International commitments which can be invoked to deal with Child Sexual Abuse cases, commitments to which India is signatory, include:

• United Nations convention on the rights of the child
• United Nations convention against all forms of discrimination of women
• Universal declaration of human rights
• International covenant on economic, social and cultural rights
• International covenant on civil and political rights
• Optional protocol on civil and political rights
• Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
• Slavery convention
• Abolition of forced labour convention
• Convention for the suppression of traffic in persons and of the exploitation of the prostitution of others
• Convention on the political rights of women
• Convention on the abolition of slavery, the slave trade and institutions and practices similar to slavery

There is just one proviso to any of these conventions being invoked, the judges should also be aware of them. Sakshi conducted an extensive Gender and Judges survey in 1996 in which they monitored reactions of judges from various courts. While the study covered a relatively small number of judges, a total of 109, they were selected from a wide cross-section, and consequently reflected the views of judges from regional and judicially distinct backgrounds as well. This report has since been dubbed The Purple Report for the colour of its spiral-bound cover.

A small sample of the contents of Sakshi’s Purple Report:

• 74 per cent of the 109 judges surveyed said preservation of a family should be a primary concern for women even if there is violence in the marriage
• 49 per cent felt that a husband who slaps his wife on one occasion in the course of their marriage does not constitute cruelty
• 48 per cent said there are certain occasions when it is justifiable for a husband to slap his wife
• 55 per cent felt that the moral character of a woman is relevant in sexual abuse cases
• 68 per cent felt that ‘provocative’ clothes are an invitation to sexual assault
• 9 per cent said that when a woman says ‘no’ to sexual intercourse, she often mean ‘yes’
• 34 per cent felt that dowry still has ‘inherent cultural value’
• 11 per cent maintained that daughters should not inherit property on an equal basis with sons
• 22 per cent categorically disagreed that there is a concept called ‘gender bias’
• 50 per cent felt child sexual abuse is not common; the judges said this ‘uncommon offence existed only amongst uneducated, depressed and over-sexed people or people with a prostrate gland problem’, they also felt such abuses were most commonly carried out by servants and least commonly within the family

Not surprisingly, 78 per cent of these judges had never heard of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. Cedaw, which is its acronym, is the first international attempt in law to define women’s human rights in terms of women’s reality. This convention was ratified by the Government of India in August 1993. The debate and discussions around this convention in women’s groups have since been given space in the media; these judges were surveyed in 1996, after an entire three years of information dissemination and time to keep abreast of progress in their respective fields.