“Societies
think they operate by something called morality, but they don’t. They operate
by something called law. You’re not guilty of anything merely by working in
Auschwitz. Eight Thousand people worked at Auschwitz. Precisely nineteen have
been convicted and only six for murder. To prove murder, you have to prove
intent. That’s the law. The question is
never was it wrong, but was it legal.”
These lines are from 2008’s famous Oscar
nominated movie “The Reader.”
The intent of writing these lines here is to
give clear idea about the function of law in any nation, despite their public
outrage for some sensational case of injustice or crime. Such incidence
occurred recently in our country India. A 26 years old veterinary doctor in
Hyderabad, on 27 November 2019, was gang raped and brutally killed and burnt. After three days of this savage incidence, 30th
November 2019, the whole nation was in outrage over the incidence.
Such incidence is not new for our nation; we
have known such heinous and inhuman cases before that shook the entire nation
“Nirbhaya Rape Case in December 2012 in Delhi.” And in every 20 minutes such
cycle is repeated within our country.
Repeated events like these generate public
outrage and beg the questions on efficiency of law and order within the
country. India has been listed on top spot of the index of the most unsafe
country in the world for the women, which as a citizen of this great nation
brings shame to us all and fills our heart with haunting fear. “What if unfortunate
event like this occurs with my sister? Or my friend or my wife or my mother or
anyone that I know and care about? How will I keep the people I love and care about
safe in such unsafe country for women?”
When a woman is raped after every twenty
minutes in a country, which is known for its pure culture where a woman is
treated as deity, then it is only natural for the new generation to question
their own culture. But it also brings outrage and that outrage creates disorder
in the civilized society of the world’s largest democracy.
But question is what the reasons are of such
outrage? Are there not laws that provide JUSTICE? Is there no system within our
country that ensures women safety? Is there no police force that takes actions
against such perpetrators?
Answer is there IS, but problem is it is not
functioning up to the need of its citizen. Mainly the problem within our
country with law and order or court is that the procedure is sluggish and the
courts are filled with piles of new cases before the prosecution of the
previous one even begins.
According to a
2018 survey of 15,562 respondents across 22 states on perceptions about
policing, the Lokniti team at the Centre
for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) found that less than 25% of Indians trust
the police. Such distrust is caused by the frustration which comes with the
interaction with the police, no quick response to the people who files
complaints and repeated pending work causes people to lose faith on the efficiency
of Police force. It is also a bitter fact about Indian Police force, according
to the latest survey by Mint Newspaper; there are only 144 police officers for
100,000 citizens, which is far behind to what United Nations recommended ratio
off 222.
Police
strength is subject to variation state to state in India, but state like Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal’s police forces are all
extremely understaffed with less than 100 police staff for 100,000 population.
The 2016 Crime in India Report published
by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Government of India. As of 2016, Delhi is the least safe State/UT with the highest cognizable
crime rate of 160.4 (per 100,000 persons) and Uttar Pradesh has the highest incidence of crime
on women based on percentage of share [1]. Nagaland has the lowest crime rate against
women. Lakshwadeep has the lowest
incidence of crime based on the percentage of share. But that does not mean for
the citizen of any other state to feel the complacency, just because the state they
live in does not top such list, means crimes against women aren’t happening.
They are still happening. The gravity of such injustice is still severe and
constantly prevailing.
India is not just all about bad for women; in fact, The
National Crime Records Bureau of India suggests a reported rape rate of 2 per
100,000 people, which is far less compared to world’s most advanced nations 27
per 100,000. Conviction rate in India is 25% but the country which ruled India
for 200 years has 7% conviction rate. Media will sensationalize such matters by
exaggerating the facts and giving the impression to their viewers that their
country is becoming a rape capitol or vice versa for the sake of TRP. But a
proud citizen will be wounded to hear such news about his nation but a proud
citizen shall not have biased feelings if he is well informed too. India has been characterized as one of the
"countries with the lowest per capita rates of rape".
But does that make it all okay? No it
doesn’t. When family members of the victims are to wait for year and years to
get justice by court then they start to lose hope of getting one, it is itself
another injustice to them. Consequently people within the country start losing the
confidence in their judiciary system. And when such rape cases occur in the
country then an outrage emerges out of it. People demand quick justice and that
is to hang the accused as soon as possible or public lynching.
But in the eyes of the law, even accused has
judicial rights, they can’t be instantly sentenced to lifetime imprisonment or to
be hanged, just because of public sentiment demands it. Law has no regard for
public sentiments; it operates within its own rules. Justice is an abstract
concept, which differs from person to person but law; the laws of the country
are same for its every citizen.
What are the reasons that despite all the
development in recent decade in our country, basic right of justice takes such
a long time to be delivered? It is mainly because as our police force is under
recruited, there are more than 40% vacancies in our Judiciary as well.
(According to Mint Newspaper)
In 2016, Chief Justice T. S.
Thakur breaks down, right in the presence of our Hon. Prime Minister, because
he was also wounded as a citizen of this nation to see the state of Judiciary
system within the country. How people are losing their confidence on their own
Judiciary System despite the best work of Judges. There are still people in the
country who have faith in Judicial System but despite everything, nothing seems
to be moving. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9asEYHGlHI
On 6th of December
2019, all the four accused in Hyderabad Rape case were encountered when they
tried to flee. After that most of the people felt that instant justice is
served.
Why such time did come to us? Why did people
felt it as instant justice? It’s all because they are losing trust in their own
judicial system. After all these years the convicted criminals are still not
punished in Nirbhaya case. They were to be punished on 22nd January
2020 but due to plea appeals and judicial procedure it is scheduled on 1st
February 2020 on 6 a.m. The authorities alleged that the four adult convicts
were intentionally delaying the legal process so that their execution could be
postponed. People showed their tolerance, their patience but after seven years
when thousands of innocent women are raped and murdered, may be nobody can
question their celebration for this instant justice.
As accused have right of judicial procedure,
victims have RIGHT of getting JUSTICE in TIME.
Those who have tremendous respect for law and
order shall feel bad about such circumstances, they would expect the justice to
be provided after full judicial procedure, so that it will sustain faith of
people in the country’s judicial system. They are well aware that event like
these, such instant justice shall give some temporary relief but the crimes
shall not cease to repeat. And only laws can protect their fellow citizens. No
matter what people must not act above the laws.
There are two sides, those who still count on
their judicial system and those who have lost their confidence over judicial
system. And both of them are right on their own way. I, however, appeal people
to create pressure on system to take swift actions against crimes against
India’s Daughters. It is people of this great nation that holds the power not
the government, not the system, but we the people.
I urge every officer who is working in the
system, to shake off their apathy and remember the oath they had taken to
protect the constitutional rights of its citizen. I understand that those who
are working to serve us are not being served well for their services to our nation.
Polices are overworked, they are also humans after all and can’t get time with
their own children while they are obligated to protect families of people like
us. Judges are short and overworked, as Hon. Justic T. S. Thakur said in 2016.
Every sector in our country has its own
problems but I believe that when we determine ourselves to act against such
inhuman activities only then a good and prosperous change shall come. There are
good police officers too in our country but they are usually awarded with
transfer and humiliation by a corrupt system. If we wouldn’t act, nothing shall
change. We as a citizen must not only expect everything from government or
police forces. We should also act responsibly. We also have duties towards
nation. Least we can do is to help another in difficult circumstances. When you
are witnessing injustice, don’t stay silent, unite and act against perpetrators
for sake of defending the victims but we must never take law into our own
hands.
Outrage and hatred in women against such
rapist can’t be measured, it will be impossible to measure even to the god
himself. And in such flow of hatred women must not blame it all on another
gender. Not all men are rapists. Even men encounter sexual assaults from women.
This is also a reality. But even men are scared after such incidences, not
because they are men but they are scared for the safety of their sisters, their
friends, their mother, their wife and anyone they care about.
Women’s outrage against patriarchal society
is absolutely and unequivocally right, because the causes of rapes show that
patriarchal mentality is root of the problem.
Mentality of
Rapist:
·
In Anger
Rape the goal of rapist to humiliate, debase and
hurt their victim; they express their contempt for their victim through
physical violence and profane language. For these rapists, sex is a weapon to
defile and degrade the victim, rape constitutes the ultimate expression of
their anger.
·
Power Assertive
Rapists: For these rapists, rape becomes a way to compensate their underlying
feelings of inadequacy and feeds their issues of mastery, control, dominance, strength, intimidation, authority and capability. The intent of the power rapist is to assert their competency. The power
rapist relies upon verbal threats, intimidation with a weapon, and only uses
the amount of force necessary to subdue the victim.
·
Sadistic
Rapist: For these rapists, they
have a sexual association with anger and power so that aggression and the
infliction of pain itself are eroticized. For this rapist, sexual excitement is
associated with the inflicting of pain upon their victim.
·
Neurological
Processes: The neuropsychological deficits
that may contribute to a propensity for sexual assault include difficulties in
self-regulation, executive functioning problems, perception/memory system
problems, arousal/motivation system deficits, and problems in the action selection system.
·
Insecure attachment lens: The insecure attachment style lens
stems from research done on sexual aggressors that characterized them as people
who had insecure attachment styles (as a result of child abuse, parental
divorce, etc.) manifested as low self-esteem, an inability to develop
relationships with others, and significant emotional loneliness. Through the
lens of this model, sexual aggression is used as a faulty means of fulfilling
intimacy needs.
Individual
Factors:
·
Known
victim: According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) of India, research found that in 98% of cases of
rape victims knew the perpetrator.
·
Drug
facilitated sexual assault: Drug-facilitated
sexual assault (DFSA), also known as predator rape, is a sexual assault carried
out after the victim has become incapacitated due to having consumed alcoholic
beverages or other drugs.
Alcohol has been shown to play a dis-inhibiting role in certain types of sexual
assault, as have some other drugs, notably cocaine. Alcohol has a
psychopharmacological effect of reducing inhibitions, clouding judgments and
impairing the ability to interpret cues.
·
Sexual Gratification: In 1994, Richard Felson coauthored the controversial
book "Aggression and Coercive Actions: A Social-Interactionist
Perspective" with James Tedeschi, a book which argues that sexual
entitlement is the motive of rapists, rather than the aggressive desire to
dominate the victim.[30] Felson believes that rape is an
aggressive form of sexual coercion and the goal of rape is sexual
entitlement and to gain a sense of power.
·
Psychological Factor: There has been considerable research
in recent times on the role of cognitive variables among the set of factors
that can lead to rape. A detailed conceptual analysis shows that
objectification might underlie denial of agency and personhood that leads to
rape.[5] Sexually violent men have been
shown to be more likely to consider victims responsible for the rape and are
less knowledgeable about the impact of rape on victims.[33] Such men may misread cues given
out by women in social situations and may lack the inhibitions that act to
suppress associations between sex and aggression.[33] They may have coercive sexual fantasies,[34] and overall are more hostile
towards women than are men who are not sexually violent.
·
Research
on convicted rapists: The
research on convicted rapists has found several important motivational factors
in the sexual aggression of males. Those motivational factors repeatedly
implicated are having anger at women and having the need to control or dominate
them. Additionally, as reported by several rapists they are finely attracted by
the wearing of women.
All these factors must be taken into the
consideration to stay alert. After such experiences of men, women tend to feel
hatred for men. And there is huge possibility too that they might abuse their
constitutional right only to punish a man whom they hate. There are cases like
these exist into court of law. I advice moderate point of view towards both the
gender and do not let the sensational moment get the better of us. We must remember the Jasleen Vs Sarvjeet Case
of 2015.
Our parents often asked us to get back to
home soon. They don’t allow girls to stay out for late night. They don’t allow
their daughters to wear short dress and put many restrictions. And we young
generation always rebel against them for their such rules without understanding
the reasons behind it. It is not that they don’t trust their daughters; it is
they don’t trust those monsters out there who shall harm their daughter.
Safety
Advices for Girls:
- Always mind your surroundings wherever you are. Don’t let your guards down, the perpetrator is waiting for that exact moment.
- Trust your friends, co-workers, colleagues but always stay alert. It is 98% of case that victim is known to perpetrators.
- Always keep pepper spray, electric teaser or any safety device in your purse. Bad situation does not knock the door first, it trespasses through windows.
- Always inform your family or trusted friends of your current location. And if you sense some sort of sinister activity dial 100. It is better safe than sorry. We often hesitate to make calls as we feel that it may turn out to be a false alarm. But it is better to make call and it turns out false alarm than not calling and meeting a real unfortunate event.
- Do not stay outside home for long time. There is no point making arguments that men should change their mentality as it is highly highlighted in news by movie actresses. First know the fact that no matter how we argue or even shout, next person will not change so ultimately it’s up to us to maintain our own safety measures. It’s more important that you stay alert yourself than asking next person to change their mentality. Perpetrator could be medically incapable to even understand what he is doing or could be having psychotic behavioral patterns. Patriarchal society problems are different, in such moments problems are different.
- Take self defense lessons. It is the need of the time.
- Always maintain the emergency helpline numbers in your mobile phone, even if you feel them irrelevant.
Not every girl is going to be
capable to get the tools she needs to defend herself. We often notice those
little girls on the signals begging us for coins. Have you ever bothered to
consider what might be happening to them? Our sister, our friends are secure in
good homes of our parents but what about those beggar girls who sleep on
footpath? What security do they have? None.
The willingness to report the rape has
increased in recent years, after several incidents of rape received widespread
media attention and triggered public protest. This led the Government of
India to reform its penal code for crimes of rape and sexual assault.
But when they face such bad
incidences the worse thing is… rarely their case is filed in police station. They themselves are not even alert what to do
after such incidence and even system does not take their complaints seriously.
References:
·
India’s
Police force among weakest in world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_states_and_territories_ranked_by_safety_of_women
No comments:
Post a Comment