Shame! Shame! Shame!

I started this blog over THREE YEARS ago, but never posted anything. I probably never felt as strongly about anything...


Everyday there are numerous articles in the newspaper about crimes against women. But why is it that crime against Indian women abroad is sensationalised? There are night candlelit vigils, protest marches, signing of online petitions and the support of the entire country, not to mention headlines for several days (case in point being Savita Halappanavar and Jacintha Saldanha). The rest we read with a pinch of salt, discuss over the breakfast table and blame everyone from the parents (of both the perpetrator and the victim!) to the government. We give it five minutes of our precious time, move on to more important daily activities, and forget about it. It takes a horrendous and brutal crime like the latest shocker in the capital to make us get up and protest against something happening in our own country.

Statistics show that there has been an alarming increase in the number of sexual crimes over the years. But there has always been a stigma attached to such issues, more so 50 years back than now, and they were therefore hushed up. These crimes have always happened (right from eve teasing to incest to prostitution), but are reported more now than earlier. This barbarianism is not specific to India. The USA tops the list of crime against women. Obviously prosperity and education has no effect on demons. Question for you : What is it that makes men want to exercise their physical power over women and humiliate and torment them in this fashion – temporary insanity/ frustration with life/ dissatisfaction with their social standing… What is it?

Then there is the issue of the punishment for the criminal. There have been suggestions for medical castration, chemical castration, public humiliation, life imprisonment and even the death penalty. Of course, punishment will be given when the criminal is convicted, which might take years, given the condition of our judiciary, and the ease with which anyone can be bought. The opinion of a friend of mine (whose name I think would be unethical to mention in my blog) is that we should not waste the tax payers’ money in keeping him alive in jail. Death penalty would be the obvious “choice”, considering the victim suffers a fate worse than death, often being ostracized and ridiculed, not to mention the mental and physical trauma she endures.

Some women’s groups claim that giving capital punishment for rape would increase the risk for the women, as the rapist would be tempted to kill the victim to get rid of the eye witness evidence. Another friend of mine is of the opinion that the penalty for murder is also death, but only if you’re caught and convicted. The criminal does not get deterred from doing the crime just because the punishment he might have to face. But then he should know that if he is caught, then death is what awaits him. Question : Should capital punishment be given to rapists, or should they be medically castrated to forever remind them of their horrendous crime?

The husband thinks we should have a powerful, autonomous body that controls and regulates the Police force in our country. That way they will not have to bow to the pressure of the government officials and the politicians, and thus may be more motivated to at least lodge a formal complaint, without the fear of "repurcussions". The only criterion for selection of this body would be that it should be elected only by the educated citizens (not just literate, but those who have at least cleared the 10th standard) of the country.

The solution probably lies in educating our children (though, I also feel that the root of almost all the problems in our country is over population). We must teach them right from wrong, about what it means to have strength/ power and its misuse, and above all, respect for a fellow human being. Tehelka Blog sites a lot of disturbing statistics and facts about our society. But perhaps the most important thing author Kiran Manral says, is that first we need to bring up good citizens in our children.

I worry about my children and the world we’ll leave behind for them. Do we not love them enough to ensure they inherit a safer world? Crime and disorder are only increasing. This is entropy on an altogether different level. When will we learn and live the fact that we have not inherited this planet from our parents; we have only borrowed it from our children? Farhan Akhtar’s poem is titled “What Is This Country That I Live In?” I would say “What Is This World That I Live In?”