Izaaz Ahmed
(The writer can be reached at izaazahmed16@gmail.com)
It is an oft-repeated statement that human beings are the God’s most exalted creation, a breed that has been endowed with the greatest of qualities – qualities that make them supreme on earth and allow them to exercise absolute control and dominance over the other species treading on this planet. Putting the envy-inducing godly gifts of reasoning, creativity and judgement to good use, they have been able to zoom past the rest and mark lofty impressions even on many extraterrestrial domains. But, all these conquests, howsoever awe-inspiring they might be, can never bring them on an equal footing with angels. Why else would a human slit the throat of another without a second thought? Why else would a group of men turn deaf to the whimpers and cries of a girl in the intoxication of lust on the outskirts of Hyderabad? And why else would a mature man rape an infant to death just to douse his sexual flames? The truth stands out loud and clear – human beings, along with the tag of being all-powerful, are also the most wretched and despicable creatures that this planet has ever borne witness to.
Womankind, throughout history, has had to face a multitude of vicissitudes. While very few like Helen of Troy were lucky enough to have had the bewitching beauty to launch a thousand ships, most of them could barely live a life devoid of subjugation and cruelty. Even today, scores of women are being ridden roughshod by their male counterparts either at the first sight of an opportunity or without having any bone to pick with. Domestic violence is on the rise with the pseudo-manly man of the house trying to show the lady her place, quashing her puny voice with the boisterous screams of manhood. And, of all the atrocities being unleashed upon women, it is ‘Rape’ that makes all the sane heads hang down in unspeakable shame. It is this barbaric act of crime that drags us centuries behind to shroud us with the most unassailable layers of ignorance and darkness, reducing to smithereens all the advancements made by the human civilization in the recent times. History is inundated with instances when women got subjected to the most sickening and vilest side of men. Be it the most developed nations like the USA or the likes of Somalia that are mired in pangs of destitution, this disdainful act of overpowering someone for satiating carnal desires has been able to break through all customary and ritualistic defences, leaving behind a repulsive and disgraceful spot. While many such cases come to the court of law for justice when reported, myriad others go unreported and hence, don’t even come to light.
India also has become a hotbed of this unpardonable offence with such heinous crimes mushrooming. Moreover, the existing loopholes in the Indian judiciary have given almost a free hand to the miscreants, who keep on flouting the rules with brazen arrogance. Yes, they do get imprisoned, but most of them walk out swaggeringly after having served their term. Who can forget the juvenile, one of the several accused in the Nirbhaya rape case, being granted immunity just because he was below 18 while beastly excruciating the hapless girl that led to her death later? Of course, Indian judiciary did send a strong message by sending Dhananjay, a criminal who had raped a school-going girl, to the gallows, but such exemplary judgements have been terribly scanty, reserved only for the rarest of rare crimes. What also encourages the ones having such a horrific mindset is the outlook of many self-styled moral officers who are connoisseurs in passing the buck to the women fraternity, and swiftly attribute cases of rapes and molestation to their inappropriate sense of dressing.
India is a land of many religions. People might not act religious while cheating on their partners or surreptitiously watching sexually-explicit content in a dimly-lit room, but will definitely turn into the best of religious preachers when someone else is being put under a scanner. This takes a nastier turn when a girl is said to have incited a crime like rape owing to her dress. When the people should be clamouring for justice, they stoop low and begin questioning the victim’s decency. At a time when every citizen should write petitions to the highest court of appeal asking it to mete out the harshest of punishments, many of them comfort their conscience by making an accused out of the victim. Moreover, holding onto such an opinion is not only downright primitive but also hogwash. Several reliable researches and investigations conducted in various parts of the world have proven that rape has nothing to do with a woman’s provocative dressing sense or her carefree gait but with the mentality and instinct of the criminal. While some rapists commit such crimes out of sexual frustration or upon being rejected by their loved ones or society, the others turn to such brutality just to exhibit their brute force or when egged on by their friends or accomplice. It is this anti-social instinct and mental-illness that makes a person rape a baby, that too for hours. It is because of this disregard for the laws of the land that even modestly-dressed women are molested and raped. And it is only a consequence of this highest level of human uncouthness and worst form of human savagery that a person shoves an iron rod into a girl’s reproductive canal after robbing her of everything, including her honour.
Only a rape-victim would know her loss. The outsiders and commentators can only feel sorry for her or, at best, claim justice for her, but no one can actually empathize with her pain. Those heart-shuddering moments that would scare her to face the world again and frequently jolt her up from sleep in the wee hours, besides latching onto the deepest recesses of her painful memory, can never be felt by anyone but her. Hence, the institutions concerned should strive to take swift actions and deliver speedy verdicts. They should seriously sit down, work on the loopholes and put watertight laws in place that would deter such crimes. Justice Verma Committee, constituted in 2012 after the Nirbhaya Case to suggest ways to sternly deal with sexual assault cases, highlighted failures of government and police as the root causes behind crimes against women. Moreover, stopping the ongoing rampant objectification of women is the need of the hour. Projecting women as objects of lust and desire not only helps build a false and dangerous narrative, but also has dire consequences.