Gender violence defies stringent laws: The need for robust social capital

By Dr. Manoj Kumar Mishra*

The tragic death of Miss Soumyashree Bisi, a 20-year-old student from Fakir Mohan College, Balasore, who reportedly self-immolated due to harassment, shocked the conscience of Odisha. Even before the public could process this horrifying event, another harrowing case emerged—a 15-year-old girl from Balanga, Puri, was allegedly set ablaze by miscreants. These incidents are not isolated; they highlight a disturbing pattern of rising gender-based violence across the state and the country.

According to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the year 2022 saw a total of 4,45,256 cases of crimes against women—an increase of 4% from the previous year. These numbers, however, only scratch the surface. Many incidents remain unreported, buried under layers of stigma, societal pressure, fear of retaliation, and institutional apathy. Each high-profile case reawakens the national trauma of the 2012 Nirbhaya incident in Delhi, which shook the nation and led to sweeping legal reforms.

Yet, more than a decade later, the recent rape and murder of a female doctor at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata on August 9, 2024, indicates that legal reforms alone are insufficient. The back-to-back cases in Balasore and Puri have placed the BJP-led state government under intense scrutiny. Opposition parties have seized the moment to protest the deteriorating law and order situation in Odisha, pointing to the government's failure to safeguard women.

In response to such high-profile crimes, several stringent laws have been introduced over the years. The legal definition of rape in India has been expanded to include non-penetrative acts, and juveniles as young as 16 can now be tried as adults in serious cases. While these legislative changes are commendable, their deterrent effect remains questionable. Many perpetrators continue to commit crimes with impunity, demonstrating a blatant disregard for constitutional protections and parliamentary statutes.

Gender-based violence, however, is only one facet of a broader societal malaise. Increasingly, there are also reports of crimes committed by women against men, challenging the traditional gendered narrative of victimhood. Cases of husbands driven to suicide due to mental harassment by their spouses, as well as the recent high-profile murder of a husband by his wife during a honeymoon trip to Meghalaya, illustrate that violence and manipulation can cross gender lines. These developments highlight a more complex social reality that legal instruments alone cannot fully address.

What is missing in this equation is social capital—the intangible but powerful force of trust and mutual responsibility that binds a society. Social capital, a concept popularized by political scientist Robert Putnam, refers to the networks of trust, norms, and reciprocity that exist within a community. Its erosion is reflected in today’s fractured social relations—students distrusting teachers, children questioning parents' moral guidance, and communities failing to instill values in their youth.

In such an atmosphere of moral vacuum and broken trust, laws lose their deterrent power. Education alone cannot bring about behavioural transformation unless it is underpinned by trust. Knowledge imparted in the absence of social capital may secure academic success but will not foster ethical responsibility.

India has made significant progress in dismantling patriarchal practices that once defined its social landscape. Regressive customs like Sati, child marriage, and denial of widow remarriage have been outlawed, thanks to reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and post-independence legal reforms. Women today have access to education and employment, and the Supreme Court's ruling against Triple Talaq marked another important milestone in securing gender equality.

However, psychological and cultural remnants of patriarchy persist. The father is still often seen as the head of the household, even when the mother is the primary earner and caretaker. A bride continues to move to her husband's home, and dowry survives under the euphemism of "gifts." Meanwhile, some individuals—across all genders—exploit these evolving liberties to perpetuate new forms of injustice, further complicating the social fabric.

Legal measures must go hand in hand with efforts to rebuild trust and moral responsibility. The decline of social capital threatens to turn even the most progressive laws into paper tigers. As society navigates this complex terrain, it must prioritize rebuilding trust between generations, institutions, and communities. Only then can we hope to meaningfully reduce crime, not just react to it after it occurs.

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*Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science, SVM Autonomous College, Jagatsinghpur, Odisha

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