- Make no mistake, it is extremely distressing as well as embarrassing to note that the crime against women, especially instances of rape perpetrated on those hapless, continues unabated despite the multitude of efforts at mitigating the nuisance by the authorities concerned. According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, a woman is raped every sixteen minutes in India. The data is not only a bitter pill to swallow but also amply demonstrates how gullible, vulnerable, and literally, a sitting duck woman has become in the face of continued attacks on their person. Most horrifying is the way scores of women are violated with such impunity and entitlement.
PC: Akshaya Nath
- The Governments concerned, law enforcing agencies, and responsible citizens entrusted with the tasks of protection should be doubling their efforts at addressing this malaise that keeps spreading its ugly footprint without any respite for women. Notwithstanding widespread awareness, dissemination of information, and attempts at educating the society about practicing equality and gender neutrality, increasing instances of physical assault on women establishes something amiss in the way treatment is meted out to females. Is it because of the patriarchal mindset that refuses to even acknowledge the equal importance of the female gender in society?
- Or is it owing to the false notion of privilege bestowed to male progenies even in these times of revolutionary advancements that fails to deter from perpetrating heinous attacks on the other gender? The sickeningly slow pace of judicial processes in prosecuting the assaulter emboldening the perpetrators to act without worrying too much about the consequences which might otherwise have set a precedent stopping the potential assaulters from going ahead. Looked from any angle, the women are at the mercy of getting subjugated to brutal assaults and the state is failing to provide them with a safe and secure environment to flourish.
PC: Lily illustration
- Needless to look far away as the bane of this deplorable situation lies with the way society looks at women as male property where men are found to be essaying the role of either protectors or predators. Another contributing factor piling on the misery of women is viewing rape as a crime against chastity and family honor as the natural response forthcoming is to further cramp the lives of women by shutting them in under the guise of safety rather than empowering them by extending equal treatment right from the time of birth. There is a fundamental lacuna in the way our society views females as more of a burden than as equals in comparison to males.
- All these talks about Nari Shakti, Beti Padhao Beti Bachao, gender parity, impartial treatment, and empowerment sound extremely hollow when girls of inappropriate age are raped so very regularly. The Government, law enforcing agencies, and the judiciary must step up and address this blot on humankind by ensuring any perpetrator is brought to book speedily. The act of rape must be treated as a crime against a woman’s autonomy and justice delivered by speeding up the processes. Considerable delay fails to ensure deterrence emboldening the potential offenders. Time to walk the talk is now and act with intent and substance.
