Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

This paper presents an analysis of police response to victims of rape in a metropolitan city in India. Governance of rape cases by the police in the context of my research is based on police response to reporting and investigation, primarily from victims’ perspective, but substantiated through other respondents’ narratives as and when required. This paper is part of my research which is based on more than ten months of ethnographic fieldwork in Kolkata, West Bengal, the bulk of which I conducted between October 2013 and February 2015. I analyze police response to victims of rape through three cases.  I find that in each of these cases the police have responded differently. The response of the police in these cases is not guided by law but discretion. I explore the underlying causes behind these differences. I also raise the issue of misogyny in dealing with these cases as well as highlight the examples of fake sexual assaults cited by the police as some of the driving factors reflecting the police response. The police being the first agency to respond to rape victims is often mired in its own complexities and overlook the law. The response is often a knee-jerk reaction prompted by agencies external to the criminal justice system like the media and women’s rights organizations. The question remains whether the police needs nudging by an external agency to do its duty. There needs to be a system in place where a rape victim is sure to be heard without any judgment calls or stereotyping.