This we know: few days go by without newspaper headlines announcing a violent sexual assault on a woman who could have been us or a loved one. This is less well known: the victims we read about are less likely to get anything resembling justice than ever before. Since 1973, ever more women have summoned the courage to walk into a police station, growing from 2,919 that year to 20,262 in 2010. In the same period, conviction rates dropped from 37 per cent to 26 per cent. Police attitudes are a key part of the problem. In a recent exposé, Tehelka magazine covertly videotaped several mid-level Delhi Police officers endorsing the view that rape victims had somehow contributed to the assault they suffered by what they wore, or the way they behaved. Earlier, the Director General of Police in Andhra Pradesh said that “provocative fashionable dresses” could be “one of the factors” behind the increase in rape. With the police espousing such ridiculous views, it is hardly surprising that rape cases are not properly investigated. Forensic resources are conspicuous by their absence. Newspaper headlines about Delhi or Gurgaon being “rape capitals” exacerbate the problem, incentivising the police to make it harder for women to seek justice in the hope of manufacturing better crime figures.
Finding answers to these problems is easier said than done. For one, anti-women attitudes remain resilient even in relatively progressive western societies. In the 1960s, Harry Kalven and Hans Zeisel showed how U.S. juries go to extraordinary lengths to be lenient with defendants when there is any suggestion of “contributory behaviour” by victims — such as hitchhiking, or simply talking to men at parties. In a 2005 survey conducted by Amnesty International in the United Kingdom, an astounding 26 per cent of respondents said they “thought a woman was totally or partially responsible for being raped if she was wearing revealing clothes”. Katie Ewing, in a 2009 study, pointed out that conviction rates in the U.K. had fallen from 25 per cent in 1985 to under 5 per cent in 2008, with juries proving reluctant to convict except in cases where there was compelling forensic evidence. Though focussed work to reshape police attitudes can help, there should be no illusions about what can be achieved. There is a large welter of scholarship that shows sensitisation courses, for example, have few long term results — sometimes merely teaching police officers the language they need to cloak their bigotry. The real threat to women comes from the men they live and work with, not the stranger lurking on a dark, ill-lit road. For victims to get justice, we must engage in a far larger effort to eradicate the toxic attitudes passed from fathers to sons.
Keywords: rape victims, rape, sexual assault, anti-women attitudes,
Who gives these men the carte Blanche to behave the way they want to? It
is the fact that our society is a totally patriarchal one. Despite the
big talk of India being an economic power, the reality is much grimer
and far uglier than meets the eye. We are still a society, a culture
where the girl child gets killed by her own parents. We are a country
where men are considered superior just by virtue of being born one. Even
a mother though herself a female gives more importance to here male
child. It happens in my home and it happens in every home in India. So
lets stop being hypocrites. Accept the fact that its going to take many
decades if not centuries for the mindset of people to change. Till then
until this generation takes flight, for the womenfolk in God’s own
country, it is still a long road to independence.
It is sad to see comments against Radhik who only stated while freedom in dress code (compared to past fully covered body can be introduced) too much of it (exposing vulnerable parts) is to be avoided; Why find fault with this? In that case, you can go to the extreme and say even bikini clad dames can walk on the streets (?) or completely nude folks? All of us have to understand modernization of dress has to be in line with proper modesty too ! (total coverage of body like burqa in tropical countries is too harsh for females, yet they insist eh!) Even the women wearing blouses keep wide rift open both at front and back now - why ? purpose of blouse is defeated; If you want airy comfort to avoid sweat, you may as well adopt the shirt mode of west, closing up to the neck; wear pants if you like cover full knees etc; in the name of fashion designers have gone too far to tempt females to "bare" far too much - is it part of female of the species trying to attract male? Most pitiable indeed!
Though everyone knows it is the attitude and arrogance of the perpetrator is to be blamed for the rape, the solution in our country is not to just bring stringent laws. Until our male folks are getting civilised, I think it is the responsibility of the men in the family to protect the girls and women in our family. Even though a girl has the full right to dress and behave the way they like, but in our patriarchal and mindless society woman has to behave modestly if we need to protect them. It may be atleast another century for menfolks in our country to change their attitude, hence we will wait until than rather than to invite for problems.
Muhammad Ahmad @ Radhik Hairam: Stop spewing this near nonsense. To
say that one has to dress modestly to stay safe, is just reinforcing
the stereotype. Are you saying that simply because someone "does not
dress modestly", it gives the right to commit rape? Do you live in the
cave age, or under the rock?
As for Radhik, well you say we should "preserve values and promote
freedom"... are you not contradicting yourself? I have lived in the
west. People do not stare at cleavage or suggest that if had plunging
necklines, you were "asking for it". So please stop justifying this
age old stereotype about rape and "being dressed modestly". Rape is a
a crime - a heinous one at that. There is no justification for that!
Several factors contribute to this problem:
1. lack of social education among youngsters
2. poor mentality of seeking women as an object
3. lack of interest of police towards this heinous crime
4. absence of political in taking preventive steps
5. corruption in government structure
True indeed is the fact most of rape cases are due to provoking dress and manners of females, ignoring our age old customs and code of modesty; while emancipation of women and giving them all opportunities is welcome, they should realise that wide cleavage of blouse exposing bosom and low hips do tend to tempt the male folks who look at their various poses and begin to think they are "available" for pleasure. DO NOT blame them alone; while we should educate men to understand and appreciate change in dress mode and take it in stride, TOO MUCH of concession is also BAD. Recall even in old days when Marilyn Munroe was asked to restrict her "open" area while dressing (Time Magazine reported) Let us be more sensible and act to preserve values and promote freedom !
That the DGP of a state should say that women who are not "modestly
dressed" are potential victims of rape (as Muhammad Ahmad put it) is
sheer nonsense. Does that mean that women who are dressed in sarees or
salwar-kameez are not raped, or that women who were raped, went about
walking in bikinis? Or would you mandate women in the country wear
nothing but "burquas"Such a theory reinforces the stereotype, & nearly justifies rape. I am not sure such idiotic comments would be made if the victim was a friend, or family member. What we need is a stringent law (a jail
term of at-least 20 years, rigorous enforcement of the law, and as one
of your readers said, chemical castration. Unless we instill fear,
nothing will change.
Apart from all the datas and surveys present till date, it is a well
known fact that the gulf countries witness least number of such vicious
acts. A major reason behind this is the dressing sense and the kind of
respect the men and women have for each other. Nobody is going to tease
or even touch a modestly dressed girl walking the roadside.
It is astounding that a former DGP should talk of “provocative
fashionable dresses” being the possible cause of rape. If the top of
a state speaks that way, it is irresponsible & shameful. Rape is a
crime - pure & simple. Any attempt to justify it would be akin to
saying that the victim "asked for it". There has been no serious
attempt to deal with the issue. That Gurgaon or Delhi should be the
"rape Capital of India", is shameful, to say the least.
Unlike in the west, women are scared of reporting rape, and with the
"that woman asked for it" attitude, things become difficult. We need
to amend the Indian Penal Code, bring fast track courts, hire more
forensic experts and train cops to apply the law without prejudice.
We also need to eliminate the element of "shame" from the crime,
counsel victims, and make sure rapists are castrated or spend at least
15 to 20 years in jail, with no possibility of parole.
The crime such as rapes are happening because they are not sincere of what they
wear and go to offices and colleges. They lure the people and because of these
crimes are increasing eeverywhere not only in Delhi and ncr. So women should think
all over these point.
The recent rise in incidents of rape may have a direct link to the
fact that more and more first generation women are coming out to work
- especially from rural areas. The so called ' contributary behaviour'
is owing to the fact that this group of first generation women are
unsuspectingly becoming victims due to lack of knowledge of social
behaviour. They are unable to read signs of danger since their
interaction with opposite gender would have been minimal in their
rural set-up and a sudden exposure to a co-existence at work would
have left them unprepared for situations beyond their control.
Blaming dressing of a women is entirely wrong if something has to blamed
then it has to be poor mentality of man .Society has to teach boys that
if they get attracted by something then it never means that its their
thing and they can do whatever they want to do.
strict rules has to be made and peoples attitude towads the victim has
to be changed.
"The real threat to women comes from the men they live and work with, not the stranger lurking on a dark,ill-lit road."You have put it perspectively and eloquently.The sentence is a statement that says it all.The women are most vulnerable in places they are expected to be safe.These days,anybody can guess what would happen to a woman who goes,particularly in the night,to the police station to make a complaint.How would the DGP comment on this prevailing popular notion on women's safety.Would he say that it depends on the way she is attired?The four letter word was till recently a great stigma.Once a woman becomes a victim,it appeared every thing was lost for her. Mercifully,this dvastating feeling is no more shown by any sensible girl or woman.The social attitude of the woman folks should further change.They are no more the weaker sex. They should develop a body languge that they can face and combat any macho who tends to make a sexual attack on her.Her physical skills must be honed
Let's admit it a practical way of preventing would be perpetrators is to bring in fear of severe corporal punishment for actual culprits followed by wide spread publicity to be given to the punishment as well as to the identity of the culprit. The present day judicial system where the culprit ( Govindachamy ) is preserved at state expense and where he is allowed to taunt his victim's near & dear ones is laughable, if not despicable. A continuation of this will worsen matters till the people who run this country suffer personally from this crime when they will perhaps sit up and take notice and hopefully pass laws and implement them in such a way that justice will be delivered. Of course people in that category have options to mete out justice, fast & perhaps more than adequately.Till such time we will have to take extreme precautions and if we catch any one indulging in such activity deliver appropriate retribution that will stay in the culprit's memory for a lifetime and beyond.
This is a disspaointing editorial. Apart from saying there is a universal problem, the current solutions do not work it says little else. The conclusion: "For victims to get justice, we must engage in a far larger effort to eradicate the toxic attitudes passed from fathers to sons." suggest that father's pass on attitudes to their sons. Is it really as simple as that? If your editorial writer had not wasted half the space going on about other countries, he might have had a few more words in which to explore the particular problems of a society/culture that is governed by male preference and in which women have always been a discounted sex, discounted even by women.
If 'provocative fashionable dresses' could be a factor behind increase n rape, then rich people are the reason behind increase in robbery. The main reason is either our law and order system is too week or its not practiced properly in dealing with such cases. How can a DGP justify those perpetrators? its like a police official justifying chain snatcher by saying 'people are wearing costly chains that is why chain snatchers are increasing'.
If the above logic is correct, rape and robbery will be high in rich developed countries compared to poor underdeveloped countries. A chain snatcher won't dare to snatch in Saudi Arabia because he knows if he is caught he won't have hands to do that next time. You can guess the punishment if that was a rape attempt!!
The police officer making a comment that the rape victims are their own self responsible for their faith just because of the dress they wear, is really shame, as this indicates that man do not have control on there on emotions and are bound to do such acts just by looking at the women walking beside. May god give power, to those who can’t control their own self.
Why blame the ongoing scenario? The authors of our highly respected epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata depicted our women as second class citizens who could be treated according to the whims and fancies of their men folk. Draupadi was put as a wager by none other than her own husband; Sita was sent off to the forests by her husband to prove her fidelity; Surpanakha's nose was cut off for a very silly reason. The list is endless. Over the years, we have practised Sati, young girls being married off to men old enough to be their grandfathers, and even now baby girls are killed off at birth. Our MPs refuse to grant reservations to women in Parliament. Our laws against rape are purely superficial - instead of executing the culprit as adjudicated by our courts, the President commutes the death sentence to a few years in jail so that the rapist can continue with his crime later. So why are we cribbing?
Considering the statistics of US to explain its prevalence in India is totally undeniable as both have different culture. Evoking for rape in US means it in other manner but in India even wearing a skiny fit jeans may be considered to evoke for a sexual course. Well comments given by dignified personnel show that our society is filled with hypocrates having conservative approach. These people say Ok! I am comfortable and justify girl's wearing any type of clothes but when they come home, they don't want their sister or mother to even wear a jeans. With globalisation of market and economy, the essence of western culture will for sure enter our society and we have to accept it. These conservative person may be given a proper and must training so that they can be able to cope with this change. Some steps that should should be taken are making sex education compulsory,and giving safety to girls till our society becomes adaptable to this change. A girl's potray as a machine for giving offspring needs to be changed.
That delayed justice to rape victims or insensitive attitudes towards them is a problem not just Indian only adds to the complexity of the issue. Western societies are not a paragon virtue but their miserably poor standard in meting out justice to rape victims will only invite unwarranted analogy to be drawn while dealing with similar cases in India given our propensity to hold them as an ideal parameter for everything as they are more advanced, liberal and progressive. We need to guard our good judgement against the influence of western treatment towards women. India has always been a society where women have been adored, revered. Such moral degeneration that manifests itself through increasing insensitivity to their problems and their victimization by the people at all levels should be strongly dealt with by incorporating sensitization programme in the training of policemen and regular monitoring as to whether the lesson is being adhered to. Punitive actions will also go a long way.
Can we have an unwritten law, against such beastly behaviours of men
towards female clan, which assures them a complete protection. Either
corporates or NGOs should come up with a reward for those who save a
woman from being assaulted sexually.
Remove few provoking factors. You will wake up one day there would not be any such illicit news lies around.
- Ban the liquor
- Nurture your children and provide social education
- Avoid seeing such vulgar acts of heroine
- Ban TRP hungry media, by keeping promise to show truth and exaggerate the matter much vulgurly.
- Talk about behaviour of human
- Make Internet protective which is large resource such porn activity
But the fact is Goverment would not take any steps to crucify any of the facts listed above. I have reson i do not know how much those are precised but i am sure somewhere they are either in advantage or forced not to take bold steps. Till then I am sorry we can not stop these kind of acts.
such a derogatory remarks from DGP itself a provoking to perpetrators. until law and order will not be strengthen,our country will be keep on
facing such a tragic stories.and our government officials will be keep
on mulling over.If we able to set some examples of such heinous crime
then only possible to save women from the locks of criminal.
With less women than men, it is still happening and increasing!! And we are going to wake up to crude reality one day like japan where women refuse to give birth to childrens. But because of corruption it will not improve the life of people
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