It is a sad irony that crimes against women never diminish in India. India is a country where people worshiped several goddesses like Durga, Laxmi, Parvati, etc. As per the report of National Crime Records Bureau, India recorded more than 4 lakhs crimes in 2019. The report revealed that there were 87 cases of rape each day on an average through the year. The data suggests that there is an increase of above 7% in crimes in comparison to the previous year. All these crimes were against women. This rise clearly indicates that there is no women safety in the country.
A Shameful Act: Hathras Incident
Are our laws not sufficient to provide safety and justice to our women? Or the problem lies somewhere else? Is gender equality and feminism movement only the terms of the books? These questions were asked again and again whenever there is rise in crimes or some horrific incident shook the entire nation.
The latest case which sparked a furious row across the nation is the rape of 19-year old girl in Hathras of Uttar Pradesh. The shameful incident occurred on 14 September 2020 in a village of Hathras. Criminals acted in such a brutal manner that the victim succumbed to the injuries after few days.
A 19-year-old girl went to her farm for collecting cattle fodder. Four men attacked her. Then they physically and sexually abused her. She fought for her life but on September 29, 2020, she died. Even more shameful was the trial of the case after it came to the limelight. The situation takes a toll when the police department cremated the victim’s body without the consent of her family. Poor handling of the case by police and administration outrage everybody including common people, mediapersons, celebrities and opposition parties.
The family of the victim also tried to report about the incident. But, the police declined to take any actions and humiliated them. After 10 days of the incident, police arrested the alleged criminals. This whole incident got media attention. People started to demand justice in full force. And it once again initiated the debate over women safety in India.
Loopholes in Administrations
News of this incident has broken out through media. A video was made viral. In that video police administration was forcing the victim’s family to change their statements for the testimony. Police also declined this incident by saying it fake news. The police department is here for the welfare of the public. But unfortunately, the police department failed to do so. In this case, allegations aroused when police forcibly cremated the body. This action of the police raises several questions. Victim belonged to the lower caste and the four criminals are from the upper caste. From here it became the case of caste discrimination.
Public Reaction to the Hathras Incident
Social media has so much power today. It can change the course of action in many cases. People get to know about this news by social media and then they started protesting against the state government. Soon this incident became a political issue. People gathered in Hathras for the protest. The opposition leaders from various national and regional parties also joined the protest.
History of Women safety in India
If we talk about the history of India, we should start from the Indus Valley Civilization. During that time people treated women with respect. Later, in the early Vedic period too, women found proper respect. It was also taught to not abuse or harm them. For centuries, people have been considering woman as a form of goddess.
However, later due to the rise of male dominance of society, people started considering women inferior to men. People started practicing various abusing women in the name of traditions like Sati Pratha, Johar, etc. just to maintain the dominance of men. Many reformers and feminism activist eliminated these traditions but still men try to rule over women in different ways even now. In Hathras, the incident happened just to prove the dominance of four men over a woman.
What is the actual problem and what is the solution for women safety?
Another incident of gang rape happened in Delhi eight years ago which also sparked massive outrage. That time also people gathered for Nirbhaya and demand changes in laws related to crimes against women and tried to fight for women safety in India. But after eight years we are still on square one. This is because we never really tried to stop this. We always reacted according to the situation. When there is outrage or media coverage, we protest and fight. Later, We get back to our life when things cool down.
Rape is not the only problem that women face in India. Women have to live with crimes like road teasing, domestic violence, acid attacks, female infanticide etc. The real question is not that why these things happened? But the question is how a person dares to do it? Why would they not think about the consequences? Do really our laws need to get amended? Or we need to change our thinking? Actually, due to the lack of proper implementation of laws, criminals have no fear in their minds. Government should eliminate loopholes from the system.
Conclusion
Why can’t girls in our country go out in the night? Why not people ask males to come home after dusk in the evening? It is because of the mentality to keep the girls behind, by saying it that we are protecting them. people are not familiar with the concept of equality. We should educate our boys and girls. We should make them learn to respect the opposite gender. Family itself should give proper sex education at an appropriate stage. Hence, proper education is the first step towards the safety of women in India.
There are laws by which we can ensure the women safety in India. But for this proper implementation of these laws should be there. Government should maintain the strictness for maintaining the law and order. This is important so that we can understand the seriousness of such crimes.
Note: To know more information regarding the Hathras gang rape incident 2020 click on the link given below-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Hathras_gang_rape_and_murder
