Outraged in and by Delhi

There's been a lot of "noise" across all channels/newspapers/discussion fora on the Delhi gang rape incident in particular, and crimes against women, in general. 

There was a ToI article by Shashi Deshpande - "A Human Rather Than A Woman's Issue" (See: http://toi.in/Cl4z1Z)

I'd like to disagree with the opening statement: "Rape is a CONSCIOUS PROCESS.... by which ALL men keep ALL women in a state of fear". It is an exaggeration that ought to have been abjured. This is the kind of sweeping generalizations that tend to irritate even the moderates, let alone being the equal of waving a red flag before a male chauvinist bull.

Let's begin, first, by trying to understand in a general sense, "What is rape?" - without resorting to legalese, I guess it would be safe to say rape is an act where one (or more) person(s) engages in sexual intercourse with another, without the consent of that other person. 

For the sake of keeping this clear and without muddling the issues. I will (for the moment, at least) not getting into issues of deemed consent. Let's keep this straight. 

Most rapists, in my uneducated, simplistic view, possibly commit the crime when they see an opportunity - I'm talking here of rapists who act alone and not the gang rape situations. 

An uncle, a father, a grand father, a friendly trusted neighbour - all these are examples of a criminal breach of trust of the worst kind. They choose a victim, someone who is innocent, unable to (a) understand what is happening, (b) persuaded to remain quiet and not say a word to anyone, (c) made to feel complicit. The victim need not be a child - the victim could be, in cases, even a fully grown adult woman - a young bahu, being compelled to service her sasurji, or dewar? Not unheard of, no?

In the absence of authentic statistics showing the demographic profile of the rapists, and excluding the incidents of child abuse/child rape committed by members of the family/immediate circle (incest IS rampant in India) I may be pardoned for assuming that most rapists are people who come from the poorer strata of society (not "people like us"!) - drivers, servants, slum dwellers etc. I look at a typical taxi driver in Mumbai - he's around 25 - 40 years old, is from Bihar/UP, stays away from his wife for long periods at a stretch, has no legitimate release for his sexual fantasies and is, yet, someone who:

• watches Hindi movies in which the heroine is a "sex package"...
• watches Hindi movies in which an "item number" is virtually mandatory (with lines such as "Main tandoori chicken hoon, mujhe alcohol se kaat ley")...?
• Spends time, while driving around Mumbai, watching the rear view mirror in which he sees the "couple" in the rear seat engaging in "action"
• Spends time, while driving around Mumbai, LISTENING to young women engaged in extremely flirtatious - and at times very suggestive/sexy - conversations with their boyfriends at the other end (or vice versa)
• is uneducated, impressionable and then tends to imagine that he too can get away with such behaviour..... aspirational needs?
• On getting an opportunity, sometimes - yes, sometimes - tries to grab the same? Especially when he's had a bit to drink? 

In today's age, it has become risible to say that "Women ought to dress conservatively, they should not be provocative!" - not just risible, it is considered even reactionary! So, by all means, let women/girls dress as provocatively as they wish. Then let young men and old lechers ogle all they want too! I draw the line there, ogling is fine, but passing lewd comments, or going beyond that to attempting to molest etc is reprehensible and criminal. 

Problem is, we now step into the area of mob mentality - a girl/lady dressed in revealing clothes. I am alone and I merely ogle. I am NOT alone, I am standing along with a group of friends/acquaintances. One of them passes a comment, lewd, dirty, whatever.. The rest snigger, and then the lewd comments fly thick and fast. How quickly this can spin out of control is anybody's guess. It will depend on a variety of factors - location, time of the day, presence/absence of other people etc. Where "eve teasing" (what a stupid word) stops, where "outraging the modesty" begins, where "molestation" happens and finally rape and/or murder....?

Gang rape is, usually, the outcome of competitive machismo arising from a drunken state of euphoria. A mob mentality, where even 2 people can become a mob. 

What I, personally, find "gruesome" is the incidents of a 6 month old child, or a 4 year old child getting raped? Where is the "provocative dressing" argument here? This is truly the gruesome work of a sick mentality. 

What I find gruesome, too, are those many, many incidents where a victim has been raped in public, in full view of people like you and me - and we stood by and watched, without a single person daring to step in and try and stop this. Such incidents have happened in local trains at 9 pm in Mumbai (certainly not a lonely hour), on top of a platform in Dadar railway station, etc. I'm sure we've got similar episodes from all over India. 

And in all this, I haven't even begun to talk of the rapes that happen during our several communal riots - whether it is a Hindu/Muslim riot or a Hindu/Dalit riot or whatever. When the rape is merely "collateral damage".

Nor have I spoken about marital rape. Nor have I spoken about sexual harassment at the work place. Or about the sexual exploitation of maid servants, washerwomen, etc in middle class Indian homes (urban, rural there really is no divide). 

What about the easy identification of women as "sex objects" - I did, briefly, mention about the influence of movies. Let's also look at one or two other issues - is there a general decline in societal morality as a whole? Easy accessibility to technology (camera phones), to pornography on the internet as well as on the pavements, visible "public displays of affection" on Marine Drive, Bandra Bandstand etc, loose behaviour in the back seats of taxis, in corners of cinema halls, in discotheques, etc. Does all this, in some direct/indirect way contribute to an atmosphere where women are commoditised? To what extent do women themselves share a portion of blame for this? 

Talking of easy accessibility to porn on the next - forget about the huge commercial pornography industry of the USA or Europe (decadent civilizations, let us sneer). I am constantly amazed and also shocked at the sheer numbers of Indian girls who willingly perform sex on camera, girls who seem to be from perfectly "normal", "middle class" families.  

Solutions: All those young men and women who gathered at India Gate and kept screaming for our ever obliging cameras... "WE WANT JUSTICE" till they went red in the face... I want to ask them, "What is the justice that you want?" 

Is justice a packet of Maggi Noodles or Nescafe Instant, to be delivered in two minutes by the Home Minister or the Chief Minister? Or by the ever so popular Inspector Chulbul Pandey in Dabangg Version 3? Or a dark and brooding Ajay Devgan from "Gangajaal"? 

Are we a blood thirsty nation seeking a vigilante justice delivery system? Is that our aspiration? To be able to summarily lynch an accused, or, as the Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani said should they be "stoned to death"? Is this what we want modern, moderate India to become? A stone's throw away from a barbaric or Sharia state?

Yes, I too will lend my voice to the "WE WANT JUSTICE" brigade. But when I say this, what I mean is:

1. The state/executive must provide better policing with all that it means - more police stations, better use of technology, better jails, a modern police force equipped with modern tools of policing including but not limited to soft skills, gender sensitivity, capable of avoiding racial/communal profiling etc.
2. An effective system of checks and balances to ensure minimal abuse of untramelled powers of the police.
3. A complete overhauling of laws that were inherited from a British Empire days - laws that reflect the fact that "We, The People" are supreme and the state is meant to serve US and not the other way around.
4. A complete overhauling of laws, with a crystal clear view that punishments should be commensurate with the crime (reflecting, too, a mature, modern, democratic society and not some prehistoric, barbaric throwback to pander to our atavistic craze_
5. An effective Justice system - more courts, better judges, better lawyers, accountable courts with timelines instead of the typical "Tareeq pe tareeq" syndrome. 
6. An incorruptible judiciary, accountable to the people (it is a miracle that despite the rampant corruption in the lower hierarchy, at least at the Supreme Court there seems to be a modicum of integrity) 

And, most importantly, I believe justice is to be sought in the courtrooms and not in your or my living room with a Zee TV or an NDTV holding court! 

Sats