- The entire country was shocked beyond comprehension when the rape-murder of a junior doctor of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital started hitting headlines. The sheer brutality of the incident and the way working women’s safety aspects were exposed sent a wave of shudder among the citizens questioning the government authorities’ lackadaisical approach on a long pending issue. The safety of women is at peril at the best of times is stating the obvious since the misogynistic, patriarchal, and anachronistic mindset bogging the country continues to thrive despite making tremendous advancements all around. Women are continuing to be treated as second citizens is a fact that must be changed forthwith.
PC: Hindustan Times
- Mere support for women’s cause is not working anymore looking at the increasing atrocities. The laws enacted are proving to be of little use since the conviction rates are abysmal. Thus, Bengal’s new anti-rape law appears to be a blatant and meaningless political theatre adding to the already burgeoning laws enacted. At the cost of sounding cynical, it’s easier to enact laws than to do the basic things right. Bengal assembly unanimously passed the anti-rape bill that includes the death penalty for convicts who murder their victims or leave them in a vegetative state. BNS includes death for convicts in similar cases too, included in an amendment to IPC after the 2012 Nirbhaya case. Rivals TMC, BJP, Congress, and Left were of one mind – death to rapists. Why not?
- Why address issues that contribute to creating the conditions for stranger rape, like unsafe surroundings, poor policing, and poorer prosecution? Far easier to push another legislation and pretend it is enough action taken. Such legislation is but an optical illusion. It isn’t for lack of law that rape, brutal rape, and rape-murder flourish – India is a rare country where even society, not just law, has categories for rape and requisite outrage. Perhaps because marital rape is legal? Since only rape is largely normalized, the country’s rape culture remains unaddressed except by a smattering of NGOs. Death on the statute is one thing, but to arrive at sentencing is an obstacle race that dehumanizes those seeking justice.
PC: Deccan Herald
- Even for survivors who live to identify attackers, conviction is a paltry 2.6%, as Bengal CM cited as she talked up her bill. The call for death to rapists stated as stranger rapes saw an uptick – still far fewer (about 7%-10%) compared to reports of sexual assault by people in positions of trust or familiar to the victim. Outrage is selective. Two Dalit teens were found hanging from a tree in UP’s Farrukhabad district a mere 20 days after the RG Kar crime. Adding laws in the manner Bengal has done is simply a populist measure. Building on what is chillingly called the nostalgia of outrage. Astonishingly, the Bengal CM went on to compare women’s safety in Bengal vs states where BJP is in office. Let’s stop politicizing the issue and address it with the right intent and with speed.
