YET ANOTHER STANDALONE EXIGENCY?
It is now 10 days to the gangrape in a moving bus in the
national capital. All the accused are in custody. The victim is in hospital and
continues to be critical.
The
outrage and protests are still an ongoing development though more contained now
after the death of the Delhi Police constable Subhash Tomar who had got injured
when the protests turned violent on December 23, 2012.
Also,
the protests are now more or less localized and the government’s tone is purely
political with elements of arrogance, ignorance and sometimes, sensitivity.
To
sum-up all the action, till now, has been more in the domain of rhetoric. Also,
whatever that has been proposed by the supposedly national leaders (not on
acceptance barometer but on their tag of being the union ministers), is just an
eyewash aimed at immediate measures to quell the growing voice of
demonstrators.
Mr.
Shinde, your government talks about forming task force to monitor security of
women in Delhi; it brags about implementing measures like increasing frequency
of buses in night, installation of GPS, mandatory ID cards for public transport
personnel, enhanced patrolling on busy routes, to name a few. On December 26,
2012, Mr. P Chidambaram announced formation of a commission of enquiry ‘to
identify lapses and fix responsibility’ in the case (See! it took brilliant
minds of the government 10 day to reach at something, that should ideally have
been the first step.)
Other
stakeholders, too, have put efforts to look doing their bit. Five special
courts are coming up after the winter vacation to deal with rape cases. Sheila
Dikshit had tears on almost every channel denouncing the irresponsible and
insensitive policing though no one can say what is preventing her to send the
victim abroad for treatment after making a flash about it in the media though,
at the time of writing this article, reports say victim’s condition is giving
anxious moments to doctors. (Some reports late night December 26, 2012 said the victim was being flown to Singapore - why so late?)
Also, this horrible crime, for Sheila, has become
more an opportunity for settling scores on her demand for control over the
Delhi Police.
The
Delhi Police, at the centre of criticism (justified one), is busy doing silly
cover-ups for its inefficient ways and is busy playing the political blame game
with Delhi Government.
The
protesters have continued their run (now in a peaceful way). Media was always
ready to act socially responsible once the Gujarat election was over.
And so, after December 20, the day of the counting of votes for the Gujarat and
Himachal Pradesh assembly polls, it has been on the full throttle to promote
and permeate the issue.
Delhi and Delhi gangrape
is all across. And it ensures this case is going to see some swift action
taken.
But the
irony is, Delhi is not India and India is just
not about Delhi. Rape cases and gender crimes are a pan-India catastrophe
that no one is talking about.
The
real problem is the tendency to treat this case or any other similar case as
standalone exigencies.
And in
this case, too, the developments are increasingly indicating this only.
A LESSON TO LOOK BEYOND DELHI?
Delhi is being called rape capital of India. It is
true when we see it in the context of urban metro India where media
exposure is accessible and cases see escalated reporting.
But
what about the small town, rural and hinterland India?
Now,
all the politicians and the administration people - aren’t you aware that the
condition is critical in almost every part of India and not just in Delhi?
Till
October this year, 580 rape cases were reported in Delhi while the
figures for 2011 and 2010 were 568 and 507 cases respectively. Conviction rate
in rape cases in Delhi is 41.5, that is better than the India average
of 26.4. In the last three years, the reported rape cases in India have
seen consistent rise with 21, 397 (2009), 22,172 (2010), and 24,206 (2011)
cases annually.
The
dissected data shows the women of almost every age-group are victims. These
multiple thousands are the reported cases. We need to keep in mind that much
higher numbers than these figures are not reported. This is the dark underbelly
that stretches across the length and breadth of the country.
Just do
a simple googling with the search phrase ‘girl raped + India’ and you
would see a number of recent cases, not only from Delhi. Rape itself is a
heinous crime but many of the cases involve unimaginably shocking details.
Then
why do we never hear the clamour about rape cases happening in this bigger part
of India, even if it crosses all the limits of insanity?
The
politicians and the administrative machinery - they are aware of it, for sure.
But they won’t go for the overall kill because it is not their priority;
because some of their brethren are facing similar charges (reports do confirm
that India has politicians in legislatures facing rape charges); because they
believe police is for them and not for Manmohan’s ‘aam aadmi’ (reports say each
Delhi VIP consumes 20 cops while over 360 Delhiites are left on the whims and
fancies of a single cop who has already become a pariah no one wants to
approach).
This
misuse of the resources meant for the public - the all-India figures would
certainly be undeniably sorry, it can be said without any doubt. The law and
order problem in small town and rural India in almost of the Indian
states is a matter of big concern. Politicians, criminals and police lord over
the pockets and rule as if they have no one to answer. The fine line between
criminals and politicians was compromised a long ago.
LOCALIZING A NATIONAL ISSUE!
A Thomson Reuters report of July 2012 describes condition of
women in India in these words: Canada best G20 country to be a woman, India
worst - Policies that promote gender equality, safeguards against
violence and exploitation and access to healthcare make Canada the best place
to be a woman among the world’s biggest economies, a global poll of experts
showed on Wednesday. Infanticide, child marriage and slavery make India the
worst, the same poll concluded.
Sometimes,
it almost looks like a hopeless situation. Urbanizing India is
certainly a development to talk about but there is no denial that the gender
crime is present there, too. Casting-couch and glass-ceiling have only added to
the oldies like dowry murders, molestation, eve-teasing and rape cases.
Forced
sex and prostitution is one big ring that operates in almost every city. Don’t
the police and the public know the red-light areas of the city they are
residents of? Yes, they know. Some from the public make the customers. Police
see it as the consistent source of income. And women are traded. The blood is
sucked out and the flesh is cut dried to the extent that it becomes insensitive
to every sensation.
The
system is working to maintain and promote the status-quo if not to worsen. We
can say worsening is not a feasible option anymore as changing times have
brought to the surface the voices seeking end to this status-quo. But the
rhythm, the flow is still not there.
At the
same time, the policymakers have been successful in making the voices demanding
the change one-shot events ultimately labeling and treating them as standalone
exigencies where a minimalistic approach to the remedy is used to kill the
larger scope of an issue.
The
changing urban scenario in India, mixed with the increasing media
consumerism, makes metro and big cities places where voices-for-change can be
raised, heard and promoted.
The
policymakers in the system realize this. But, they also realize that there is a
much larger, voiceless and suppressed India that forms the major
chunk of their vote-bank and not this metro India. They also realize that
the information consumerism has made it possible for the voices of this metro India to
reach the non-metro and rural India.
They
realize that this outreach has the potential to affect the mindset of this
larger India once a movement gets an upper hand in dealing with the politicians
and policymakers as had happened in the initial days of the anti-corruption
movement launched by Anna Hazare. If it happens so, they are bound to lose
their vote-bank and their unlimited access to rule and lord over us.
The Delhi gangrape case is being handled in the
similar mode with similar intent reducing it to the impact level of a localized
issue. Every measure being talked about is Delhi-specific. There have been many
gangrape cases after the Delhi gangrape on December 16. They have been
reported from cities from across the India - Guwahati, Muzaffarnagar, Jaipur,
Shamli, Bharuch, Mahasamund, Tuticorin, Siliguri, Saharsha, Rampur, Sitapur –
(add to them some more cases from metros like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata).
But
have we heard growing voices on implementing the similar measures like Delhi in
these cities?
NO!
Cases
that stir the whole nation or a large segment of it are the potential flickers
that can set a remedy process in action. The beginning is already there, the
standalone cases tell us. But the need to bring a positive change on the larger
scale of mindset and hence in governance needs a chain reaction where one such
standalone case simultaneously prompts demand for action and reform in
different other cases.
Why
can’t the policymakers implement security measures like increased frequency of
public transportation, public display of the identification proof of the
personnel manning them, active women helpline in every city, special courts and
day-to-day hearing in every rape case throughout the country as they are
promising for Delhi now?
Whenever
a rape case like the Delhi gangrape gets wider coverage, we see some action on
ground by the protesters and a hyperactive media but an insolvent and
lip-servicing political class reduces the scope of the issue rendering it a
localized one and the protests either die in some days or no one cares about
the follow-up of what was promised.
The way
politicians are dealing with the Delhi gangrape protests tells us the
same aspect. They had almost four days in the winter session of the Parliament
to enact a law with tougher penal action but they didn’t do it. The government has
refused to hold a special session of the Parliament to amend the law. Rather it
chose to forcefully suppress the young protesters resorting to the silly
sounding means like lathicharging, using water cannons, shutting Delhi Metro
stations or imposing Section 144 in certain parts of Delhi.
Mr. Manmohan
Singh, Mr. P Chidambaram, Mrs. Sheila Dikshit and Mr. Shushil Kumar Shinde,
they are your very own people who have voted you in power, twice at Centre and thrice
in Delhi.
On a
wider canvas, it is not about the death sentence. It is about rationalizing the
legal course in cases of rape and introducing intimidating penal action keeping
in mind the victim and not the accused. Anything that intimidates must be
introduced now and the greater emphasis should be put on the implementation
factor.
And, it
is not just about Delhi. It has not to be. Localizing an issue of national
significance, this shortcut approach has always dented any possibility of
change that any of the public movement had created.
This
time, too, we seemed to have missed the bus.