A woman(35) and her teen daughter(13) were dragged out of their car and gang-raped at gunpoint in Bulandhshahr, Uttar Pradesh. In another news, Swathi was hacked to death in broad daylight by her stalker. Violence against women in India seems to be rising daily. We have had a string of high profile rape cases - Aruna Shanbaug, Bantala, Shopian, Kiliroor, Mathura, Bhanwari Devi, Suryanelli, Laxmi mills and not to forget, the Nirbhaya which finally jolted the system out of its slumber and make amendments to some laws that had remained almost untouched since it was written on Macaulay’s study table. But human beings are selective in identifying those incidents that relate to us the most or some just happen to be the goriest. Here are some statistics to apprise you of the actual situation. Just hold on to your seats.
More than 24000 rapes were REPORTED in India last year, i.e. more than 93 women were raped in India everyday.
Shocked?! Wait, less than one tenth of the incidents are reported.
Even among the reported, most of the violations are done by relatives, friends and acquaintances. A fraction of it done by strangers gets through in the media.
Marital Rape is not a crime in India, apparently because religious conservatives think marriage is sacred and husbands have a right to their wives bodies.
Today, there are laws against every act that violates a woman’s modesty by word or action, but what lacks is awareness and compliance. Remember both awareness and compliance go hand in hand.
So can we fix things, or is it just a slippery slope from here? Let’s not be overtly pessimistic, if we are facing a man made problem, we can find a solution for it, its not as hard as reaching Pluto. We need to make changes at many levels.
1. Raise our awareness
Stalking is a crime, whether it is done physically or over the internet. You have to report if you notice someone stalking you or sending you unsolicited messages on social media. Repeated stalking even after complaining once is punishable by upto 5 years of imprisonment.
Sexual violence comprises of everything from penetrating without consent to catcalling. Do not classify these crimes as’major’ or’minor’. The’minor’ criminals will most probably end up doing something disastrous; if not to you, then to someone else. Please report every incident, even if they are let off with just a warning it will help the police to keep a track of the miscreants.
We have a law against sexual harassment at the workplace. Every organisation whether public or private, organised or unorganised should have an internal complaints committee to inquire into offences and report it to the District officer within 60 days. You are entitled to get a copy of such report and can also file an appeal if you find it unsatisfactory. Under the law, offices should undertake programs for sensitisation of employees and develop policies against sexual harassment, here again the term harassment has wide connotations. The Government can impose a file or cancel the licenses of employers not complying with the terms of the act.
Every police station is supposed to have at least one woman constable, you are entitled to the presence of a female officer to communicate a complaint of a’sexual’ nature. You are also entitled to privacy. Under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, a woman can go on record before the district magistrate when the case is under trial, no other person needs to be present. Or she can record her statement with a police officer accompanied by a woman constable in a place that is not crowded and does not provide possibility of being overheard by a fourth person.
According to a Supreme Court ruling, women cannot be arrested between sunset and sunrise. If the arrest has to be made at night then the police must get that in writing from a magistrate.
Lastly, please do not misuse the laws just because you have a grudge on someone. Repeated false complaints will only make the police sceptical and insensitive, they are human and they need to ascertain the validity of the complaints.
2. Change Attitudes
Casual use of the terms rape, molest and anything that is a social ill should be avoided. It will just trivialise the crime. It is as valid for us as it is for Salman Khan. So the next time Virat Kohli chases down a huge target against Pakistan, let’s not say, he raped them, let’s keep it simple.
Apart from the extrinsic violence that women suffer everyday, they suffer from intrinsic violence at their own homes. The basic unit of our democracy is the family, democratize it. Whether it is about doing household chores or planning their future, give every child equal importance and let them have a place on the table. This will go a long way in developing a gender neutral attitude among children. Let them exercise their right to equality and the freedom of choice right from their homes.
Girls in our country are not encouraged to approach people to open up about their problems. Even if during a casual conversation with a very good friend who might say something you are not very comfortable with, make sure you open up. Someone who might have acted inadvertently might not make the mistake again.
Don’t equate a woman’s character to the length of her clothes and its not a sign of being overactive sexually!
Stop victim blaming, rape is a crime psychologically linked to a man’s need to control, not the woman’s clothing or the time she chooses to go out or the company she keeps.
Refrain from objectification, its leads to the denial of autonomy, reduces them to mere instruments and results in the lack of subjectivity in dealing with sexual crimes.
Remember, Consent is important. NO means NO. It does NOT mean YES. It does NOT mean MAYBE. You cannot force penetrate yourself. That’s not sex, that’s RAPE.
No, she wasn’t born to get married and warm someone’s bed. Encourage her to have her own identity and be independent. Empower her through knowledge and education. Education opens our minds. An educated woman leads to an educated household. The foundation of strong, confident and steadfast woman is by knowing, everything. The woman can take a stand for herself which is the need of the hour.
3. Systemic Changes
Sensitising the Police is very important, fortunately the government has taken a number of steps in this direction. But as a part of the society, we need to continuously interact with the enforcers of law to make sure that they act in the manner envisaged in our laws.
The Judiciary in India is overburdened with pending cases. Lack of timely judicial scrutiny only give rise to impunity. Though the government has made several interventions in this regard, things haven’t yet fallen in place. Though specialised courts to deal with sexual violence helps, women still face socio cultural hurdles in reporting crimes. Use of e-governance to set up a transparent, safe and cheaper means to complain will help. Women from poorer sections and minorities hesitate due to reach out thinking about the complicated and costly legal processes, they are also sceptical about the quality of lawyers. It is important to help them avail free and legal counsel and reach out to them in a way that causes minimum inconvenience.
One of the barriers to gender justice in this country is the distorted application of religious principles. Most of our religious leaders and priests are men and they have monopolised the knowledge of scriptures and religious rites. People often forget that Religion is a tool for social control, hence lack of women on the high table can only be detrimental to their status. Religions and its leaders should accept change and evolve, otherwise it will fossilise and will be detrimental to the society.
In a country with 49% women, only 9% of our MLA’s and MP’s are women. The government needs to reserve more seats for women in the highest echelons of our democracy so that we get a better perspective for framing laws on gender justice.
Politicians and Enforcement authorities should refrain from moral policing. It is against the constitutionally guaranteed principle of liberty and will only alienate people from the authorities.