Midhula Gattu, Jindal Global Law School
ABSTRACT
There is no legislation either allowing or prohibiting mediation in sexual offences. The Indian judiciary through precedents ha also considered criminal offences as rights in rem hence deciding that sexual offences are non-arbitrable matters. However, the world has seen use of mediation in sexual harassment in countries like Greece. This leads to a question- should mediation be allowed for sexual offences in India? In this article I aim to explore arguments on both sides and come up with a possible solution that balances concerns on both sides which is that there should be an option for the victims to opt for mediation due to its flexibility, privacy and humanizing effect on the parties. However, considering the inherent imbalance of power in the process there is a need transformative form of mediation which solves this inherent imbalance by transforming the relationship between parties and a dexterous mediator who is specialised in sexual offences.
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