It took more than one week for this writer to come out of the shock and the mental distress that he went through after knowing about the gang rape of a 23 year old girl in a bus in Delhi, for it was only recently that one of his younger sisters had explained to him the various harassments that she faces in her everyday bus journey through the city roads of Thiruvananthapuram. He had no courage to write about it hitherto as he was appalled and completely taken aback at what happened, for in his mind the Delhi gang rape survivor (she should not be called a victim, but a brave survivor, for she is showing tremendous bravery and courage in the hospital) suddenly become his own sister; her pain, his own sister’s pain and the agony of her parents and brothers, his own agony.
Whole of the country has joined with the protesters in Delhi streets to ask for justice for the girl. While the most important thing now is doing everything to save the life of the girl, making sure that the culprits get maximum punishment for the horrendous crime they committed is one of utmost importance as well. Though this writer, along with Amnesty International, for which he is a Voice Ambassador, has always taken a principled stand against capital punishment, he wonders what other punishment could be given to the culprits of this gang rape, who behaved worse than the beasts. The maximum punishment for those convicted for rape in our country is a life imprisonment of 10 years, which by any standards is grossly inadequate. Life time imprisonment for 10 years, together with permanent castration seems to be an adequate punishment for rape, which is a crime that must be considered a much graver crime than murder, as murder would end the life of a victim, but rape would put the victim under terrible lifelong trauma and social stigma. Though it is true that rape is not only about sex, but is about power, violence, intimidation and humiliation, it seems logical that the threat of castration as a punishment to rape will act as a deterrent.
The conviction rate of rapists in our country is abysmally low (studies show it to be as low as 20%) and most of the rapists go scot free, which gives a sense of impunity to them. Therefore for the rapists, it is not the enormity of punishment like capital punishment, but certainty of punishment that could act as a deterrent. The legislature should not only make strong laws to give model punishment to the rapists, but the police machinery should be made capable of providing incriminating evidence to nail the culprits in a court of law. A lot of onus also rests on the judiciary and there is an urgent need to create an environment in the courts where the victims are not further tortured while they are examined in the courts. The judicial system in India also needs to debate why the conviction rate in rape cases is less.
The impressive protests at Delhi show how the lay people feel about the whole issue – they are outraged, angry and livid. They call for justice, not only for the gang rape survivor, but for all women in the country. The protests see participation from all sections of the society; men and women, students and professionals, young and the old, people from various political parties and the apolitical. Women’s right to life is being threatened and they are protesting to save their freedom and to save their lives. The men folk are protesting because in such an environment of insecurity and danger no man can rest assured when his sisters, daughters and mothers are out travelling in public buses, trains and on the public roads of the country. The situation must change and the protestors are asking for action and not mere words of assurances uttered by the government machinery.
The central government has some answering to do as the law and order situation in the capital city is directly handled by the central government. There is an urgent need of better policing in the country, particularly in the capital city of Delhi. The government and the parliament must work together and bring about a stricter rape law. Fast track courts must be established to try rape cases and model punishments must be handed down. As Kiran Bedi has suggested there is a need of social audit to keep track of the how the police is functioning and to give valuable suggestions to improve the functioning of the police department.
The most important change that needs to come is not in the legal functions of the judiciary or the executive tasks of the police department, but in the social mindset of the country. In the patriarchal social order in India, women are still considered as second rate citizens, with unequal status when compared to men. Girl children are unwanted to many and female foetuses are destroyed in the womb itself; women are subjected to harassment at the workplaces and at homes; most husbands think the rights of their wives are to be trampled upon; wives, daughters and sisters are not allowed to make their own choices and many wives and even girlfriends don’t live their own lives but live lives that their husbands and boyfriends want them to live. It is high time we work to change this social mindset. Boys and men need to be trained from a very young age on why it is important to respect women. Teach them the importance of respecting their mothers, teach them that their sisters have the same rights as they have, teach them their wives and girl friends are free to have their individual choices, teach them that their daughters should be given exactly the same opportunities as their sons, teach them that a woman is not a sexual object but a human being that deserves respect and dignity, teach them that touching a woman’s body without her consent won’t make him a man, but a coward.
When this writer’s younger sister told him indignantly that ‘all’ men are harassers, he got ashamed but took umbrage on that comment as he honestly believed he had never been a harasser of women and so told her to change her opinion and asked her to add the caveat ‘many’ men instead of a more generalised ‘all’ men. It is a matter of dreadful ignominy and pathetic shame that our sisters and daughters have started to think that all men are harassers. The men folk have no one else to blame but themselves, and as long as news about rapes, harassments and eve teasing come from any part of the world, men all around the world would be faced with occasions such as the one this writer faced, where he would be ashamed on being a man.
No comments:
Post a Comment