In India on an average a woman gets raped every 34 minutes. Yes, what this means is someone somewhere is getting raped in India even as you are reading this sentence !!
What a shame !!!
What have we become as a nation today ? We used to be a country where women were considered as the most sacred creations of God (and I am not talking about the past 3 or 4 thousand years..I am talking about Vedic India...the real India...or Bharat !). Women were literally worshipped and paid the greatest level of respect. In the Hindu culture Lord Shiva himself is considered to have emanated from Shakti (a feminine character) ! Feminism was given such high value that most of the natural sources of nourishment for human beings were given feminine names. This includes our Rivers (Nadi), Earth (Dharti / Prithvi), Fire (Agni), Cow (Gaoo Mata..because it gives us milk), Knowledge (Saraswati), Wealth (Lakshmi).
All women were looked at as Motherly or Sisterly figures unless specifically chosen to be a spouse or a simple friend ! Now don't laugh or nag by reading that sentence. It was true till sometime back ! However, today if someone says he considers all women as his mothers or sisters then instantly he is tagged as a person who is of double standards and is often made fun of !
Considering women as non-mothers and non-sisters has become a fashion these days !! Anyone not complying to this fashion is stereotyped to be Old-fashioned. What injustice towards the democratic right of a man !
A big question today in front of all of us is:
How to stop or atleast reduce drastically the number of rapes happening in our country?
The media eagerly and excitedly reports every rape case and also condemns it. So does our government and judicial system. But thats all they do....Condemn...Condemn and Condemn !
Well, thats clearly not going to solve the problem.
According to me the only way to reduce rapes in this country is by making extremely stringent laws against rape. I do not advocate Death penalty for rapists because that is not enough punishment for a crime as henious as Rape that too in the Indian social context !
The law should ensure that the rapist(s) are given a punishment whose negative impact on their life is atleast equivalent to the negative impact their crime has caused to the lady/girl who got raped. Infact, the impact should be atleast 1.5 to 2 times more.
Let us see what a women's life is after being raped, especially in the Indian context. In other words, what has she lost?
1. She looses the image of being "pure" and this impurity tag remains with her till she lives
2. It becomes difficult for her to find a suitable spouse and if she was already married, her spouse often starts to hate her.
3. She suffers physical and mental trauma during the act of rape
4. She suffers loss of dignity in the society and people don't want to spend time with her anymore
5. Her family members undergo similar social dignity loss
6. For the rest of her Life she keeps getting negative thoughts, dreams and memories of the horrific act done to her.
A rapist therefore, needs to be given a punishment that has similar (if not higher) negative imacts in his life. I believe a rapist should be castrated by Law. This would make things equal on the physical trauma front and also ensure that he doesn't repeat the act. Next, his face should be blemished with black ink or gutter water and a garland of shoes should be put around his neck. Thereafter his cloths should be completely removed and he should be made to walk nude on the road for 3 days in the area where his house is. Also, there should be countrywide media coverage of this event. This would bring the necessary humiliation to him and his family and it would make it very difficult for them to be accepted by the society (just like the girl).
If the above punishment is kept for Rapists, I am sure all future potential rapists would take heed and think 100 times before conducting this crime.
Now you would say, but what if the criminal never gets caught? Well, this happens due to our weak and corrupt police system. A rule should be made that if the rapist is not caught by the Area police within a stipulated time period then the ACP or DCP of that area would suffer a suspension or loss of promotion ! This would take care of this issue (to a good extent if not fully) !
It is a pity to see that both Delhi and UP (perhaps the most criminal states of our country from Rape perspective) have Female chief ministers, our country has a female President and the Ruling party Chair person too is a female and still India is rated as the 4th most dangerous country for women in the world (ref: http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/06/15/idINIndia-57704120110615) !!!!
I pray to God to help the women of my country, make them more powerful and wake the conscience of our political and Judicial leaders so that they inact appropriate laws for stopping the progressive growth of this henious act in our country !
Amen !
-Neel
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