Harassed While Driving? What the Law Says

Saurabh Das/Associated Press Policemen standing outside Tihar Jail in New Delhi on March 11.

NEW DELHI - After being verbally harassed and followed by a taxi driver, I decided to learn what legal recourse I and other woman drivers have in such situations.

Harassment of women is so routine that many victims choose to ignore it, or aren't aware of their legal rights.

The first option, of course, is to file a police complaint.

There are several sections within Indian statute laws that make verbal, sexually offensive harassment, restriction of other drivers' movements and stalking liable for punishment.

The driver that harassed me, for example, could have been charged under section 509 of the Indian Penal Code, which reprimands people who “insult the modesty of a woman” through “word, gesture or act,” said Rajiv K. Luthra, founder and managing partner of the Delhi law firm Luthra & Luthra, in an e-mail. According to this section, an offender can be imprisoned up to a year, or be fined an amount decided by the court, and in some case it could be both.

He could also draw penalty for rash driving under section 279 (see Indian Penal Code). The law states that driving on a public way in a manner that could “endanger human life” or cause “hurt or injury” to a person, could lead to a prison term of up to six months, or a 1,000-rupee ($18) fine, or both.

Citing section 341 of the law, Mr. Luthra said that the case also warranted action against the taxi driver for “wrongful restraint” because he blocked my car from driving away. The punishment could be imprisonment for up to a month and a fine that “may extend to 500 rupees, or with both.”

Mr. Luthra said the police could also have invoked sections 354A and 354D of the Indian Penal Code, which were introduced through the temporary ordinance on sexual harassment and assault that went into effect on Feb. 3. (That ordinance lapsed on April 4, a day after the Indian president signed an amendment to the criminal law, after it was passed by both houses of Parliament last month. Both section 354A and 354D are part of the new law.)

Subclause three and five of section 354A state that “making sexually colored remarks” and “any other unwelcome physical, verbal or nonverbal conduct of sexual nature” qualifies as sexual harassment, which could lead to imprisonment of up to one year, or a fine, or both. Section 354D makes stalking as an offense that can draw a prison term of up to three years, in addition to a fine. The law states:

Whoever follows a person and contacts, or attempts to contact such person to foster personal interaction repeatedly, despite a clear indication of disinterest by such person, or whoever monitors the use by a person of the internet, e-mail or any other form of electronic communication, or watches or spies on a person in a manner that results in a fear of violence or serious alarm or distress in the mind of such person, or interferes with the mental peace of such person, commits the offence of stalking.

If a woman is harassed and finds the police response unsatisfactory, she can either file a new complaint with the relevant magistrate (see section 200 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973), or write to the police commissioner complaining about the lack of police action.

In either case, it could take months or years to resolve, and could require a woman to face her harasser in court, which I was scared to do. There's always the fear of retaliatory action, after all.