Daily Editorial Analysis for 17th January 2020

Sexual Harassment in Sports

Paper: II

For Prelims: Sports Authority of India (SAI).

For Mains: Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation.

Context of News:

• The national #Me-too movement seems like a sudden wildfire, but within the sexual abuse of athletes has been a decades-long slow burning fuse. Sexual abuse of athletes, unfortunately, is neither new nor surprising for those of us who have seen and experienced it firsthand during our athletic and professional careers. It’s an issue that has only been exacerbated and has not come to public notice as much was expected leading to various problems for the athletes.
• Systemic failure in protecting the country’s hand-picked sporting stars when they were most vulnerable — away from home, dealing with the complications of a transitional age thinking of taking the benefits by the person in power is very scary at the moment.

What are sexual harassment and sexual abuse?

• Both sexual harassment and sexual abuse are expressions of the greater power of one person over another. In sport we believe that women and girls are more frequent victims of harassment and abuse than men and boys.
• Many females drop out of sport rather than continue being subjected to the undermining effects of constant harassment and abuse: others endure the sexual attention of their male coaches or peers because of fear, desire for athletic reward, low self-esteem or ignorance of who to turn to for help. Typically, abused athletes keep quiet because they fear that they will either be accused of consenting or of inventing the whole thing.

Sports Authority of India (SAI):

• The Sports Authority of India is the apex national sports body of India, established in 1984 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of Government of India for the development of sport in India.
• The main objective behind the establishment of SAI was to upgrade the skills of the budding sports talents in India, which is fulfilled to a great extent, through its 23 training centers, spread across the length and breadth of India.
• Through the various schemes formulated for sub-junior, junior and senior level, it ensures that the enthusiasm for sports is widened among different age groups of people. SAI has taken strenuous efforts in talent scouting and training of selected individuals. It has provided vital inputs to the players, which includes coaching, infrastructure, equipment support and sports kit. SAI has also provided competitive exposure to the talented sportspersons.

Impact of sexual harassment:

• There seem to be many different impacts depending on the domain examined and the point in the process where assessments are made. These authors point to the fact that, in addition to the impact of the sexual harassment itself, the after-effects are often influenced by disappointment in the way others react and the stress of harassment-induced life changes such as moves, loss of income, and the trauma of litigation and so on.
• Impacts related to work and career are: a change in job assignment, job loss, decreased job satisfaction, and damaged interpersonal relationships at work.
• Psychological and somatic outcomes include: negative effects on self esteem and life satisfaction, low sense of self confidence, negative effect on women’s relationship with other men, anger, fear, anxiety, depression, feelings of humiliation and alienation, a sense of helplessness and vulnerability.

Sexual Harassment in Sports:

• The settings in which sexual abuse occurs seem to be more or less the same for both boys and girls. Sexual abuse happens mainly in places where sports activities are carried out, in the home of the abuser, during training sessions, at social events not connected to sport or during competitions away from home.
• Sexual abuse of young people in sport is perpetrated mostly by men and usually by coaches. Coaches who commit sexual abuse often have high status in their sport or their sports organization, whether in their city, province or country. They have a good reputation and have won the trust of parents and young people.
• To date, available statistics have shown that most of the victims of sexual abuse in sport are young female athletes, although a large proportion of boys are also victimized. Researchers have noted that young people who have been sexually abused in the context of sport often have low self-esteem, strained relationships with their parents, and eating disorders. In addition, they are often high performance (elite) athletes.

Prevention of Sexual Harassment:

• More attention needs to be paid to the prevention of sexual abuse in sport. Ideally, prevention efforts should focus on a range of things:

1. factors that influence the implementation of preventive measures in sports organizations (training of sports administrators, leadership, support for organizations);
2. measures to prevent sexual abuse (criminal record checks, behaviour management rules, awareness raising); and
3. Case management measures (disciplinary measures, resources for victims, complaints procedures).
4. In addition, it is essential to not tolerate behaviour in sport that would be considered unacceptable in other contexts, such as day-care centres or schools.
5. Parents can also play a role in prevention by finding out what preventive measures are in place in the organization their child attends and by choosing sports organizations that give priority to the well-being of young people.
6. Prepare and implement codes of ethics and conduct for coaches, whether they work with adults or children.
7. Foster a climate of open discussion about the issues of sexual harassment and abuse so that athletes with problems feel confident enough to speak out.
8. Develop athlete autonomy wherever possible including adopting coaching styles which give optimum autonomy and responsibility to athletes.
9. Become involved in coach education programmes which inform and advise about the
   ethical and interpersonal issues of sexual harassment and abuse and about the technical aspects of physical touch in coaching the sport.
10. Adopt athlete and parent education programmes which inform and advise athletes on their rights and how to maintain their integrity and autonomy.

Conclusion:

• To ensure that safeguards are in place within the context of an overall framework of support and protection for children, young people and women, both to protect the above groups from sexual harassment and abuse and to prevent the exploitation of children, particularly those who demonstrate precocious ability.
• Sexual harassment in sport takes on unique dimensions because of the power relationships established with coaches and because of the necessary focus on athletes’ bodies. Recognition of sexual harassment in sport has come at the highest levels, this represent a point to ponder about.

Drop in death sentences awarded by trial courts

Paper: II

For Prelims: Project 39A.

For Mains: Structure, Organization and Functioning of the Judiciary.

Context of News:

• According to ‘Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics Report 2018’, prepared by Project 39A of the National Law University, Delhi. The number of death sentences awarded by trial courts in India saw a significant drop from 162 in 2018 to 102 in 2019.

Background of Capital Punishment in India:

• In three milestone judgments – Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab of 1980 being the last of the series – the Supreme Court laid the principle of “rarest of rare” for awarding death penalty to convicts found guilty of murder.
• Three years later, the Supreme Court struck down Section 303 of the Indian Penal Code that made it mandatory to award death penalty to a person already convicted of some offence if she commits murder.
• This establishes that the Supreme Court considers death penalty an avoidable sentence to the maximum extent possible.
• Yet, in 2018, India was among top seven countries to award death penalty. The lower courts awarded death penalty to 162 convicts, according to Project 39 of the National Law University, Delhi. This is the figure quoted by the Amnesty International in its annual report on death penalty.

India awards death sentences to persons convicted of:

1. Waging war against the State
2. Terrorism
3. Aiding or abetting Sati
4. Aiding or abetting suicide by minor
5. Falsely implicating an SC/ST person in a capital case
6. Murder
7. Rape/gang rape and murder
8. Rape/gang rape of minor below 12

About the Report:

• According to the report, 52.94 per cent of the 102 death penalties last year (54 death sentences) were given in cases involving sexual offences.
• No death sentence was awarded in 11 states — Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim — in 2019, while Rajasthan topped the list with 13 death sentences.
• The death penalties awarded in 2018 were the highest in a calendar year since 2000, possibly as a result of amendments to the Prevention of Child Sexual Offences Act, extending the death sentence to non-homicidal crimes in cases of rape and gang rape of girls below the age of 12. Of the 54 death sentences involving sexual offences and murder, 70 per cent of the cases involved victims below the age of 12.

Project 39A

• It is a research and litigation initiative focusing on the criminal justice system. It works on issues around legal aid, torture, mental health in prisons and death penalty.
• Project 39A is inspired by Article 39-A of the Indian Constitution, a provision that furthers the intertwined values of equal justice and equal opportunity by removing economic and social barriers. These are constitutional values of immense importance given the manner in which multiple disparities intersect to exclude vast sections of our society from effectively accessing justice.
• Project 39A is committed to ensuring that our engagement with the criminal justice system is based on rigorous empirical work. There is much to be gained from diligent documentation and analysis of the workings of the criminal justice system before heading down a prescriptive path.

Article 39A:

• According to Article 39A of Indian constitution the State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid. Certain principles of policy to be followed by the State.
• The State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.