Real men don’t rape, they care and respect. How we wish this statement stood true in today’s world, it would have made our lives far more beautiful and safe. But the ever going streak of such heinous incidents exemplifies the fact that we might have graduated from the stone age to iPhone age but our carnivorous instincts are still the same.
If the scars of December 2012 Delhi gang rape case were still afresh the recently televised adaptation of the incident (broadcasted on a prime time crime based television show) literally forced us to relive the horrors of the brutality that brave heart ‘Nirbhaya’ and more so her family went through or are still going through. However, due to the sensitivity of the issue the televised show depicted the overall incident in a much milder manner than what actually transpired that night but even the milder version of the show was tough to sit through. It is un-imaginable how can people be so inhuman to pacify their carnal desires.
I have often wondered and discussed with lot of my friends that can a rapist achieve any form of sexual ecstasy, leave apart orgasm while raping an innocent victim? Practically, it’s just not possible and more so if it is a gang rape. So why do people do it, out of madness? Out of frustration? Or out of sheer arrogance that a woman has to be treated just as an object to meet their sexual desires. Though such people exist across all strata of our society but I still believe this mind-set has lot to do with illiteracy. Not just the school and degree based literacy but more to do with the morality and ethics based literacy, that emphasizes on values like respecting women and treating them at par with men on all walks of life.
To fight this menace a strong and revamped judicial and governance system is also the need of the hour. A lot has been said about justice being served to Nirbhaya’s parents through the death penalty to the four convicted rapists. But can any kind of penalty or punishment to the convicts bring justice to the family, certainly NOT. But yes, a strong punishment can send a stern statement to such retards. Though I am not a big fan capital punishment, not because of the human right implications but I believe it translates into an easy escape route after committing horrifying crimes. So I don’t think capital punishment to those four criminals is the most justified punishment, they deserved a harsher sentencing than this rather easy exit from this rarest of rare and nastiest of nasty act. For that matter, fate of the juvenile who was most brutal of them all has been unintentionally being sealed in a rather more justified way. A majority of us feel that a 3 year sentencing on account of his age is an easy escape for such a gory act but I believe to lead rest of his life in the society after coming out of the jail would be the real punishment for him. So if our judicial system can pen down some tougher means to punish such criminal acts rather than handing them a death penalty, it might go on to curb such inhuman acts to some extent.
But what do we do with our esteemed politicians, religious leaders and a bevy of self-proclaimed intellectuals who shamelessly blame the rape victims themselves for such acts; Merely because they don’t dress appropriately or because they roam out in open after sunset or for the very fact that they have a boyfriend. Democracy, agreed. But such shameless and illogical statements are doing no good to stop these shameless acts. So not only such criminals should be dealt with strictly but the noose also has to be tightened against such reckless thought leaders.
However, the most important change that needs to be brought upon is in our mind-set. We tend to ignore the instances of harassments considering them as minor or we tend to restrict ourselves from taking any action against them fearing the hassles involved in registering such complaints or that fear of ‘what will people think about me’. But unless we escalate and report harassments of even smallest nature we can’t send a strong message against such unacceptable advances. Men need to be strong in their resolve to protect and care for women around, acquaintances or strangers, and women need to be brave to retort and report against such illicit acts. Any indifference or inaction will only harm innocents like Nirbhaya and give strength to those cowards who shamelessly execute such crimes.
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