THE horrendous manner in which girls are being abused, molested, raped and murdered almost every other day begs the question, have we become helpless before such criminals? Little girls, who have not even yet learned to speak properly, are also not being spared. Sometime ago, one was under the impression that massive demonstrations in several parts of the country against the gang rape of a 23-year old student in a moving bus in the capital city must have mobilized people against such crimes. It certainly created awareness enough to hit headlines across the country and most parts of the world but did not succeed in putting an effective check on crimes against women. One is simply at the loss to understand as who is failing this nation. And why?
Last month three minor girls were raped and murdered in a village in Bhandara, Maharashtra. The sisters, aged 6, 8 and 11, did not return from school on Feb. 14. Two days later, their bodies were found in a well around 2 km from their house. More than a fortnight has passed since the crime was committed and the police still remain clueless about the perpetrator(s). The very nature of this crime is disgusting, hardly reflecting any of the lofty cultural traits the country’s citizens claim to be proud of.
There is a major lapse in the Indian security system which apparently is being taken advantage of by criminals. Even though the victims’ family wasted little time in reporting the girls’ disappearance to the police, the criminals had substantial time to destroy all evidence of their crime. They did not even take the risk of sparing any of the victims. To be sure that the victims are dead, the criminals threw their bodies into the well.
This is not the Indian culture that claims to accord high respect to women. The Hindus that form the majority of the society even worship deities that are women. The job of the police is to pursue the case until the criminals are nabbed.
One needs to draw a line between the degree to which the police can be blamed and to which Indian society must bear responsibility for the frequent abuse of women. In this context, attention may be drawn to the gang rape and murder of the 23-year-old woman in Delhi. The crime could have been prevented had the police been on alert. The woman may still have been pursuing her education had the bus she was traveling in been without curtains and colored windows, in keeping with the capital city’s traffic regulations. She and her friend may have been actively pursuing their career plans had the criminals not been drunk. In this case, the concerned authorities can be blamed for permitting the bus to move around with colored windows and curtains, for allowing drunken persons to travel and for not ensuring that the area’s police were vigilant. But this is one side of the story.
The Bhandara case exposes the degree to which Indian citizens cannot be absolved of their role in such crimes. Three girls were brutally and shamelessly targeted, probably by more than one person. That was the prime objective of the criminals: Commit the crime and do away with the evidence by snuffing out the lives of the victims and then disposing them of. The alleged criminals had probably never been taught to show respect to women. They are probably not feeling guilty or even remorseful at having committed such a disgraceful crime. They are probably feeling relieved that they have not been apprehended. And this brings us to the fundamental malaise in Indian society that needs further attention. The society in general has little respect for women, who are looked down upon as second-class citizens. The situation is worse in rural areas. Women are not treated as human beings but as “commodities” to be used and abused by men. What is more deplorable is that men consider their physical strength and gender as having given them the authority to exploit as well as abuse women.
What a tragedy! One cannot forget the fact that there has prevailed a trend in other countries to overplay India’s negative traits, whether they are marked by cows sitting on roads, stray dogs, beggars or open drains. Now, these have been replaced by Indian rape cases making national, regional and global headlines. This is not India. Yet, the fact that it reflects a major lapse in the country’s socio-cultural system cannot be ignored.
Within three months, we have come face-to-face with the hard fact that protest demonstrations against such crimes can have only limited impact. Capital punishment for criminals is not the answer to this problem. The Bhandara case reaffirms the fact that women will probably continue to be abused in most parts of the country as long as they are not treated as human beings and as equal citizens. The right to vote cannot be viewed as the Indian woman’s passport to equality in the society. There is a need to create awareness across the country to make citizens gradually but definitively accept that all women must be respected. It is the responsibility of one and all in the society to ensure that this trend is unavoidable!
