Is it safe for women to roam outside on the streets, late night? Is it safe for women to wear short clothes and not get objectified? Is it safe for women to drink, eat, sleep? Is it safe for women to do anything???
Are you guys surprised with these questions? It’s not the first-time questions like these are being asked. ‘Rape’ is not a joke, it’s something very serious. It not only harms the life of the victim, but the trauma associated with it also hampers their mental peace.
India being a diverse country with many dialects, cultures, etc, has many social issues. Rape and Domestic Violence being the most prominent ones. The issue is not yet solved and its high time one should start focusing on these aspects.
So, let’s analyse the rape culture in India starting from the ancient times.
Rape Culture in Ancient India
Rape is when someone tries to penetrate inside one’s vagina, anus, or mouth without having consent of the other person. There are several examples of women in mythology who were a victim of sexual assault. Even after raising their voice against it, they didn’t get enough justice for this heinous act. Let’s have a look at some of them.
Draupadi
Draupadi was shared among five people, i.e. The Pandavas. A woman isn’t an object that is supposed to be shared or must belong to several people. She got married to one person and that’s her husband. The first instance, where Draupadi was objectified.
Pandavas put Draupadi as a bet in the game of dice, which they eventually lost and then she was disrobed publicly by the Kauravas. None of the Pandavas stood up for Draupadi. There was no one who could protect her from the evil Kauravas. It was Lord Vishnu, who then helped her.
She showed her anger and took revenge later. But in the end, she lost everything. Does revenge for such a shameful act comes at a cost? A cost of losing someone really special? What was Draupadi’s fault?
Ahalya
Ahalya was the wife of sage Gautam and was extremely gorgeous. She was so beautiful that Indra was mesmerized by her beauty. So, one day he took the form of Gautam and then seduced Ahalya.
For her, it was Gautam, so she was clueless. But when Gautam came to know about this incident, he cursed Ahalya to live rest of her life as a stone. This won’t end unless and until Lord Vishnu blesses her by placing his feet on Ahalya.
In brief, Ahalya was being punished for the crime she hasn’t committed. It wasn’t her fault. Indra too got punished for his crime, but one should observe that Ahalya would join her husband after this curse ends.
Well, the patriarchal society is quite prevalent in Indian households be it in ancient times or looking at the current situation. It’s rare to see women voicing up their opinions and then actually being heard for the same.
The Nirbhaya Rape Case
Nirbhaya Rape case was the first case in India whose convicts were hanged to death. Everyone thought that this would create fear and start a revolution against the crimes happening to women. But it seems like, no one actually got affected by the same other than the victim.
First let’s enlighten ourselves about the case. On 16th December 2012, a student boarded on a bus with her male friend. Six people who were already there in the bus raped her and then assaulted her by inserting an iron rod. Her friend was also beaten and both of them were left naked covered in a pool of blood.
The demons showed no mercy on the girl. Weeks later, people started protesting and demanding justice for the girl. In fact, people got so furious that police had to use water canons to disperse them.
It was in March 2013 new anti-rape laws were announced. A person will be given death penalty if he is a repeat offender of rape or if the rape causes coma. Also, it describes harsher punishments for all the rapists and even paid attention to new crimes like throwing acid on someone’s face, spying, stalking, etc.
In 2015, one of the convict was released because he was 17, i.e. minor at the time of the attack. If someone’s minor or under 18, does that gives him the validation to conduct a heinous crime like rape? It took years for the mother of the victim to get justice.
Finally, on 20th March 2020, four of the convicts were hanged and the mother then said, “ Finally, my daughter got justice.” Can you guys believe it took almost 7 years to get justice for a crime like rape which took life of that girl.
The protests, candle marches, were of no use because still crimes like rape, sexual assault are being conducted. In fact, these demons don’t show mercy on a 6-month-old kid. Why are men still considering women as objects?
The Current Scenario of ‘Rape’
In this lockdown period were everyone was staying indoors crime rates should have fallen to an unexpected level. But surprisingly, there has been a steep rise in crime rates. Mostly, there have been cases of domestic violence and rape. It’s also believed that more than half cases are not even registered because the victim is traumatised by the incident.
One new discovery or prevalent yet ‘hidden’ discovery, there have been cases coming out where men talk about their sexual assault. It’s quite shocking that the struggle to reduce crimes were only confined to women, whereas men are being affected by the same.
A video of an influencer recently went viral where he talks about how a person started touching him inappropriately and when he started running, the main said, ‘Tu gay nahi hai kya?’ Being a gay, doesn’t give someone the validation to assault. This perspective has infiltrated in the minds of many people.
Rape has no religion, gender, caste, etc. If a person is being touched at inappropriate places without consent, then the doer has to be punished for the same. The current scenario is horrifying, and It is high time people should start voicing their opinions on issues like rape and not wait for something really big.
Instead, they should understand that this is ‘big’. One can never feel the pain endured by rape/ sexually assaulted victims. Many cases are not even known to us, yet the numbers are still terrifying.
Everyone should now start focusing on educating people rather than finding alternative solutions. It’s not only women who needs justice but also the men who have gone through the same.
EVERYONE WHO’S A VICTIM OF SUCH CRIMES NEEDS JUSTICE!
Also Read – Concerns NRIs Face While Visiting India
