{"id":4323,"date":"2014-06-12T18:47:27","date_gmt":"2014-06-12T13:17:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/?p=4323"},"modified":"2014-06-12T18:47:27","modified_gmt":"2014-06-12T13:17:27","slug":"dna-column-three-ways-to-reduce-the-casual-culture-of-rape-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calamur.org\/gargi\/2014\/06\/12\/dna-column-three-ways-to-reduce-the-casual-culture-of-rape-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"DNA Column : Three ways to reduce the casual culture of rape in India"},"content":{"rendered":"

An edited version of this appeared in today’s dna<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Until a few weeks ago, most of us had a barely passing familiarity with Baduan in Uttar Pradesh.\u00a0 Around 200 kms and less than a 4 hour drive from the national capital, Delhi \u2013 the area hit the headlines after a particularly brutal rape and murder of two teenaged girls. \u00a0It is an old story, told again with callous violence and viciousness. Two cousins \u2013 some accounts put them at 12 and 15, others at 14 and 15 \u2013 had to attend to nature\u2019s call. They had no toilet in their house and they went into the fields to relieve themselves. They never returned home. Their bodies were found hanging, with their own dupattas<\/em>, from a mango tree. They had been raped, strangled and strung up like the spoils from a shikaar<\/em>. 2 young men from a neighbouring village, and two police officers are believed to be the culprits.<\/p>\n

This is not the first rape in India, and it is unlikely to be the last.\u00a0 A report by PRS Legislative<\/strong><\/a> in 2011, looked at the abysmal state of women\u2019s safety in India. According to the report there were 23,582 rapes in India \u2013 almost 65 rapes on a daily basis and around 3 every hour. But, most experts believe that the number of rapes is underreported. There are a number of reasons for this \u2013 the starting point of which is the social stigma assigned to the victim of the rape, and the perception of her having lost her honour.\u00a0 Rather than being seen as a survivor of a heinous crime, she is seen as the provoker of the crime. And, her gender is enough to stigmatise her for life. Different views are put forward \u2013 maybe she was dressed provocatively, maybe she led the boys on, maybe she had \u2018loose\u2019 morals, maybe she said no but meant yes. We have all heard these comments from people who should know better \u2013 politicians, policemen, \u2018elders\u2019 of the community and the like.<\/p>\n

At the core of the debate on women\u2019s safety lie 3 main issues. The first is the availability of safe spaces – sanitation within the house or rather the lack of it or street lighting or the lack of it, both indicate the lack of safe spaces. The second is the lack of spaces where the two sexes can meet socially on an equal footing \u2013 schools, colleges, employment, and social occasions. And the third problem is a age old problem of the distinctions in social hierarchies and the social acceptance of the rapist and the social boycott of the victim.<\/p>\n

The one thing your realise when you travel the length and breadth of India \u2013 visiting small hamlets and villages, is the lack of sanitation. There are few public toilets that are usable, even on state or national highways. Those that do exist make you fear attack from scorpions and snakes, not to mention the fact that they have doors that don\u2019t shut and windows that give your full view of the world, and the world a view of you \u2013without any means of securing your privacy. Schools and colleges \u2013 public spaces where both genders congregate \u2013 show a similar problem.\u00a0 Toilets, and the privacy to use them, are such an important facet of safety and we don\u2019t discuss this problem enough. The norm is to use the world at large as a public toilet \u2013 apart from issues of health and hygiene that crop up \u2013 there is also the very grave issue of safety. The first thing to do is to address this. Young girls, even if they lived in the most secure state in the universe, should have the right to perform their bodily functions in relative privacy. This is factor that most of us, living in relative middle class comfort in cities, take for granted. Associated with this is the issue of darkness. Unless you have electricity our towns and villages are going to be in dark. And darkness encourages the breach of law.<\/p>\n

Where boys and girls grow up together, studying together, sharing playtime \u2013 and understanding and respecting differences there tends to be a natural evolution of gender sensitisation. On the other hand when girls and boys are segregated and social intercourse is considered taboo, you have scenarios where stereotypes and older mindsets are perpetuated. The second important factor to help build a safer world for women is creation of spaces where they are not just considered to be equal, but also where their \u00a0individuality and personal preferences are respected.\u00a0\u00a0 The creation of these spaces needs to be backed by education not just of young boys and girls, but also their parents, teachers, elders in the community, and administration.\u00a0 Police reforms and Judicial reforms would help, but unless society as a whole is in synch with the need for social reform that prevents young men from seeing young women as prey for the taking \u2013 no amount of police on the street or stringent punishment is going to help.<\/p>\n

And lastly, there is a problem social hierarchies and what is considered acceptable behaviour. While caste is a factor as is class, there is a third problem, and that is the unwillingness of those who wield power to bring about change. Caste and class reform may take generations and women\u2019s safety cannot be held in abeyance till that is achieved.\u00a0 And, this is where the Indian State needs to step in. With the recent changes in law rape trials are speedier and more stringent. We have seen the effects of this in both the Nirbhaya and the Shakti Mills rape case \u2013 due process was followed and the guilty were punished. This needs to extend to the smallest hamlet in India. Women will be safer, if the system punished the guilty \u2013 without fear or favour of powerful local interests. \u00a0However, \u00a0as long as the guilty walk around with their heads held high and their chests puffed up with pride, and the victims cower in their houses in shame \u2013 nothing will change.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An edited version of this appeared in today’s dna Until a few weeks ago, most of us had a barely passing familiarity with Baduan in Uttar Pradesh.\u00a0 Around 200 kms and less than a 4 hour drive from the national capital, Delhi…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,50,21,23,42],"tags":[211,313,370,399,477,478,755,1350,1599,1648],"class_list":["post-4323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles-in-msm","category-caste-india","category-gender","category-india","category-society","tag-baduan","tag-caste-india","tag-column","tag-crime","tag-dna","tag-dna-column","tag-india","tag-rape","tag-toilet","tag-uttar-pradesh"],"yoast_head":"\nDNA Column : Three ways to reduce the casual culture of rape in India - 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