“Man, what has happened to my country”
(Hamara Desh enga poguthu) remarked one of my NRI friends. This Delhi rape
incident has provided impetus for the dormant volcano to erupt. It is
not that Law and Order has suddenly deteriorated or BlameItAll on UPA
government. There’s has been more
reporting of rape cases by media channels and more FIRs are filled in cases of
sexual harassment.
Why all of a sudden this incident shook the
country? Two reasons. One, the brutality
of the criminals makes all men to hang their heads. Two the incident happened
in the national capital, more approachable by the media channels. Rapes happen
in Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Tuticorin, Vridhachalam. What is even worse, some village and Khap
panchayats, on the pretext of culture, compel the victims to settle for a compromise
and marry the criminals. These criminals should just be given a treat like
Shoot out at Minor kunju by Vivek.
Yes, so much outrage over these crime
against women. Rationally speaking, how do we move forward?
1. Government
or institutional changes.
A) Keeping the pressure on the government to introduce more stringent
judicial reforms and amend IPC and CRPC sections. The police reforms needs to
be introduced to empower police forces and also hire more women into work
force. A change in the mind of police or
empowering women police can help in the bringing to book many unreported cases
of sexual violence. (Only 1 conviction in 635 rape cases in delhi in 2012
)
B) ‘Justice Delayed is justice Denied’.
Indian judiciary truly lives up to this reputation. Fast tracking of the
pending cases and amending our legal loopholes can alone reaffirm some respect
in our Indian judiciary. Terms like Eve teasing and rapes need to be cleared
defined under sexual harassment sections
C) Bringing electoral reforms and debarring
people with criminal records can resolve most problems in the country. All of
us will agree to this. (The list of MPs and MLAs who have declared rape cases
and crimes against women in their names: http://bit.ly/TODzh6 )
D) Need for all boards across India to
uniformly introduce sex education at school level. By sex education, I mean
Sexism and not about fantasizing reproduction.
E) There’s a genuine need to introduce more
and more co-education schools across India. We’re in a situation where women
compete against men and perform better in most cases. Lack of exposure in
understanding opposite sexes has lead to many stresses in adolescent age and
increased number of suicides in < 28 years age group.
If the political class has the will or they
succumb to people’s pressure, only then at least one of the above bills will
pass through. Government alone can’t be blamed for all this menace; we should
partially take the blame too.
2.
Individual introspection.
A) A change
in the mindset of the people about treating women and accepting crimes against women
as heinous. Domestic violence and sexual abuse will definitely have an impact
in the formative years of a child.
B) Poor depiction of women in our movies. Scantily clad women with low necks till their cleavage
and the culture of item numbers are ridiculously glorified in the name of commercial
cinema. There’s also this concept of men teaching women ‘how to dress, behave
in society’ by our heroes. Our censor boards need to have a spine. These are
the movies that our students watch and emulate in their college days and at
workplaces.News channels should refrain from reporting whose wardrobe malfunctioned, which star dated which actor and who got totally sloshed at who's party. There are far more issues pertaining to national interest than lip-lock scene and sensuous moves or bikini clad actress.
These are some suggestions that I’ve sent to
Justice Verma(justice.verma@nic.in) committee. These suggestions are just enough to climb the roof top and
not the sky. But still aiming for sky is easier from the rooftop than from the
ground.
Hey Delhi Girl, i don't know who you're. Whatever has happened to you, could have happened to any other women in this country. May your spirit bring about a change. RIP :( I believe, together we create a safer country for the kids.
