India’s legal system fails survivors of gender-based violence: report

India has some of the strongest laws on gender-based violence, including constitutional equality guarantees, POCSO, and the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) that replaced the IPC in July 2024. But a sustained gap between law and practice means survivors often face secondary victimisation through the justice process itself: insensitive police responses, repeated questioning, hostile courtrooms, and drawn-out proceedings.

The BNS retains a chapter on sexual offences, with Section 63 defining rape, the BNSS creates statutory schemes for victim compensation and witness protection under Sections 396 to 398. Yet reporting remains the first major barrier. Fear of stigma, retaliation, economic dependence and disbelief discourages survivors, especially in intimate-partner cases. Even when survivors come forward, a delayed or harsh institutional response deepens distrust.

The Supreme Court has recognised that earlier procedures could cause secondary victimisation in child sexual offence cases. Experts note that trauma responses, delayed disclosure, fragmented memory, continued contact with a perpetrator, must not be judged against stereotypes of a 'genuine' victim. Training for police, prosecutors, medical professionals and judges is needed for the law to become protection rather than another source of trauma.