e do we stand?
in the current financial climate,
less and less people are willing to
take. These trials can take years
and cause a great deal of problems.
Plus, regulations brought in last
year, state that the worker must
now pay up to £2
50 to lodge a
claim against their employer and
a further £950 if the case goes
ahead; making it unaffordable
for all but the most affluent.
One of the biggest concerns is
how women view the rape and
abuse of other women. In January
this year Ms Asha Mir a leader
je,
of the Nationalist Congress Party
(NCP) that governs the western
Indian state of Maharashtra
and is also a member of the
Maharashtra State Commission
for Women, caused uproar when
stating that women too were to
blame for their own rape. There
has been growing scrutiny sexual
violence since the gang rape and
murder of a student on a bus in
Delhi in December 201 Ms Mir
2.
je
was quoted saying, “Did Nirbhaya
really have to go watch a movie
at 1 in the night with her friend?
1
T
ake the Shakti Mills gang rape
case. Why did the [survivor] go to
such an isolated spot at 6pm?...
Rapes take place also because of
a woman’s clothes, her behavior
and her being at inappropriate
places.” Although this statement
was not relating to any woman
in the UK, statistics show that
a third of us Britons believe that
a women is to blame for her own
rape, be it whether the victim is
wearing provocative clothing,
acting flirtatiously or have been
drinking alcohol. These figures
are incredibly alarming, especially
when members of this third of the
population sit in our juries. What
does this mean for the victims?
It means that these victims are
too scared to step forward due
to the humiliation of being named
the cause of her own injustice.
A story which can only be used as
an example of this is from *Lucy
in *Surrey. She was on a night
out with friends back in 2010 and
when the nightclub they were
in closed she headed off to the
toilets alone whilst her friends
flagged down a taxi. During
this time she was followed by a
man who then beat and raped
her with the whole thing being
caught on CCTV. When in court
the verdict of the jury was that