It
has been a year since we observed one of the most heinous crimes of the
mankind… A brutal gang rape that culminated in the death of its victim,
Nirbhaya. Everybody, right from the media to the most common citizen of India,
has been discussing the incident for the last entire year in newsrooms, living
rooms, classrooms, kitty parties, students' organization meetings, women's
organizations, smoking areas of corporates, local trains, bus stops and at
every place where two sensible persons meet. We have had debates, discussions,
committees, schemes, and many other things as a result of the outrage of
Nirbhaya case.
And
yet… we have rape cases doubled and molestation cases risen by 6 times in the
last year. One may say that rape cases have doubled, while some may opine that
reporting of rape cases have doubled, which might be looked at as a positive
sign. However, we are certain that if rape cases have indeed doubled, it is an
alarming situation. Increase in reporting will mean that the subject has
received much more recognition in comparison to a year ago. It will also mean
that victims are not scared of being stigmatized as they were a year ago. It
will also mean that maybe people have started vesting their faith in the system
(police, law, judiciary all put together), thinking that they have a chance of
getting justice. This may lead to more complaints being lodged. Same goes with
molestation cases too. All these figures are always open for interpretation…
What
is not open for interpretation is the fact that women, young and old, urban and
rural, traditional and modern, professional women and housewives, are still
being raped and/or molested in homes, offices, buses, dark alleys, hotel rooms,
cars, beaches, toilets… everywhere!
What
we must understand is that rapes are not only numbers, but real life traumas
experienced by women which leave them scarred for the rest of their lives.
Rapes are irreversible facts of every woman who has experienced that brutality.
Rapes are a brutal reality threatening our everyday lives. Rapes are a
mentality that is hampering our lives as individuals and as a society. It is
hampering our interpersonal relations in a way that is making every day worse
than the previous one.
We
have already reached a state where every girl is taught, either directly or
indirectly, to look upon any man or boy as a probable molester and to keep
distance from every man or boy. It is not hard to imagine where this is going
to lead us. And this is not going to change, even if incidence of rape cases goes
down… And as long as one woman is being raped somewhere, the fear of being the
next one will lurk in the minds of all other women. Because as we all know, none
of us is safe till all of us are safe!
