The last two weeks also saw intense public reaction and media outcry over this issue. Issue! hope this does not die as another issue in this busy world! All the public anger, candle light marches are not forgotten by the people who initiated or appreciated the same! I am sceptical because public memory is really short. Bhanwari Devi who was gang-raped 20 years back elicited similar reaction but she is still fighting a lonely battle for justice. Does it take 20 years to decide? In these 20 years thousands of women and girls have been raped, molested and teased.
Will this public outcry change anything? In the last two weeks when the entire nation was in shock, the brutal torture and rape of the 23 year old in Delhi continued to be on media headlines, atleast three more rape incidents were reported...out of which one was a gang-rape, another was an incident involving rape of a minor girl...I mean what kind of society are we living-in?
I have no time to mourn and if you have to mourn then mourn all those millions of women & girls in this country whose modesty has been outraged, who have been humiliated, their bodies have been violently breached and souls have been crushed by blood-thirsty demons. They may be alive but their souls have scars deeper then the dead sea! Unfortunately most of them await justice till now!
Stop Mourning, Start Acting and...Act Fast!
Bust the Myths
Two myths need to busted before we look at possible action steps to tackle the diseased part of the society.
1. Men will protect women! Men can never be saviour for women. 90% of men in this country are not worth trusting. You don't believe me! ask any girl or women, almost each one of them have faced some or other kind of harassment at some or the other time at hands of men. Lewd remarks or lewd looks is something that all girls & women have faced. And come to think about it, in a country of 1 billion people almost half of the population is of women. Only girls & women themselves can protect themselves. The day women stand-up & fight the things will start changing. This is not suggest that no man cares for the safety of women. In the endless protests at India Gate, Raisina hills & Jantar Mantar, thousand of men also participated. But half a billion of girls & women in this country still hold the key
2. Social Change is the harbinger of peace for women! Roots of problem are not ensconced in the society. Poor treatment & harassment of women starts from home. Most Indian homes are unequal for girls & women. Girls are never in as much favour as boys! Boys are seen as investments for future whereas girls are seen as liabilities. Women in homes, especially married women are mostly treated as glorified maids. Education of girls, healthcare of girls always takes a backseat. Girl infanticide is brutally common. And we think change will begin from society. We first need to clean-up our homes.
Action Points
A. Girl & Women Empowerment: A large majority of this country worships goddesses. Each girl and women will have to take the form of Durga or Kali at some or the other time!
1. Young girls must be taught about self-defence in wake of any attack or harassment meted out to them. Martial arts training and not just physical training (PT) must be compulsory & free for every girl.
2. Like other popular social campaigns, an awareness drive must be initiated in every school to educate girls on issues like bad touch and how to prevent & protect themselves from such harassments.
3. Raise alarm - Most harassments happen discreetly in public places. Any girl or women who faces such situation in public transport, public waiting areas and even at social or family gatherings must raise alarm. However key will be if other women raise alarm, even if they find that their neighbour being pinched, lewdly commented or touched. Girls & women have to support each other and these bast###s have to be exposed!
4. Although, it may sound a bit extreme, but women need to given guns. Imagine, if the 23 year rape victim had a gun with her, then probably her fate would have been different. Besides, no matter how much our police force becomes vigilant, it is impossible to police every citizen. And then, there would be some who would say that giving guns to common civilians would increase violence. Forget it! those who commit crimes get weapons some way or the other, mostly illegal. The ones who are left hapless are the common people like you and me. So give guns, at least to women.
B. Institutional Intention: All the organized institutions, like schools, colleges, offices need to strengthen both prevention & protection mechanisms to deal with any such incident.
1. Create awareness drives.
2. Strengthen & secure reporting mechanisms. Make it safe and confidential for girls & women to report.
3. Initiate immediate action and be ruthless against the perpetrators of such crime.
4. Compulsorily have women psychologists & counsellors - permanent or visiting, in all such institutions, for support, counselling or therapy to all the victims in the event of any such unfortunate incident.
5. In schools, recruit drivers, cleaners, office boys with as much care as one recruits the teachers.
C. Judiciary Lead: Lakhs of pending rape cases in court does not help to rein-in the lusty voluptuous vultures on the prowl. People may say that politicians or police would solve the problem. Perhaps they will, but I will put my money on our judiciary system. If our legal system becomes more responsive and acts in time & with more impact then it will be a great ray of hope. Separate fast track courts should be set-up permanently for all rape & molestation cases and all criminals should be brought to justice. Judiciary should also seriously consider revisiting the law governing such cases. Seven years of imprisonment is an insult to the rape victim.
This is not the time to shed tears; instead this is time to act! This would be our true tribute to the Delhi brave heart and all those women who have been tormented by the savages. So, Stop Mourning, Start Acting...and Act Fast! We as a nation cannot afford to disengage the better half of our country's population!
(with inputs from my wife Vandana)
3 comments:
There were many articles after the Delhi gang rape incident. Most of those articles and some MPs/MLAs criticized women for roaming the streets at late nights and not wearing proper clothes. Amidst all those irrelevant articles, this blogpost of yours really makes sense sir.
Those two myths that you have mentioned, have to be busted. Women should be able to protect themselves in any kind of situation. Women should carry small knives/pepper sprays in their vehicles and handbags. Women should take all such pre-cautionary measures. But these are just pre-cautionary measures not the solution.
I've learnt few things after this Delhi incident:
No matter what, if women are harassed, they should never let it go unnoticed. Just like you have mentioned, women should always raise alarm. Women should be able to protect themselves in any kind of situation but they should not be ashamed to ask for help.
Rape is not the only harassment. Harassment also includes: staring at women in the wrong manner, whistling for wrong purposes, singing songs with wrong intentions, accidentally touching, stalking, blowing kisses, unsolicited conversation, unsolicited photography, groping, vehicles purposely following/dashing/honking, etc.
In all such above mentioned situations, women should confront the men who are doing all such non-sense.
Such harassment usually takes place in public places or in educational institutions or at work places.
Women are usually harassed by strangers. But sometimes male family members, male classmates, male staff, male co-workers also harass women.
In all such instances, women confront in the following manner: by directly telling the men not to do such non-nonsensical things, by giving angry looks, by pushing away, by shouting, by slapping, by complaining to friends/family/passers-by/police.
No matter what, if women are being harassed, I won't be mute. I will support the concerned woman to take action. If the concerned woman is not in a state of mind to take action, I will act on her behalf but with her permission.
Rape cases will start decreasing only when other harassment are confronted and stopped. If a guy is trying to touch a woman in the wrong manner, she should give him a tight slap even if it happens in a public place. If at least 10 women slap him like that, he will totally stop groping women in his life. If not even a single woman confronts, initially he will keep groping women and after years of groping, he will start raping. We should solve the problem at grass root level. Rape cases are so high in our country because most of the women don't raise their voice against any harassment. Most of the women in our culture are taught to be submissive and meek. It's high time. Women should stand up for their rights and break the invisible chains that are holding them back!
(P.S.: The above sentences are general statements and it's not intended to criticize all men. There are many men who are genuine. Like you've mentioned, even I was over-whelmed by the large number of men who protested and who are still protesting for justice for women. We need more such gentlemen in our country. Sir, I kindly request you to convey my regards to Mrs. Vandana. Totally loved her inputs!)
Hi Sandhya,
Great comment. Really appreciate. The multiple types of harassments that you have mentioned are eye-opening and must be dealt with very strongly in the proposed new law.
Thanks for reading and commenting. Please spread the message.
Cheers,
Debashish
I will surely spread the message. Thank you sir!
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