‘Rape flu’ needs high quality anti-biotic

Photo Courtesy: Deccan Chronicle

India needs a high quality anti-biotic to nip 'rape flu' in the bud but the government is using the humble ‘Paracetamol’ to deal with this deadly bug.

By Abhishek Pandey

Youngsters are fed up of being outraged. They took to the streets after Delhi Gang rape case. Seven months later, another ghastly gang-rape took place and this time in the financial capital--Mumbai. People are outraged again but this time with less intensity and valour. The reason is simple: they are tired of being outraged.

It is not that no rape case took place all these seven months but we have learned to become outraged when safe havens become hell. Mumbai was considered one of the safest cities for girls. It was the city that promised its women safety when they roamed around with friends after sunset, allowed them to sit at marine drive at mid night and travelled in the last local with a sense of safety. They felt safe in the city. They are now worried.

  

India is suffering from ‘rape-flu’ that is spreading fast. It has reached Mumbai from Delhi in less than seven months. The government is treating this flu with humble Paracetamol while the disease requires high quality anti-biotic. Perhaps, the government does not have any effective remedy and does not want to waste its time in inventing one. The reason is: this flue is not because of what Rupee is falling against dollar or it is not what will fetch votes for our politicians.  

From December 7 in Delhi to August 22 in Mumbai, nothing has changed. Perverts still gawk at women at public places and undress them with their penetrating gaze. They not only intentionally touch their bodies but violate them whenever they get lucky in a crowded place. They still tell sexist jokes openly. May be an Indian could not explain but a Canadian girl who studied in India explained her ordeal in India. She was groped, masturbated at and assaulted many times. 

Nothing has changed and if some drastic actions are not taken, nothing will change. You may call me a pessimist. Yes. I am. And, there is no reason that any Indian should not be.  Rapes will continue to take place. This is the destiny of Indian women with which they will have to learn to live unless a superhero comes to save them. Period.

Why rape will not stop?

There is a basic problem in our preaching to girls to avoid being raped. They are told not to venture out alone, not to go to secluded places and most importantly, not to wear indecent clothes. We give this list to girls when they decide to go out for work or studies. Why nothing will work! Let us talk about the Mumbai and Delhi cases because every one of us is aware about the minute details of these horrid cases.

Girls should not go out alone.

In the Mumbai and Delhi gang rape cases, there is a similarity. Both the girls were not alone and were accompanied by a male friend. But it did not make any difference to their perpetrators. They were beaten and raped.

Don’t go to a secluded place.

What will they do if someone abducts them to a secluded place? Delhi girl was duped in a thick-curtained bus because no autowala in Delhi was ready to ferry her home at 9pm. Mumbai girl was tricked inside the mill campus while her male colleague was handcuffed with a leather belt outside. This suggestion too seems nonsensical.

Don’t wear indecent clothes.

This is the most stupid suggestion. Eight-year-old girl and seventy-year-old lady are too raped. Rapists do not discriminate against clothes, age, caste and religion. It is evident, they are not human so don’t care about this man-made rules.

Frankly speaking, I have no idea what would help our girls: harsh deterrent, safety on roads, stricter laws, chemical castration or what else. I don’t know.

I recall couplets of an Urdu poet Nawaz Deobandi.

He says:

Uske katal par mai bhi chup tha, mera number ab aaya.

Mere katal me aap bhi chup hai, agla number aapka hai.

(I was silent when he was killed, now I am being killed. You are silent on my killing, the next number is yours.)

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