TALES OF TRAVESTY
DR. JITENDRA SINGH
A providential coincidence ! Just aday after an apparently concerned house of J&K Legislature witnessed the heart rending scene of Chief Minister ‘‘helplessly’’ breaking down while referring to the killing of a Kashmiri youth, the same Chief Minister, in his capacity as Home Minister, in reply to a question by an Hon’ble member, was called to make an equally disheartening disclosure that within last three years as many as 815 cases of rape among 9,636 criminal cases of crime against women were reported in the State. Appreciably, even though a highly sensitive-minded Chief Minister managed to hold back his tears while sharing this painful information, the enormity of concern for safety of women in J&K can hardly be overlooked. And that too, at a time when the entire country is debating enactment of stringent laws for safety of women particularly in the aftermath of infamous gang rape of Delhi in December last.
In a written reply by the Chief Minister, the J&K Legislative Council has been informed on record that in the just concluded year of 2012 itself, there were 3,543 registered cases of crime against women which included 299 cases of rape and two cases of gang rape. Significantly, notwithstanding several protective laws being in place for married women, the year 2012 reported 301 cases of cruelty by husband and 199 cases of abetment of suicide.
The State Government reply also spells out various measures ranging from strict laws to awareness and legal camps aimed at bringing down the rising rate of crime against women in Jammu and Kashmir. This having noted, one cannot help observing that the issue is too serious to be left to Government alone and too difficult to be handled alone by a Government which is already beset with constraints of day to day survival in power. Moreover, for a Government which incessantly stands on a sticky wicket helplessly defending itself amidst competitive politics over separatism, social issues like safety of women can hardly receive a top priority.
Even otherwise, owing to its strong social and cultural connotations, the issue of women safety is a matter of mind-set and therefore calls for a far more harmonious approach. While deterrant law could be an important remedy, evolution in inter-personal attitudes and check on consumerist inclination is an equally important prerequisite.
And, last but not the least, at a time when Jammu and Kashmir is rated as among the top Indian States in corruption, power-tarrif evasion and terrorist violance, one hates to think of the prospect of J&K achieving dubious distinctioon of an unequivocally high”rape” rise. With an unassuming common man feeling stressfully burdened by this unenviable statistical record, the cynic indifference of Umapathy reflects in poet Sahir’s sardonic refrain “…….Yeh Bhoj Agar Sar Se Utar Jaye, To Acchha Hai!”
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