The horrific gang-rape of the 23-year-old young paramedic girl in Delhi on December 16, and her subsequent death, has stirred the soul of India on the issues of safety and dignity of women, perhaps like never before. Tens and thousands of men and women, teenagers and even children have come out in more than 30 cities of India and may be many other places unreported in the national media to express solidarity with the braveheart. They have demanded death penalty for the six rapists (all arrested), and changes in the antiquated laws on assaults on women to make life imprisonment and even death in the rarest of cases within the ambit of the law (which now is a maximum of seven years only).
The landmark movement, still ongoing as the year comes to a close, has also brought alive the issues of patriarchy, misogyny, status of women in family and society, commodification of women in media and films, police and judicial reforms, uncertainty of punishment in cases of such assaults, non-bailability of such offences (which is not the current legal practice), and major concerns of gender sensitization in Police and a huge proportion of security forces subjected to VIP security at the cost of the citizens’ safety.
While the ruling Congress-led UPA government failed to even gauge the extent of public anger, let alone respond to it sensitively and resorted to police-RAF deployment and delayed statements without actually engaging with the youth, the Opposition BJP made some right noises, but failed to force the government to call for an emergency session of the Parliament to debate the six-year-old pending bill on a new law concerning assaults on women. Even the parliamentary left made feeble noises.
It was the sheer force of unaffiliated students and people, and some youth bodies of JNU and Delhi University, Aam Aadmi Party of Arvind Kejriwal, Mahila Sanskritik Sangh in many other cities, AISA and AIDSO, Progressive Women’s Association and civil rights bodies across India which actually led the movement, largely peaceful though not well-coordinated due to the spontaneity of reactions across India.
After the initial iron fist response against the iron will of the youths, especially in Delhi, the government relented, with the President, the PM and the UPA Chairperson making politically correct statements. Congress top brass has even come out with its own agenda of legal changes in this regard to be submitted to the Justice Verma Commission set up for this purpose (justice.verma@nic.in).
The Congress has decided to propose a tougher law to check crimes against women which could include a provision like chemical castration of perpetrators of rape in rare cases. Some other provisions include imprisonment up to 30 years for rape convicts and the setting up of fast track courts to decide the cases within three months. These were discussed in the presence of the Party Chief Sonia Gandhi on December 23 when she had held a meeting with a group of people protesting against the gang-rape incident.
The Leader of the Opposition, Sushma Swaraj of BJP, has already asked for death penalty in cases of rape and assault, though the party has not publicly come out with any clear set of suggestions for legal changes. In fact, BJP functionaries’ speaking about the dressing up of women as a provocation, the women’s need to refrain from venturing out in the evenings, or that of a woman becoming a ‘zinda laash’ after rape reveal a patriarchal bent of mind which is anti-progress.
The former IPS officer and social activist Dr Kiran Bedi has come out with 6Ps suggestions for approaching this issue holistically calling for a change of attitudes and approach: Crime Prevention Plan within police, people, prosecution, politicians, prison and press (including news and films).
I participated in a brainstorming session on this issue in a meeting of Movement for Secular Democracy in Ahmedabad, which came out with the following suggestions, inter alia, now sent to Justice Verma.
Let us create a discouraging atmosphere for all crimes throughout the country and declare zero tolerance for rape. There needs to be swift action and accurate registration of FIR, investigation and reliable resolution of rape cases through fast track courts. Series of steps and workshops need to be conducted to sensitize and decriminalize the Police on gender issues. Helpline for Women in all states of the country must be started. Delhi government has started 167 as the Helpline number in the capital.
Anti Sexual Harassment Committees in all institutes and workplaces should be formed, according to the Supreme Court directives in the Vishakha Case and other directives should be implemented. There is a need to introduce safe and frequent public transport system with GPRS and have well-lit roads and bus-stops. Persons with a confirmed record of assault on women cannot stand for public office or contest elections. Strict implementation of Liquor Prohibition Policy where it is there and people’s opinion against liquor and drugs are to be evolved to reduce assaults on women. It has been observed that most of the 613 rape cases registered only in Delhi city in 2012 have been perpetrated by drunken criminals (only one conviction has happened till date).
Twice as much regular Police patrolling at night needs to be done. In fact, statistics show that, in Delhi, there is one policeman on duty against 761 citizens while there are four for each VIP. The number goes up to 27 for VVIPs with Z security. There is the need to reassess VIP security on one side and increase citizens’ security on the other. Also, involvement of Civil Defence of citizens in every area should be resorted to, along with the supervision by the People’s Committee over all the above mentioned administrative actions and regular publication of Action Taken Report.
Special Grant should be provided by the Government to make the Self Defence training for girls as a part of school curriculum, along with conduction of workshops on gender and equality issues.
Our suggestions have also noted that when the Police registers the Rape Case under 376, there also should be the registration of the case under the provisions of 325, 354, 365, 367 and 403 of the Indian Penal Code. These refer to harassment, abduction, physical assault, attempt to murder, et al.
When a rape case starts in the Court, it is expected from the judiciary that the punishment to the culprit should be for each provision of the Code and the total number of years should be declared as the final punishment tenure, as it was given in the historic Naroda Patiya Judgment in the case of rape and rioting during the post Godhra riots. We have also appealed for no relaxation in the punishment of rape culprits in the Higher Courts if appealed.
The world media has also taken note of this movement, and we in NGI strongly hope that the government, either through a Special Session of the Parliament or in the next Budget Session of February-March, 2013, will come out with a stricter law in cases of assaults against women. Justice Verma will come out with a set of guidelines for the government and other societal bodies to tackle this menace of rape and assaults to be implemented in the New Year.
Further, media and films have also to take note of their part of the responsibility. Many rapes and assaults have been shown in Indian films at length to titillate a section of the masses, as against the way gang-rape was shown in Bandit Queen which made everyone squirm and protest within.
Ultimately, unless the society changes its patriarchal ways of looking at women and their rights, only legal and administrative changes shall not suffice.
