Sunday 13 January 2013

Wish you a very regretful New Year--Part 3

The Reality, Punishment and Future

I know it is quite late to publish the 3rd part of the article. But i had deliberately waited to publish it late, in order to make people realize that how forgetful they are about issues, despite it creating a ripple throughout the nation.Its been nearly a week since the articles and reports regarding rapes have started declining by the day and people have started to forget the incident and have started talking about other issues. 
With a brief introduction above, this leads us to the first Sub-heading that is mentioned in the title.

The Reality


Protests all over major cities, especially the capital. Metro rail services blocked, roads barricaded, announcement of section 144, etc. These are the many steps taken by the authorities to prevent the people to gather in places such as India Gate in order to echo for the Delhi gang rape victim who died a few days back. While the concern of the general public is to be appreciated as a whole, I happened to get skeptical about the crowd who had gathered for protest. I doubt whether all of them are protesters indeed. It is not meant to be offensive of the concerned people who have taken days off to protest in order to ensure justice for the victim, but while people are looking up at the crimes that have reached sky-high, we sometimes fail to look down upon the reality of the situation. 
This sub-heading was not meant to be a part of this article initially, but I brought it out after i saw a report that made me feel ashamed of the nation I live in and the state of affairs that it is in now. A female journalist being groped by some random guy in a mob during a protest against crime against women. It sounds ironic, but in reality it is something which shows us that, we have not yet evolved (at least mentally) as civilized human beings. The situation is even worse when this victimized journalist happened to tweet this. Very few people sympathized her, whereas others blamed her of seeking publicity, some called her a liar, some people (whom i wouldn't even consider calling them humans, but had to) even told her to enjoy the masculine touch. This incident shows us how low can mankind stoop for the sake of a pleasure lasting for a few minutes which comes with a price tag of the victim's mental agony. 
This was just one case that came to light, even that had because of the victim being a journalist. There could have been many more issues, opportunistic people capitalize on such situations. One can always find in any gathering of people, Drunkards or non-drunkards trying to misbehave with women in the crowd, pick pockets, who thrive on the income from the purses of protesters and many others. Sadly enough, people are not aware of the reality that exists in protests.

Punishment


With the whole mob of protesters on their brim of explosion and many demanding for a lynch mob style punishment, it is necessary for us to think wisely and decide with the course of action and the legal proceedings. Though the entire group of protesters are united in seeking justice for the victim, they stand divided on the punishment that is to be awarded to the perpetrators, if found guilty. Currently, the laws provide life sentence for rape and unless the rarest-of-rare crimes , death penalty is not awarded. 
There is a group demanding death penalty for the perpetrators, one demanding castration of the convicts and another pressing for life time confinement in prison. When looked on a case-by-case basis, though the idea behind death penalty was to instill fear in the people and prevent them from committing crime, it does not prove to deter the rate of crime, especially with crimes against women. Following this is the demand for Chemical castration, but one must understand that, there can be no drop in rape instances, with the implementation of castration either. The criminals would find some other innovative way to humiliate the woman, these would be so gross that i do not wish to discuss in my article. One must understand that rape is not just penile vaginal intercourse, as in the Delhi rape case, the perpetrators used an iron rod as well. OK  now back to the discussion of the various cases of punishment for perpetrators of rape. When looked at life imprisonment, it can prove to be a deterrence to the crime, especially if it is solitary confinement. This is so because considering death which kills the convict within a matter of minutes. Castration which ensures that the convict does not have an erection but will still give him a considerably amount of freedom in other terms except sexual pleasure. Whereas with solitary confinement, it would be hell on earth, not on literal terms but it will subject the convict to a mental torture of being cut off from rest of the world. It would also give time for the perpetrator(s) to introspect on their crime and give them space to regret for the same, if they wish to.

The Future


Now with discussing the reality and the punishment that can be implemented on the convicts, naturally comes the question about the future--is it going to be anyway safe for women? Well, as an answer to that question, we need to understand one thing. We live in India, a place where people have started thinking progressively in a materialistic way, but still are way behind in the stone age in terms of thinking progressively for the place of woman in the society which was governed by the men in the yesteryear. Most of the people today lack maturity in thought regarding women donning the roles which were meant for men otherwise. All the uproar and talks regarding women empowerment just remains on papers and when it comes to implementation, everyone slows down.
As with immature thought, we blame the women of stimulating crimes against them. A Self acclaimed god-man arbitrarily says that the crime would not have happened if the victim had pleaded to the perpetrators and addressed them as brothers. Can we be more stupid than this? It is a shame that a man who is respected spiritually doesn't even know to respect the dead and uses the victim's case as a tool to give his discourse. 
If a god-man can turn out to be so ignorant, we have an entire government, who are supposed to crackdown on the criminals, instead impose restrictions on male and female interactions and bring in dress codes for women with a belief of controlling crimes against women. It is very sad that a government in a huge democracy like India, had to blame the women's dressing sense and brought in dress codes. The government is also intruding into the social sphere of the women by restricting interaction between men and women.
It is indeed, the need-of-the hour that we bring about some change that makes the street safer for women, but no one asked for the safety that comes with strings attached, such as sacrificing social freedom. By imposing such directives by the government, it does not serve the purpose of protecting womankind, instead it shows the inability of the government to act upon criminals and its readiness to just sit and start the blame game.
But the real change can come only on a long term, it is time that we don't hide everything under the guise of culture, girl children must be reassured that they can approach parents or elders to report anything that might make them feel uncomfortable. Parents must start speaking up and explain children about harassment of women. The schools must start implementing value education in school curriculum in order to ensure that the children understand moral values and turn out to be better citizens tomorrow to stand up for the cause of women or at least would not indulge in violence against women. It is the childhood days which put up a foundation pile to the adulthood tomorrow, hence it is necessary that the children are properly groomed. The change that we need cannot be enforced, it must come from within and the best place to implement those changes is childhood.

As you can see, this is the last of the three part article. It is indeed very sad that a civilized country like India had to witness such a brutal case of rape, especially in the capital. My respects to the victim who died even after putting up a fight and expressing her desire to live on. May her soul Rest In Peace.

Friday 4 January 2013

The Crowded 1st class and a policeman

Since there have been some serious reports in this blog so far, its time for something light and I have decided to do an observation of mine with regard to an incident that happened today.

A man in his late 40's with a cover full of case papers. Clad in a khaki uniform with a name badge on his chest gets on to the 1st class compartment of a train starting from near high court of madras. These features are of a police inspector who after a long day of duty, is probably heading back to his shack. This man sat next to me. The train, given the time was crowded and there were a few senior citizens who could not find a seat. The seats here in the first class compartment are meant to seat 3, but it can be quite comfortable with 4 as well, provided if people adjust. 
It so happened that the police inspector noticed a senior citizen standing and offered a seat next to him and i did not mind giving some space as well. Before offering a seat to the senior citizen, there were a couple of young boys sitting right opposite to us who were asked to free some space in their seat to accommodate one other passenger. 
Rather than just the gesture of offering a seat to a passenger, the attitude with which he interacted with people and without even exhibiting remorse nature of arrogance made me write this article.

Passenger Arrogance


People may find this attitude of policeman to be an arrogant and commanding one, but i saw it in a different way. I felt that the people had totally forgotten about respecting elders, especially seniors and needed someone to force them show the respect. I would call it enforcement of respect. Many youth today lack respect and sympathy towards co-passengers in any public transport, hence to bring into order, such external 'enforcement' was necessary, in this case from a policeman. Since if it had been an advice by just another civilian, it would have gone unheeded. 
Most of the youth passengers today are arrogant as such, who care about nothing unless it pertains them. Such attitude might have risen because of the way they are brought up. Apart from their peer groups, the parents of the youth are to be blamed. These parents, in their attempt to please their children, have made anything and everything accessible to them that has instilled such an arrogant nature into today's youth. Also the friend's and other social circle of the young ones have turned out to manipulate the thoughts of the youth and make them in a way selfish and least bothered about the others around them.

Uncomfortable passengers


The other passengers are also as arrogant as the youth, if not always but in times where it involves police. The public do not have a very good impression on the police force and are in a way phobic to them, even to the name "Police". There was this one fellow passenger who had literally laughed at the gesture of the inspector to offer seat to a passenger. Personally, I find the passenger's attitude to be offensive. No matter what shall be the attitude or arrogant nature of police, it is not right to make fun of a man pure at heart who has the courtesy to show some respect to a fellow passenger while our cynical passenger was glued to the seat and did not even budge an inch. Many other passengers as I could sense were particularly not comfortable with the presence of a policeman in the compartment, in spite of the police inspector having a casual word or two with people around and exhibiting a friendly attitude.

A soft corner


"Even the hardest of rocks have a soft corner", is what i believe and it suits aptly to what happened in the train today. This may not be something of a very important news or a social issue, but it is my reflection on how people tend to behave when it comes down to interactions with bureaucrats called police. Despite the toughness that the police show in their attitude after for long dealing with criminals, they do have some soft corners and it is not everyday one sees this. Though he might be a very tough officer, he had a very basic humane nature that we all lacked back in the train. And this makes me overlook his arrogant attitude(if any) as a policeman. Even as i write this article i could vividly picture the police inspector asking me in a very courteous manner to make some space for a passenger. I could still remember the case sheet of an 'anticipatory bail' he was having with him. As i got up to get down at my station, I had a chateau of respect built for this officer in late 40's who exhibited an essence of human nature that we seem to be losing nowadays.    

Tuesday 1 January 2013

Wish you all a very regretful New Year--Part 2

The Pain, Protests and Politics 

Pain


The rape of 23-year old physiotherapy student was a wake up call to all of us. This incident questioned the very basis of women empowerment for which we have been striving hard for decades. Though rape cases are reported almost every other day, this incident struck us hard in the sweet spot. It might have been because it happened in the Capital or the gruesomeness of the crime. However, the entire nation was mobilized to protest for harsher punishments and stricter regulations that can ensure safety of women in our nation.
A report by the United Nations had pointed out that India is the most dangerous place for a girl to live. This statistic was based on several factors such as female infanticide, rape and its subsequent conviction rates, etc. In a nation where women are respected to such an extent that even the nation is fondly called "Mother India", this report forces us to introspect ourselves and ask the question "Are we respecting the women in reality as much as we speak"? 
The Delhi rape case is one such incident which defames India in front of all the nations. All the countries are now having a keen look at the developments of the case. With this, the onus is on the government to ensure deserving and timely justice to the woman who left the world mourning on 29th of  December, 2012.


Protests


The entire nation had voiced in unison demanding stricter punishments for crimes against women, in order to make the streets safer for women. The protests were on in almost all the major cities in the country. The capital, however had witnessed the largest number of crowd that thronged for the protests. India gate and Jantar Mantar were the two venues, where the protests were carried out. Later, section 144 was imposed near India Gate following a riot like situation which had injured many innocent protesters and also resulted in the death of a constable. Many protesters were detained and there were also reports of harassment of a few detained women by the police. Political outfits, such as AAP( Aam Aadmi Party), ABVP( Akhil Bharathi Vidhyarthi Parishad) and the student's union of JNU(Jawaharlal National University) took part in the protests which was not comfortable with many protesters who were apolitical. There were various demands put forth by the protesters. Some demanded capital punishment to the perpetrators, some pressed for castration of the criminals, in order to ensure deterrence of such crimes. 
Minus the political parties, the group of protesters lacked a leader. This has now turned out to be a big problem as the strength of protesters is getting smaller by the day and they are unsure of their course of action, except that they are preparing to give suggestions to the 3 member Verma Committee, which is working on a report for the steps needed to strengthen legislation and the further course of action. This committee has invited suggestions from various political parties regarding the punishment and legislation that needed to be drafted for stricter norms.   

Politics


As with all the issues and protests in India, even this case was played around in politics. The protests were joined by the newly self-acclaimed alternative "Aam Aadmi party", ABVP (Akhil Bharathi Vidyarthi Parishad) and the student union of JNU( Jawaharlal National University). Clearly, it was visible that sympathizers of the rape victim who had gathered for protests were not comfortable with the political parties joining in. A few political leaders had tried to make a mark on the media with their "opinions" to curb rape. One of the most embarrassing would have to be a remark by the President Mr. Pranab Mukherjee's son, Abhijit Mukherjee, a serving MP who commented on the protesters. His comment " Walking in candlelight processions, going to discotheques, we have been students. I well know what the character of a student should be", triggered a series of accusations for his sexist comment. "Though he gave an apology, it was very vague and not unconditional, he added if's and but's to it" was the view by communist leader Brinda Karat. Later, Sharmishtha Mukherjee, sister of Mr. Abhijit Mukherjee rendered an apology on behalf of her brother.
There were a few other politicians who blamed the girls of today for wandering out in the nights and for wearing provocative clothes. Such remarks by these political leaders could have been either for creating a publicity for themselves by capitalizing this sensitive issue or they might have been still an "old school" type who are phobic to progressive development of women.
There was one very embarrassing incident regarding the recording of the victim's statements. The Sub-divisional magistrate in her report had mentioned that the Delhi Police had tried to interfere with recording the victim's statements. The police chief however, denied it. The Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit had demanded from the Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, an inquiry regarding the alleged "interference" by the police chief. The Delhi CM demanded the resignation of police chief, but the Union Minister and the Congress defended the police chief, stating that there had been no interference. This issue created a ripple in political circles in Delhi.