A global survey exposes a vicious cultural agreement that women have little value in our society. We the Indians have to mask to 'save face' from the dishonor, shown for our country by The Thomson Reuters Foundation, a Canadian global information and news network, a charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, and is a registered charity in the United States and United Kingdom, headquartered in London. The stigma pertains to placing of India as the most dangerous nation for woman, in its report for 2018, for sexual violence against women, as well as human trafficking for domestic work, forced labor, forced marriage and sexual slavery, among other reasons. The survey report placing different countries at the top ten positions are; 1. India. 2. Afghanistan. 3. Syria. 4. Somalia. 5. Saudi Arabia. 6. Pakistan. 7. Democratic Republic of Congo. 8. Yemen. 9. Nigeria and 10. United States. India was the fourth most dangerous country for women in the same survey seven years ago. The release of the report comes amid mounting public outrage in India, where a series of high-profile rape cases have forced the issue of sexual violence onto the national agenda. India has long grappled with the issue of sexual violence. In the months following the 2012 case, the central government moved to pass legislation increasing penalties for sexual assault, rape, and sexual abuse, including extending prison sentences and introducing the death penalty. But despite the introduction of stricter laws, around 100 sexual assaults are reported to police in the country every day, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, with nearly 39,000 alleged attacks reported in 2016, an increase of 12% from the previous year. The Thomson Reuters Foundation claim its survey to be based entirely on expert opinions of 548 experts focused on women's issues including aid and development professionals, academics, health workers, policymakers, non-government organization workers, journalists, and social commentators. The number of respondents who consider themselves experts on India was 101, of those, 53 live in India. The Thompson Media Foundation further said "official data is often unavailable or out of date on women-related issues in many countries and thus this survey is just a snapshot of a situation at a given time. The report of Thomson Reuters Foundation supported by the statements of one Manjunath Gangadhara, an official at the Karnataka state government in southwest India "India has shown utter disregard and disrespect for women rape, marital rapes, sexual assault and harassment, female infanticide has gone unabated. The (world's) fastest growing economy and leader in space and technology is shamed for violence committed against women. The quarry here involves is what is the source of experts, who's opinion has been taken into account by the surveying agency whether it is perception or any survey, they have conducted to authenticate their conclusion and is it fair to use their opinion to form the basis of a global report? Opinions have been sharply divided over the report that adjudged India as the most unsafe country for women. Even as the National Commission for Women (NCW) rejected the findings of the survey entitled 'The Most Dangerous Countries for Women-2018' and said for a nation as big as India with a population of approximately 1.3 billion, the sample size is not representative of the country as a whole.
Come what may, whether the report is biased, a perception, or actuality branding India as the most dangerous countries for women, one aspect we cannot deny that when we whisper about crime against woman, synopsis of the headlines during last week of December 2017 is awakening events concerning crime against woman. In Mumbai; a woman raped and robbed by Ola cab driver and passenger. Surat; 22-year-old man arrested for raping 4 year old girl in Navsari. Jammu; minor raped by two. Mumbai; A 53 Year old High Court lawyer arrested for marrying and repeatedly raping a 15-year-old girl. West Delhi; 17 year old girl raped in rehabilitation center: Threatened to kill father and leak her nude picture. Thiruvananthapuram; Alleged rape of 51 year old woman; Charge sheet filed against Congress MLA Vincent. Thane; man molested minor tribal girl. In Madhya Pradesh; a class 11 student gang raped in Sarpanch's house. In Jhansi, a class 9 student, raped by an English teacher. A rape attempted on 3 years old in Sambalpur Sadar hospital. Muzaffarpur; minor girl gang raped at gunpoint and three men allegedly raped a woman and severed her head. In New Delhi; 60 year old man sexually assaults two minors. In Bokaro; a Hindu girl gang raped, by her in-laws, after she refuses to convert to Islam. Mumbai; Thane girl of 17 years stabs her father for molesting her. Uttar-Pradesh; man held for raping girls on pretext of teaching texts. Lucknow 51 girls rescued from 'Madrasa', allege sexual harassment by manager, Noida 6 year old girl sexually assaulted, Uttar Pradesh stepfather arrested for raping girl, Delhi dance teacher arrested for abducting, raping student.
The disturbing facts about this series of crime during last week of December 2017 is their diversification from one another and the victim from minor (even 4 years) to 65 years of age, accused from taxi drivers, lawyer, MLA, school teacher, dance teacher and even father and stepfather and locations where crime committed; Sarpanch's house, lawyers residence, houses of victim as well as of accused, moving vehicle, hospital, work places, school premise, and 'Madarsas'. The scrutiny considerate us in which order the civilization is gripping and what mentality has captivated us? A cursory look into the data of crime against woman from the year 2011 onward speaks of increasing trends. The cases reported in 2011 were 2, 28,650 cases, which further increased to 2, 44,270 cases in 2012, and 3, 09,546 cases in 2013, to 3, 37,922 cases in 2014. It declined bit to 3, 27,394 in 2015. Cases under "crime against women" category reported an increase of 2.9 per cent in 2016 over 2015. Majority of these cases "cruelty by husband or his relatives" (32.6 per cent) followed by "assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty" (25.0 per cent), "kidnapping and abduction of women" (19.0 per cent) and "rape" (12.4 per cent). On political platform, the parties gave tickets to candidates even after having declared cases related to crimes against women in their affidavits. We find 51 MPs and MLAs in present set up (ADR data) have declared cases related to crimes against women. The charges are related to murder, attempt to murder, assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty, kidnapping, abducting, rape, and word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman and 31% ministers in Modi government charged for similar offences. Concluding the re-track to the crime against woman take us to 'Treta Yug', when 'Sita' was abducted by 'Ravana' and he has to reap the harvest of crime by death and destruction of his kingdom by 'Rama', husband of 'Sita', believed to be incarnation of lord 'Vishnu'. In 'Dwapara Yug', when 'Yudhishthra' forfeited all to 'Duryodhana' in 'dice game' pursued by a outrageous move by 'Dushashan' to disrobe (Cheer Haran) 'Darupadi' was an assault and insult to the modesty of woman, rescued by 'Krishna' another incarnation of 'Vishnu'. This act of crime germinated 'Mahabharata' that engendered total destruction of 'Kaurvas'. When we whisper of 'Kali Yuga', the era we are passing through, we have witnessed self immolation 'Sati Pratha' enforced in Hindu upper caste as a gender-specific crime (as abetment to commit suicide) in bygone days, that used to be enforced and practiced by left over group of woman after defeat of his master, in order to secure her modesty and to maintain chastity. The truth, perhaps, is that no nation can be classified as the "most dangerous", while the majority of societies will be deemed very bad or rough or dangerous, for women and for all disadvantaged or dependent sections, no matter how they are categorized. When India is in denial of the fact that a majority of its women do not feel safe, I suggest to the fairer sex that you do not need to know the whole alphabet of safety. A, B, C of it will save you if you follow it and that A, B, C stand for "Always Be Careful".
|
