While laying out the accounts of women prisoners and casting them through the available theoretical and conceptual frameworks, this study endeavours to preserve the sense of subversion inherent in mainstream theory along with the militant notes of the women's stories. It has been possible to counteract the subversion by invoking a whole range of ideological sensitivities and by throwing some light on the possibilities of understanding these stories in the context of culture, the Indian family structure, economic marginalisation, abuse, resistance, and sexuality. The dependence on feminist perspective has ensured that multiple possibilities of understanding could be sustained in a single critical framework.

Historical Relevance

Historical analysis enables insight into societal perceptions of what is considered crime by women and how society prescribes penalties against them. Most literature on women's crimes and women's prisons in India is characterised by ahistoricity (Sanyal, 1975; Ahuja 1989; Sharma 1989; Singh 1980; Bajpai and Bajpai 2000). It would be a partially futile exercise if the research fails to acknowledge the importance of history.

India is an age-old civilisation and its history does not begin with colonialism. Through an examination of historical trends, this study shows that the issue of morality is critical when it comes to defining women's crime. In both Ancient and Medieval India, women's transgressions revolved around adultery and prostitution. Kautilya's Arthasastra (Shamasastry, 1956), played an important role in defining crimes by women. Women's crimes for Kautilya were in the nature of ‘transgression, vagrancy, elopement, and sojournments’.