This is going to be a rant so you will have to bear with me. I think all efforts that we make as a society in the aftermath of nirbhaya's rape and death will be akin to firefighting. We are a failed state, we have reacted far too late to this insensitivity that exists in our culture since time immemorial.
Desensitization
The crises will need actions that encompass a multi pronged strategy. Yes laws need to improve, their need to be more 'sensitized' policeman etc.etc. However an important aspect that many politicians like Derek O'Brien spoke about is cultural shift. He spoke about how his niece and other students with her have raped figuratively through eyes.
How many times have most of us literally 'raped women through our eyes' - making them feel uncomfortable in public places, schools , colleges etc. ? The sad thing is that this is considered to be acceptable behavior which is the root cause of this issue.
Everybody stares they say, then comes the next step, passing lewd comments when you are with your 'clique'.So even that becomes acceptable, and the next step, groping - molesting. The perpetrators realize that they can get away with it - cause hey 'its normal to grope or molest someone and not be punished by the law in our country'. Finally the inevitable act is done because of this step-by -step dehumanization/desensitization.
This is not to suggest that everybody who stares or ogled some woman goes on to become a rapist. But those who DO go on to become rapists would have eventually started out with these 'baby steps'.
Blaming art ?
Which brings me to the issue of art or in this case bollywood influencing growth of such environment.I think movies and society share the relationship of the chicken and the egg i.e. they both influence each other.
People from the industry seriously need to reflect on how they depict womenfolk on screen - specially item numbers. I mean from where has the line "hansi toh phansi" emerged ? Wasn't stalking and winning a girl heart a staple storyline of our movies ? (Some may say it still is)You cannot simply pass the buck by saying that hey "this is entertainment and if people have a problem why are they watching it ?" They are watching it because you are catering to a very basic instinct , you are titillating them to earn a fast buck. If any scene or song is constructively taking the movie forward then that is a different aspect altogether. Let me cite an example. A recent movie Love, Sex or dhokha had a full blown 'scene' however the makers didn't put the scene didn't exist just grab some eyeballs it took the movie forward. I don't think people 'enjoyed' that scene or went to the movie for that particular scene. We, those objecting to bollywood, aren't in any way suggesting that people watch such stuff and immediately go and rape someone.
But it truly does create, if not, reinforces acceptance of such an environment. Stalwarts like naseeruddin shah and shabana azmi have shown leadership and have already made comments to this effect in print media and on news channels.
Politicians = Zero leadership
Sadly there has been there has been little or no leadership shown by our political class. It simply consists of people who know how to win an election but don't know what has to be done after that, which is a pity. On second thoughts majority of them don't care about doing anything once they are elected.
The response by the UPA government was too little and too late. Here was a golden opportunity for them to wipe away their sins of coalgate, 2G gate etc. However like always the government in this case has been been lazy and has shown lack of proactiveness to tackle the menace, this is not a personal attack against Sonia gandhi or MMS or the Home minister, but it is an attack on the lack of their quality of leadership.
Consider this in an interview to a news channel the home minister sushil kumar shinde rejected the idea to to convene a special session for parliament so that laws relating to rape can be discussed. The excuse given was that we have a committee in place to sort this issue out. (I have my hands on forehead before I typed this). SERIOUSLY, you need a committee for this ? Bravo!!!! I am not a politician or a bureaucrat and so I have little intricate knowledge of how any indian government functions, but isn't this a time to buck protocol and take some proactive steps ?
The blame lies not only with the UPA and but also with the NDA government. Congress has ruled India for majority of its existence since independence. The brief rule that NDA had for was for a period of 6 years from 1998-2004. Why didn't they show any political will back then to pass tougher laws back then? You can't turn around and say that oh this incident didn't happen back then..so....
The more we reflect on the political leadership in this country the more depressed we may become . All I want to say that UPA will surely LOSE the 2014 elections. Now it remains to be seen how badly they will lose it.
What next ?
Anger is a positive emotion in this case. However its force gets eroded with time. Call it life /time etc but the anger will eventually die down and protesters will eventually move on.
Lets see the recent examples, what happened to the anna hazare movement ? The lokpal bill is long forgotten. Yes there is an aam admi party fighting for it. But people no longer care if anna hazare is fasting or if arvind kejriwal exposes anyone.The lokpal issue has been around since 1966 , so good luck to that.
Then there was the ruchika gehrotra case. After all the initial brouhaha and popular protests. The main accused, was found guilty but all he got was 6 months in prison (after 19 years).
Whatever laws are drafted now, the process is a long and slow one and may take months by then everyone would already moved on.
Conclusion
I guess I am going to make people reading this really angry by posing a question. What if those 6 rapists hadn't brutalized nirbhaya after gang raping her, she would have probably survived and would have been reduced to just a statistic. She would have been just a small article on the 3rd or 4th page of a newspaper or news about her would flashed for about 10-15 seconds on TV.
The fact it took her brutalization for such mass awakening suggests that it is too little too late.
I guess we can only take small steps at our homes by arming our women with pepper sprays and/or safety pins. Baaki sab uparwale ke haath mein hain. Because like I said at the beginning we have already failed as a nation. Dawa (medicine) wont do now ab toh hame dua ki zaroorat hain..
P.S. Just a final thought. Don't turn around and blame God. Don't ask sarcastically "Where is God" ? I can counter-question you by asking "Where is humanity" ? Life is a test and so there has to be a balance between divine will and human effort . Lets learn to take responsibility and think of solutions even if the situation seems hopeless. Blaming God would be the easy way out.
Desensitization
The crises will need actions that encompass a multi pronged strategy. Yes laws need to improve, their need to be more 'sensitized' policeman etc.etc. However an important aspect that many politicians like Derek O'Brien spoke about is cultural shift. He spoke about how his niece and other students with her have raped figuratively through eyes.
How many times have most of us literally 'raped women through our eyes' - making them feel uncomfortable in public places, schools , colleges etc. ? The sad thing is that this is considered to be acceptable behavior which is the root cause of this issue.
Everybody stares they say, then comes the next step, passing lewd comments when you are with your 'clique'.So even that becomes acceptable, and the next step, groping - molesting. The perpetrators realize that they can get away with it - cause hey 'its normal to grope or molest someone and not be punished by the law in our country'. Finally the inevitable act is done because of this step-by -step dehumanization/desensitization.
This is not to suggest that everybody who stares or ogled some woman goes on to become a rapist. But those who DO go on to become rapists would have eventually started out with these 'baby steps'.
Blaming art ?
Which brings me to the issue of art or in this case bollywood influencing growth of such environment.I think movies and society share the relationship of the chicken and the egg i.e. they both influence each other.
People from the industry seriously need to reflect on how they depict womenfolk on screen - specially item numbers. I mean from where has the line "hansi toh phansi" emerged ? Wasn't stalking and winning a girl heart a staple storyline of our movies ? (Some may say it still is)You cannot simply pass the buck by saying that hey "this is entertainment and if people have a problem why are they watching it ?" They are watching it because you are catering to a very basic instinct , you are titillating them to earn a fast buck. If any scene or song is constructively taking the movie forward then that is a different aspect altogether. Let me cite an example. A recent movie Love, Sex or dhokha had a full blown 'scene' however the makers didn't put the scene didn't exist just grab some eyeballs it took the movie forward. I don't think people 'enjoyed' that scene or went to the movie for that particular scene. We, those objecting to bollywood, aren't in any way suggesting that people watch such stuff and immediately go and rape someone.
But it truly does create, if not, reinforces acceptance of such an environment. Stalwarts like naseeruddin shah and shabana azmi have shown leadership and have already made comments to this effect in print media and on news channels.
Politicians = Zero leadership
Sadly there has been there has been little or no leadership shown by our political class. It simply consists of people who know how to win an election but don't know what has to be done after that, which is a pity. On second thoughts majority of them don't care about doing anything once they are elected.
The response by the UPA government was too little and too late. Here was a golden opportunity for them to wipe away their sins of coalgate, 2G gate etc. However like always the government in this case has been been lazy and has shown lack of proactiveness to tackle the menace, this is not a personal attack against Sonia gandhi or MMS or the Home minister, but it is an attack on the lack of their quality of leadership.
Consider this in an interview to a news channel the home minister sushil kumar shinde rejected the idea to to convene a special session for parliament so that laws relating to rape can be discussed. The excuse given was that we have a committee in place to sort this issue out. (I have my hands on forehead before I typed this). SERIOUSLY, you need a committee for this ? Bravo!!!! I am not a politician or a bureaucrat and so I have little intricate knowledge of how any indian government functions, but isn't this a time to buck protocol and take some proactive steps ?
The blame lies not only with the UPA and but also with the NDA government. Congress has ruled India for majority of its existence since independence. The brief rule that NDA had for was for a period of 6 years from 1998-2004. Why didn't they show any political will back then to pass tougher laws back then? You can't turn around and say that oh this incident didn't happen back then..so....
The more we reflect on the political leadership in this country the more depressed we may become . All I want to say that UPA will surely LOSE the 2014 elections. Now it remains to be seen how badly they will lose it.
What next ?
Anger is a positive emotion in this case. However its force gets eroded with time. Call it life /time etc but the anger will eventually die down and protesters will eventually move on.
Lets see the recent examples, what happened to the anna hazare movement ? The lokpal bill is long forgotten. Yes there is an aam admi party fighting for it. But people no longer care if anna hazare is fasting or if arvind kejriwal exposes anyone.The lokpal issue has been around since 1966 , so good luck to that.
Then there was the ruchika gehrotra case. After all the initial brouhaha and popular protests. The main accused, was found guilty but all he got was 6 months in prison (after 19 years).
Whatever laws are drafted now, the process is a long and slow one and may take months by then everyone would already moved on.
Conclusion
I guess I am going to make people reading this really angry by posing a question. What if those 6 rapists hadn't brutalized nirbhaya after gang raping her, she would have probably survived and would have been reduced to just a statistic. She would have been just a small article on the 3rd or 4th page of a newspaper or news about her would flashed for about 10-15 seconds on TV.
The fact it took her brutalization for such mass awakening suggests that it is too little too late.
I guess we can only take small steps at our homes by arming our women with pepper sprays and/or safety pins. Baaki sab uparwale ke haath mein hain. Because like I said at the beginning we have already failed as a nation. Dawa (medicine) wont do now ab toh hame dua ki zaroorat hain..
