Essential elements are:
1. There must be sexual intercourse with a woman by a man;
2. Such a sexual intercourse should be under any of the following circumstances:
i) Against her will,
ii) Without her consent,
iii) 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.
iv) With consent given under misconception of fact that the man is her husband but the man
knows that he is not her husband,
v) Consent given by reason of unsoundness of mind, intoxication or under influence of any
stupefying or unwholesome substance,
vi) With a woman under 18 years of age with or without consent.
Section 376 specifies the punishment for rape.

Marital Rape: The exception to Section 375 states that non-consensual sexual intercourse by a
man with his own wife, if she is over 15 years, does not amount to rape. It, thus, keeps outside the
ambit of ‘rape’ a coercive and non-consensual sexual intercourse by a ‘husband’ with his wife
(above 15 years of age) and thereby allows a ‘husband’ to exercise, with impunity, his marital right
of (non-consensual or undesired) intercourse with his wife.
It is believed that the husband’s immunity for marital rape is premised on the assumption that a
woman gives forever her consent to the husband for sexual intercourse. It also aims at the
preservation of family institution by ruling out the possibility of false, fabricated and motivated
complaints of rape by wife against her husband and the pragmatic procedural difficulties that might
arise in such a legal proceeding.
However, on two occasions, a husband can be convicted for the offence of rape, and such
occasions are:—
i) If a husband commits intercourse with her own wife, who is living separately from him, it is
a rape;
ii) If a husband commits intercourse with his own wife, who is under the age of fifteen years, it
becomes rape.
Unnatural Offences (Section 377):

This section makes unnatural offences punishable under the Code. It says that whoever voluntarily
has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be
punished with imprisonment for life, or with simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term extending
up to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. The explanation attached to this section states that
penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence under this
section.
The carnal intercourse on the part of the offender under this section must be voluntary and with a
man, woman or animal, and it must be against the order of nature. Like the offence of rape,
penetration is sufficient to convict an offender under this section. In other words, carnal intercourse
by a man with man, or by a woman with woman, or by a man or woman with animal is punishable
under this section as such intercourse is against the order of nature. A man’s sexual intercourse
with a woman would also be punishable under this section where it is done in any other way than
the natural way, such as by putting the penis in the mouth, because the same is against the order
of nature.
In Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (W. P. (Crl.) No. 76 of 2016), on 6 September 2018,
the court delivered its verdict, declaring portions of the law relating to consensual sexual acts
between adults unconstitutional in a unanimous decision. This decision overturns the 2013 ruling
in Suresh Kumar Koushal vs. Naz Foundation in which the court upheld the law. However, other
portions of Section 377 relating to sex with minors, non-consensual sexual acts,
and bestiality remain in force. The court found that the criminalization of sexual acts between
consenting adults violated the right to equality guaranteed by the Constitution of India.
Offences against Marriage:

Bigamy (Sec. 494): Marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife. Whoever, having a
husband or wife living, marries in any case in which such marriage is void by reason of its taking
place during the life of such husband or wife, shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Bigamy becomes an offence only if the husband or wife is alive. It is an offence even if it is
performed with the consent of the first wife.
It will not apply, • if the husband or wife of the first marriage is dead or • if the first marriage has
been dissolved by a decree of divorce or • the former marriage is void or declared void by a decree
of nullity Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code exempts from punishment a second marriage
contracted seven years after the absence of the spouse.
Sec. 495. Same offence with concealment of former marriage from person with whom
subsequent marriage is contracted:
Whoever commits the offence defined in the last preceding Section having concealed, from the
person with whom the subsequent marriage is contracted, the fact of the former marriage, shall be
punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and
shall also be liable to fine.
Ingredients of Sections 494 and 495:

(a) Existence of the first husband or wife when the second marriage is celebrated attracts the
provisions of these Sections.
(b) When the former husband or wife has been continuously absent for 7 years and not heard of as
being alive within .that time, provided the real state of facts shall be disclosed to the person with
whom the second marriage is contracted.
(c) These Sections apply to all Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Christians they also apply to
Muslim women. But they do not apply to Muslim males.
(d) If the first marriage is not a valid one, no offence will be committed by contracting a second
marriage. If A, who has married B within prohibited degrees of affinity, again marries C, he will
not be guilty of bigamy, for his first marriage with B was not a valid marriage.
(e) The prosecution must prove the evidence of second marriage. The essential ceremonies of
marriage must be proved.
Adultery (Section 497): A man commits adultery, if he—

(1) Has sexual intercourse with a woman;
(2) Whom he knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of another man;
(3) Without the consent or connivance of such other man;
(4) Such sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape.
The punishment for adultery is imprisonment upto five years or fine or both.
In Joseph Shine versus Union of India (Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 194 of 2017), held that Section
497 violated a woman’s right to dignity, resulting in infringement of Article 21 of the Constitution
of India. The Court however clarified that adultery will be a ground for divorce. It was also stated
that if an act of adultery leads the aggrieved spouse to suicide, the adulterous partner could be
prosecuted for abetment of suicide under Section 306 of the I.P.C.

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Offences Kinds of Women

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Offences against Women:

Assault or Criminal Force to Woman with Intent to outrage her modesty:

Section 376 specifies the punishment for rape.

Unnatural Offences (Section 377):

Offences against Marriage:

Ingredients of Sections 494 and 495:

Adultery (Section 497): A man commits adultery, if he—

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