Change in political mindset can go a long way in preventing rapes

A string of rapes in Uttar Pradesh has shocked the country. But those who matter in the ruling Samajwadi Party reacted with nonchalance. When a woman reporter put a question on the state’s deteriorating law and order situation, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav mockingly countered – “you are safe, aren’t you?”
Thank god, she is.
The ruling clan found its favourite whipping boy in the media and criticized it for blowing the incidents out of proportion.SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav told reporters, “You do your job, we will do ours.”
The ostrich-like government did not see merit in acting fast and decisively against the accused. The minders of the government felt all was well because their women folk were safe. They allowed these perverts to run riot and assault poor and hapless women in villages.
They felt the state’s law and order situation was healthy as long as rapes remained confined to rural areas, where people have been muffled by years of subjugation by powerful clans and classes.
The recent rapes happened not only in peripheral villages but in big towns – Badaun, Muzaffarnagar, Azamgarh, Etawah, Aligarh and Amethi.
In such a disturbing scenario, reporters will ask difficult questions. And the CM must understand that it is not enough that a reporter has been safe so far. She had asked a question on behalf of all the women in the state.
It is true that kith and kin of officials and politicians have not been assaulted. Should the situation deteriorate to that level to make the administration spring into action? It reminds us of Pastor Martin Niemöller, who criticized the German intellectuals for keeping quiet when Nazis were systematically wiping out different groups.
Niemöller had written, “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Data gathered by advocate Gaurav Agrawal on April 9 through Right to Information Act reflected the real situation in UP’s rural areas. It gave year-wise cases relating to rape of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe women by upper caste men — 240 in 2006, 334 in 2007, 412 in 2008, 265 in 2009, 280 in 2010, 359 in 2011, 259 in 2012 and 350 in 2013.
Like UP, in most states, the administration and police have made little effort to enforce rule of law in the hinterland to infuse confidence in the public.
This has bred lawlessness, broken the morale of the people and made them timid.
How else would one explain the silence of an entire village when a 20-year-old tribal girl was raped in full public view by 13 villagers on the orders of the headman in Birbhum district of West Bengal just because she chose her life partner from a different community?
Sexual perversities of hooligans grow when they lose fear of police, consequently the law. They get emboldened when politicians reflect gender bias and insensitiveness to a heinous crime like rape.
Deep-rooted gender bias among politicians was noted with concern by the Justice J S Verma Committee, which was set up after the Nirbhaya gang rape-cum-murder case to recommend swifter and stringent punishment for rape.
It had said, “It is shocking to note that even after the recent horrific incident of gang rape, many political leaders, including members of Parliament/state legislatures, spiritual gurus with large following and other eminent persons have been making statements reinforcing the gender bias. Some have even blamed the victim for having facilitated the rape by her own behaviour.”
The panel named them – Anisur Rahman, Asaram Bapu, Om Prakash Chautala and Sri Prakash Jaiswal – and said, “These deep-rooted prejudices have to be eliminated for the efficacy of any laws on the subject.
The time has come to enact laws providing for subsequent disqualification of elected representatives on this ground alone.”
If we implement this suggestion, a lot can be corrected on the ground.
Time has also come for considering another useful suggestion, which has come in the shape of a judgment from Bangladesh Supreme Court.
This was noticed by our Supreme Court in the West Bengal gang rape case.
The Bangladesh Supreme Court in State vs Md Moinul Haque [(2001) 21 BLD 465] had said that victims of rape should be compensated by giving them half the property of the rapist(s) as part of their rehabilitation in society.
If the Union government provides this as part of penal laws, then it will go a long way to curb the crime of rape.