A shameful perpetuation

The Hyderabad rape crime against a 17-year-old teenager has once again provoked certain questions we have been struggling to answer for long. Among numerous rape incidents across India, a few manage to come under spotlight, stir national conscience and then subside silently. Indeed, the country has made some improvements by making rape laws more stringent but one must not forget that such progress took most heinous of the crimes to be made! Furthermore, of what use are such laws if they can't prevent girls and women across all ages from being raped? The futility of such laws can be inferred from the fact that a group of politically influential teens, undeterred in their attitude, went flouting India's 'stringent rape laws' in the city of Hyderabad. It implies a complete sense of impunity among them. Conviction rate under rape laws is abysmally low in India, and some wise voices see it as an outcome of 'misuse of rape laws' in the country — this, however, can be taken otherwise also. Their view is that emboldened by the law, women generally tend to use rape laws as a weapon to frame men. Such viewpoints are highly insensitive to the trauma females in India have been going through on a daily basis. India's stringent rape laws will have to be strictly implemented if a balance is to be achieved, as it is still tilted in favor of men for one reason or the other. If need be, these laws can be made even more stringent — stringent enough so that any person will have to think a hundred times before being complicit in such crimes. Irrespective of what pattern other countries follow, India's law-makers and -enforcers must take into account the deeply rooted patriarchal mindset in the country while formulating and implementing rape laws. One can hope for and demand a speedy investigation in the present case so that culprits are brought to book in a timely manner. Even if achieved, it will only be a partial justice to the teen girl. The true justice, for all potential rape targets — females in India ranging from a new-born to an octogenarian — will be when prevention of such crimes is ensured. The talks of social and mindset change, though important, don't hold much relevance until they are backed by tough institutional response and political weight. Waiting for a utopian society without concretely working in that direction is utterly foolish. India must certainly look beyond the soft talks of imparting good cultures and values among boys and establish strong deterrents. At the same time, rape also needs to be destigmatized. Despite some improvements over the past decade, rape remains a stigma in Indian society. It is in this context that revealing a victim's identity is prohibited. In continuing such mandates, we also carry the baggage of a misplaced notion that rape ruins the life of a girl, if she survives. We concede to the fact that a rape survivor or her family assumes a certain type of substandard status and must be shielded from society. Such is the invidiousness and orientation of society when it comes to rape culture. It must be emphasized that in the present state of affairs, such a provision is completely relevant and practical. It indeed protects the survivor and her family from many hardships they would face otherwise. But at the same time, one must retrospect how far is the future where there will be less fear of further victimization of a rape victim. It needs to be questioned why in a crime committed by a man, we tend to trace the indignity of women. Apart from being morally inconsistent, the taboo around rape survival has practical fallouts as well. NCPCR has questioned the state police regarding a 3-day delay in filing of an FIR. The family of the survivor also left a considerable time gap before filing a police complaint. However, it at least got reported. It is no mystery that a large number of cases go unreported in rural and semi-urban parts of India. Rape criminals do sense a possibility of their crime going unreported and this could be a perpetuating factor behind unabated rape incidents across the country. Policymakers must give serious consideration to this undue silencing of rape victims. As long as women stand to lose more than men in after-rape investigations, rape will remain a regular occurrence, as a tool for gendered subjugation, accept it!