Delhi Gang Rape: Society Missed Key Issues In Much Ado

 It is exactly 45 times the sun arose with the hope to see a day more innocuous and parabolized under the horizon with poignant ignominy and anguish after the appallingly atrocious incident of Delhi stained a black spot on the Elysian plume of Mother India.

There are thousands (21413 in 2009 and 24270 in 2011 as per Crimes in India statistics published by National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs; look at page 397 in both reports) of such incidents taking place throughout India, at a ‘happening’ rate of 1 per 30 minute and one per every 14 hours in the capital itself, but somehow the Delhi incident has managed to blow up the whistle. It generated huge mass mobilization around Delhi and all other places in India. Shame and protest is avowed at the international level too. The Wikipedia coverage totted up to the infamy; even Google lit a candle 'in memory of the Delhi brave-heart'. 

The incident spawned a gargantuan international coverage, various aspects and a number of opinions  got published in The Guardian to The New York Times, The Sun to USA Today, National Posts to Spiegel Online and in many more. Even it was condemned by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, who called on the Government of India and the Government of Delhi "to do everything in their power to take up radical reforms, ensure justice and reach out with robust public services to make women’s lives more safe and secure".

The government is not sleeping too. Let us have a peek at the reactions of the chief minister of Delhi, a woman herself,

Sheila Dikshit

The Chief Minister of Delhi, said that she did not have the courage to meet the victim and described Delhi as a "rape capital" in interviews. What a gallant display of honesty!

 And then she went back on the common blame-game and passing off the buck strategy as she said that senior police officials should be accountable for failure to take sufficient measures to stop such incidents. It is true that there could be a more vigilant police patrol, or on a broad view the police could be more gender sensitive, active and have better PCR (police community relations) as admits Suman Nalwa, head of Delhi Police’s Unit for Women. But it does never mean that our police officials are totally inutile. The contrary appears from the prompt and decisive action of well-equipped & weather-stripped force as they rammed the protesters to maintain law & order : "Security has been tightened in the heart of New Delhi, with police in riot gear in every area of possible demonstration. Section 144, a criminal code that prohibits assembly of more than five people, has been imposed. The situation turned quite ugly on Saturday, after protesters clashed with police, and the police retaliated with water cannon and tear gas" reported Subina Shrestha from New Delhi. 

It is worthy to be noted that the state of tranquility on capital’s highway was achieved by the same police force that usually hesitate & get botched to take even minor actions in many of the cases. I am neither carping nor extolling the act itself.  All I want to focus is the same establishment can work way better if they are not mere puppets with hands tied to the upper tier of the ivory tower.

Blaming the "unbridled influx" of migrants into Delhi for the incidents was another masterpiece from her. It is quite expected that a metropolis like that of Delhi would be bulging with fortune-hunters. No exception that Delhi has an eclectic population, having representation from every part of the country like a true capital. Most of them cannot afford to keep their family in the very costly capital city and staying away from family is definitely making them sex-starved. They are, therefore, obviously more prone to commit crimes against women. It is the duty of the government not to blame them blindly but to solve the problem from its root. But it is always easier and politically helpful to produce a division among protesters. The shrewd CM is trying the same by igniting a skirmish between the Delhi natives and migrants, instead of taking any corrective measures. 

Dikshit also said the ever-increasing population has put enormous pressure on the housing, sanitation, power, water, sewerage, solid waste management, public health and the transport systems. However she came up neither with a resignation nor with any sound plan about how she is going to combat this problem. What she did was placing a demand for a more prestigious throne of ‘full statehood’ of Delhi.

But the most otiose step taken after the incident is allotment of a Three-digit number for women's helpline in Delhi. I simply don’t know how one could manage to call the number and pass through the complicated digital instructions while getting molested. Also I wonder who is going to listen to her if someone calls in anticipation, within a system where none takes even a rape victim seriously.

Now let us look at another political maestro, the Honorable Union Home Minister,

Sushilkumar Shinde

"It is very easy to say that home minister should go to India Gate and talk. Tomorrow, if any other parties engage in demonstration, why shouldn't the home minister go there, why only with this? You answer me, tomorrow if Congress party people will demonstrate or tomorrow BJP will demonstrate. Tomorrow, Maoists will come here and demonstrate; why should the home minister go there?" Shinde quoted on TOI. Perhaps he has become too braggart to see the difference between the people who chosen him & the Maoists (the biggest internal threat to India).

 Asked whether it was right to compare the protesters with Maoists, he said, "You don't separate law and order. I had already, right from day one, met them in my house, I met them in my office and I met their representatives. They should have been satisfied, but after chanting 'we want justice, we want justice', what kind of justice are you expecting? Either you only give justice. There are some limits." Height of megalomania did not end at that: He emphasized that the Congress chief had agreed to meet them at midnight. "A person like Sonia Gandhi met the delegation of the students at midnight. They should have responded to that" he said. This is the reason why Sunil Rajguru, a common citizen of India in his own words, addressed in his open letter to the PM, “I must commend you and your government. Whether you have 400 odd seats like in 1984 or 200 odd seats in 2009, you manage to behave in exactly the same dictatorial manner.”

Avijit Mukherjee, Asaram Bapu and others

I am not going to waste words on people making risqué comments about rape victims and other ladies, from politicians to self-proclaimed gurus and moral polices, even the scion of his Excellency Pranab Mukherjee the laudable president of India and an MP himself. "None of us have come out of this looking good. Personally as a man, as an Indian, I felt demeaned by what happened. I felt diminished as a human being," said Jairam Ramesh in an interview with NDTV. Asked whether those who made insensitive statements should be punished or not, Mr Ramesh said, "Privately I think anybody who makes such comments should be asked to go home. You make this comment with full knowledge. It is not that you have been misquoted... I find it appalling actually." The word 'privately' was really worthy of emphasizing as he had no intention to get chucked out from the cabinet of :

Dr. Manmohan Singh

At the end of a televised statement asking people to stay calm referring to protests in the capital over the weekend, which had turned violent, injuring some 85 protesters and police personnel, Mr. Singh looked up from his written text to ask “Theek hai?” (Is that okay?). It appeared as if he was asking the cameraman or producers if his performance was adequate. Well his performance “was without feeling, wooden and totally unequal to the situation. The ‘theek hai’ at the end revealed it as theatre!” tweeted TV personality Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose). Eminent actor Anupam Kher made a dig saying Mr. Singh’s expression when he said “Theek Hai” “was d most Candid & Natural expression I have EVER seen from him. :)”  No wonder it goaded tweeter trend to become a huge jibe of ‘#theekhai’ beating even 'Merry Christmas'.

But when it comes to make brainless comments, ‘I hate to have to say it but I very firmly feel’, the imbecile politicians share the echelon with the smart, young and enthusiastic,

'Social' Brigade

If not all, at least a majority of them. They indulge in candle light vigils at periodic intervals; they react more and more … and MORE. And think a whole lot less! If you have read up to this, you probably think I am against this spontaneous response of county’s youth. And then you are absolutely wrong. I respect the stout and firm flame of protest, their emotion. I do very much appreciate that finally India has shook off the taboo about sexual offences, speaks out loud that "I Was Wounded; My Honor Wasn’t" and there is a silver lining of a India which is 'modern' in the true sense but probably you have not come across the following (which are, I believe, enough to make you unanimous with me) :

1. Nishit Adatia (@adatianishit): 2 more rape case in Delhi 2day , 1 with a 3 year old girl :/ da best way 2 serve rapist is : unki maa behen ko nanga karo beech sadak pe (strip their mother & sister in public) 20 Dec 12

2. hassans sibu (@hassans_sibu): the accused of Delhi gang rape should b given strict punishment!! system like shariat should come 2 our country to stop these barbarians!! 20 Dec 12

3. Pragati Ajmani (@pragz_1992): To protect our women from rape, Our government should call those crazy Connecticut shooters from USA to do random massacre here in Delhi. 20 Dec 12 

4. arun gurani (@arun_gurani): If the Delhi rape case was occurred in gujarat instead of Delhi then modi was enough to punish the rapist wit death sentence !! 20 Dec 12

They even hardly cared to consider the honor of an unmarried Indian girl while making a hype with a photograph of a Kerala girl, claiming her to be the rape victim.

All I want to say them is ‘Go home dudes… You’re dumb!’ I request everyone to keep close watch for every indication of fanaticism concealed in the shadow (we all know, the brightest flame casts the darkest shadow) or creeping out slowly.

Apart from these, there are sincere urges to amend the current scale of punishment awardable to persons associated with sexual crimes against humanity (a better term than rape, molestation, eve-teasing and so on). The usefulness of this is an idea that is to be thoroughly debated and discussed. I fear, the government will enact a bill with stricter punishments, the protesters will cherish their success flooding the social media for a few days and then after the law will rest in peace within the pages of IPC. The fundamental problem, I feel, is the dearth of implementation of the law, not paucity of grimness in the current punishment. The fact that the conviction rate for rape is just a dismal 27 per cent seems to be the reason why persons do not fear to commit a crime that may take them to the gallows.

National, New York City, and other major city crime rates (1990–2002)

As a kid I have learned a phrase, ‘a stitch in time saves nine’. This is why I believe it is beneficial to adopt an aggressive enforcement/deterrent strategy involving crackdowns on relatively minor offenses such as ploughing on of vehicles with tinted glasses, on road alcoholism, cannabis possession, public nuisance even smoking in public and aggressive panhandling by "squeegee men". This would send a message that order would be maintained. The most successful Newark mayor Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani was a man of success (see figure above) following this hypothesis known as the broken window theory. Reflecting the same, Kiran Bedi also commented "People do not become rapists all of a sudden. Rapists have a history in molestation and other petty crimes. But since complaints against them are not registered by police early on, they go on to become bigger criminals and rapists." 

So, as long as the police administration is just a trussed marionette, I see  improvement is only A Midwinter Night's Dream.

I would like to terminate this rather bitter discourse after few other illustrations of frivolity:

The Name Game

Union minister of state Shashi Tharoor tweeted on the 1st January, 2013 that the name and identity of the 23-year-old gang-rape victim should be revealed so that she could be publicly honored triggering a fresh debate. Under the law, the identity of a rape victim cannot be disclosed and printing or publishing the name or any matter which may make known the identity of any person against whom rape is committed is an offence under section 228-A of Indian Penal Code. Being  a lawmaker himself he could have easily put the matter in front of the house. But instead of addressing the medieval cliche about the 'dishonor' of being raped the Tweeter-happy MP made another (well, he is quite used to it) silly publicity stunt. 

The Media didn't fall short to add to this horrific drama. They named her anything that sells - from Damini to Nirbhaya to Amanat! I believe being addressed by those names made that poor fighter to feel a whole lot of things but honored while taking her last breaths.

Prurient 'Breaking News' and Bloodlust

The country was at a rage, 'justified' as feels our PM and it was time to handle the situation with utmost sensibility. But that was certainly not the thing that sells. So, the media (mostly electronic) went on with nonstop circus-like, play-by-play accounts and deep digs into salacious details of the heinous incident. Christopher Zara, a reporter from the U.S. Edition of International Business Times, cautioned that the protest rallies are being “amplified and primed up hysterically by the electronic media” and are “in danger of becoming even more driven by bloodlust.” The caution become true leading to the unfortunate death of a police constable on duty.

Several doctors questioned the Government's move to shift Delhi gang-rape victim to Singapore. I am of the opinion that it would be unjust not to make another complete referenced article gauging the vindication of the act. 

The effect of pollution of Indian culture by the 'civilized' western world also demands another full-length along with the worse scenario of the west behind the mask called Chivalry.

One Final Question

The Delhi Bar Association said that on “moral grounds” none of its members would act for the accused men. Few are viewing this as the humane face of the legal system. FirstPost criticized this as a detour from the duty of a lawyer. But what I wonder is where was their morality while defending the heinous Don Abu Salem? Or, Manu Sharma, the son of Venod Sharma, a wealthy and influential Congress-nominated Member of Parliament from Haryana, shot and killed Jessica Lal? Or, when Priyadarshini Mattoo had been raped, struck 14 times with a motorcycle helmet, and finally strangled with a wire by Santosh Kumar Singh, the son of a Police Inspector-General? The question bothering me a lot is what's really tickling the morality inside the lawyers (once described as nothing but educated liars by Mahatma Gandhi)?' The brutality of the incident would make a very lame answer as the Mattoo incident was no less brutal. Is it possible that the solo reason is that the accused persons in Delhi gang-rape incident are neither rich nor influential (as were the other cited litigators)?

Sunabha Ghosh (Executive Editor)

About the Author:

Sunabha Ghosh is co-founder and the current executive editor of The Analyst.

Join him on: Facebook | Twitter