Is India a rapist nation?

In last week, I woke up to read two stories, a minor raped in Delhi and an elderly woman raped and killed in Goa. The reports were very depressing and disturbed me deeply.

 

Yet again, the capital of India was put to shame by the rapist. There seems to be no end to this and news of this sort is featuring regularly in the papers. Have we been immune to such incidents now?

 

Neither social gatherings and protests nor candle light vigil nor national angers nor laws nor bills nor panel discussions nor social media awareness nor education nor preaching nor religion nor our cultural values…Nothing really seems to make a difference when it comes to rape! We have become unstoppable!

Tourists, students, kids, rich, poor, celebrities, educated, starved, orphans and even daughters – none are spared from this evil act.

 

I don’t know what will put an end to this or for that matter, will it ever end?

 

Almost since the time I learnt reading, I have been reading local newspapers in my childhood and rarely read about such incidents. And whenever I happened to read about them, it was always a case that involved a non-Goan. The times have changed so much that the news has become a regular feature and we also find so many of our local perverts involved in them.

 

Is this the nation, we say, Ram belonged to and in what we believe we take pride in building a temple of?

 

What causes a Rape?

Nobody has been ever able to gauge what exactly causes a rape? We have seen people blaming multiple factors that could constitute reasons, why it takes place. However, there are always incidents which contradicts these reasoning. There is no one theory, why a rape takes place and precisely because of this, there is no one solution to this pain.

 

Provocative Dressing?

‘Bharat v/s India’ theory believed rape happens due to provocative dressing. How do we justify this, when a school kid got raped in school at Vasco-Goa? How provocative could have the elderly fisher woman from Canacona-Goa be dressed, when she got raped and killed?

 

Sexual Starvation?

Are Indian men sexually starved? But, wait, haven’t we had cases of rapes by married men? By people who were happily married and having children?

 

Modern lifestyle/Internet?

We cannot stop these revolutions as it brings in a lot of positive advancements and which are required for the global progress. We should learn to ignore the dark parts of it and just take what is required. Again, what connection does Internet have with incidents of rapes with poor Dalit women in rural India?

 

Illiteracy/poverty?

Can improper education, literacy or poverty cause it? May be yes, but why do we have so many lawyers, politicians, businessmen, industrialists, celebrity artists, teachers who have been named in rape cases. What about, a remote village panchayat in India decides that the girl must be gang raped as a punishment for having a love affair with an outside community boy?

 

Rape in the pre-text of marriage?

This is something, I feel, one can certainly avoid. What we need here is some education and probably being little smart with some common sense to add.

Fearlessness about Law?

May be yes, I feel this majorly contributes to the reasoning.

 

Our judiciary system is so sluggish and full of loop-holes that probably the criminals feel they could easily get away with such heinous act or get very lenient penalty. Either our laws are not fully exercised or when they are exerted, the extreme delay in executing the punishment is what fails to imprint its effect onto people. The legal course of action in such matter should be quick and such that it embosses in everyone’s mind an affright of the term – Rape!

 

Probably, only the culprits caught in such incidents can tell us, their motive behind such crimes. They should also be psychological interrogated.

 

Role of Police:

We blame them for everything!

Everyone points fingers at them, even politicians, when it comes to saving their own skin. How many matters we expect them to handle at a time? They are required to be looking after our politicians, taking care of our venues for festivals/sports, looking after traffic arrangements for wedding event of a public figure, taking care of accidents, building collapses, mining scams, dakoities, rapes, murders, quarrels, disputes and so on.

 

Unfortunately, they also have to look into their internal inquiry matters, where their colleagues themselves are involved in cases related to sexual misconduct.

 

Role of Media:

I always believed media played an important role in creating and spreading necessary social awareness on topics like rape. But what a shame – we find a top honcho of media industry accused in such cases?

 

What can we do?

Change our attitude towards women? Reform judiciary system and have quicker trials? Educate people, students and youngsters? Introduce sex education?

 

The least our women can do is proactively follow few measure of safety. Be aware of who are our friends, colleagues, neighbors, classmates, followers, stalkers. Use freedom, keeping in mind the essentials elements of safety. Avoid secluded places or be with someone whom you trust or where a help is a phone call away.

 

On a parting note:

This brings me to a question, rarely debated here – should prostitution be legalized in India? Will this curb the rapes? I don’t know. It’s a very sensitive topic, when it comes to our values, culture, tradition and our Indian-ness!

image credit: http://www.sxc.hu/