On the eve of the 75th Independence Day, my mind goes back to 2014 when in his first Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “When we hear of rapes, our heads hang in shame.” Needless to say, he was lauded all over the world with both the national and international media picking up this line as the headline.
It was an obvious reference to the brutal rape of a young Delhi girl on a bus in December 2012. Christened the Nirbhaya case, it had shaken the whole country, becoming a national issue and forcing the government to intervene.
Well, sir, your strongly-worded sentences clearly had no impact on the country’s rapists who continue to be on the prowl victimising women and minor girls. There has been the Unnao rape case, the Hathras case, the Kathua case, the Badaun rape case, the rape of a veterinary doctor in Hyderabad, the very recent case of a Dalit minor’s case and countless others all over the country.
Sir, you will be shocked to know that out of the horrendous rape cases so far this year, minors are the biggest victims. In a case in Odisha’s Kalahandi, the victim was just three years old. In yet another case reported from Mathura, a man was jailed for continuously raping his stepdaughter.
Crimes against women have grown steadily over the years. According to the National Crime Records Bureau 2019 report, India reported 88 cases of rape every day, which is only 10 per cent of the crimes committed against women. No one knows how many go unreported.
Not a day goes by when the headlines don’t scream rape. I am filled with rage, am deeply disturbed, feel disgusted and anguished on reading these reports day in and day out and I feel ashamed when reports in the foreign media describe India as an unsafe country for women.
Last month, BBC carried a story titled “The Indian Girl Killed For Wearing Jeans.” It was about 17-year-old Neha Paswan who was allegedly beaten to death by members of her extended family in Uttar Pradesh because they didn’t like her wearing jeans. Her body was found hanging from the bridge over the Gandak river that flows through the region.
This is what BBC wrote, “Reports of girls and young women being brutally assaulted by family members have recently made headlines in India. The incidents have also put the spotlight on how unsafe girls and women are within their own homes.”
Gender activist Rolly Shivhare was quoted as saying, “Patriarchy is among the biggest problems in India. Politicians, leaders and influencers often make misogynistic comments that set a bad example and the message of gender equality doesn’t filter down to the community and family. The government says girls are our priority and announces grand schemes for their welfare, but nothing happens on the ground.”
Reams have been written on the laws on sexual crime against women in our country by all those who are sensitive to the matter. “Rape survivors in India face significant barriers to obtaining justice and critical support services,” said a Human Rights Watch report in 2017.
Mr Prime Minister, in your 2014 Independence Day speech you had said, “Those who commit rape are also someone’s sons. You should stop them before they take the wrong path.”
“Even when they are only 12, young girls are always being asked so many questions by their parents, like ‘where are you off to?’. But do these parents ask their sons where they are going?” “The law will take its own course but as a society every parent has a responsibility to teach their sons the difference between right and wrong.”
Sir, you have not said a word on this heinous crime since then. Forget a 12-year-old girl, I even ask my 21-year-old daughter ‘Where are you off to?’ ‘When will you come back?’ ‘What are you wearing?’ Not because I don’t trust her but because I don’t trust the Indian man out there on the road.
Nothing has changed sir.
Instead of forming a Ministry of Cooperation, shouldn’t we have a Ministry Against Rape and elevate it to an issue of national importance?
There is no point in boasting of technological advancements on our Independence Day unless we can call ourselves a proud Indian society in which men and women co-exist with mutual respect.
