ABSTRACT
The origin of contemporary criminal law in India can be traced to the colonial period, specifically to the mid-nineteenth century. Three statutes, namely the Penal Code of 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1898 (amended in 1973) and the Evidence Act of 1872, are the foundation of India’s criminal justice system. The Penal Code exhaustively defines 511 offences, and its main strength lies in dealing with crimes against property. However, in the context of offences against the human body, especially in relation to sexual offences, it does not distinguish between different shades or types of crimes.1 For example, the term ‘sexual assault’, which is used legally in other jurisdictions, is yet to be formulated in India. As a result of this failure to modify the Penal Code in line with other jurisdictions in offences such as kidnapping, ‘seduction’, ‘enticement’, rape and ‘outraging the modesty of a woman’, the notion that lies behind the law is one of possession and control of the woman by the man to whom she ‘belongs’.2
