Shaveta Sharma
India has been rated as one of the most unsafe countries for women in the world which has tainted its image globally and also mocked the fundamental principles of our constitution-equality, liberty, justice for both males and females. From 2001 to 2011, over 48,000 rape cases have been reported but the exact data could not be accessed as many thousands cases of rape and physical assaults might not be reported under the ‘garb of saving the honor of the girl and her family’. Women of all castes, religions, regions and age have been getting targeted indiscriminately. Whose security we are talking about in India?
In the last couple of weeks only, dozens of rape cases have become to headlines and most of them are the brutal cases of gang rapes. The most highlighted among these cases recently (after the infamous Delhi Damini case) was the case of a photo-journalist in Mumbai-a metro which has been considered till now the safest place in India for women but this brutal act raised a serious question mark on it. It is unfortunate to say but at the present time,’gang rape culture’ in India is on the rise and in the absence of some stringent anti-rape laws and their effective implementation, this notorious culture is going to flourish.
Besides, the rape allegations made by a girl against self-proclaimed saint- AasaramBapuare is also in news now days. Another highlighted rape case heard from Delhi where a 5-year old girl child was also met with same level of brutality and agony by a 52-year old man. Similar rape case of a Dalit girl was reported in Haryana.
One surprising fact is that over 50 percent cases of rape and physical abuse are reported in child care centers and women jails in India. The Indian society is getting perverted rapidly and this gets amply testimonied by the recent infamous incident of physical abuse done to the physically and mentally challenged children in a child care center in Jammu…sounds pathetic. This dark face of our society is at mushrooming growth which tantamount to overshadow the other facets of our culture and society.
It is unfortunate that one strata of our society still support the insane thinking patterns and tends to further victimitize the victims and justify the culprits. Whenever such incidents come to notice, the fingers always pointed towards the dressing sense of the girls and questions were always raised on their character. The victim is always taunted, teased, segregated in the society and seen as if she has done some blunder and it was her fault. One question needs to be asked here- what about those girl children who are still in their infancy and childhood who faced these heinous crimes..would it be justified to put fingers on their dressing sense also? This reflects the sick, rotten and double-mindset of the people and if we really want to change our society for the better, we need to change our mindset and thinking patterns which are always not only disgraceful to women but also anti-women. Even after their submission on every front, they have neither been accorded respect nor due place in the society, which is pitiable.
Moreover, to enact stringent anti-rape laws in the legislative wings supposed to be an act of respecting the dignity and concern for their safety in the society but how much respect most of these MPs and MLAs have in their heart for the women community gets amply clear by the following data. Around 369 MPS and MLAs are facing charges of crimes against women. UP has got the notorious place at the top as there are 8 MLAs followed by Orissa and West Bengal having 7 members each sitting in the state assembly who are facing charges of crimes against women thus marking a blot on the face of Indian democracy; so one can see the credibility of our esteemed legislatures. Leave apart US, Britain, Germany, Canada; even countries like Iraq, Israel, Dubai, Singapore etc have implemented so much strong anti-rape and anti-molestation laws; but why India even being the biggest democratic country in the world failed to do so till now?
The women have been contributingselflessly and whole-heartedly to the progress and development of the society and nation since centuries…now it’stime for the male strata of the society to show their manhood by contributing towards the safety and empowerment of the women.What kind of equality, justice and liberty we are talking about for the women, if they are not experiencing safety and are constantly hovered by insecure milieu around them? Just by celebrating 8th of March every year as the International Women Day would serve no purpose at all…And it is high time for those sick men to realize that their manhood lies not in raping women but in respecting women. To sum up…Mother India has got freedom in 1947 but unfortunately her daughters have not yet.
(The writer is a PhD scholar, Department of Political Science, Jammu University)
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