“Where the mind
is without fear”
Such was a
future Rabindranath Tagore had envisioned for India. But unfortunately the kind
of future we are living in is way different if we talk in context of women
safety.
The world is
surrounded by such beasts who are clothed in human skin, look no different than
the human race, walk freely in the streets, move about in buses and cars. How
are women supposed to recognize them and their beastly instincts which are so
well hidden under the clothes of human skin. Their looks can be deceptive. Full
of violence and lust, they may trap women into the image of a gentleman and
later show their true colors.
Quoting the
statistics from India Today,
“Ninety-two
women were raped on an average every day in India and the national capital with
1,636 cases recorded the highest number of such crimes among all cities last
year.
According to
figures released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the total number
of rape cases reported in India has gone up to 33,707 in 2013 from 24,923 in
2012.
In 15,556 cases,
the rape victims were aged between 18 and 30 years in 2013.
The number of
rape cases has doubled in Delhi in 2013 compared to the previous year. A total
of 1,636 rape cases were reported in the city last year, while 706 such cases
were reported in the year 2012. On an average, four rape cases were reported in
Delhi everyday in 2013.
As per the NCRB
data, Madhya Pradesh at an average records 11 rapes every day, with a total of
4,335 such cases, which is the highest in 2013 among all other states.
The data showed
that 13,304 cases were reported in 2013 where the victim was a minor, which was
9,082 in the previous year.
The data also
unveiled a disturbing fact that in the majority of the cases, the offenders
were known to the victims. NCRB statistics shows that in 94 per cent of the
cases the offenders were familiar to the accused.”
The woman are
told to be careful and vigilant while walking in the streets, while boarding a
taxi, while coming late from the office but how can women be careful from their
own neighbors, from those so called known offenders? How the juvenile girls who
yet do not know the reality of it should be made aware of the situation and how
they should be careful?
The cases of
sexual harassment and eve teasing are not to be ignored. Leave apart Streets
and vulnerable places but are women free of harassment in their school,
colleges and workplaces? Lewd comments and cracking of vulgar jokes is also
commonplace.
Why our society
is taking such shape where the women have to live with this fear while doers of
such beastly acts are roaming about freely under the veils unrecognizable?
To rise above
fear we do not only require laws but enforcement of such laws with zero
tolerance policy.
The following
are a slew of measures which can help to some extent at least.
- There should be more women police officers who should be trained properly on such matters.
- There should be more cab services with lady drivers.
- Thorough Background checks should be conducted on the taxi drivers and other public transport drivers.
- There should be security guards and police patrolling on the vulnerable stretches at the night hours.
- Installation of CCTV cameras in police stations to be aware of any lacunae in the system.
- More stringent laws on eve teasing and any kind of sexual harassment.
- All women should carry pepper spray with themselves.
- An app of a kind which can send a signal to the nearest police station in case of emergency.
- The porn should be banned completely.
- The women should carry pepper sprays with them for self defense
- The police and administration should come up with something of the type of tranquilizer guns or something of the same kind which could be used for the purpose of self defense in case of emergency
- And most importantly what is required is to teach and educate our youth and the rest.
This
post is written for Indi- Happy Hours # Rise above fear.
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