Pramod Kumar
Despite national outrage, crimes against women are assuming more heinous forms. The so-called tougher laws too have failed to curb the menace. What is needed the most at this juncture is to focus more on imparting moral values and change in the psyche of people.
EVEN as the nation protests in one voice, the crimes against women are crossing all limits. The way a five year old girl was gang-raped in national capital, it again hangs the heads of all sensible people in shame. After gang-rape of a medical student on December 16, 2012, there was a national demand for strict laws and most importantly the death sentence to rapists. However, not so stern, a strict anti-rape law was enacted, but the incidents of rape with rarest of the rare nature are re-occurring everyday. The statistics collected by the police also prove it.
According to Delhi Police, the national capital recorded a dramatic rise in reported crimes since January 1, 2013 with molestation cases up by 590.4 per cent and rape cases up by 147.6 per cent. The number of female tourists visiting India has shown a decline by 35 per cent in the first three months of 2013. The same Delhi Police on April 22 again claimed that as many as 463 rape cases were registered at various police stations in the first four months of 2013, indicating an increase of 158 per cent over the same period last year. This data shows at least a 600 per cent rise in molestation cases, while 783.67 per cent more harassment cases were noted in the same period. Last year, as many as 179 rapes, 139 molestations and 49 cases of harassment were registered till April 15.
Not only the national capital the overall condition in the country is alarming. The statistics collected by the National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB) shows an astonishing spurt in the cases against women. It noted 336 per cent hike in child rape cases (from 2,113 in 2001 to 7,112 in 2011). It also says that a total of 48,338 child rape cases were recorded during this period. A recent study of these statistics by the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) further warns that it is only a ‘tip of the iceberg’ as the large number of child rape cases are not reported while the children regularly become victims of sexual assault.
The study shows that Maharashtra recorded 6,868 cases, while Uttar Pradesh registered 5,949 and Andhra Pradesh 3,977. Delhi, which reported 2,909 cases, ranked sixth on the list. The 56-page report also highlights 39 cases of systematic and often repeated sexual assault on children in juvenile justice homes. Out of the 39 cases, 11 were reported from government-run juvenile justice homes, while in one case a CWC member was accused of sexual harassment during counselling sessions. The remaining 27 cases were reported from private or NGO-run juvenile justice homes.
Recently the National Crimes Record Bureau released a report stating that total number of criminal cases against women increased by 29.6 per cent between 2006 and 2010. But instead of taking effective steps to curb this menace, the Sonia-led regime wasted time on discussing to lower the age for consensual sex. Both the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde made tall claims to arrest the sexual crimes but they failed.
It is a fact that majority of the crimes against women are committed by the known persons. Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar contends the rape ‘opportunist crimes’, in which maximum perpetrators were people known to the victim. “Ninety seven per cent cases happened within the house, while in only three per cent of cases, the involvements of strangers have been found, including the December 16 gang-rape case,” he said. “It is not possible to prevent rapes, if a neighbour or person known to the victim is involved in the crime,” he added. Delhi Police figures said friends/lovers were involved in 178 of the recorded rape cases, neighbours in 115, employers in 15, fathers in 10, ex-husbands in 9, father-in-laws in 2, step-fathers in 2, cousins in 5, tenants in 3, instructors in 3, doctors in 2 and occult practitioner in one.
Fed up with the government inaction and its repeated efforts to make the people fool, the common men, especially the youth, are in the streets. They seem ready for do or die this time. General public is highly against the Central government, which only speaks and not acts. Sonia Gandhi recently told the PM “to act against the increasing crimes in Delhi”. But the output is only repeated incidents of more heinous nature everyday. “I was shattered when I heard about the rape of five-year-old girl. Soniaji had stated ‘now words alone are not enough, we need action.’ I want to ask her who should act in this regard? It is hard to understand why the AICC and the UPA chief is talking the language used by the Opposition.”
In the recent case, a five-year-old girl was abducted on April 15 and kept hostage without food and water in a room in which the attacker lived. The police arrested both the accused. But the big question still remains unanswered—can deployment of more policemen at every step or making the laws sterner curb the crimes against women. The only answer that majority of the people have now started realising is changing the psyche of the people which is repeatedly being poisoned through different means.
The Prime Minister also admitted it recently when he said: “The need for society is to look deep within and work to root out the evil of rape and other such crimes from our midst.” Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar also said if his resignation is the remedy, he can resign 1,000 times. “It is time we should think of emphasising more on moral education in schools, colleges and in the society. The growing incidents of rape are the outcome of degrading moral values. The fast we act on this front, the better will be results,” said noted educationist and national convener of the Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas Shri Dinanath Batra while talking to Organiser
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