With a horrendous record of debasing womanhood and reducing them to the state of victims of male lechery, do we still claim to be called folks worth their salt? What sense is there in going about the globe and beating the drum that we have given full human rights to the feminine gender in our country when we are listed among the countries where sexual crime against women is very high? What sense is there in observing International Women’s Day on March 8 every year when we have a dismal and shameful record to show to the world? Do rights come first or do the dignity, honour and respect for womanhood come first? And how can we assure women of their rights when they are raped, molested, slighted and even murdered? Crime prone males do all these atrocities against the women just because they know she is physically weak and burdened by the customs and traditions of unjust and unequal society.
Crime against women and especially sexual crimes have always been there in distant or near past and at present. Woman has seldom been safe in our society. There is absolutely no bright side of the proposition if we look deeply into the history of our nation. The difference is that in olden days when there was no media that would intervene and bring to light the atrocities committed against the women, cases of rape and molestation and other crimes would go unnoticed. But this is not the situation today. The question is that of victimized and vandalized women picking up courage and reporting the criminal act of male folks to the police. Very few do that and the reason is social constraints. She feels she is identified and isolated and has lost her prestige among her family members or kith and kin.
It is most unfortunate that crimes of rape, molestation and eve-teasing show upward graph in our State. The statistics available with police authorities make us hang our heads in shame. In early 2011, a total of 116 rape cases were under investigation and during the year, the number of such cases swelled to 389. Only 17 of these cases culminated in conviction of the accused and that too after prolonged prosecution. Same year 225 cases of women molestation burgeoned to horrible number of 1419. Against 412 cases of molestation there was conviction only in 86 cases. In the year 2012 the number of molestation cases shot up to 1477. Figures of the year 2013 showed increase in these numbers.
The crucial question is why is there steady increase in cases of rape, molestation, eve-teasing and dowry deaths? As far as rape and molestation incidents are concerned, the ground situation is that with growing economy in the country job opportunities have increased manifold. At the same time new fields of employment have been opened especially in Telecommunication, IT, Business Management, Education and other skills in which females are reported to be showing good performance. This brings the women out of the four walls of their homes in which they were traditionally imprisoned for entire life. Unfortunately their frequent and late hour movement outside their homes in connection with their jobs exposes them to the vulgarity of men folks. But it will be argued that women workers in other countries also have to move out and go to workplaces early in the morning or late in the evening. That is true and this brings us to another aspect of this aberration. Let us admit that punishment for such crimes is a lengthy and uncertain phenomenon in our country. The law is so complicated that quick justice is beyond one’s expectation. Exemplary punishment for crimes against women is nowhere in sight. Criminals take it for granted after committing the crime they can run away scot free either through using political influence or through money power. It is almost impossible in our country to prove a rape case and inflict punishment. That discourages women to a large extent from reporting the matter to the police. The harassment that a victimized woman has to face while prosecuting the case is adding salt to her wounds.
The remedy for eradicating this malaise from our society lies firstly in the formation of very harsh rules without putting great burden on the victimized woman. Secondly, harshest punishment should be given to the culprits after their crime is established. Thirdly, there should be a time frame for disposing off cases of rape, molestation or eve-teasing. These must be decided by special courts within six months at the most. It is a good idea that more police stations manned by women police force should be opened in cities and towns. Socialization between the women police officers and local woman bodies should increase.
Sabotaging bid foiled
Timely arrest of Muhamad Iqbal, a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist in Degwar Trewan of Poonch district is no great consolation as far as security arrangements for the forthcoming elections are concerned. It is the avowed policy of the leadership of terrorist organizations in Pakistan to do all they can to disrupt democratic process in our country and the State. Elections and democratic process make militant leadership irrelevant and they find themselves totally isolated. They have been making such disruptive attempts for quite some time but without any success. They are fully aware that security forces along the LoC and the State police all are vigilant and will not allow the enemy have its will. While lauding the joint operation of the army and the police in this case, we are confident that their vigilant eye will not allow a single infiltrator go unpunished. Pakistani actors on the scene should bear in mind that despite their efforts, democracy in our State has dug its roots deep and has become the culture of the people.
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