No more

Shivli Tyagi / TNN / Mar 25, 2006, 21:34 IST

Text Size

Small
Medium
Large

With an increasing number of rape cases being reported everyday we wonder whether there's any way to check this growing menace.

With an increasing number of rape cases being reported everyday we wonder whether there's any way to check this growing menace.
l Cop drags a woman into a police chowky and rapes her in the busy Marine Drive area.
l Teenager found raped and killed near Juhu beach.
l A 27-year-old business scion rapes 52-year-old woman in his Mercedes.

l A 20-year-old German scholar who had come to India for research work raped in Alwar.
The list of such examples of perversion are growing at an alarming rate across India. Glance over the papers or surf through news channels and you are bound to spot reports about a woman being assaulted, molested or raped.
And even with much talk about stricter punishments and longer sentences, things are only going from bad to worse.

What's wrong with us?
Bhartiben Gandhi of the NGO Jyoti Sangh says, "There is a simple answer: The law is no longer effective. People just don't fear it."
For many, the recent acquittal of Manu Sharma in the Jessica Lal murder case has raised new concerns. "What can one expect in a country where someone goes scot free after killing another person in broad daylight?
It isn't safe for a women anywhere...not even in Ahmedabad which was considered safe till very recently,"says entrepreneur Shikha Pradhan.
Agrees Indira Jaisingh, a lawyer dealing with women's issues. "It is the lack of will to prosecute that has led to this state of affairs. We need better enforcement."
But why are not just the poor and uneducated but well off, highly educated, even happily married men committing such heinous crimes?
Sociologist Gaurang Jani has a curious point of view. "Women are sexually repressed here and this repression has lead men to believe and react in a certain way. The market forces too are responsible to some extent. It has led the younger generation to think of a woman as a sex symbol."
Is it that simple? Says Jaisingh: "I think it is the rising insecurity brought about by the inability to maintain one's economic status which has led to such deranged minds. The society is changing very fast and people don't have any established lifestyle to hold on to."
Director Vinta Nanda who has made several serials and films with women as central characters, feels a strongly suppressed society breeds perversion.
"If sex education is being shunned and teachers are afraid to discuss the issue, what are the younger lot going to do? A society needs to evolve over time but sadly we are going back instead of ahead."
But for some others, the fact that more cases are being reported and more women are coming forward to challenge their assaulters in court, is proof of an increased awareness and faith in the judicial system.
Like social activist Ila Pathak, who says: "For a long time and in some areas, even today, rape was and is considered a woman's fault. But with increasing awareness things are changing and criminals are being punished."
Actress and activist Nafisa Ali feels apart from stringent law, teaching proper values to youngsters would help.
"Young people need to be taught what is wrong and right and it is the duty of parents to teach such values."
But till such values are embedded in every mind and till the law is changed further to perhaps send every culprit to a lifetime behind bars, the 'safe' tag will sound laughable for any Indian city or town. "We can't even call Ahmedabad safe anymore...It is just a myth,"says Pathak.
shivli.tyagi@timesgroup.com

End of Article