If only they had the premonition of the horrible events that
were about to unfold upon them, perhaps the two friends would not have planned
for the movie outing on that ill fated evening or even if they had, they would
not have taken the dreaded bus which was under the control of demons in the
form of humans.
But that is wishful thinking!
I am not different from all others who have expressed their
anguish at the state of law and order in my country – Incredible India. It
indeed has become incredible…incredibly unsafe, particularly for women. There
is something incredibly going wrong when the National Capital is being termed
as the Rape Capital of the country and ironically so, when the power of
administration is in the hands of a woman Chief Minister. All it indicates is a
complete failure of law and order in the land.
But why do we question only the National Capital? Is India
only New Delhi? No…the situation is appallingly grim all over the country. Be
it the National capital, State capital or any other city/town/village, there
are incidents everyday which point out to one unfortunate but true fact. We
have lost respect for others, especially women. Cases of murders on account of
road rage, family honor/, family rivalry, or even as petty as a dispute
over Rs.5, among all age groups, including school going children, are covered
on reams of newspapers in all regions of the country.
And when it comes to women, they are largely treated as
stress and frustration relievers, punching bags and worse, sex objects. Girls
of any age are UNSAFE and the danger may not be necessarily in the form of
strangers, it may be in the form of friends and relatives including own fathers
& brothers as revealed by recent incidents that have come to light in the
southern state of Kerala. The statistics are appalling – the country witnesses
a rape every 22 minutes according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Even
worse is the fact that this may not be the right figure as only a small number
of such cases come to light while majority go unreported.
These figures are a cause for serious concern – for me, for
you and for all. The safe and secure life that we all dream of is under threat,
big time. The sad part is that there seems to be NO ONE who you can look up to
for security of self and your loved ones. The laws that are created to give a
disciplined direction to peaceful and amicable living by way of creating
deterrents have become a farce. Anybody and everybody makes a mockery of laws
by openly violating them knowing very well that one may not get caught at all
and even if one does, bribing one’s way out of the tangle is rather easy. And if
that does not work, there are number of loopholes in the laws which will ensure
that the case is dragged for years and till then one can remain free on bail
and continue living one’s preferred routine life, which, for a criminal, means
going back to threatening the peace of society.
While there is a huge uproar from the public and the media
forcing the government to respond by punishing the guilty but the question is
what needs to be done to stem the rot that has set in the general mindset of
our citizenry and after that how to reverse the process so that women are not
seen as the weaker section liable to be ill-treated by the physically powerful
man.
For sure, no single approach can bring in the change. Merely
punishing the six guilty men, even with the strictest punishment, will not
achieve the desired result. The lawmakers need to take on the problem from
multiple angles. A few measures(definitely not an exhaustive list) that would surely help could be:
- Change the laws, particularly those related to
violence and other crime against women. Bring in strict laws that can actually
prove to be deterrents. A mere jail term is not good enough. The punishment
should be such that even the thought of it could send shivers through the
person whose mind is channeled towards physically disrespecting a woman. The rapist
must be publicly humiliated and castrated so that he remembers his crime and
the outcome throughout his life.
- Remember, each day is a living hell for the
victim of the barbaric act of rape. Fast-track such cases. Justice needs to be
given at the earliest instance.
- Assure the victims that their case will be
treated with utmost privacy. The identities of the victim must be protected
from media and public. The media community needs to take this conscious step by
making sure they do not divulge the identities of the victims or their
relatives on public platforms. Instead, identities of the guilty must be made
public when the accused is proven guilty.
- Schools and colleges need to make genuine
efforts to teach children and youth about equality of sexes and respect for
others, especially women. Any cases which bring out a violent tendency in a
child must be dealt with a strong hand by finding out the cause of such
tendency and taking an appropriate action to tackle the cause and nip such tendencies
in early stages.
- The Police force needs a drastic change in their
image. Law breakers must see the police as their nemesis and more importantly
the law abiding citizens must look upon them as friends who can be approached
any time to seek help. The common person today avoids approaching the police
because of the fear of being harassed by way of multiple visits to the police
station, answering unending relevant and irrelevant questions and a general
feeling of being guilty without any fault that sets in while dealing with the
men in uniform. The policemen need to know the right way to interact with
people. They need to remember that they are public servants and not masters of
the public. Corruption in the police force must be dealt with extreme
strictness.
- Educate the public that helping one another in
the hour of need is a duty that we must follow religiously. Seeing a stranger
in trouble on the road must trigger the spirit of help rather than the feeling
of indifference. Assure the masses that the helper will not be harassed
unnecessarily. Reward them instead of looking at them with suspicion.
It is already too late and no half measures will help. The
situation is extremely grim and concrete steps need to be taken to bring some
sanity to the state of affairs. Living in fear is not a life that any citizen
of a free country deserves. It is also time for the citizens to learn some
ethics of living in a cultured society. Humility and respect for others are
virtues that seem to have been lost in oblivion. Bring them back. Teach your
children the value of these principles. Urge them to follow these morals and
the best way to do that is to practice them yourself. Make them see the world
as a peaceful and loving place to live in free of fear and full of trust.
Let the process of
rebuilding an Incredible India, begin now!!
Ironical indeed…the country, where the woman form of the
Almighty is revered as Goddesses, sees the worst crimes against its women
citizenry, every day. The insensitivity that has grown amongst people is
appalling. There is no fear of law in people’s hearts. Even after this shameful
incident which has shaken up the country for the last 2 weeks, incidents of
gang rape keep on coming to light, even in the National Capital itself which is
the scene of crime in this case.
