We have built a rapist’s paradise

A journalist friend’s social network post on the Delhi bus rape made some scathing observations, and correctly so, about how the nation is truly ‘outraged’ only when sexual violence occurs in the heart of political and economic powerhouses. 

Society and what we call “the system” are equally responsible for the state of sexual siege the women of this country are forced to live under.

Newspapers come up with illustrations of statistics and news channels line up ‘experts’ from different walks of life to hold prime time panel discussions on the deteriorating social conditions.

There is a lot of drama and rage before cameras and mikes for a few days, then all is gradually forgotten — till another mauled female form is discovered abandoned and battling for life.

Though psychologists may line up a host of reasons to explain the behaviour of perpetrators of sexual violence, it boils down to few basic reasons.

• Societal endorsement of masculine aggression
• Lack of airtight case-building that will lead to conviction
• Flawed portrayal of women in popular culture
• Outdated patriarchal social system that tends to punish the victim than the violator
• An ultra-slow legal system that can be exploited to delay justice to the effect of denying it

As long as we have ludicrous ‘out-of-court settlements’ for rape such as rapist agreeing to marry the victim, the justice system is taking a beating. This is an endorsement that the rape victim is in some way ‘contaminated’ and ‘unfit’ for leading a normal life. 

It also puts the victim at the mercy of the violator, who has already destroyed every minute element of self-respect she possessed. Every act of sexual intercourse after such a wedding is nothing short of socially-endorsed rape.

The absence of quick legal redress ensures that the victim is forced to put up with inordinate delays as case hearings are postponed and mental wounds stay raw and open. And thanks to the media attention (which usually goes overboard), every last bit of privacy of the victim goes for a toss — making a return to normal life even more difficult.

From policemen, politicians and social workers, we need to go miles in terms of treating cases of sexual violence with sensitivity. There is no dearth of top cops and politicians who shift the blame on victims’ tight clothes and loose morals.

Above all, the lack of a punishment that serves as a deterrent to rapists is the biggest inducement for the perpetrators to continue their brutal hobby with impunity. I reiterate my call, from an earlier column, for surgical castration of rapists. 

If there is anything that can deter the rapist, it is the permanent destruction of the supply chain that powers the macabre hunt.

I know this is not a permanent solution. However, with predators reduced to paper tigers, forced to live in self-loathing for the rest of their lives, the world becomes a better place for the fairer sex.

(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on December 19, 2012.)