Pepper spray, being recommended to
women as their useful handy security tool in case of stalkers and other goons
after the recent surge in the incidents of crime against women, now gets its
endorsement by the Indian Parliament.
A parliamentarian, an MP of the
Congress party, proudly used a pepper spray today in the parliament to protect
his life as he later claimed that he was acting in self-defense. Another
parliamentarian, a senior member of the ruling alliance, claimed that it could
have taken lives (saying – ‘strict action should be taken against MPs who
had tried to “kill” other lawmakers’).
Now, like any good initiative in India and
anywhere in the ‘civilized society’, the field is open to debate. But one thing
is sure that after this endorsement of pepper spray at a hallowed platform like
of the Indian Parliament, the product is going to get much wider acceptance. It
is expected that now even the men will start using pepper sprays for their
safety. As a natural corollary, the demand is expected to increase manifold.
As a possible consequence, after
this episode, the pepper spray industry is expected to get recognized and organized
and, therefore, should get the legal framework to regulate the pepper spray
production and sale.
But that should be irrespective
of the debate if pepper spray could be life threatening as Mr. Rajeev Shukla
said. Mr. L Rajagopal’s claim of pepper spray use to save his life during the
Parliament ruckus on the Telangana Bill should be given more credence here as
it fits in the trend of the long but harmless use of pepper sprays. A positive
development should be supported with positive afterthoughts.
What is noteworthy here is the unrealized
potential of the might of pepper sprays. India has seen jump in rape cases
and other crimes against women and apart from other precautions, pepper sprays,
too, have been recommended as the primary tool to thwart the advances of the molesters
and the claws of the rapists. But we had not any credible precedent of it. We
were yet to have a ‘follow-worthy’ endorsement for pepper spray highlighting its
usefulness in the ‘life-threatening situations’.
Now, that it has come directly
from the Parliament and that too with the claims of a parliamentarian that the
pepper spray saved his life, we all (not only women, but the men, too) should have
no second thoughts about it.