വേറിട്ട കാഴ്ചകള്‍ - IV

 Two birds sleeping on a tree in my house

A frog flattened and dried

 A tortoise found near my office

Examining the tortoise

 A insect in the butterfly genre

The cause of rape/women abuse in India - An investigation into the Indian Society

Available statistics say that in India, a woman is raped every 40 minutes. This is about the available official statistics. So what would be the actual count?  I think it would be five times. ie 5 in 40 minutes. Now if you look into the newspapers, its full of news related to rape and women abuses. Why is this happening in our society? This blog does an investigation into the topic

During the communal riots at the time of partition of India, large number of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh women were abducted and openly raped. There were tens of thousands of rapists belonging to all these communities exacting what they saw as communal vengeance. The reasons for these rapes was an overt assertion of their identity and a simultaneous humiliation of the other by 'dishonouring' their women. The people in general were infected with a spirit of vendetta and when not able to directly fall axe on the menfolks, took revenge by committing cruelty on the womenfolk of the opposite community. Also an ethnic cleansing was aimed by communal forces to push out minorities by means of murder and rape. Unofficial statistics tells that more than 100000 lakh women went missing in Punjab alone during the partition. And majority of them were abducted and raped or killed. Some were forced to suicide. Some were converted and forced to live as wives in the other country. And not to forget, some were killed by their own family to keep the family honour. In Jammu and Kashmir JKLF have been accused of ethnic cleansing by using murder and rape as weapon to drive out Hindu Pandits from the region.

All know the rape story of Phoolan Devi, the notorious dacoit. Phoolan was from the lower caste mallahs and was among the dacoits during the incident. The rage of the upper caste Thakurs on the lower caste Mallahs, both among the dacoits resulted in  the abduction and gang rape of Phoolan. Rape of lower caste women by upper caste men are common in states like Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, MP and Bihar. And MP records the highest number of rapes in India based on caste with over 70% of the victims dalits raped by upper caste. The upper caste considers these rapes as revenge on the lower caste people once referred to as untouchables whom now have attained position in government and authorities due to government policies, reservations and sometimes their own hard work. 

In the above cases, rape is little about sex and all about power. But it is not the case always. Rape is carried out to satisfy sexual need also. As a man, I am telling with authority that sex is a basic need of a human being born as a man. And for a man, not satisfying his sexual needs for a long time may affect him psychologically. You should have heard about allegations of rape in Jammu Kashmir and the North East being carried out by the Indian Army. I believe these are not allegations but the truth. These states and its people demand the Armed Forces Special Act of 1958 to be withdrawn, thinking that is the reason. The act gives special powers to Army to arrest any individual without any warrant or notice. In most of the cases(take example of Thangjam Manorama of Manipur) these women were arrested(mostly in the name of helping the terrorists) as per the powers to Army by this act, then raped or killed. I think the Government policies for the Army is responsible for the same and not the Armed Forces Special Act. The Jawans in the Army are subjected to terrible conditions in these places. Moreover they are not given enough leave to be with family/wife or have any good stress busting entertainments working in areas like these. We all know how much our HR tends to do stress buster activities in our organisations. Then think about the army Jawans who work in extreme conditions and with fear of life. I also believe that the Armed Forces Special Act is of course a requirement in such places where there are disturbances which cannot be handled by the local police or authorities. They handle the question of sovereignty of India in the border areas.

In many states in India, men outnumber women. The national average of the sex ratio, expressed as number of women per 1000 men is 933. And in many states like MP, UP, Haryana and even in Delhi it is in 800s. In these areas except Delhi woman is not considered a social being. They are just machines to give birth to male children and do the household works. Many men don't even have women to take in as wives. This brings in a feeling of inadequacy or incompetency inside them. And in places like Delhi, they have many opportunities to see other men mingling freely with ladies where their feeling of incompetency strengthens. Rape becomes a way to compensate for these underlying feelings of inadequacy and feeds their issues of control, dominance, authority and capability.

The main reason of low sex ratio is to be believed as female foeticide which is very common in these areas. People want to have male children to keep their heritage and family name. But why cant females keep the family name? They are the ones having the power to give birth. And I think they should have the right to keep the family name. If everybody want male children only, how will the human race go forward. The Holy Bible tells that God created human beings as male and female, as He thought that male would be incomplete without female.

Everybody know about the Delhi rape case which happened on 16 December 2012 in Southern Delhi. A 23 year old girl was gang raped in a bus in which she was travelling with her male companion. They were going back to their homes after seeing the movie "Life of Pi". All the five passengers in the bus including a minor and the bus driver were involved in raping the woman. Both the victim and her friend were beaten up by an iron rod. It is said that the minor did most assault, he even penetrated the iron rod through her genitals. The woman died from her injuries thirteen days later. The incident generated widespread national and international protests and was condemned by various groups. Subsequently, there were several public protests in Delhi against the Central Government and Delhi Government for not providing adequate security for women. Similar protests took place in major cities throughout the country against such heinous crimes against women.

It is said that all the people in the bus were under the influence of Alcohol. The animals inside these men revealed themselves under the effect of alcohol. Alcohol and drugs can be seen as another cause for the crimes against women. Not even this case, we have heard numerous cases of women abuse under the effect of alcohol. Its a usual case in states like Kerala where a drunk husband beats up their wives. But did you see the minor. He was the most cruel one among the six persons. Why does this happen. Studies show that many of the people suffer from low self-esteem and in many cases, have themselves been abused as children or are from disturbed families. Also not to forget, lack of proper education on sex at the right time can also be taken as a reason. As far as I remember i never got any such education, and our way of exploring about it wont be always right. This may lead to have a defective perspective on sex.

The most shameful and sad act came from the Jats. They want to lower the marriageable age of women to prevent rape. Do they think that women actually want to be raped and go in front of men asking to rape them? Or do they think anti-social elements will leave a married woman without raping her? What do they actually think? Or do they think? They also commented that they oppose death penalty for the rape convicts. By doing all these Jat community are unknowingly putting forward a point that there is no place for a woman in their society or in other words that they are still a men dominated society.

We talked about the causes of rape in North Indian states where the sex ratio is very low. What about the causes of rape in Kerala where the sex ratio is 1058 females per 1000 males. Still what is the reason behind the women abuses happening here? Its true that some of the causes discussed before plays a key role. Like alcohol/drugs, lack of proper sex education are some to name. But there is something more. Its common in Kerala that after some time of marriage, women places a no entry for husband. They stop having sex after a couple of children. Their attitude towards sex changes. And as you know marital rape is illegal in India. Still this happens in other states. But in Kerala, you do it - you are screwed. So as said before, no sex for months especially after marriage can make man mad. And Kerala is not a place where you can approach prostitutes. In the struggle to satisfy their thirst men often end up in doing crimes.

None of the causes said above can justify a cruel act as rape. Capital punishment is important in the current scenario so that people stay away from doing such a crime to women atleast due to the fear of punishment. But is that a final solution to these issues? I put forward these issues to the society and government for their scrutiny, comment and implementation of a solution. At this point I mourn for our sisters who became target of rape and hope we can have a better society with more respect to our mothers, sisters, wives and children :-)