Society and the Sensitivity!

 

Ever since the gruesome and barbaric sexual assault on a 23-year-old brave heart on that fateful night of 16 December 2012 and her subsequent death in Delhi, a very bizarre thing is going on---everyone is busy giving his or her expert opinion over the reason behind this ghastly incident. Some attribute it to the romantic songs and item numbers of Bollywood which increase the male libido, some suggest a girl should not wear scanty clothes, behave like a proper ‘Bhartiya naari’, should not cross the line of ‘dignity’ else there will definitely be a Sitaharan! And what is the dignity of a man… to view every woman as a sex object?

These expressions from the larger chunk of society yeild enough reasons to ponder over why despite so much agitations, nationwide protests, vehement calls from every corner of the nation for the stringent laws, provision of death penalty for the rapists- these heinous cruelties against women do not cease to occur and only earn rapid accelerations day by day. It is these justifications to put the onus on victim only for her fate that eventually turn the perverts fearless, embolden them and send them strong signals to continue with their act of cruelty as if being told ‘don’t stop just move on its not your fault you are bound to lose your control whenever you confront a woman’. If this is the perspective of our society in general, can we expect positive voice for any stricter law for something which is not even considered a crime but a display of masculinity!

 Nation stirred in the past also and did witness a sea of protests against the rape cases but nothing got changed and considering the prevailing gestures it seems this time around too nothing is going to change because we are prejudiced, we are not sensitized enough towards the gravity of the sexual assault being meted out to the fairer sex every now and then. Besides, women holding responsible positions in the society are heard saying that these things are nothing new, and are prevalent everywhere, and that it is always the fault of the girls, they should dress-up and behave properly, should not step alone at night as if these things give male a license to rape! Not only that, one bright social spark even suggested that girls should surrender when surrounded by lusty men to avoid any further damages??? At least a woman should understand another woman’s plight, right.

 Moreover, if scanty dresses and item numbers does matter indeed then what about those 6 days or 6 months old girls who fall prey to the male lust and what is the logic behind a son raping his mother or a grandson raping his grandmother what incites them the sari of their mother or wrinkles of their grandmother? What makes a father, brother, uncle rape their daughters or sisters- lusty songs or scanty clothes? Some even preach that rape is prevalent in India only and not in Bharat-the rural India. Very conveniently they forget the famous Vishaka judgment which deals with Bhanwari Devi who was gang-raped by villagers in a village of Rajasthan and perhaps they are also not aware of the numerous cases of Dalit women who are gang-raped and paraded naked in villages. Moreover, Khap panchayats also exist in villages on whose orders girls are gang raped and murdered in the name of honor. Hence, we have to realize that songs, attire, region etc. has nothing to do with these crimes. This is only a behavioral problem of some sick minded persons for whom what matters most is the favorable time and availability of their prey to satiate their carnal desires. Also, it has nothing to do with culture or upbringing as they are only thorns and no matter how much you manure them, caress them, they will only prick. The only solution to get rid of these thorns is to weed them out. But for this there is a need to realize that a crime has definitely been committed and help create an atmosphere of support and compassion so that a victim could gather courage to register complains. There is a need for police, lawyers to be sensitized enough towards the gravity of the crime, behave humanly so that the victim does not feel any fear or shame to fight for the justice. The judges instead of making remarks like ‘a rape victim should marry its rapist’ should wear a human face and deliver judgment fairly and with all alacrity so that the conviction rate could be increased and convey a strong message to all those perverts to stop at once else, law of the hand is literally long enough to grab them with their neck.