It is difficult to ever forget that one class I had with a
very interactive guest lecturer in law school. It is the single greatest
question I can think of today as we face the prelude to doomsday. Do we really
need an apocalypse to prove that the end of the world is near when humanity has
taken a complete 360 degrees turn towards its anti thesis?
Back to the question that I continue to ponder over, which
somehow I believe never left me from the time I was first faced with it as an
impressionable law student. What is it that really makes rape more heinous than
murder? Why is it that the voice of India cries for capital punishment for
rapists more than it does for murderers? How exactly does taking away an
individual’s life look paler in comparison to encroaching upon a woman’s
autonomy over her body?
The answer is not crystal clear. Legal pieces directed me to
historical evolution of the law wherein a woman was considered a ‘good’ and a
rapist was automatically asked to pay a fine for ‘damaging’ the ‘goods’ either
to the father or the husband. A penny for my thought, has much really evolved?
If the women are raped at the rate they are at, even in this day and age, have
women actually stopped being treated as goods?
The New York Times wrote this piece a while back titled ‘Is
it a Good Time to be a Girl in India?’. While it discusses the progress that
has been made for the rights of women in India, from higher mortality rate to
higher literacy rate, one cannot help but wonder about the obvious. Is it
really a good time to be a girl in India when your parents actually let you be
a part of the human race by not committing female foeticide, they educate you
to be a better, more informed citizen of the country and even with all those
wonderful developments, you realize that hyenas who call themselves men prowl
the streets to prey on the body of the fairer sex with almost infinitesimal
fear? It is a very cynical view and it does not make me less happy about the
improving state of women in the country, but is it enough?
My answer to why rape is the most heinous of the crimes
concerning one’s body is two pronged.
First and the most important is the impact of the crime. The
impact of a rape of a woman’s person is so deep and so intense, that the damage
that is done to the psyche of a woman is unfathomable. It is difficult to
formulate a sentence that will justify the intensity of the harm and the
magnitude of the trauma that such an act entails. Force, coercion, sexual
violation of a woman’ body, the helplessness that accompanies the absolute
denigration of her being. A rape is not a one-act crime; it continues to be
committed in the head of the victim everyday, thereon.
The second reason for my opinion is that a rape is the
succumbing of a man to his most vile instinct there is. More than just an issue
of the man and his instincts, it is a malady that goes much deeper than just
the instinct. Why does the man have the gall to act on such an instinct? Is it
because the respect for women as equals has remained only on paper? Is it
because our law and order is so lax that there exists no fear? I think it is a
bit of both.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. But is castration
really the solution to an endemic like rape? I am not sure I know the answer to
that.
What I do know, however, is that the there is a lot more
required to deal with this grotesque crime than just an amendment to the law.
To reach a stage in society where the mere thought of acting upon his filthy
instinct, sends a chill up a man’s spine, we require symbiotic efforts between
the community, its people and the state and its machinery. In a state where the
police issue statements blaming a woman’s choice of clothing as a justification
for her rape, a lot needs to be done and this fact can never be overstated.
Does that mean that there has to be an unlearning and relearning to understand
the sociological nuances of a crime like rape? Why not. Is the law merely the
answer when the implementation is flung on the backburner? Effective and prompt
investigation, speedy trial, thorough examination of the evidence, these are
points of law and implementation that form the nerve of the solution. With a
little more emphasis on speedy and effective trials, we might just make headway
into dealing with a crime like this.
Having said that, a fear of the law can only be instilled by
setting a precedent. Not all rapists understand law or its implications. A
precedent, however, does surpass the problem of ignorance of law. Do we need
social sanctions? I do not see why not. On the confirmation of the identity of
the rapists, it is essential to expose their identity to the public.
I am not an expert. This is not exhaustive. These are merely
questions and possible answers that have arisen from a lot of mental conflict,
reading, understanding and sure, a lot of emotions.
