“A student gang raped in Manipal”, “An American woman raped
in Manali”, “Nirbhaya brutally injured and gang raped in a moving bus in Delhi.”
Headlines are not ceasing! Rapes after rapes followed by
series of blame games have become a tradition. What are the bases on which we
call ourselves independent? Is this the marker of our freedom? Are not women an
integral part of the nation and nation building? Are not their rights of
independent and dignified living, important?
It is a matter of grave concern when a nation which proudly
declares it to be independent does not ensure the safety of its women. India
must be labeled as being pseudo-independent country for it still is a land of
slavery, slavery of women. Women are in shackles of all kinds. They are bound
in every way possible. Restrictions of dressing, limitations of movement and
constant fear of vulnerability pull women back at every step they take. Is it
independence in the real terms?
Do we really understand the issue? Do we genuinely know the
reasons and the solution to this problem? It is high time that we learn to look
through things. The latest record available on the number of rape cases in
India is of 2011 which states that 24,206 rapes were registered in India in
that particular year. This number is of those cases which were reported in the
police stations. There are number of rapes which are shoved under the carpets
fearing the breach of the honour of the victims’ families. While some women
chain their cries under societal pressure, the voices of others are silenced
through death threats.
Rapes cannot be homogenized. All women are different as they
come from different backgrounds and are raped under different circumstances;
this makes it our duty to identify various kinds of rapes. Some women are
subjected to marital rapes, some being Dalits are exploited by the “zamindars”
on the basis of caste and class while many others become victims of rapes by
their own family members.
Recognizing the kinds of sexual abuses is like laying the
foundation of the whole process of resolving this issue. It not only informs us
of the psychology behind that particular crime but also gives us leads to
approach it in a more sensitive manner.
The immediate concern is how to uproot this problem
completely. While strict laws and severe punishments are some of the recourses
for immediate curtailment of the crimes, they cannot be considered effective enough
to target the very soil, where attacks on women seem to be mushrooming.
The deep seated patriarchal mentality is at work in this. It
has been ages that India has always looked down upon women as individuals.
Women to our surprise are ironically either worshipped as ideal goddesses or
are gazed upon as sex objects. Neither of the thinking streams allows a neutral
perspective of seeing women as humans, with both flaws and perfections at the
same time. Men who bow before the goddesses inside the premises of temples
become heinous rapists right at the moment they step outside.
A revolution in the Indian thinking is the need of the hour!
This can be achieved only when a right kind of upbringing is given to every
child of the nation. Conditioning with the correct morals can gradually form a
society where women will be respected, where ego clashes or frustrations will not
be vented out through rapes and where energies of the youth will be channeled
in constructive ways.
The government can take steps for creating awareness of the
importance of such moral education while every family living in India can do
their bits by checking any patriarchal or demeaning attitudes against women
within and outside their homes. Instead of creating more and more restrictions
for women regarding the places and the time of the day “suitable” for them,
people must invest time and energy in molding the perspective of the men of the
society.
Such measures can prove to be revolutionary in the long
term. Number of rapes can be gradually controlled through this with strict
punishments, effective policing, well lit streets and some precautions on part
of women being the current recourses.
It is time we all wake up! It is time to act and bring a
change. We have had enough years of bondage to horrifying crimes against women!
Stop stooping before the appalling animals who cannot respect the basic human
rights of the opposite sex. Do not wait for the government to take all the
measures. RISE, FIGHT, EDUCATE and BE A CHANGE!
~ Kashish Dua
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