Bhopal: At a time when sexual abuse against women is getting more and more brazen and commonplace, elected representatives and law enforcers are coming out with comments that are shocking, to say the least.
Following the alleged gangrape of a law student in a Kolkata college recently, Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha MP Kalyan Banerjee said, “What can be done if a friend rapes his friend? Will the police be in schools?”
Another TMC leader Madan Mitra opined that the female student shouldn’t have gone alone when the college was closed, a comment that has led to a showcause notice being issued to him by the party.
Now, Madhya Pradesh’s Director General of Police (DGP) Kailash Makwana has blamed the internet and mobile phones for increasing incidents of rape, and said that “preventing rape is not something the police can do alone.”
At a divisional review meeting in Ujjain, the top cop was asked about the cause behind rising cases of rape and sexual harassment.
“There are many reasons. In my view, it’s due to the internet, mobile phones, availability of obscene content, alcohol… people can now connect from anywhere at any time through mobile phones… there’s a decline in moral values in society. These are all contributing factors,” Makwana said.
“The kind of obscenity being served through the internet is distorting young minds from an early age, and this, undoubtedly, is one of the reasons behind the rise in such incidents,” the DGP told reporters.
“So to say it’s solely the police’s responsibility is not feasible,” he claimed.
He went on to flag a decline in moral values, even within households.
“We’re seeing that even within homes, people aren’t keeping watch over each other. Earlier, children used to listen to their teachers and parents. There was a sense of shame or respect, but many of those boundaries have now disappeared,” he said.
