Today is the start of a new year; and new dreams promising to come true. For those of us in India, 2012 has been eventful in more ways than one. For once, the common man woke up to his collective strength and came together for common causes, be it the anti corruption movement, movement for citizen’s right of free expression, or agitations for women’s safety. We have also seen absolute power corrupting absolutely.
But the most poignant and unfortunate among the incidents that affected us this year was the ghastly attack on the young 23 year old Paramedic from Delhi – re-christened by the papers as Nirbhaya. Her brave fight for survival and subsequent painful death remind us that no matter how modern we consider ourselves, we still have savages prowling our streets. Savages, who wouldn’t think twice before not just brutally raping a hapless young woman but injuring her so badly that she subsequently died of the injuries. Did I mention that she was actually accompanied by a male friend, and was in a public transport at 9:30 pm when she was attacked? Never mind that her attackers were the only ones in the bus when she fell victim to them.
This incident not just unleashed social outrage but once again brought into sharp focus, government apathy towards women’s safety.
The politicians, not surprisingly, exposed their perennial foot in the mouth disease and raised the hackles of the citizenry. I hear cries for stringent laws. But do we really need more of them? We have enough and more laws to counter the most heinous of crimes. What we do not have and need is stringent execution of these laws.
These criminals need to be punished with such an unheard of viciousness that a person would think a hundred times before he even contemplates doing anything as savage. This should send out a clear message to all low lives. The message that these creatures were punished not because they committed a crime against a defenseless young woman but so that no such crime should be committed ever again.
Their punishment should be a lesson to everyone. Public lynching may make criminals out of ordinary law abiding citizens; but I am sure there are other equally severe punishments that can strike terror in the hearts of would be criminals. It would still be a case of too little too late for Nirbhaya but who knows how many more Nirbhayas we would save. Let’s remember, a rape, molestation or any other gender specific crime is not a woman’s issue, because, almost always, there is a man suffering along with her - as a father, a husband, a son or a brother. The men in her life suffer as much as her. So, let’s stop calling these women’s issues and not sideline them anymore.
While stringent punishment of these creatures is a foregone conclusion, the crying need of the hour is sensitization of the people, especially men in power, the uneducated and every other man on the street, to the importance of respecting women, and to the fact that women, whoever they may be, have rights. Rights, which cannot be dismissed simply because the perpetrators of crimes are men in power, or simply, men. Let’s start with the men in the public eye, those who are not only impudent but revel in it. Let anyone caught making insulting statements be immediately removed from their posts and not be reinstated, their profuse “humble apologies” notwithstanding.
There is a maelstorm of emotions, thoughts and agitation in my mind right now. Enough said, we have to start somewhere. As for women, we need to be trained to protect ourselves. Self protection is not just about martial arts training. It’s about attitude. The belief that we have a right to a safe world, and that it starts with us. The strongest weapon in times of crisis, it is told, is action. Be prepared, always. Escapist politicians tell us the women should avoid going out after sunset, what about women conductors, women drivers, women cabbies? They need security as much as the students and the employees. We cannot have a security personnel for every single woman walking around. What we should have is comfort knowing that that our roads are safe for us and that the law does not take kindly to criminals.
It’s time the powers that be realized that crime, especially, crimes aimed at women have to be treated as crimes against society because women are, after all, half the society. I hope this wave of intolerance against crimes gains momentum and see a logical end – hopefully as cities, towns and villages turn safer.
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