Fact Of Women Safety Reality In India

Introduction

The heinous crime that took place with a 31-year-old trainee doctor in Kolkata's R.G.Kar hospital has shocked our nation's soul. We have seen protests in many parts of the country including West Bengal. Doctors have gone on strike, the protesters were attacked by goons, and the hospital was being ransacked. So far, the police has arrested 25 people. Everyone is questioning Mamata Banerjee, who is not only the Chief Minister of West Bengal but also the Home Minister and Health Minister of West Bengal. It was strange to see her take out a protest rally after this incident. But the question is, against whom? No one could understand this. The main culprit of this incident is Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer in West Bengal Police. In the past, three of his marriages ended due to domestic violence.

Fact Of Women Safety

The first question is, what kind of a person was recruited here to become a civic volunteer? Looking at his history of domestic violence, police should have taken against him already. CCTV footage, his Bluetooth device, and DNA samples were used by the police to arrest him. He has confessed to his crime. But the second question is, how did he have access to all the departments in the hospital? A few days after the incident, there was a demand to transfer this case to CBI. CM Mamata Banerjee tried to shrug off this demand by saying that she has no problem with this. If the police couldn't do anything in the next few days, she said that she would transfer this case to CBI. The Calcutta High Court, while citing reasons such as lack of trustworthiness of the police, ordered the case to be handed over to CBI. Along with this, the High Court has also reminded that the demand to hand over a case to the CBI shows that the state police is no longer trusted by the people. And this is the failure of the Home Minister and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Here comes our third question, how was a man like Sandeep Ghosh, appointed as the principal of R.G.Kar Medical College? He is accused of being a corrupt person. Allegedly, he ran this medical college like a mafia. But his transfer was stopped again and again. It's suspected to be because he was close to TMC. In this case too, he is accused of atrocities. He is accused of trying to suppress the matter. Trying to play it off as a suicide. The victim's parents were not allowed to see the victim's body for hours. There was a delay in filing the FIR and when he was removed from there, he was made the principal of Calcutta National College. I mean, if a person is not fit to be in charge of one place, what sense does it make to transfer him to another place? Calcutta High Court pointed out this nonsense and sent Sandeep Ghosh on an extended leave of absence. To investigate the corruption charges on Sandeep, West Bengal government has made an SIT, which is asked to submit its report in a month. CBI has interrogated him four times in this particular case. When people all over the country wanted justice for this case, then for the safety of women in workplaces, West Bengal government announced some initiatives. What I was already explain in my previous blog “ KOLKATA ABHAYA INCIDENT CASE ”.
As it was in the beginning during the agitation ,later that the slogan changed completely and become another slogan .The opposition political parties found an excuse to use this slogan to move the ruling party through this incident .So that they don't have to suffer much and what they have been wanting to do for long can be accomplished .
And in this case ,the criminal didn't get the punishment ,instead someone else got the punishment for him. And on the other hand the mother who, lost daughter didn't get proper justice and this too got lost in the crowd like other.

Details Discussion

Supreme Court took a suo-moto cognizance of the matter, gave some strong statements like "What is equality under the Constitution if women can't be safe in their workplace and are being denied basic equality?" To bring about ground level changes, the country can't wait for another rape.
But my question is, will the nearly 80 rape cases taking place in our country every day have stopped? Not at all.
After Kolkata, we got this news from Uttarakhand. A similar incident with a nurse. In this case, the bus driver and bus conductor were involved.
In Bengaluru, a 21-year-old college student was going home from a party when a similar incident happened to her.
In Maharashtra's Badalapur area a school cleaning staff was reported to have sexually abused two girls aged 3 and 4.
Hundreds of agitated parents blocked the railway station. Looking at these news , you may feel that over the last 8-10 days, there have been more incidents of rapes in the country. But this is not true. rapes are happening every day, but they are not reported every day. Outrage and protests do not happen every day.
No one cares about the fact that so many things have happened there. From bollywood to south industry every actor and actresses has written something about this in X handle .But after a few days they will find that they are doing the opposite of what they are wrote done that day.

The first large-scale protests in the country were probably in 2012 after the Nirbhaya case. Then in 2019, when a 26-year-old veterinary doctor was raped and murdered in Hyderabad. Then in 2020, people were outraged about the Hathras case. Where this happened to a 19-year-old Dalit girl. And now in 2024, this case happened in Kolkata. Over the last 12 years, there were 4 large-scale outrages and protests. Maybe I'm even forgetting a few cases, but broadly speaking, there haven't been more than 7-8 outrages and protests. And it's not that there is something wrong with being outraged. Feeling outraged after hearing something like this is a natural emotion. Protesting is also a sign of our being alive. But there needs to be some improvement in the situation. If we look at the situation from 2012 to now, it has been the opposite. Around 2012, 25,000 such cases were reported in a year. Whereas according to the latest figures of NCRB, in 2022, 31,000 such cases were reported. That is, 85 rape cases per day. If we compare the proportion with the increasing population, we can see a leap there too. Since then, the country's population has increased by 1.14 times. But the rape cases have increased by 1.25 times. It's clear as day, the situation is getting worse. The root causes of rape not only do they continue to exist, but are even increasing. This is why I feel farcicality. It's okay to protest for a week, but for the rest of the year, if a person is behaving like everything is fine it's farcial.
What should be done to improve the situation? That’s a uncomfortable discussion. Now you’er asking me why this is uncomfortable , well this discussion will be uncomfortable because you will perhaps see that many of you are indirectly a part of this problem. Will you acknowledge this?
On one hand, women are worshipped in our country and on the other hand, they are subjected to heinous crimes. It wasn't incorrect, but people took offense. Similarly, after the Nirbhaya case , Leslee Udwin released a documentary. India's Daughter. It was such a powerful and thought-provoking documentary that it should have been shown to 10th-grade students all over the country. But in our country, people were uncomfortable and banned this documentary. Claiming that this would ruin India's international image. After today's discussion too, you may feel uncomfortable like this. But if you are genuinely concerned about this issue.
Let's start this blog with a very simple question. Is rape wrong? You will accuse me of asking an insensitive question. Obviously, rape is wrong. But when we look at the societal attitudes around us, then we get a completely different picture. Everyone says that rape is wrong, but everyone applies their own conditions to it. Take Nupur Sharma, for example.
The BJP leader who said objectionable things about Prophet Mohammad thrice in a single day on three different TV channels. Nupur's statements were completely deliberate and malicious. And because of this, our country was embarrassed in front of Arab countries. But merely because of Nupur's misstatements, is it justified to send her rape threats? Not at all. God knows how many death threats and rape threats she received which can't be justified in a civilised society.
Look at Audrey Truschke's case. She is a trained historian. She has written about Aurangzeb a lot. She hasn't called Aurangzeb a great ruler. But according to her findings, Aurangzeb was a complicated character. On one had, he broke down Hindu temples and on the other hand, had saved them many times. If someone finds her historical findings wrong, they are free to argue with her, can present evidence against her claims. But no, what do people give? death threats and rape threats.
Look at Indira Jaising's case. Famous human rights lawyer. In her fight for gender equality, she appeared in many landmark cases. When Nirbhaya's rapist was about to be hanged, she made a statement against capital punishment. For context,the death penalty has been abolished in 112 countries. Still, it can be argued that Indira Jaising's statement was ill-timed, wrongly worded, or it was wrong of her to make such an appeal to Nirbhaya's parents. We may disagree with her views on the death penalty, but what did Kangana Ranaut say? She called her a rapist sympathiser. Not only that, she was Jaising to be jailed with the rapists for some days.
This trap of political opinion or political support makes it possible for Bilkis Bano's convicted rapists to be released. Such rapists are welcomed and honoured, are called modest Brahmins but people don't outrage. Prajwal Revanna, who was reported for sexually exploiting more than 2,500 women, but many chose to remain silent. Convicted rapist Gurmeet Ram Rahim is given parole before the elections again and again. His blind devotees agree that raping is wrong they acknowledge that their leader was convicted too, but still, they choose to ignore this and vote for the person their leader tells them to.
Brij Bhusan Singh, Kuldeep Sengar, and the Kathua case's rapists get rallies supporting them. And BJP leader Choudhary Lal Singh who was holding a rally in support of the rape accused, was later included in Congress and was given a ticket for the election. That's why I say, on social media, everyone agrees that rape is wrong. But when it comes to supporting the rapist, when it comes down to their political opinion and their own views, then people apply 'conditions' to it. If you do not agree with someone, you can criticise them. If they have done something illegal, report them to the police. But rape is wrong. Giving rape threats is wrong. But the problem is that people keep on adding ifs and buts.
And it's not just limited to sociopolitical opinion. In fact, in numerous other provisions too, people apply 'conditions'. For the Hathras case, on Zee News, Sudhir Chaudhary said that the victim had romantic relations with the accused. To prove this, he interviewed a villager. "According to our investigation, the victim and the main accused, Sandeep, knew each other for a long time." "A love affair?"
News18's reporter Anamika kept shouting for 45 minutes on a show that there were 104 calls from the victim to the accused's number. They had been talking for hours. She claimed to be delivering the truth to you. "They have been talking for hours, for total 104 times."
Arnab Goswami went as far as to say that there was no rape. And the accusations were baseless. BJP leader and former Chief Minister of Haryana, Manoharlal Khattar said something similar. He claims that in 80%-90% cases, the accused and the victim know each other. And if they get into a fight, the girl accuses the boy of rape. We have heard similar insensitive statements from West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. For example, the 2022 Nadia rape case. Where a 14-year-old child was the victim. The CM said that the girl had a love affair with the boy. It feels awkward debunking such statements. Do we really need to explain that being in love doesn't mean a license to rape?
It's very simple. rape means a violation. It is a violation of someone's freedom. No matter how much a person is in love with another, both partners need to consent. Consent means agreement. The girl's consent is crucial. And the second thing is that consent is reversible. That means, the boy or girl can withdraw their consent whenever they want. Everyone has the right to withdraw their consent at any time. Thirdly, the case Mamata Banerjee was speaking about, the victim was a minor. And in cases of minors, consent is not even considered. Earlier, the consenting age was 16 years, But under the POCSO Act of 2012, this age was increased to 18 years.
Now, the first thing we saw people's sociopolitical opinion. Second, love affair, being in a romantic relationship. Third, 'if and but' condition of people is "What was the girl doing out so late at night?" Two minors were raped in Goa. BJP leader and Goa's chief minister, Pramod Sawant asked "Why were the girls out at night?" When a tribal girl was raped and murdered in Jharkhand, then a MLA of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha said the same thing. He blamed the victim's parents and asked them “why do they let their daughters go out after evening.” Do you know what is interesting? One of Nirbhaya's rapists, Mukesh Singh thought the same. He believed that, “ If a girl goes out at night and wears "wrong" clothes, then she is responsible for the rape ”. Once again, this is utter nonsense. rape doesn't happen because girls are out at night, that happen because rapists are out at night.
If someone thinks that their child is a potential rapist, then they need to keep their child locked up in their house at night. Secondly, year after year, NCRB reports show that in more than 90% of the cases, the accused was someone close to the victim.
In the 2015 report, 95% of the accused knew the victim. 93% in 2017, and 96.8% in 2021. This includes neighbours, friends, co-workers, immediate family members, and relatives too. In November 2020, Delhi police handed over a report to a Parliamentary Panel that stated similar data. In the cases that took place in Delhi, in 98% of the cases, the accused was close to the victim. In 57% of cases, it was a family member, a relative, or family friend. This is seen in other countries too.
In America, it was found that in 80% of cases, the victim and accused knew each other. So in most cases, when someone close to the victim assaults them, then how does it matter whether a girl goes out at night or not. The fourth condition is the victim's "loose character." It is said that though sexual harassment is wrong, but it was a sign of the girl's loose character. "Drinking and going out with guys, girls like her do these. Not girls from decent families. This is what happens to such girls. If she calmly goes with a guy and drinks with him, any guy would think that they are asking for it. Or else why would they go with them, drink with them?" In the protests against rape, we often hear that women are the form of goddesses. She is someone's daughter, sister, or mother. But another problem is that people either see women as goddesses or they see them as mere objects. Why not treat them as humans instead? Like a man, every woman is a human too.
Some people with a rapist mentality think that if a girl is dancing on a stage, it's okay to harass her. Such people point fingers are the woman's character. While the truth is, no one can be more characterless than people who think like this. There is a great film on this topic, “ Anaarkali of Aarah.” In which Swara Bhaskar played the role of a local stage dancer. A politician assaults her so she fights back. The film shows that every woman has a right to her own body. "Pink" is another sensitive film which shows that a girl drinking alcohol does not mean that she can be misbehaved with. This is another excuse of the people with a rapist mentality. That the girl was drunk. It's true that drinking alcohol is harmful to health. But drinking alcohol cannot be a parameter to judge someone's character. And it cannot be used as an excuse for sexual assault. Consent is required here too.
In fact, Section 63 of the BNS also states that if the woman's consent was given while intoxicated, it can be grounds for rape charges too. The sixth condition, the most common form of victim blaming, that though rape is wrong but the girl was wearing short clothes.
Once again, this is a vile, nonsensical argument. If rapes occur due to short clothes, then why are young children raped? Why are older women raped? Why are mentally ill children raped? Why are women covered in saree or burqas raped? Why are there rapes in villages? In Rajasthan and UttarPradesh, it is very rare to see girls in short clothes. So why is it that most cases of rape in our country are from there? Such a stupid argument, but still, I don't know why, many people in our society think like this. They hold on to this thinking that a girl is raped because of her short clothes.
A man made this statement in front of the Bombay High Court, that short clothes are the causes of rapes. In Kozhikode Session Court, a judge said that in a photo, the complainant was wearing provocative clothes. So, prima facie, the accused will not be charged under sections for sexual harassment. BJP leader C.C. Patil gave similar statements who was later caught watching p*rnography in the Assembly. BJP MLARenukacharya and Rajkot BJP Mayor Raksha Boriya have given similar statements too.
An NGO, Akshara Centre surveyed 8 cities. It surveyed approx 3,000 men and 3,000 women between the ages of 15-29. 54.8% of the men said that wearing revealing clothes leads to rape and sexual harassment happens. But amazingly, 39.2% of females also believe this. That means women themselves believe these lies. A popular perception is responsible for this way of thinking people believe that rape is caused by sexual Urge. A few days ago the film Maharaja was released. It was a good film but it showed this incorrect representation of rape. In many old Hindi films, rape is used as a shallow plot device.
But the truth is that sexual urge has nothing to do with rape. So stop justifying it as the passion of youth. It's not that those who don't rape don't have an urge. And rapists have such an urge that it becomes uncontrollable. This is nonsense. Many times rapists do have a consenting partner. They are married. In Paul Gebhard's research and many other surveys, this has been proved repeatedly. In reality, there are three reasons behind rape. And rapists are divided into three categories.
First are Power rapists, who are victims of self-worth issues. Through this act, they want to feel in power. Second are Anger rapists. They are angry. They are abusive and use vile language. And even if the victim doesn't resist, they still become violent. The rapists of this category often kill their victims. The third type are the Sadistic rapists. Sadism means to get pleasure in other people's physical and mental suffering. To enjoy themselves seeing others being oppressed or being tortured. Such rapists often torture their victims over a long time. But one question that will arise here is this evil desire to gain control, this anger, and sadism where do these come from? Often in discussions, it is seen that to express their anger, people say that the rapists must be mentally ill. It is wrong to compare so because we are only stigmatising mental illness. Some rapists may have a history of mental illness but not all rapists are mentally ill. They are simply monsters. You can call them demons, monsters, evil or anything else. But the next question you'll ask is why do some people become like this?
There must be some root causes behind this. Look at this research. This research was done on 269 offenders and included rapists. Many causes were identified. The child abuse they faced in their childhood. Pornography exposure before the age of 10, physical abuse, parental violence, emotional abuse, cruelty to animals, exposure to violent movies or media in childhood, a relationship filled with anxiety or distance from parents. It is important to study these causes so that we can prevent the creation of new rapists in our society. Now, due to such reasons, a person's personality is shaped so that he has an evil desire, anger or sadism and wants to dominate. But in America, when we hear of mass shootings, there too, anger is a common factor. In some people, such deep-seated anger turns into depression. So, the question arises, in the case of rapists, their evil desire to dominate, their anger or their sadism, why is it expressed as rape? The answer to this is our rape Culture.
Psychologist Madhumita Pandey talked to 122 convicted rapists and 65 convicted murderers. She noticed a clear difference between murderers and rapists. Most murderers regretted their crimes. They also realised how their actions destroyed other people's lives. But on the other hand, most rapists had no regrets about their actions. That's why we see this in our society that many rape accused persons are repeat offenders. Because even after they commit their first crime, they do not see it as something wrong. And the question here is, why don't they regret this? Madhumita gave them two questionnaires and their regressive views about women was clearly seen. But this is not the only such research, There have been many such researches before. Susan Brown Miller said this in her 1975 book "Against Our Will " Men, Women, and Rape. That rape is a conscious process of intimidation. Apart from Susan, researchers like RichardJohnson, Danielle Cusmano, Rebecca Whisnant, and many other researchers reached the same findings.
On top of this, we come to toxic masculinity and patriarchal culture. Where, instead of a free human, a woman is seen as an inferior sub-human. There are countless restrictions on women. Don't wear this, don't go out, don't laugh out loud. A woman is often seen as an object.

Solution

And talking about solutions, there are three types of problems here. First, the conditions that can damage someone's personality. Second, the societal attitude due to which such people take out their urge to dominate, anger or sadism on a woman. And third, the material conditions mismanagement of which leads to such cases. To end this problem from our society, we have to work on all three fronts. And everyone has to take part in this.
First, the root causes need to be removed so that twisted personalities can be prevented before they are formed. The government needs to speed up women empowerment across different departments. People need to be educated. Education needs to be our number one priority. We need to improve employment conditions. sex education should be given in schools. Children should be taught about good touch and bad touch not only girls boys also both should have to know . All governments need to bring improvement in the legal processes.
Second, talking about other societal attitudes, this isn't government's responsibility only, all of us need to work on this. First of all, we need to eradicate these insults targeted at women. Friends, let's make a commitment today that you will never use these words or phrases ever again. Neither in your daily life, nor on social media. No matter how much you disagree with a person, or how much you hate a person, rape threats should not be made. You should not laugh at rape jokes. After this, wherever you see a sexist attitude in the society, whether it is an ad, a film, a song, a YouTube video, a comment, a stand-up act, it should be called out.
We need to raise our voices against it. To make law and order strong, we need to fill the vacancies in the police. The police need to be more independent from the state government so that in any such case, politics can never interfere with justice.