Rape is a heinous crime. Everyone thinks so. Right? Obviously not if you consider how many such crimes occur in our society. So what are the reasons why it happens? There are two basic reasons, attitude towards women and lack of enforcement.
Male attitudes towards women in India are too well documented to reiterate here. Suffice it to say that all the rubbish about "Ma, Behen ya Beti" and worship of Durga, Kali or any of the other goddesses is just a facade that covers the awful reality of what we really feel about them. The main attitude is of dominance. Women are by definition subservient in Indian society. Their role from childhood onwards is to serve men. The saga of female foeticide to infanticide to dowry to bride burning is an awful indictment of all that is wrong and hypocritical in Indian society. Sati was banned many years ago by the British but every once in a while rumours and actual incidents still show up. Reverence of "Sati Mata" hides primitive attitudes behind the act of worship. The worst offenders are the burgeoning Indian under class in our urban slums. Behind the glittering facade of emerging metropolitan areas like Gurgaon and NOIDA there is a stinking cess pit of illegal and violent dreams fed by increasing money and easy access to Alcohol and Drugs. Delhi has many such urban villages imbeded in its cityscape. This is not to imply that these areas are the only source of sexual violence. The essential thought process of dominance prevails equally strongly in middle class India too. In addition to the this, there are two other facilitators. One, the attitude towards crime and corruption. In the old days middle class families would not entertain a tax evader or a criminal of any sort in their homes. This attitude has been considerably diluted nowadays and one does not really consider bribery or tax evasion as a crime any more. It is a symbolic of the slipping standards of public morality. Two, easy access to pornography and increasingly titillating cinema. Social depictions in Bollywood have undergone a seismic shift. From not depicting a kiss it has leapfrogged into the modern era where a "one night stand" is par for the course. In reality, society has not moved that far and many gullible viewers begin to imagine that all women are open to their advances and inflamed imagination.
Lack of enforcement is endemic in India. From trivial offences like jumping a red light or driving on the wrong side of a one way street to other more serious offences, Indians believe they can get away with anything. It took us four years to hang Ajmal Kasab and a more deadly example of a criminal, terrorist act is hard to find. Politicians, Power Brokers and Mafia Dons routinely get away with murder and worse. At worst there could be a brief period of jail after a protracted legal process after which they are usually freed to enjoy their ill gotten gains. In some cases the jail terms are alleviated by frequent paroles where the convicted criminal is allowed to "look after his ailing mother" or some such nonsense. What are the reasons for this attitude? Let us dismiss one often touted one straight away. There is an argument that our laws are not stringent enough. That is simply not true. We have laws in plenty if only they could be implemented strongly enough. The real reasons lie elsewhere. Firstly, the foregoing paragraphs talked about slipping standards of morality and ethics. This is equally true for work ethics in India. A civil servant sees himself as the recipient of a government pension for life. He has priviliges without responsibility. Power without accountability. What could be better than that! Politicians embody the extreme end of the spectrum. If you have been elected once all you need to do hold on to your chair while you press the button of the public ATM to fill your pockets. Obviously this venal approach precludes public servants from doing anything more constructive than filling their own pockets. Secondly, the dimensioning of our law enforcement agencies is just not big enough as indeed is the case of the courts. Our cities, towns and economy have grown far faster than the institutions that are meant to uphold them. Civic infrastructure is a similar example. What restricts us from expanding the Police and Paramilitary? Budgetary constraints are one thing but what is more important to realise is that taxes are being eaten up by unproductive subsidies. There is simply no money left to improve policing and preserve security. We have abdicated the will to govern in favour of short term gains of a selfish nature.
We cannot claim to find solutions for these endemic problems in a simple blog like this. Perhaps all of us need to introspect on what is wrong with us so that effective solutions can emerge. We are not a world power yet and perhaps we will never be one. Certainly we can never hope to progress and hold our heads high if we treat our women the way we do,
Male attitudes towards women in India are too well documented to reiterate here. Suffice it to say that all the rubbish about "Ma, Behen ya Beti" and worship of Durga, Kali or any of the other goddesses is just a facade that covers the awful reality of what we really feel about them. The main attitude is of dominance. Women are by definition subservient in Indian society. Their role from childhood onwards is to serve men. The saga of female foeticide to infanticide to dowry to bride burning is an awful indictment of all that is wrong and hypocritical in Indian society. Sati was banned many years ago by the British but every once in a while rumours and actual incidents still show up. Reverence of "Sati Mata" hides primitive attitudes behind the act of worship. The worst offenders are the burgeoning Indian under class in our urban slums. Behind the glittering facade of emerging metropolitan areas like Gurgaon and NOIDA there is a stinking cess pit of illegal and violent dreams fed by increasing money and easy access to Alcohol and Drugs. Delhi has many such urban villages imbeded in its cityscape. This is not to imply that these areas are the only source of sexual violence. The essential thought process of dominance prevails equally strongly in middle class India too. In addition to the this, there are two other facilitators. One, the attitude towards crime and corruption. In the old days middle class families would not entertain a tax evader or a criminal of any sort in their homes. This attitude has been considerably diluted nowadays and one does not really consider bribery or tax evasion as a crime any more. It is a symbolic of the slipping standards of public morality. Two, easy access to pornography and increasingly titillating cinema. Social depictions in Bollywood have undergone a seismic shift. From not depicting a kiss it has leapfrogged into the modern era where a "one night stand" is par for the course. In reality, society has not moved that far and many gullible viewers begin to imagine that all women are open to their advances and inflamed imagination.
Lack of enforcement is endemic in India. From trivial offences like jumping a red light or driving on the wrong side of a one way street to other more serious offences, Indians believe they can get away with anything. It took us four years to hang Ajmal Kasab and a more deadly example of a criminal, terrorist act is hard to find. Politicians, Power Brokers and Mafia Dons routinely get away with murder and worse. At worst there could be a brief period of jail after a protracted legal process after which they are usually freed to enjoy their ill gotten gains. In some cases the jail terms are alleviated by frequent paroles where the convicted criminal is allowed to "look after his ailing mother" or some such nonsense. What are the reasons for this attitude? Let us dismiss one often touted one straight away. There is an argument that our laws are not stringent enough. That is simply not true. We have laws in plenty if only they could be implemented strongly enough. The real reasons lie elsewhere. Firstly, the foregoing paragraphs talked about slipping standards of morality and ethics. This is equally true for work ethics in India. A civil servant sees himself as the recipient of a government pension for life. He has priviliges without responsibility. Power without accountability. What could be better than that! Politicians embody the extreme end of the spectrum. If you have been elected once all you need to do hold on to your chair while you press the button of the public ATM to fill your pockets. Obviously this venal approach precludes public servants from doing anything more constructive than filling their own pockets. Secondly, the dimensioning of our law enforcement agencies is just not big enough as indeed is the case of the courts. Our cities, towns and economy have grown far faster than the institutions that are meant to uphold them. Civic infrastructure is a similar example. What restricts us from expanding the Police and Paramilitary? Budgetary constraints are one thing but what is more important to realise is that taxes are being eaten up by unproductive subsidies. There is simply no money left to improve policing and preserve security. We have abdicated the will to govern in favour of short term gains of a selfish nature.
We cannot claim to find solutions for these endemic problems in a simple blog like this. Perhaps all of us need to introspect on what is wrong with us so that effective solutions can emerge. We are not a world power yet and perhaps we will never be one. Certainly we can never hope to progress and hold our heads high if we treat our women the way we do,
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