Rape culture — Indian perspective / SHOT “ LetgOshots

Why am I calling it ‘rape culture’ and not just ‘rape’? What’s the point in discussing rape? Why do we need to talk about it? Let’s take this shot and find out.

If we look into statistics, on average 4 women are raped every hour in our country. That makes for around 100 women a day. These numbers speak for themselves. These are the cases that get registered. Just imagine what the actual number would be if we include all the unreported cases. How did it come to be? Are we no different from animals? I see two culprits responsible for this situation. (1) Society (2) Administration.

Now, point to ponder, how is society responsible for the rape of some random women or girl? It is the rapist’s fault, not society’s. right? Yes and No.

Taking nothing away from those monsters who do such hideous crime, we are also responsible for every single girl who is raped every hour of the day. Let’s talk about us as a society and the role we play in these crimes.

Rape — society — role

The society is responsible, each time when :

• a father questions his daughter on being late, but not his son.
• people say that a girl invite rapes when she wears short clothes.
• they make it a way of life for girls to come home early and accept the situation as is.
• parents do not teach their beloved son, what it is to respect women.
• a girl is teased on the way to school but the people(we and you) ignore her cry for help just to save the time of day.
• a daughter says, she wants to study but instead is told to sit at home.

The damage has been done and the mentality has grown its roots deep within. We can’t change what has already been done. Given that, we can still work to change things in the future. We, as a society, are failing at so many levels that we need to reflect on our past mistakes.

Rape — admin — role

By administration, I am referring to our system. Our laws. Our legislatures. The system which is meant to provide equal rights & safety to the women is itself flawed in the first place. “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao”, “Mahila-E-haat”, and many more. You would’ve heard many schemes like these, implemented by the government for the sole purpose of women empowerment.

Now, here’s my shot. Women’s empowerment is good and needed. However, a system that implements such schemes already considers the girl child weak, to begin with. “Beti Bachao”, it means to save the girl child. Now, instead of making an environment in which a boy child is taught to respect the opposite sex, the system cripples the backbone of the girl child instead.

Another drawback of the system is, I would say, politics. When a girl is molested, if she’s a minority it becomes a political issue. It doesn’t matter if she’s a Muslim, Dalit, or Hindu. She’s a girl and a citizen of our country. That’s all that should matter. Instead, political parties try to push their selfish agendas through such incidents. It is an absolute disgrace to humanity.

One day I wake up, and for the love of God, I see a news headline saying, “ 3 months old girl child raped by her uncle”. Now tell me what did that baby do, except for being born, that so-called invited rape.

Fear

The society and system nonetheless which has already far left behind the opportunity to change a boy child’s mentality have only one way to rescue itself. FEAR.

Fear instills discipline. Discipline leads to respect. Ultimately, when you start respecting something, you change your mindset about it. Now, the question is how to create a society where there is more fear of punishment than the crime. Simple. You make strict laws and make sure that monsters who conduct themselves in such manner are treated accordingly.

The punishment

A rapist needs to be hanged. A child molester needs to be hanged. Molesters need to be hanged. A punishment so severe, that one will think twice before committing such hideous crime. A punishment so cold, that sends chills down the spine to those who even dare think of it.

All the countries of the world, be it a developed or a third-world country, only have 1 punishment for rape. It is death. In India however, we are far from having such strict laws. The problem is with our democratic framework.

When a girl is raped, human rights groups will be very vocal about it and they should be. But, the same human rights groups will oppose when there is a talk for severe punishment for these rapists.

I never understood the hypocrisy. Still don’t. All I know is that we need strict laws and it is only possible if we all put aside our political opinions, our religion, our caste, our community, for the sake of the girl child.

That’s it.

Originally published at https://letgoshots.com on October 2, 2020.