Protests are a necessary public catharsis. Citizen movements over the tragic rape and murder of the trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9, continue. Amid the public anguish, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was heard playing cynical politics. Modi declared that his government has done more to prevent crimes than other governments.
President Droupadi Murmu declared “enough is enough”. Despite these VIP lamentations, the fact remains that 30 per cent of Nirbhaya Funds allocated to prevent sexual assault remain unutilised; the Mahila Police Volunteer Scheme for women’s safety has been discontinued and in 2021, it was revealed that 70 per cent funds for Modi’s “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” scheme had been spent on advertising. The ruling BJP plays cunning politics over rape but has little inclination to fix the institutional gaps on safety for women.
The doctor at RG Kar Hospital was a young female urban professional, an easily identifiable figure for the urban middle class across metros. Her familiarity has made the crime even more emotionally wrenching for city dwellers. Citizens have poured into the streets. When the public gets deeply involved, politics becomes what Mahatma Gandhi always said it should be: a daily lived experience, a participatory process of renewing shared societal values and an open street corner demand that policy decisions find ways to benefit “the last man or last woman”. This is not the partisan politics played by political parties who cynically attempt to use rape to compete for state power. Instead, when citizens take to public spaces to peacefully demand change and exchange ideas on reform, governments are galvanised to act.
Many citizens movements have spurred reforms. The Mathura rape of 1972 - when a young tribal girl Mathura was raped in a police station by two policemen - became a pivotal moment for legislation on crimes against women. The gangrape of Bhanwari Devi in 1992 led to the enactment of the Vishakha Guidelines or procedures to deal with sexual harassment with women in the workplace. The Nirbhaya rape and murder in 2012 resulted in more amendments to the law.
But, despite these moments of collective soul-searching and enactment of laws, we are still in a situation where, according to NCRB data, 90 rapes took place every day in 2021, and in 2022, a rape took place every 16 minutes, and today there are four assaults on women every hour.
The reason why crimes against women are not stopping is because top-down official gimmicks are inadequate. Official initiatives have failed to change mindsets and reform society. Fast Track Courts (FTCs) were set up from 2013 onwards by different states to expedite cases on crimes against women.
However, there are not enough FTCs and many states do not have them at all. Since the process of investigation and charge-sheeting remains the same, even FTC cases are delayed because the accused either abscond or go missing or fake cases are brought. The judicial system is overburdened with over five crore pending cases. There are massive shortages of judges in lower and district courts. Also, rapists are, in fact, routinely given the death penalty. Dhananjoy Chatterjee, who raped and murdered schoolgirl Hetal Parekh in 1990 in Kolkata, was hanged in 2004. Those who raped and killed ‘Nirbhaya’ in 2012 were also hanged. But these executions have not deterred rapists. The death penalty and tough punishments are necessary legal bulwarks, but they are not enough.
India is turning the clock back on women’s empowerment. Working women are disappearing. There’s been an astonishing decline of women in India’s workforce. In 2021, women made up only 19 per cent of India’s workforce, falling from over 40 per cent in the early 90s, according to the World Bank. In terms of women’s participation in the workforce, India ranks behind Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. A World Bank study has found that less than a third of India’s women are seeking work. A Thomson Reuters study in 2018 stated that India is the most dangerous country for women. Women are hemmed in at home.
The reason for the growing attacks on women and ostracism of women lies in the birth of a neo-conservatism and traditionalist backlash. The advent of the BJP with its brand of religious conservatism has encouraged this backlash against visible women. The rise of socio-religious vigilantes who are taking it upon themselves to pursue moral policing and violent actions against imaginary cases of so-called “love jihad” are snatching away women’s free choice through the power of violence. Prejudices against working women are growing. None other than former Haryana chief minister M.L. Khattar said rapes are rising because women are failing to “dress decently”. A former Uttarakhand CM inveighed against women wearing “ripped jeans”. In 2016, then BJP minister for culture Mahesh Sharma said women visitors to India must not wear short skirts. The orthodox religious mentality sees modern women as the prime enemy of “traditional values”.
In 2017, when female students at Banaras Hindu University dared to protest, the vice chancellor accused them of “selling their modesty”. Seduced by a Bollywood-packaged traditionalism, women themselves are sleepwalking backwards into a surrender of their own rights. In 2018, some women in Rajasthan actually took out a march glorifying ‘sati’ and ‘Jauhar’ or women’s ritual suicide. Instead of the glorification of decrepit “tradition”, we need to urgently embark on a wide-ranging national debate on why India is abandoning the cause of modern women.
Today, it seems perfectly acceptable that 151 MPs and MLAs have charges of crimes against women against their name. The BJP’s UP strongman Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is accused of serious sexual assault but the BJP is going all out to protect him and accusing his victims of running a “political agenda”. The high level of tolerance of these crimes gives rapists and assaulters a sense of impunity.
What’s the solution? Kerala has provided an answer in the appointment of the Justice K. Hema Committee. Its report was recently published, showing shocking sexual crimes against women artistes. Women must be provided safe spaces like the Hema Committee to speak out on assault and harassment. A sense of legal security is the best way to change the power asymmetry between women and powerful networked males. More Hema Committees established across states and industries could be a starting point to creating a free and open conversation on crimes against women at all levels of society. Brazenly cynical politics over a rape and murder must give way to a drive to bring genuine long-term change.