Rape also has a class of its own

Women’s empowerment is India’s new mantra. Or so the hoopla created by the media seems to convey. Nirbhaya set the trend as she succumbed to a brutal gang rape last year, and ever since politicians, activists, media and anyone who gets a microphone and a camera focused on them endorses their support to the uplift of the fairer lot.

But the safeguard of modesty seems to be limited to the Metros, or the capital at best. Women from the smaller towns are left to fend for themselves, while their counterparts only need to raise as much a finger to be give prime time slots to tell their tales. 

While officials were hunting down Tarun Tejpal, there was a brave teenager who was brutally attacked in Bihar only because she chose to stand up to her eve-teaser. The young athlete is hospitalized and is nursing her wounds in private, while we have national debate of the victim made the accused by the flamboyant celebrity editor. 

A youngster, a 21-year-old IT professional - was gang-raped by men who posed as taxi drivers in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. How is she any different from the trainee journalist in Delhi? 

The gang-rape of the Dalit girl in Gujarat, fortunately, has been heard in the courts. The Gujarat high court upheld the life term awarded by the trial court in the case. But…what coverage did the case receive on national media? 

What’s happened to the 14-year-old who was allegedly killed by her rapist in Odisha? Buried! Sad! 

Yet another sensational case that has seen unprecedented uproar is that of the doctor couple – now sentenced to life in prison in the name of ‘honour killing’. 

Any idea of the number of such killings that take place in remote areas in India that have proof? But Talwars are in the right place at the right time to be in the wrong! 

Yes, it is not practical for every sick mind to be paraded down at prime time. But it is equally wrong to strip down a selected few from selected cities, especially when we have pressing issues to address than have suave men flaunt their attitude. 

Oh, yes, now that we have an election looming ahead… with so many contestants ready to abuse the trust of gullible voters, there’ll be no dearth of prime-time debates. 

Some reprieve to the ignored victims!

Nirbhaya’s closure

This appeared in TFW on Sept 15

Nirbhaya has been delivered justice as the four men are sentenced. Neither do I want to debate the ethics of capital punishment nor human rights as much as the time frame in delivering the sentence versus the mass national reaction. Especially to those ranting ‘closure’.

What is that which has closed. The case? The family’s pain? or The menace called rape? 

The case will drag the appeals route, the family can never overcome her memories and, most importantly, expecting all sick minds in India to having learnt their lesson with one case is wishful thinking. It is a landmark judgement with regards the time within which the guilty were sentenced. I beg to disagree with all those who claim this to be a landmark case. No rape is less gruesome than the other.

And that raises the ugly question of how many times the young girl was tortured by the public in the last nine months. Every time the details of brutality were described and explained she was being maimed yet another time. And so her friend, who is alive to receive the wounds afresh over and over again. If at all anyone has received a ‘closure’, it’s the people who discussed and debated and rallied for the accused to be punished. 

Closure will come when each such case is dealt with in such earnestness. When all the cases languishing in the courts and in police files are served justice, suggesting there will be no more such cases. Can we hope the latter point is no wishful thinking?

The laws need more stringency. Such fast-track measures cannot be applied to all cases that erupt in the nooks  and corners of the country. And, most importantly, morality and consciousness of each individual should rise. Pray at least these are not wishful thinking!

Stop sensationalising rapes

This appeared in TFW on Sept 3

Has Nirbhaya’s death gone waste? Even while she was battling for life, there were girls being tortured in the same city. There were numerous cases [imagine the numbers that went unrecorded] in the rest of the country during those weeks, when the nation saw unprecedented uprising and angst.

Then slowly the candles blew out and the lenses zoomed on other issues, until the photo-journalist was attacked.

Isn’t something wrong somewhere? The first query that rushes to mind is which rape cases make news? Is it the place, the qualification of the victim, the modus operandi, the aftermath or the number of suspects involved? There was equal hoopla about Mumbai being tarnished alongside the actual unfortunate news of the girl who was out on her duty. Such barbaric acts happen in smaller towns, too. Aren’t their lives important to be documented and fought for? Or is it the case of more the merrier - only when gangs are involved are cases dissected? Or is the professions and education of those involved that matter?

A case needs one or more of the above to qualify as news. And when it meets the entire checklist it becomes breaking news!

We need to stop sensationalising rapes.

Courtesy: TFW

Hooding the suspects, parading them, meeting the families of the victim, then hiding their address, and yet giving away clues…absurd. Treat them like any other suspect. How has their minute details given out at precise intervals helped stop the menace? The law needs more sprucing up. Fast track further and make the punishment more stringent.

Why should a juvenile suspect be tried differently? If they can do it then they ought to face it. Period. Whom are we fooling? What human rights are we speaking of here? When they take away the rights of unsuspecting women in the most inhuman of ways, why should they be given any levy?

Cut the bureaucracy and protocol. Assign selective power to local police to deal with rape cases within their jurisdiction. Let them hear out both the parties, investigate and file a report and take the case to the local courts and execute the verdict. There should be no appealing verdicts in such cases. Only then will punishments be quicker and sick minds be reformed. Sounds autocratic. But in some cases, to preserve democracy, we need to be stern.

Media should be hauled up as well. In the age of social media, that’s a tough call. But nothing is impossible. TRP ratings should exclude rape coverage. Can media moguls stand up for this? If they sincerely believe in what they claim to passionately cover, they will. And that will be the beginning of de-sensationalising human sufferings.

Rapists challenge India's conscience

[This appeared in The Financial World on April 23rd]

It is pathetic, heart-rending, sad, outrageous...indescribable. In less than four months after the gang-rape of the medical student in a moving bus that shocked the nation, now a little girl, tortured in confinement, has once again brought protestors out on the streets.

But, this time, the scale of protests isn't the same. The unprecedented agitation that broke out across the length and breadth of India in late-December and January is not repeated. At least not as of now. Social media users are sharing and voicing their feelings, but that contagious angst is missing. Some quote why only cases that happen in Delhi are highlighted, when rapes happen across the country almost daily. A few even posted that she is not the first 5-year-old to be tortured.

Sounds callous, indeed.



Graphic Courtesy: The Financial World

Laymen vent their frustration thus, when the system drags its feet. The Nirbhaya case suspects should have been done with by now. The case is often referred to as the one that ‘stirred India’s conscience’.

Well, our minds were stirred once prior to that. Remember the old social activist who resurrected Gandhi topi? Anna Hazare’s agitation against corruption was also described as “arousing nation’s conscience” then.

And here, now, we have policemen bribing the family of the little one to hush up!

Wonder whose conscience we referred to. The bureaucracy which doesn’t pull up its act to keep countrymen safe? Sinister minds that have no fear of the law of land? Media channels that play up a case until they get another one to keep their TRP ticking? Laymen who react for some time and continue to live life as if nothing ever went wrong only to wake up at another point to blame authorities for not doing enough?

Who, who is to be blamed for the atrocious treatment of women in the country? Bureaucracy blames democratic shackles; Media blames survival rules; Laymen blame both the above.

Passing the buck with impunity happens only in a democracy. What use is democracy if citizens fear for their lives and that of their loved ones? It’s time the government clamps down on sick minds. Capital punishment may sound barbarous, undemocratic and against human rights. But only this will instill the fear in beasts that is missing now.

The law should have zero-tolerance for rapists. The victim should serve as both the practical evidence and witness. Hear her out and act. Punish her torturers publicly. Cops and officials who tamper with the case illegally should be held accountable and punished immediately.

Meanwhile, each person, each household must act conscientiously. Treat sons and daughters equally. Educate little boys to respect girls. Include a topic on sexual ethics for high-school students. So at least the next-gen can say with pride that ‘the nation's conscience has been stirred’ and Indians are an awakened lot.

Talking sexual ethics with children

This appeared in TFW on April 9... 

Graphic Courtesy: The Financial World

When my primary school child quoted the word 'stranger-danger' from her life skills lesson, I was intrigued as to what was explained in school.

Catch them young, we say, for all developmental matters. Then why camouflage sexual assaults under stranger-danger? Times have changed. Do not take chocolates from uncles, and do not smile at mamas are fine. Do not allow any one touch you inappropriately! This, this sentence, is what parents and teachers need to explain to youngsters. This explanation creates awareness.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month!

All modes of transportation - running buses, moving cars, speeding bikes - are being utilised to make women of all ages in all nooks across the country 'aware' that India's conscience might have been stirred when the Nirbhaya flame simmered but that of the beasts are yet to be nudged.

What an irony that thepace of brutality continues unabated even as laws are being revised andcreated. By ensuring stringent punishments, quicker trials and widening the umbrella of assaults under unpardonable crimes, politicians are doing their job. The media is also doing their part by reporting, analysing and debating the same.

So who isn't doing their part right? None. All are doing their best. It's the culture that needs to change. With details of rape, sex and attacks blaring our living rooms at prime time, we can't afford to say our culture doesn't allow discussion of the same with our growing-up children. And with technology threatening to invade every inch space of our lives with each passing day, children's curiosity cannot be contained either. Therefore, it is time we revisited the list of 'taboo topics' in family and educational institutions, if we really care to snub sexual attacks.

By informing women about their rights or threatening men about the consequences of sexually attacking females, one is definitely spreading awareness, but that is akin to focussing on pedicure, ignoring foot care.

General knowledge quizzes in schools should include such incidents. Especially with pre-teens, for whom teachers' words are the Bible, classrooms are the best platform to reveal the real world to impressionable minds. As for teenagers, again a neutral environment of a school is the best place to quell their curiosity on sexual topics and answer their doubts.

And this should be taken forward by parents. Gone are the days when birds rubbed their beaks and flowers brushed against one another to let couples make love on screen. Let's not change channels or look into space when that happens. Sit along with your children and watch. That would be the beginning of getting comfortable to discussing sexual ethics with youngsters.

You never know, this small step could lead to the much-needed cultural change for a better tomorrow.