TIME FOR CHANGE! No More Rape in India!

Rapists roam free, rapes increasing alarmingly – Is the Justice and Law & Order system in India proving to be toothless? 

Hopes dashed to the ground

Reading the newspaper is turning out to be a distressing exercise everyday as we read about rape after rape, with some instances more ghastly and inhuman than we can come to terms with.

After the Nirbhaya case on 16th December 2012, there was nationwide uproar and everyone condemned the horrendous act. Many of us thought that things would change for the better where rape cases are concerned. We believed that there would be more convictions and rapists will receive severe and fitting punishment in order to deter more men from following their example and raping women.

It is to our grief that we have learned that no such thing happened. We have been shocked to see that a rape culture has emerged where even juveniles are involved in raping girls. Moreover, little babies and elderly women too have not been spared by these rapists. What is worse, we have not seen any worthwhile effort from the Law & Order Machinery and Judiciary to ensure that women in our country receive justice and do not have to live in fear of being raped. The pertinent question is why have the courts allowed rapist after rapist to walk free? 

The Wake Up Call: Will these rapists also walk free?

Have we learned from the past? 

We want to see factual figures of how many rapists were allowed to walk free after destroying the lives of our daughters by their evil act. Over the last 50 years, how many cases of rape have been reported. [We would have to presume that the actual figures of rape that occurred in our country were far higher because many women don’t have the courage to come forward to report after being raped.] Of these reported rape cases – how many rapists were convicted? We want to know the kind of punishment meted out to them and how many received life sentence or capital punishment. We want a government body to make these statistics public. We also want human rights activists to bring out their own report concerning this so that we can be aware of any discrepancy in reporting the true figure from the official end.

This report should reveal the number of men with a history of raping women and the effect it has had on the younger generation of boys and men who came after them. From the statistics collected we need to study the trends and mark the states and areas where rape has been rampant and justice was hindered. The law and order machinery would most likely be compromised in such areas and they would be more tilted to favor the rapists rather than the victims. 

The Wake Up Call: Will these rapists also walk free?

In the Hyderabad case of the 26 year old veterinarian, we have learned that the case has been assigned to a fast track court. While it is good that a speedy judgment will be given, it is now even more pertinent than ever that the judgment that not only deters but puts an end to the rising rape incidents in our nation. 

While we can see many people protest and those in authority support the cause and take a stand, this is not a matter that should die down after a few days of making noise. We have to take this as a national challenge. Can we change things and make it safe for our daughters to go out without fear? Will the parents of girls be able to live in peace without fearing the worst for their daughters?

Time for Action 

We certainly need action to be taken on a war footing in this matter. We need campaigns humanize men who secretly think it is okay to rape women. We need to sensitize men and boys and women and girls about this issue. Self defense for girls should be made mandatory in all schools. Self defense classes for women should be started in all neighborhoods, places of work and communities should begin to equip women to fight against their potential attackers.

We need special rehabilitation to be provided for women who have suffered rape since rape causes grave trauma that amounts to loss of identity, confidence and makes them powerless, robbing them of the chance to have a good future. Healing from such trauma can take several years and for some the scars are lifelong. In most cases in India, there are social consequences for the girl/women and her family too as a result of the rape. These issues need to be addressed and practical things have to be done to ensure the woman can have everything she needs to live a good life.

We need a National Sex Offender Registry just like the US and other nations have. This registry should be publicly accessible so that anyone in doubt can verify if a man is a sex offender.


Failure is not an option

The Supreme Court would do well to set up a special authority endowed with powers to investigate where the law and order machinery has compromised justice. This authority should be able to take action against the officials and departments concerned and provide the survivors and their family compensation and support to get their lives back on track.

India had the shameful distinction of being the most dangerous nation for women in 2018. ThomsonReuters Foundation released a study that ranked India as the most dangerous place because of its high incidences of sexual violence, lack of access to justice in rape cases, child marriage, female feticide and human trafficking. It is time these rankings made us angry enough to change things for good permanently.

The little girl asked them, "What kind of world are you leaving behind for me?" 

Wake up Daughters of India!

"Wake up from your sorrow O sister of mine,
Look up to a morrow that is yours and mine,
We'll fight with society, we'll strive for our rights!
And never cease striving though we give up our lives."

These are lyrics of a song I wrote and composed some years ago - it was specially written to represent a women's project of the College of Social Work for a special programme. Today those words represent the cry of my heart too... for the daughters of our land - India!

You can find the song here... 

https://soundcloud.com/henrietta-decruz/wake-up-my-sister-henrietta-decruz

The Curse of Being a Daughter of India

Voices crying out for justice

In the ages gone by she was shackled by tradition and kept away from education, married away in childhood, thrown on the pyre of her husband and had to suffer the degradation of being the person of lowest value in her family, clan and community.

Now it is 67 years since independence, she has a right to education, works shoulder to shoulder with men in every field having proven her worth in every way yet there still is a curse on her even today. There still are female infanticides, selective abortions of female foetuses, dowry deaths, domestic violence and human trafficking issues plaguing our Indian women. Add to that the misery that every girl or woman has to face – the lack of personal safety to walk on the streets, go to work or even at home. Eve-teasing, molestation, acid attacks and rape have grown to become a monster devouring whatever peace and security Indian women could dream of. 

The National Crime Records Bureau reports that there has been a shocking 873% rise in rape cases between 1953 and 2011. India’s report card for women’s safety states that one woman is raped every 22 minutes! [1]

A Reuters report states that 244,270 crimes against women were reported to the police in 2012 compared with 228,650 in 2011 according to the National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB). They also stated that 98 percent of those who reported rapes last year named parents, relatives and neighbours as the accused. [2]

When we say this I wonder if this is a statement about the state of women in our country or is it actually a statement about the men in our country?  What is it about women that make them so vulnerable and what is it about men that make them behave like animals who have no self-control? Something is wrong with our upbringing of boys and girls and something is wrong with the way our social fabric and halls of justice have been allowing things to get this bad.

The cries of justice have become so loud and demanding that now it seems it would take the death of rapists to put fear into others who would do the same. We have allowed molesters and rapists to roam around freely for so long that they are breeding at a higher rate than we can deal with.

For many years we have read the news of tribal women or women of lower castes and those in helpless situations being raped by men with political power behind them. There were no convictions because these men were protected by powerful people. Those powerful people make the laws in this country, such men are used by them for their personal or political interests. Is it no wonder that our laws don’t have teeth and justice is not done?

Moreover, we also need to question the conscience of this nation. Why do we allow films that devalue and degrade women? Why don’t we question the vulgar worded item songs that degrade women and are aimed at generating lust in men? Why do our high profile ‘dignified’ actresses agree to do songs that cheapen women? Why is it that those who oppose Valentine’s Day do not do anything to stop eve-teasing, offenses against women or check the growth of prostitution and pornography among our youth?

We all have to accept responsibility for what is happening in our nation. Every common man who has witnessed eve-teasing and not done something about it. Every parent of a youth caught in the act who stood by him instead of correcting him and letting justice be done. Every parent of a young girl who didn’t stand with her when she spoke up about harassment. Every teacher, principal and community head who told women to shut up and bear the trauma to save their own faces and name have thus perpetrated the injustice done.

People who deal with power, information and media have more responsibility. Whenever we create ads, films, videos, songs or permit something that can have far reaching effects on the masses we have added fuel to the already raging fire. When the law makers, keepers and enforcers themselves have wrong attitudes about women, they fail to be instruments of justice for those who have been victimised in any way.

It seems we need to have a crash course to educate the people of India about the dignity of a woman, her right to personal space, self-respect, to be treated as a person and not an object and also her right to real and true justice. We need a cleansing and overhauling at every level. A commission of enquiry or a proposal for a new law is not going to change anything when the real dirt is inside the minds and hearts of people.

India has lost face internationally. The damage is done. Countries are warning their people, especially women not to travel to India and giving them precautions to follow if they have to make that journey. It sucks even more because we call our country ‘Bharat Mata.’ Have we made our ‘motherland’ India proud? We have allowed some low-life pathetic men to cause our nation to pay the heaviest price within and outside our country. So what are we going to do about it now?

The people of India have risen from their slumber and shown they mean business after the 16^th December 2012 gang rape incident. Laws are slow to have an impact unless real punishment is meted out for crimes against women regardless of whether they are cases of eve-teasing, molestation, acid attacks or rape.

We need to weed out those law makers or keepers and police men whose wrong attitudes and behaviour come in the way of true justice to women. We need awareness campaigns and programmes that will instill good values among younger generations.

Moreover we need to train our girls and women in self-defense so that they can give their offenders a fitting response. Perhaps it is time the government considered making self defense training mandatory in all schools. Women in many cultures have come out to learn to fight and defend their country, sad that we have to teach women to defend themselves! We also need neighbourhood watchdog groups comprising of men and women who would deal with boys and men who have a tendency to misbehave with girls or women. It is a necessity now and we cannot expect the situation to change if something is not done now.

Our silence in this area has led to this dismal reality we are having to face today. Let every voice be raised up to support and get justice for the women who have been traumatized. Let every means of creating awareness, giving information and empowerment be used to ensure that this social disease of wrong mindsets towards women is eradicated.

‘Mera Bharat Mahaan’ should be the slogan of our hearts for our nation... but unfortunately Bharat has lost it ‘maan’ because of the continuous ‘apmaan’ our country men have been meting out to our women. May we turn around this story of apmaan into maan so that Bharat can truly be mahaan, is my prayer for India.

Reference:

Source 1: http://ncrb.nic.in/

Source 2: http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/06/14/india-rape-women-2012-report-idINDEE95D0B920130614, 

How safe are our Daughters?

This article posted below was published in the Oct-Dec 2012 edition of the Family Mantra Magazine published from Bangalore by Kutumb Communications. It was written in September 2012 much before the 23 year old woman was gang-raped in Delhi. Needless to say there are no words to express my grief, sorrow and anger at what happened to her. It is time India brought about a change so that her daughters can live safely. 

She remains unforgettable, etched in my memories. She was a girl of twelve living in a Remand Home in Delhi. I was a student of Standard IX visiting the Home as part of our SUPW – Social Work Classes. We were given case studies of girls who were lost, kidnapped or caught for petty offenses. She was not one of them.

When I sat to interview the girl assigned to me, she came and sat beside me. During the next couple of visits I found her near me. She made me curious. I was shocked to learn about why she was there.

Laila was gang raped by four men from her village. She was on her way to deliver food for her father and brothers. The four men gang raped her inside a truck and threw her away.

They stole everything from her in that one dastardly act they committed against her. She lost her childhood, her family, her future... and everything she knew about herself and her life. She never had a normal life after that incident. The perpetrators of the crime were not convicted as she could not tell them anything about them.

When I met Laila, her limbs were distorted and curved, she could not walk upright. The trauma had taken its toll on her body and mind. She was an isolated girl who feared even the shadow of a man. She was raped even by the policemen. She was afraid to cross the verandah at the entrance if any policeman was sitting there.

She was treated by others as nothing. They mocked and ridiculed her as she walked with her bent legs. Her daily activity was cleaning and washing the compound, after which she would go and sit in a corner. I asked her about her family. She said it was more than a year since anyone came to see her. They too had rejected her. Who wants a gang-raped girl who tainted their family’s name?

My encounter with Laila made me wonder what happens to girls like her. Is there hope for them? My mind was deeply disturbed by her predicament because girls like her cannot help themselves. I wonder if justice will ever be done to Laila who spends her life in a Remand Home while those who did this to her are roaming around scot free. Who knows how many girls they could have raped since then?

A Shame for India

The National Crime Records Bureau reports that there has been a shocking 873% rise in rape cases between 1953 and 2011. 42,968 cases of molestation of women were reported last year. 2,61,000 cases of crimes against women, including sexual harassment, cruelty by husband/his relatives, kidnapping, human trafficking were recorded. India’s report card for women’s safety states that one woman is raped every 22 minutes! [1]

Among the 53 cities of India, Delhi accounted for the highest number of such crimes at 13.3 per cent (4,489), followed by Bangalore at 5.6 per cent (1,890) and Hyderabad at 5.5 per cent (1,860). [2]

On 9^th July the whole country was aghast to see the video of a 17-year-old girl being dragged, beaten, stripped and molested on a busy street in Guwahati by a mob of about 50 men. Though the Police station was just 1 km away, they arrived at the scene after 45 minutes. No action was taken by the police until the video of the assault went viral on YouTube and caused national outrage.

To add insult to injury Karnataka's Women & Child Welfare minister C. C. Patil was quoted saying that women should “know how much skin they should cover.” He stated that incidents like rape and sexual harassment can be attributed to the decline in moral values in men, indirectly caused by women dressing “provocatively.” [3]

Top cop Kiran Bedi wasn’t left far behind in belittling the trauma of women who are raped when she lashed out at the media for what she called inadequate reportage of Team Anna's alleged exposes on corruption. She said, “Ask yourself. On a small rape case or assault which a low ranking police official commits, how you would discuss it?” [4] 

A Tehelka investigation reported, “According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the conviction rate in rape cases in the capital was a dismal 34.6 percent. In case after case, courts have been acquitting the accused because of flawed first information reports (FIRs), erroneous procedures in collating medical evidence and shoddy investigation. Lawyers and women rights activists have continually been flagging the deep prejudice prevalent in the police against women in general and rape victims in particular, as the single biggest reason for the repeated failure of justice.[5]”

In the same report, Satbir Singh additional SHO of Sector 31 Police Station, Faridabad who completed 27 years in service and investigated around 20 rape cases said that he believes half of all rape charges were false. He was unapologetic about questioning the intent of rape victims when they came to file complaints: "One lakh. Two lakh. Fifty lakh. People have understood this is a lucrative trade for women; it's business. They've found an income source. It's common; you're short of money, your parents don't give you money to spend. You make compromises." [5]

One wonders that if this is the attitude of our ministers and top police officers of our country, what is the future of women in India? How safe are our daughters in a nation that brands and punishes the victim for being raped rather than the criminal who destroyed her life and robbed her of her dignity?

What can we do?

It is our primary responsibility as parents and teachers to teach our daughters to be safe. We can protect them by teaching them precautions they should take to avoid suspicious strangers. We need to teach them to guard themselves at all times, especially in moments when they are most vulnerable. They have to learn to trust their instincts about people and situations. They need to be alert to their surroundings and be aware of the first signs of danger.

Teaching our daughters to be safe doesn’t mean that we are inducing fear into her. It means that she will know how to act if ever she is attacked. It is our responsibility to teach her about keeping away from danger just as we would tell her to keep away from fire.

At home and in schools too we have to teach our sons to respect girls and treat them with respect. Any untoward behaviour should be handled very carefully.

Our Duty as Citizens:

It is useless to have laws that are supposed to defend women if citizens don’t act against lawlessness in society. Each citizen has a voice and we can use this voice to speak out against the ills of our society. We can demand for the police force to be made more sensitive to gender related crime. We can take action against legislators who dishonour women through their words and action by not letting them continue in office. We can send across a message loud and clear that crime against women will not be tolerated by us anymore.

It is time to wake up India. If every parent does his or her part as a citizen we can initiate action that will change things for the better.  

Reference:

Source 1: http://ncrb.nic.in/

Source 2: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/guwahati-molestation-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/270997-3.html

Source 3: http://in.news.yahoo.com/the-big-question--are-women-to-blame-for-rape-.html

Source 4: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/kiran-bedi-s-small-rape-remark-women-s-commission-seeks-apology-254122

Source 5: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/in-and-around-delhi-cops-blame-rapes-on-women-tehelka-investigation-with-ndtv-194735