Although it is commendable that Mumbai police has managed to nab all five accused in the photojournalist gang rape case, one even from the national capital, the revelations from their confessions point towards startling biases prevalent in our country, cutting across the axes of gender, class and caste. By now it is public knowledge that the Shakti Mills attackers had raped four ragpickers at the very spot, who had come to the site to collect and sort garbage, risking their safety, bodily integrity and even lives to earn a few morsels more. However, all four rapes went unreported, precisely the reason why the sexual predators considered themselves beyond the reach of law, and in fact, threatened the 22-year-old photojournalist with dire consequences would she report the crime. Clearly, the assaulters assumed impunity, not only because of cultural sanctions that still blame the woman in case she becomes the target of sexual violence, but also because their experience told them most of the rapes still are not reported and the deluge of FIRs or media debates are but the tip of the iceberg that is the actual rate of crime against women in this country.
Moreover, the ragpickers’ compulsions to continue to working rather than seek justice, expose the unfortunate fact that in India, law is clearly available only to the privileged few who can buy off security and safety measures, and even trigger conscience debates and soul-searching on the part of the nation because they have enough financial and cultural capital to decide the trends. To put it simply, we need more than mere manufactured and mass-produced rage in the age of social and television media, the latest form of self-indulgence, and step up gas in the departments of security and women’s safety debate.
For one, there are several inconvenient facts that need to be discussed, especially the questions of how rape, class and caste intersect. Sexual violence has been the instrument of the upper classes and castes to punish those from the lower strata in case they transgressed, or simply to keep them in control. The unpalatable statistics on how Dalit and tribal women are still systematically raped (and often killed) is a case in point. However, it must also be noted that in the urban flux, where migrants and natives, rich and poor, Hindus and Muslims, men and women and transgenders mix almost freely, where brushes with parallel universes of cultures, values, education and norms happen on a regular basis, the walls break down and the societally-imposed apartheid based on class, caste and gender prescriptions and proscriptions fails to fully succeed. A bustling, cosmopolitan city such as Mumbai, that has traditionally been the hub of commerce and creativity, therefore creates a curious cauldron of potent mixes, where new attitudes and changes in dogmas can be observed.
Evidently, the security and safety debate in cities such as Mumbai or Delhi, and even Kolkata, must not eschew the difficult ground reality that class and caste have, to some extent, played a role in preventing and causing violence against women. Unless that is factored in the crime against women debate, there is bound be gaping holes in the security edifice that we are collectively seeking to erect.
Moreover, the ragpickers’ compulsions to continue to working rather than seek justice, expose the unfortunate fact that in India, law is clearly available only to the privileged few who can buy off security and safety measures, and even trigger conscience debates and soul-searching on the part of the nation because they have enough financial and cultural capital to decide the trends. To put it simply, we need more than mere manufactured and mass-produced rage in the age of social and television media, the latest form of self-indulgence, and step up gas in the departments of security and women’s safety debate.
For one, there are several inconvenient facts that need to be discussed, especially the questions of how rape, class and caste intersect. Sexual violence has been the instrument of the upper classes and castes to punish those from the lower strata in case they transgressed, or simply to keep them in control. The unpalatable statistics on how Dalit and tribal women are still systematically raped (and often killed) is a case in point. However, it must also be noted that in the urban flux, where migrants and natives, rich and poor, Hindus and Muslims, men and women and transgenders mix almost freely, where brushes with parallel universes of cultures, values, education and norms happen on a regular basis, the walls break down and the societally-imposed apartheid based on class, caste and gender prescriptions and proscriptions fails to fully succeed. A bustling, cosmopolitan city such as Mumbai, that has traditionally been the hub of commerce and creativity, therefore creates a curious cauldron of potent mixes, where new attitudes and changes in dogmas can be observed.
Evidently, the security and safety debate in cities such as Mumbai or Delhi, and even Kolkata, must not eschew the difficult ground reality that class and caste have, to some extent, played a role in preventing and causing violence against women. Unless that is factored in the crime against women debate, there is bound be gaping holes in the security edifice that we are collectively seeking to erect.