Rapes On and On... (Qs We Need to Ask)

You call someone a guest when you think you alone own a blog. But as I had mentioned to a friend recently, blogs have a life and soul of their own. They call their writers and readers and decide on their mission.

Today this blog called another member of the Earth community-Subhorup Dasgupta of Subho's Jejune Diet. He wrote this post in a furious 4 hrs. After much soul-searching, I decided to present it in two parts: 1. Qs We Need To Ask and 2. Solutions We Need to Seek

There are times when no words can express what you feel. The nationwide protests against the Delhi Gang Rape case of December 16 was one of them.  As a people, we were angry. As a people, we needed answers. As another brutal rape, this time of a 5-year-old, rocks the country again, I choose to struggle and put words to what I feel. The words I seek are not words of anger or of vengeance. Perhaps they are not even the words that you would like to hear. Perhaps they straddle the worlds of practicality and ideology with some discomfort. Perhaps they are questions whose answers neither you nor I have. Perhaps they are questions that we already know the answers to but are unable to accept or acknowledge to ourselves. I say this now so that you do not feel betrayed a thousand words later.

It is not always “easier” to ask the questions and let someone else figure the answers out. Sometimes, asking the questions is the more difficult task. What is the question? What are we protesting against? Who are we angry with? Who is (or are) the culprit/s? Especially at times of great emotional upheaval, we often forget to ask these questions in the pain and the urgency of the situation. In spite of being male, I am a poor apologist for male shortcomings. On the other hand, I prefer to stand on the side of reason. Though you might not agree, it really makes things easier.

What is the question?

Why can’t the police prevent rape? Though it doesn’t find mention in the Vatsayana classic, our national favorite is rape in the moving vehicle. The Delhi Gang Rape took place in a moving private bus. How are the police supposed to monitor miles and miles of roadways to ensure that rape does not take place in moving vehicles, many of them high end SUVs with tinted windows that are actually banned by law?  Most rapes take place either in uninhabited open spaces or in homes. How do you free up cops to the point that they can become engaged with communities, as a partner, as a friend? Do we pay them enough not to be tempted to take advantage of people who are all too willing to bribe their way through life? Moreover, how does one identify a rapist?

Rapists don’t come with a look. We do not have a central database that is shared by all the police. So even if you have a record of being accused or convicted of sex crimes in one part of India, you could move to a distant part of the country, and the only way the law enforcement there would figure it out is if you got caught. Nor have we a commonly agreed upon and focused profile for a rapist. It could be anyone, how would the police know?

Enlightened politicians, spiritual leaders, educators, and even women social luminaries, however, have been quick to point out that women who get raped do have a certain look. They are liberal, often “habituated to sexual intercourse,” dress in provocative ways, adopt “western” lifestyles, hang out with men, consume liquor, stay out late at night, do not attend satsang, the list goes on. Of course, I do not need to point out the latest rape victim who is 5, and certainly does not fall into any of the above rape-worthy categories. Neither was the 16-year-old tribal Mathura whose rape by policemen in a police station while her family waited outside was responsible for the first major changes to rape laws in our country. Isn’t it a little strange that we are able to stereotype rape victims, but just shrug when it comes to rapists. It could be anyone. How would the police know? Isn’t it just safer to ask the victim profile to be intervened upon?

Why can’t the police catch perpetrators? The Boston Police shut down the city till they found the surviving marathon bomber, and then the city celebrated the return of security. It has been nearly three months since the Hyderabad blasts, and except for the temporary spike in security perhaps undertaken only to assuage the scared and frustrated citizenry, nothing further has happened. The people who did it are out there, perhaps planning another strike. We have seen the impunity with which our national resources have been plundered by business interests. How did they get away with it? By greasing the palms of authorities all the way to the top.  And we need to be okay with that.

Why do people get away? The only reason that the Delhi Rape Case guys have not got away is because they are not backed by anyone powerful. Every second family in India has a story of how it is to confront the rich and the powerful. And this power is absolute. No matter how wealthy and powerful you are, there is always a larger interest to protect. Take the case of Satyam. Insiders know the truth. Even someone as respected and well off as Ramalingaraju could not have his say when push came to shove.

Who is the culprit? In a crime like rape, the answer is really clear. Regardless of what the provocations, conditioning, circumstances, etc., are, one is ultimately responsible for one’s actions. But do we look beyond the obvious and try to see if there factors which, if they were addressed, might have allowed the “culprit” to choose differently? All actions are simultaneously cause and effect. Just as the act of rape is cause, it is also the effect. However, this will be dismissed by most as a piece of philosophical posturing that has no bearing on the real argument. There are things that cannot be understood or perceived outside the context of temporality, hence a debate is pointless.

For solutions we need to seek, watch for the next part.