One... Two... Three... Four...
Five... And maybe, Six?
Six men lost
their respect, their virtue, and their character in a school bus on the eve of
16th December 2012. Yes, you read it right – the MEN lost their
virtue. It’s odd, and almost difficult to digest, isn’t it? Wasn’t it the woman
who was raped? Didn’t the headlines read something similar to “Ek Medical student ki izzat looti gayi”?
There’s one thing
that needs to be made clear to the people of this nation – if a girl is raped,
the man loses his character. It is only then that we may be able to dream of a
better India; an India with gender equality, an India with a better demographic
ratio – we may be able to dream of a ‘Rape-free India’.
A lot of
feminists and women rights activists have said that a compulsory death sentence
for all convicted rapists will reduce, if not entirely stop rape incidents in
the country. At the same time we have an accused from the Nirbhaya rape case telling
the BBC that hanging rape convicts will simply force rapists to kill their
victims with the intention to seal their mouths forever. Now this statement may
seem outrageous to a law abiding civilian, but it describes the accurate
mentality of a rapist right from the horse’s mouth; and we have to unwillingly
believe that this may be the thought process of other rapists too.
The BBC
documentary starts by saying that in India, a woman is raped every 20 minutes.
Shocking isn’t it? Shocking, because this truth seems improbable for the
society in which we live. However, the India that they are talking about is a
very different one from what most of us have seen. It is unjust, unfair, and
above all, helpless. It is an India where a young boy witness’s domestic
violence as a household chore – practiced every night by a drunken father and a
hurt, crying, but silent mother.
This is the
stage at which the judiciary and police should interfere. Only if they stop the
most primitive form of expression of dominance by the male, will they be able
to inculcate the values of gender equality in the generations to come. Be it
the villages or the cities, domestic violence has to be strictly dealt with.
The second
step is educating children through compulsory moral education lectures in
schools and spreading awareness that rape is morally wrong on the man’s part.
This message has to spread through all age groups, and all economic and social
classes.
A rape is
more of a man’s expression of power and dominance than a fulfilment of his
sexual drives. A rapist receives his satisfaction more from the submission of
the woman, and less from her body itself. Thus, all measures taken by the
authorities will be futile if the women remain silent and allow themselves to
be dominated. There has to be total intolerance for eve teasing and rape, and
they must be given a voice loud enough and courageous enough to help their
message ring clearly across the nation without being blamed for the crime
itself. However, these are just corrective measures. Young girls must be taught
basic self defence and given access to technology like sending SOS messages to
their parents when they are in distress. These preventive measures, clubbed
with a bold conscience and a co-operative police force will be enough for the
inception of fear in the mind of a potential rapist. The day this society can
make a rapist fear a woman, instead of women fearing rapists, we will see a
huge difference in the number of rapes occurring in this country.
However, the
responsibility of curbing rape not only lies with the judiciary and the
executive, but also with the legislature. Apart from passing stricter laws
against rapists, molesters and eve teasers, the leaders have to stop giving
controversial statements in favour of these rapists just to increase their vote
banks. I’m not just hinting at a certain politician, but I’m pointing a finger
at every leader who has fed fuel to the fire of a highly patriarchal society. A
‘Rape-free India’ will only be possible if every pillar of our democracy – the
government, the parliament, the judiciary and the media passionately work for
the cause.
Now for some
reason, the term ‘Rape-free India’ seems bizarre to me. But tough as it may
seem, it is not impossible to achieve. It has taken numerous law amendments,
uncountable uprisings and many candle lit marches to arrive at this stage of
mass awareness, and I’m sure that the journey doesn’t end here.
The road
ahead is long,
The path
treacherous and uncertain,
But we will
reach our destination one day,
And it is
only when we do,
Will
the Daughters of India be able to breathe again.
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