Because she deserves a fair trial
19 Oct 2012 10:47 PM GMT
In 21st century India where many women have broken through the glass ceiling there are shocking reminders that the more things change for them, the more they remain the same. Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee member Dharamvir Goyal’s appalling stand of blaming women themselves for provoking the assaults they face is a case in point. It is indeed ironic that despite passing progressive bills, few politicians take a public stand against gender based violence. When politicians begin to raise doubts about the antecedents of rape victims in public or escape responsibility by blaming the opposition for inciting such crimes, it emboldens the rapists.
Justice is rarely done in the face of such attitudes. This warped mindset of cultivating patriarchal beliefs which always raise fingers at woman’s character when she becomes a victim of rape has as such resulted in only one in 10 women ever reporting rape to the police. Sadly, it is not uncommon to find police officers also subscribing to such a regressive belief system. This explains why only one in four accused is convicted. Also the pendency of rape cases in trial courts has increased from 78 per cent to 83 per cent. This victim blaming approach explains why crimes against women continue to be on the rise. It was indeed insensitive of Goyal to trivialise the issue and give it a political colour.
Shocking instances of rape continue to hit the headlines along with the tendency of police and administrators to blame the victim. Yet, the Haryana, government stubbornly refuses to acknowledge them. With elections just two years away, the Congress party has seized upon these ghastly incidents to try and corner the opposition as a ploy to seek justification for such crimes. Rather than take responsibility for these incidents, the Congress led United Progressive Alliance chose to cover up its failure to prevent such outrages. Responding to the slow pace of nabbing perpetrators, the state unit of Congress took recourse to describe the rapes as a ‘political conspiracy’ to discredit the Haryana government on top of that, the state administration has tried to blame media for sensationalising the rape cases. The Haryana governments failure to take immediate remedial measures to stop recurrence of such serious crimes against women and bring the culprits to book depicts the sad state of governance in our country. Notwithstanding congress president Sonia Gandhi’s assurance for speedy Justice to the women of Haryana the reaction of the state government to media reports and its refusal to look at the real situation is unfortunate and condemnable in the strongest terms.
What gives further cause for dismay is that Goyal’s comment comes close on the heels of opposition leader and Indian National Lok Dal [INLD] chief Om Prakash Chautala’s endorsement of the khap panchayat’s outrageous diktat that boys and girls should be married by the time they are 16. Khap panchayat’s are known for their draconian decrees in the name of protecting women. That Chautala was compelled to support the khap panchayat suggestions citing a Mughal era practice finds its genesis in the politics of vote bank.
The wonder solution of early marriage to prevent such incidents from recurring recommended by khap panchayat and endorsed by the former Haryana CM smacks of a feudalistic psyche that wants to take control of women’s lives. Instead of calling for the strengthening of laws to protect women and punish the rapists, the khaps want to take the country backwards by lowering the marriagable age. Rather then strengthening her protection, our khaps want to confine her in home.
Child marriage as a remedy for rape is ridiculous. This has no scientific proof. Indeed, child marriage is a crime against society. The minimum age for marriage has been arrived at after studying various factors. Victims and perpetrators of rape belong to all age groups. Besides, there is no evidence to prove that married woman are not raped or that married men do not commit the heinous crime. The khap panchayat proposal has no rationale and is tantamount to blatant in infringement of basic human rights.
In fact, a day after former Haryana CM Chautala endorsed khap panchayat’s suggestion, four UN agencies, urged India to take ‘incremental action’ to fight the scourge of child marriages in the country.
Unfortunately, there has been no strong reaction from the political fraternity. Politicians in Haryana also steer clear of these local power elites for fear of disturbing their own electoral fortunes. Outfits like khaps seam to believe that no force, not even the Supreme Court can question their authority while such attitude could be due to lack of education the tacit support extended to them by self seeking politicians further bolsters their obscurantist practices. What is more deplorable is that our young and educated parliamentarians also support the authority of khaps. Given the sweeping gender bias and insensitivity, a victimised women is more often than not reluctant to approach society, police or the legal system knowing that it will further expose her to ignominy and trauma. If we keep on ascribing blame on women for such crimes, it will make easy for the perpetrators to get away. And crimes would continue to happen.
With Haryana rape tally new touching 17, police and political authorities need to start treating rape as a heinous crime and put in place some serious deterrents. Reforming police and judicial and procedures will go a long way towards assuring justice to victims deterring further crimes against women. It is high time exemplary punishment is awarded to rapists for ensuring speedy Justice. There is also need to do away with dual system of Justice prevailing in the state. [IFS]
Justice is rarely done in the face of such attitudes. This warped mindset of cultivating patriarchal beliefs which always raise fingers at woman’s character when she becomes a victim of rape has as such resulted in only one in 10 women ever reporting rape to the police. Sadly, it is not uncommon to find police officers also subscribing to such a regressive belief system. This explains why only one in four accused is convicted. Also the pendency of rape cases in trial courts has increased from 78 per cent to 83 per cent. This victim blaming approach explains why crimes against women continue to be on the rise. It was indeed insensitive of Goyal to trivialise the issue and give it a political colour.
Shocking instances of rape continue to hit the headlines along with the tendency of police and administrators to blame the victim. Yet, the Haryana, government stubbornly refuses to acknowledge them. With elections just two years away, the Congress party has seized upon these ghastly incidents to try and corner the opposition as a ploy to seek justification for such crimes. Rather than take responsibility for these incidents, the Congress led United Progressive Alliance chose to cover up its failure to prevent such outrages. Responding to the slow pace of nabbing perpetrators, the state unit of Congress took recourse to describe the rapes as a ‘political conspiracy’ to discredit the Haryana government on top of that, the state administration has tried to blame media for sensationalising the rape cases. The Haryana governments failure to take immediate remedial measures to stop recurrence of such serious crimes against women and bring the culprits to book depicts the sad state of governance in our country. Notwithstanding congress president Sonia Gandhi’s assurance for speedy Justice to the women of Haryana the reaction of the state government to media reports and its refusal to look at the real situation is unfortunate and condemnable in the strongest terms.
What gives further cause for dismay is that Goyal’s comment comes close on the heels of opposition leader and Indian National Lok Dal [INLD] chief Om Prakash Chautala’s endorsement of the khap panchayat’s outrageous diktat that boys and girls should be married by the time they are 16. Khap panchayat’s are known for their draconian decrees in the name of protecting women. That Chautala was compelled to support the khap panchayat suggestions citing a Mughal era practice finds its genesis in the politics of vote bank.
The wonder solution of early marriage to prevent such incidents from recurring recommended by khap panchayat and endorsed by the former Haryana CM smacks of a feudalistic psyche that wants to take control of women’s lives. Instead of calling for the strengthening of laws to protect women and punish the rapists, the khaps want to take the country backwards by lowering the marriagable age. Rather then strengthening her protection, our khaps want to confine her in home.
Child marriage as a remedy for rape is ridiculous. This has no scientific proof. Indeed, child marriage is a crime against society. The minimum age for marriage has been arrived at after studying various factors. Victims and perpetrators of rape belong to all age groups. Besides, there is no evidence to prove that married woman are not raped or that married men do not commit the heinous crime. The khap panchayat proposal has no rationale and is tantamount to blatant in infringement of basic human rights.
In fact, a day after former Haryana CM Chautala endorsed khap panchayat’s suggestion, four UN agencies, urged India to take ‘incremental action’ to fight the scourge of child marriages in the country.
Unfortunately, there has been no strong reaction from the political fraternity. Politicians in Haryana also steer clear of these local power elites for fear of disturbing their own electoral fortunes. Outfits like khaps seam to believe that no force, not even the Supreme Court can question their authority while such attitude could be due to lack of education the tacit support extended to them by self seeking politicians further bolsters their obscurantist practices. What is more deplorable is that our young and educated parliamentarians also support the authority of khaps. Given the sweeping gender bias and insensitivity, a victimised women is more often than not reluctant to approach society, police or the legal system knowing that it will further expose her to ignominy and trauma. If we keep on ascribing blame on women for such crimes, it will make easy for the perpetrators to get away. And crimes would continue to happen.
With Haryana rape tally new touching 17, police and political authorities need to start treating rape as a heinous crime and put in place some serious deterrents. Reforming police and judicial and procedures will go a long way towards assuring justice to victims deterring further crimes against women. It is high time exemplary punishment is awarded to rapists for ensuring speedy Justice. There is also need to do away with dual system of Justice prevailing in the state. [IFS]
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