SEXUAL HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS A legal and ... - The ICHRP

coerce or induce female inmates to have sexual intercourse with them. 480 Custodial situations
mentioned in these provisions include jails, remand homes as well as orphanages, or homes /
institutions for the care of women and children, and hospitals or any other institutions meant
for the reception and medical treatment of people during convalescence and rehabilitation.
Rules of evidence for such forms of rape were also changed to facilitate proof of rape.
However, these provisions are limited to the act of penetrative sexual intercourse and do not
cover all forms of sexual violence.
Safeguards for safety of female prisoners have been provided in some of the state prison
laws. Thus, the West Bengal Correctional Services Act, 1992 provides for the separate
accommodation of female prisoners, 481 for searches to be conducted only by female
warders, 482 for footprints, measurements etc. to be made by a police officer only in the
presence of a high ranking officer and a female warder, 483 for all staff inside the female
section of a correctional facility to be female 484 and for male officers to enter the area only for
the performance of their duties and in the presence of the female warder or matron and if the
visit is at night, only in unavoidable circumstances with a record of the time of entry and
exit. 485 In correctional homes where there are no other female prisoners, a female warder is
required to be present in the ward. 486 If the lone female prisoner is to be transferred to another
correctional home that houses other females, again they must be accompanied by a female
warder. 487 For medical services, a separate wing is to be provided for females under the
medical supervision of a female medical officer. 488 Male warders accompanying a visitor are
required to stay outside the female ward and a visitor entering the female ward may only do
so in the presence of two high ranking officers. 489
In Bangladesh, where a woman is raped in police custody, the Suppression of Violence
Against Women and Children Act, 2000 provides for a minimum mandatory rigorous
imprisonment of five years extending up to ten years and a minimum fine of taka ten
thousand for the person or persons in whose custody the woman was, “for their failure to
ensure proper custody.” 490
In Nepal the omnibus law – An Act to Amend Some Nepal Acts for Maintaining Gender
Equality, 2006 – introduced an amendment in the Miscellaneous Provisions of the Country
Code which punishes a government employee who has sexual intercourse with a woman in
prison or custody, a person providing protection who does the same with a woman in his
protection, a person in a rehabilitation centre with a woman in such centre or a doctor or
healthcare worker in a centre where a woman is being provided health services. 491
5.5 Sexual Violence: Child Sexual Abuse
480 Sections 376B, 376C & 376D, Indian Penal Code
481 S. 19(1), S. 32(2), The West Bengal Correctional Services Act, 1992 (India)
482 S. 18(2), ibid.
483 S. 68(5), ibid.
484 S. 66(2), ibid.
485 S. 67(2), ibid.
486 S. 18(2) and S. 68(3), ibid.
487 S. 64(3) and 64(5). See also S. 64(7), ibid.
488 S. 40(2), ibid.
489 S. 68 (3), ibid.
490 S. 9(5), Suppression of Violence against Women and Children Act, 2000 (Bangladesh)
491 Section 14, An Act to Amend Some Nepal Acts for Maintaining Gender Equality, 2006 (Nepal)
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