The brutal gang-rape and murder of 41-year-old woman on March 15 has rattled the women in the city. A sense of fear and insecurity has gripped them in the aftermath of the heinous incident.
Many of them feel that though society is progressing economically, it is definitely going backwards when it comes to morals, ethics and respect for women.
“We thought after the Nirbhaya case in New Delhi, things would be different, as the government had come out with a stricter law. But nothing seems to have changed and it is going from bad to worse,” said J. Adilakshmi, Head of the Department of Management, PVP Siddhartha Institute of Technology.
“No one seems to be safe today, be it a four-year-old girl or a 60-year-old woman. In this case the victim was a 41-year-old mother of two grown up children. Though we are becoming progressive on one hand, we are going back to the primitive days on the other, where women had no place in society,” she said.
Prof. Adilakshmi feels security for women should improve and the problem has to be addressed at the school level where good and morally-influenced education should be imparted.
Sridevi of All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) blames the entertainment industry for the problems being faced by women. “Today, women are merely treated as sex objects and that is mainly due to the obscene projection of women in films, television and advertisements. Youth are getting misguided by watching them and if things have to change for good, women need to be projected in a positive manner. The police should also work more efficiently to make society safe for women,” she said.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (Central Zone) Lavanya Lakshmi has a different view. She feels that women should not feel insecure and most importantly should not make that evident, as it might work in the favour of criminals.
“In this particular case, the crime was committed by a person who was known to the victim. Most of the crimes, especially sex crimes are committed by known persons, be it a friend or a relative,” she pointed out.
According to Ms. Lavanya, women should not live in fear, but at the same time be cautious, as criminal elements are ubiquitous in society. “They should arm themselves with a few basic protective measures,” the ACP said.
