Rape – Beyond Law & Justice

The outcry for Kathua and Unnao rape cases was so loud it echoed around the world. That UNICEF took cognisance was not as important as the country’s law got amended in a jiffy, providing capital punishment for raping minors [12 and below].

A few days later an infant got raped in Indore; just 3 month old baby. Nauseating.

Remember Nirbhaya. The country thought her death had brought some sense and sensibility. How wrong we were has been proved by Kathua, Unnao & Indore to just name a few which made headlines and all those which continue to go through living hell.

The outcry for Nirbhaya gang rape was louder and many quick amendments were made to the law, including the juvenile law, but look where we are. Out of 6 convicts, 1 died, 4 got death sentence and the main culprit, the juvenile, got 3 years maximum punishment in a reform facility. What kind of justice was that? Legally he was a minor but actually worst than a beast.

With so much overdoes of information and short memories I don’t know how many of you remember the gory details of Nirbhaya rape.

It was not rape. It was heinous brutality. Demons and animals would have trembled with scare on hearing that gruesome act.

It was not rape. It had nothing to do with deriving pent up physical pleasure showing male dominance. No it was definitely not that. That’s a cake walk, if I may say so, compared to what that minor ‘devil put to shame’ boy actually did to Nirbhaya.

The minor boy was laughing and enjoying torturing her with an iron rod.

His act was that of a sick mind. He needed to be in a mental hospital. Someone in the family would have known and spotted his sickness through his aggressive behaviour. Someone in the family should have had the courage to get him treated and counselled. Someone in the family should have had the guts to accept their boy is worse than an animal and needed taming and caging.

Unfortunately no one did.

Unfortunately no one did it for the man in Indore as well. This is despite him having a history of abusing family children. This is despite his own sister going through hell due to his behaviour. This is despite all his family and friends knowing his sickness. This is despite Nirbahaya, Kathua, Unnao & so many more.

Nirbhaya, Kathua, Unnao, Indore happen not just because of leniency in law or lack of it. They happen more because the way we treat our boys. Somehow our social fabric does not accept boys to be defective until and unless something is physically obvious. Aggression and masculinity are treated as a typical boy thing and are signs of heroism. Fathers encourage and mothers adore and pamper this quality.

In all these cases, especially Nirbhaya and Indore, the minor boy and the man respectively, showed no remorse. They just didn’t have any guilt. This is far worse and dangerous than the crime they committed. This reflects their sickness as well as that of systems’.

It is not about death sentence. It is not about implementing law. It is not about protecting girls.

You really think capital punishment is going to rein in such crimes. I sincerely doubt.

4 out of 6 got death sentence in Nirbhaya’s case, didn’t they? It was a swift decision too!

Is that preventing the crime?

Boys and men like these are so mentally ailing that only medical help and better grooming from childhood can prevent them for carrying out such monstrous acts. No law can, I am sorry.

It is about a paradigm shift in the way boys are brought up in this country. It is about teaching boys good social behaviour more than educating girls. The ridiculous excuse, by even grown up men, of girls becoming modern and wearing enticing clothes runs hollow when Nirbhaya, Kathua, Unnao & Indore happen.

It is time for behavioural change. Every boy should mandatorily go through a psychometric analysis in class 10th and 12th at least. Today’s scientific and detailed psychometric analysis is quite competent to discover the wiring of a human being. It is being used quite extensively for successful career guidance now-a-days. It could very well be used to discover the dormant dangerous and harmful streaks. Knowing the disease, treatment and counselling could help prevent and cure. Print their psyche on their Aadhaar and attach to a counsellor.

It is also time for the parents to be accountable and take responsibility to tame or cage their boys gone wild. It is, may be, time boy’s parents were also put behind bars for sometime if their boy molests or rapes a girl, whatever her age, whatever his age. I know it’s a bit harsh on parents but it may bring more fear overall and could definitely lead to a better grooming. The societal pressure of shame to the family could become a big deterrent.

It is time Nirbhaya, Kathua, Unnao, Indore got the society to wake up and made the parents bring up boys in a way that they respect and take care of girls as an equal human being. It is only then will these girls be able to rest in peace.

Amen.