Twix legality and society

As upheld widely, the way to prevent crimes and offences against women is not to make them adhere to a list of dos and don'ts but instead, to educate and sensitise society as a whole to treat women and girls as a complete individual as an equal deserving of respect just by virtue of being a human. In a society that has normalised a secondary status of women from years of quiet oppression and where patriarchy has taken deep roots, it is a task to undo this system of discrimination bring forth and internalise the notion that women are not objects to be exploited and that their autonomy and individuality are sacrosanct. The moral and social lesson that violation of another's individuality—whosoever it may be, a child or an adult of any gender—in any manner what so ever amounts to a wrong doing ranging from offence to a serious crime and such an act has to be rewarded with an appropriate punishment. Taking a specific first step and sensitising boys on crimes against women while still impressionable is can set the society on the course of reform. In an attempt to prevent cases of crimes against women, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged the Education Minister Manish Sisodia to look into whether there is a need to sensitise male students on crime against women and also said the government should start courses on the issue. The Chief Minister said that "Along with the system, the society that we live in needs to change as well. What is happening to our youth? The men should be taught to respect women, they should be made to realise the consequences of such an act". This is a statement of profound implications whereby it is indicated that the state is willing to take on a social responsibility to initiate a necessary reform. The Delhi Assembly has also passed a resolution urging the Centre to seriously consider its responsibility of law and order, police in the Capital and ensure preventive and corrective measures to avoid recurrence of crime against women and other heinous crimes that have been reported in the recent past. The resolution sais that "The Government of India should immediately fill up all the vacant posts in Delhi Police and strengthen its working so that it can instill confidence in the people of Delhi which is lacking as on date". As dismal as matters are, complainants receive little help from the police and if a person goes to report a crime, the police often withhold help out of either corrupt intentions or just simply ignorance. Also urging the the judiciary fulfill its duties, Mr. Kejriwal said that "Nothing is so complicated that cannot be fixed. Even the judiciary should fulfill its duty of resolving the cases of such heinous crimes as quickly as they can. Judgments on such cases must be passes on a mission mode and the culprits must be convicted within six months of the initiation of the trial". On the part of the state, there is hope that matters will be addressed and the wrongs will be set right. But stricter laws and effort-making law makers will only at best address the malady from one end and just half way.

There is a need for the state and Central governments to come together and address the problem. The national capital being labled the "crime capital" is shameful blob and the state on its part must spur into action to set matters right. Making a region women- and individual-safe with adequate street lights and CCTV cameras, deployment of marshals, app-based security provisions, etc. and establishing clearly enough that any offence committed against women or anyone will be rewarded with strict punishment to deter other from doing anything along those lines are the necessary measure the state can and must ensure. But, the enormously disturbing reports of children being gang raped and of 9 year old dying due to rape by father point towards the social aspect of the pervasive state and rising rate of crimes against women. Legislative intervention could fix a loophole but cannot strengthen the social fabric where there would be no place for crimes against women. The horrific gang rape and murder of a veterinarian in Hyderabad sparked a debate on women's safety Delhi Assembly and also in Parliament. With reference to the heinous incident of the Hyderabad vet's rape, a deeply disturbing reality in the under current is that there have been gradation of rapes: as in grisly cased of Nirbhaya and the recent Hyderabad one to persistent abuses and marital rapes, making room for normalising this act of violation in many cases. The hoax case of the 21-year-old woman who had alleged that she was tricked by some youths and gang raped in Etmadpur before being dumped in Pachokhara area of Firozabad had hatched the conspiracy against the three named accused and admitted to framing the trio at the behest of her boy friend who was a criminal himself (the three were witnesses in a murder case in which her boyfriend was prime accused) is just a glimpse into how rape is a socially workable method of coercion and intimidation. It has been proved sufficiently and emphatically time and again that social change and reform are the necessary preconditions of a healthy society and promoting gender equality is the first step to address the rising rates of crimes against women.