The Nigerian Criminal Code identifies assaults against women as misdemeanours but, in the same breath, refers to assaults against men as felonies.
FIJ also found that the same code prescribes unequal penalties for people found guilty of committing indecent assaults on males and females. This is despite the rising cases of assaults against women.
According to the provisions of the Nigerian Criminal Code, persons who commit assaults on males get loftier sentences than those who assault females.
Assault, according to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, is a crime that involves one attacking another physically. An assault could be a simple assault, aggravated, sexual, vehicular, felony and assault with a deadly weapon, according to Schmidt & Clark LLP, a US-based legal firm.
Rather than prescribe punishments for assaults regardless of the victim’s gender, the Nigerian Criminal Code stipulates varying sentences for this crime depending on the gender of assault victims. These are contained in Sections 353 and 360 of the Nigerian Criminal Code.
According to Section 353 of the Nigerian Criminal Code, any person who unlawfully and indecently assaults any male person is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years.
This judgment, however, is not the same for people who indecently assault females, FIJ has learnt.
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While any person who unlawfully assaults males is guilty of a felony and liable to imprisonment for three years, persons who commit the same crime on females are delivered a lesser judgment. These are the provisions of the Nigerian Criminal Code.
Section 360 of the Nigerian Criminal Code reads:
Any person who unlawfully and indecently assaults a woman or girl is guilty of a misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment for two years.
The convictions, felony and misdemeanour, have contrasting definitions too.
According to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, a felony is the act of committing a serious crime such as murder or rape. In contrast, a misdemeanour is an action that is bad or unacceptable but not very serious.
By these definitions, the Nigerian Criminal Code considers indecent assaults on women as ‘misdemeanours’ and ‘not very serious’. Indecent assaults on males, on the other hand, are regarded as serious crimes.
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In Nigeria, one in three women between 15 and 49 have experienced physical violence. This demography is more susceptible to assaults than many others in the country.
‘THESE PROVISIONS HAVE BECOME OUTDATED AND SHOULD BE AMMENDED’ — NIGERIAN WOMEN
Some Nigerian women told FIJ that they perceived the provisions of the Nigerian Criminal Code as flawed and biased against women.
Doyinsola Teru, a graduate of Political Science, told FIJ on Saturday that she was of the opinion that the reason gender-based violence was prevalent among women in Nigeria was because the law considered assaults on men more severe than assaults on women.
“It is biased and discriminatory against women. The provisions of the Nigerian Criminal Code are flawed and I believe that is why gender-based violence is more prevalent among women,” Teru told FIJ.
Teru, who is also passionate about women’s rights, said that the Nigerian Criminal Code was drafted and enacted at a time when there was an abysmal representation of women in Nigerian politics.
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“At the time, women representation in politics was low. Majority of the lawmakers were men and most likely enacted laws that were in favour of men,” said Teru.
“They did not know what it meant to be assaulted as a woman and they did not think it was a big deal. They were not also empathetic towards women. I strongly believe no woman was in sight to stand up for women as there was an abysmal representation of women in politics at the time.”
Oladoyin Kolawole, who spearheaded some movements to advocate gender equality as an undergraduate, told FIJ that the severity of the punishment was different for criminals who perpetrated these crimes against women because of the historical gender stereotype that propagated gender inequality.
“Beyond the legal provisions, this is a societal problem as these provisions of the Nigerian Criminal Code on assault is a reflection of our society. I believe that these provisions have become outdated and should be amended. The provisions should be the same for both genders,” Kolawole told FIJ on Saturday.
“Research has shown that assault victims are predominantly women. The designation of different punishment for criminals who perpetrate assault on the basis of the gender of their victims is discriminatory. The law does not reflect the reality that women are overwhelmingly the primary victims of assault.”
On Friday, FIJ published a report detailing how Ayomide Adeleye, a 200 Level Philosophy student of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), murdered Christianah Idowu, a student of the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAAB), after he had tried to take advantage of her.
A week earlier, on August 31, FIJ had also reported how Phillip Oyibo Awani had raped a 14-year-old girl in Okere, Delta State. In February as well, FIJ reported how the police released Uche James, a Lagos-based businessman, despite his history of rape cases with underaged domestic servants.
FIJ documented more assault against females here and here.
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