Violence against women: India�s serious problem

By Lalit Garg

Another Nirbhaya succumbed to the cruelty of tameless people. Once again, a 19-year-old Dalit girl from Hathras district of UP succumbed to gangrape and gruesome torture, died on Tuesday at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital after battling for 15 days. This heinous, gruesome and horrible gangrape scandal has not only caused the entire country to become disturbed and embarrassed but also tarnished. Once again, this incident which has nurtured the female identity and existence has shaken us. This tragic incident is showing that girls are still not safe in the country. This incident has once again raised many questions by immersing the entire nation in compassion and grief.

After the Nirbhaya case of Delhi, there was hope that the people would not have to go through such tragedies. But despite the strictness of rape laws, there is still existence of brutal rapes, horrible sexual acts against women and even murders of women. Hathras’s daughter was brutally tortured that is confirmed by her death. His spine was broken and the tongue was amputated. Uttar Pradesh has witnessed a series of crimes against women in particular. This state has been included in the most vulnerable state for women. This state has been a stronghold of crime for a long time, the police and administration here has been corrupt and chaotic, now efforts are being made to get control over these criminal mentalities by the efforts of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Hathras’s dalit daughter is also a daughter of someone like us, though she may have been personally known, but after struggling for 15 days of life and death, she finally lost it. Her painful story has not only made the pangs of crores of women in the country explicit, but has also made the society think again. This cruel and inhumane incident of Hathras is a new version of the Mahabharata period in which an attempt was made to expel Draupadi by holding her hair in the Rajya Sabha in front of blind king Dhritarashtra. Such ugly and disgusting form of humanity has emerged in this gruesome incident.

Once again, many questions have arisen about how many girls, after all, will continue to be victims of such atrocities. For how long will she allow her to take advantage of her compulsions? Who will wipe this soot from the face of the country? Who will stop such people who commit such heinous crimes and humiliate the woman?

We tried to find answers to these burning questions even during the time of Nirbhaya. But despite this discovery, the recurrence of these incidents is sad and also a serious challenge. This death has also highlighted the gross failure of the administrative and police system in dealing with crime like gangrape, it has also revealed that corruption and anarchy is rampant in the roots of the police and administration of Uttar Pradesh.  They can be changed only by strict measures. Even now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself directed the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure the harshest punishment for all the culprits of Hathras. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also constituted the SIT to investigate the case. The irony and gloom of the Hathras incident is that some people were seen trying to save the accused by carrying a stage banner. This incident directly states that whatever steps were taken after the Nirbhaya incident proved to be insufficient to prevent such incidents.

A big question is also why there is no fear of the potential criminals for the long-running mechanism for investigation and punishment? After the Nirbhaya case of Delhi, the changes made in the laws under the pressure of public outrage, also did not have any significant impact on the society. There has been some effect, only which the demand for quick death penalty to criminals in heinous cases of rape has started coming up from every possible stage. The result was seen as a Hyderabad police encounter, where the suspected perpetrators of rape were killed even more suspiciously. Criminals should be punished quickly by the court, for which there is no urge in the society, or in the government machinery.

The girl was from a Dalit background and the four accused arrested are of high caste. This is the reason that instead of punishing the criminals, there is definitely a tendency to stand in defense of them on the basis of their caste and religion, which has also come up in the Hathras incident after the Kathua rape case. With such thinking, will India ever be able to become a civilized society? There are many reasons to doubt the police-administration, why the victim was cremated in the dark of night without family involvement? There are questions on the intention and role of police and administration. Hopefully, Prime Minister Modi’s instructions and Chief Minister Yogi’s readiness will lead to more reliable answers to these questions and will awaken consciousness in terms of controlling such tragic events.

Such a disgusting incident raises questions every time, but without answering those questions they are still there. This situation reflects our weak mentality as well as political inconsistencies. When the administration cannot fulfill its national responsibility ethically, then the contribution of the creative powers proves more valuable. Our mindset is not changing, then again and again, scandals like Nirbhaya, Kathua and Hathras keep shaking us. Due to our dormancy, rape-adultery-gang rape and torture are increasing with the girl child, but also the scam of trapping innocent people in the guise of stringent laws. In which police are printing notes along with anti-social elements.

We not only have to change the polluted and deformed ways of living, but we also have to uproot the roots of the reasons for which women are forced to drink a sip of poison again and again. The need is to be strict, if the punishment of the rapists along with closing the escape route will serve as a harsh lesson for the rest of society only then it will prevent people of criminal mindset from committing such crimes. But even then, if such incidents are not stopping, then it is necessary to think what else should be done in this direction?

Finding a solution to this problem only in law is also a fallacy, a half-baked effort towards the solution of the problem. The most important is to eliminate the conditions that cause such crimes. Crimes like rape are committed by people with a frustrated mindset, but such frustrations sometimes arise from our social attitudes towards women. This mentality can be eradicated only by giving women equal status at the level of social perception and increasing their public activism, not just in laws. With this, we will also create a society, which will be able to exclude those with frustrated mentality. The question is also why in our country are there so many frustrations among men about women? Neutral thinking is also necessary on how to eliminate these frustrations.

(Lalit Garg is a Journalist, columnist, writer and member of Rajbhasha samiti, Ministry of Home Affairs. He can be reached at lalitgarg11@gmail.com)