(19 Sep 2013)
The lawyer defending some of the convicts in the brutal
Delhi gang-rape had drawn a lot of outrage from the society, when he said he
would not challenge the death penalty verdict if there was no case of rape or
rape-and-murder in two months from the sentencing by a Delhi court. Newspapers
around the country have been as full of rape news as earlier, stirring the
question: has the verdict not been able to act as a deterrent despite all of
India curiously following the developments in this case?
While fear of exemplary punishment is a great weapon to
perhaps curb violence against women, is it not true that no law and no extent
of the enforcement of such laws can do the much-needed social conditioning? A
gang-rape, for example, is almost never something that happens at the ‘heat of
the moment’; contrastingly, it is generally a cold-blooded plan that is hatched
collectively to nail down a potentially vulnerable ‘target’. It is more of a
taming exercise than a means of physical pleasure. It is much more in the mind
than in the body of a male assaulter. More than the male organ, what is
involved in these horrific acts is the psychology of a society that in many
ways for ages has okayed suppression of women by the application of force. You
cannot call India a sexually deprived nation. It is a country that has multiplied
its population with a vigor that would put animals to shame! By no stretch of
imagination can you call these rapes as discreet incidents; these are part of
the same thread. Women in India have for centuries been tamed and silenced; rape
is only one of the means that is getting a lot of lime light these days, thanks
to an increased level of awareness amongst women to ‘report’ such crimes.
Until such time when women are truly seen at per with men,
when women are made part of decision making, when women are treated with
man-like dignity, when success of women is celebrated, when the society takes
pride in womanhood, when women are not considered mere sex toys, no legislation
by the law making and enforcing authorities can make a significant positive
impact.
Charity, as they say, begins at home. What kind of home for
tomorrow are you building today?
No comments:
Post a Comment