How Many More?

Image source

---

Humans i.e. Homo sapiens in which Homo means wise and sapiens mean man are known for their intelligence and common sense. We have evolved from our ancestors, of whom we do not know of. We have come a long way. Starting our journey as a cave man who lived in the wild to a modern, well-developed man who has discovered new ways of life. Aside from development in terms of technology, our development has also given rise to many forms of social evils. Be it racism, theft, murder, dowry, sexual abuse, female foeticide, rape, there are so many. But one such heinous crime which made me write this article is “RAPE”.

What Is Rape?

According to Wikipedia,“Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without that person’s consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person who is incapable of giving valid consent, such as one who is unconscious, incapacitated, has an intellectual disability or is below the legal age of consent.”

In most of the reports, South Africa has the highest rape cases followed by countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, United States of America etc.

Around 90-96 rapes take place in India per day. And only a few cases have been reported. Delhi, the capital city of the country has come to be known as the “Rape Capital Of India.”

A few years back in 2012, the country experienced one of the most brutal gang rape case. A 23 year old Delhi girl named Jyoti Singh Pandey was gang raped when she was travelling with a friend in a private bus. When her friend tried to help her the accused hit him in the head and later on raped the girl. The doctors said that Jyoti was beaten with a rusted iron rod which was also inserted inside her body, thus destroying her intestines and genitals leaving only 5% of her intestines when she was taken to hospital. The victim died of severe injuries. She came to be known by several names like ‘Nirbhaya’ meaning fearless and 'Damini’ meaning  lightning.

Recently, a 8 year old girl, Asifa Bano of the state Jammu And Kashmir was gang raped. She was kept in a temple for several days by the accused and then mudered. The issue has become a hindu muslim feud. The political involvement has ignited the sparks throughout the nation.

A temple is a very pious and holy place. Poeple worship and seek protection there. It is sad to think that such a place was used to commit a crime.

Every day throughout the world so many rapes take place and a very few of them are reported. The voices of the innocent gets suppressed under the atrocities of demons of this world. In India, we call our nation motherland. The land of goddesses. Each year we have navratri, a 7-9 days fasting session, in which the hindus worship the different forms of goddesses. We consider Parvati as the better half of Shiva. A power which drives the world. We see women as a symbol of power and fertility and on the other hand we abuse the same women, we rape and murder her. We brag about our culture and heritage to the world and this is what we really are. People here still have the same rigid mentality as they had years ago. We do not take the name of periods or sex among people but when a man marries we play music and dance. When a women gets pregnant she doesn’t hide her baby bump, but when she gets raped she gets criticised. The accused still roam freely in the streets. They try to hide their crimes. And the worst is when politics gets involved. It’s a shame to think that our political leaders try to support such men. There is so much male chauvinism in the society. Even today the women gets accused for the gender of her child. While we all know that a man is responsible for determining the sex of the child. When it’s something glorious it’s because of him but when it’s something shameful the blame is on her shoulders. We ask our women to wear long clothes, cover their faces while our men roam around in the house without shirts, wearing only boxers. We ask our women to not to travel at night while our men are busy getting drunk and high somewhere. We choke our women to death and call it an act of braveness. While the accused roam about freely seeing the daylight, like predators they keep searching for their prey. A pup can be trained but these men are like hungry hounds whose leash cannot be tugged anymore. They have become wild.  You do not mould dried mud, you mould clay into whatever shape you want.

We cannot confine our women within the four walls of our house and think that they are safe. The danger is everywhere. What we can do is educate our men, teach them to respect all humans equally. Two and two make a four, similarly it takes a man and a woman to bring a reform. Such crimes need to be looked after. When we battle we battle for our nation, for pride, for honor.What use is that honor if we put it to dust.

I do not call a man who rapes a true man. Having a penis doesn’t make you powerful and higher in the society. There are true men in the world, one who love their mothers,lovers, daughters and treat all women with respect. They do not see a girl as a walking sex symbol, they see her as an individual. And because of such men we are able to believe in humanity. She has bled every month to bring you into this world. She carried you nine months inside her. She suffered for hours in labour. At least give her that much credit. Respect her, love her…Do not assault her.

If you have even for a milli second felt the love radiating from your mother, if you have ever seen a baby being born into this world, if you have ever seen the joy and innocence on a child’s face, trust me, you would never ever think of doing something so inhumane. God made us all humans. Our only religion is Humanity. Be a human first and a man later.

-©Pratibha Badgal AA

All the posts under the name Pratibha Badgal AA are my own.