Rape. It is a word that most women have grown up fearing. Just the word is enough to run tremors of fear and disgust down your body. No one can truly comprehend what a rape victim goes through. In nations like India, normalising rapes has become a prevalent practice, with society blaming the victim rather than the accused.
People immediately begin marching with candles in their hands in order to bring the girl to justice. Surely they have a pure heart and want justice for the girl. They are, after all, among the ones who are most concerned about the victim’s situation. Is it, however, effective? Is their candle-light vigil having an effect on the authorities? Is the victim getting the justice she deserves? Is she allowed to live her life the same way she did before? Nobody has access to the answers to these questions. However, people’s mentalities have not changed. People do not understand suffering until they have experienced it themselves. There have been enough revolutionary movies to invalidate this grave issue. These films were created in order for others to comprehend the absolute agony that a rape victim goes through.
A Thursday (2022)
For example, in the recent film ‘A Thursday,’ Yami Gautam (who plays Naina) keeps a condition of negotiation with the film’s prime minister Maya Rajguru (played by Dimple Kapadia) in order to liberate the children. She asks for capital punishment for rape, to hang a convicted rapist, for the prime minister’s help in passing such a law against the rapists, to give her and the women of this country something to hold on to, to make the rapists think twice before committing a rape.
But unfortunately the prime minister responds that it is not easy. As though it is easy for the victims to be raped. As if it were easy for the victims to recover from the trauma! All she asks to the prime minister is her right to be safe and in return gets the sympathy with the following lines ‘I am a women and I know exactly what you are saying’ but can she feel the same pain?” Is she capable of dealing with the trauma of a rape victim? Is it possible for her to understand how it feels? Is she aware of the helplessness of a rape victim’s parents? Naina says even today when Rohit (her fiance) hugs her it takes her a moment to feel it is okay, it is safe. Do the victims, deserve nothing more than a screwing candle march? The rapists simply depart; they are not afraid in the least!
The headlines, nowadays, are such that any youngster under the age of ten knows about rape. What could be more humiliating than explaining rape to a child? It has grown so frequent that it no longer surprises children. The number of rape cases in India is steadily increasing. Every passing hour, a woman becomes a victim of this inhumane atrocity. The reasons for it may vary, but they can never justify the consequences it has on the victim's physical, psychological, emotional, sociological, or any other element of life left to live.
Facts
- In India, rape is the fourth most common crime against women: What is more alarming about rape’s aftereffects is how individuals attempt to conceal the reality and justify the act. The crime is blamed on everything relating to the victim herself, from her dress to her upbringing to her attitude, as well as a slew of other unrelated factors. Every new day is a hazard for girls in countries like India. Parents do not enable their daughters to relocate far away to finish school or find work. They are not permitted to go out at night. Girls are that segment of society who are constrained the most.
- 32033 rape cases were reported in 2019: According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) annual report for 2019, 32033 rape cases were reported across the country. Despite the fact that rape complaints have increased in recent years, it is still connected with the victim’s humiliation rather than the perpetrator’s.
- One woman is raped every 16 minutes in India: The National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) ‘Crime in India‘ 2019 report, released amid uproar over the recent death of a rape victim in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras, shows how common crimes against women have increased dramatically across the country. In 2019, a total of 4,05,861 occurrences of crime against women were reported, up 7.3 percent over the previous year. According to official statistics, one woman is raped every 16 minutes in India, and every four minutes, a woman is subjected to abuse by her in-laws. Every day in 2019, 88 rape cases were reported in the country.
Some More Facts
The most common crime against women under the IPC was ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives‘, which accounted for 30.9 percent of all cases, followed by ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty,’ (21.8 percent), ‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women,’ (17.9%), and ‘Rape,’ which accounted for 17.9%. (7.9 percent ).
According to NCRB data, the crime rate registered per lakh women population in 2019 is 62.4, up from 58.8 in 2018. The highest number of rape incidents were reported in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, according to the data. Last year, Rajasthan recorded 6,000 rape cases, while Uttar Pradesh had 3,065 cases.
Real Life Incidents
The rape victim in Odisha was only three years old, the Banda victim in Uttar Pradesh was eight years old, and the Hathras victim was just 19 years old.
The girl from Bulandshahr who was raped and set on fire was likewise 12 years old. The never-ending litany of gang rape instances that have occurred across the country has angered the public.
The startling fact is, in recent rape instances, minors have become more vulnerable to being victims of this heinous crime. According to research by the child rights NGO CRY, the sexual offence is committed against a kid every 15 minutes in India, and a crime against minors has increased by more than 500% in the last ten years.
No more a concern
Victims are treated the same whether they are minors or adults. They are humiliated in the most dehumanizing way possible. They are no longer accepted in society as they once were. They can’t hold their heads as high as they used to. But why do we support a system that treats crimes like rapes as common blunders? Is it possible that we have normalised rape to the point where it no longer shocks us?
We demand justice, we go out with candles, we demand the accused to be hanged, but nobody listens. Does the outcome of each rape case verdict deter perpetrators from raping again?
It is a sad and painful fact that people regard rape as a mistake. Rape has an unfathomable influence on the victim’s family and on herself. We have normalised rapes to the point where women are afraid to come forward, afraid of not being believed. As we become older, we tend to listen to all of the safety recommendations and methods that society provides to women rather than urging men to stay within their bounds. This situation that we are in is commonly termed Rape Culture.
Rape Culture
Rape culture can be characterised as a societal climate that allows for the normalisation and justification of sexual violence such as rapes, fueled by ongoing gender disparities and views toward gender and sexuality. Rape culture, in simple words, is an environment where rape is common, and sexual violence against women is normalised and justified in the media and popular culture.
Rape culture is maintained through the glamorization of sexual violence and the use of women’s bodies, resulting in a society that disregards women’s rights and protection. Women, without a doubt, are more affected than other members of society, but fostering rape culture is disastrous. Women are disproportionately affected by rape and abuse as compared to men. This is a reality that can’t be disputed. The Criminal Law Amendment Act No. 32 of 2007, which deals with Sexual Offenses and Related Matters, has been enacted to ensure that women are safeguarded. The greatest obstacle, however, is changing societal views to make this vision a reality. Almost every week, we hear a sad story about a woman being raped or abused.
Way forward
Because rape is so common, most women and girls keep their behaviour to a minimum. The majority of women and girls live in constant fear of being sexually assaulted. Men, in general, do not. Rape Culture has left behind a cycle of terror. This treatment of women is reprehensible. The issue will not improve unless we take responsibility for our actions.
If a girl is raped, it is not only the accused who is to blame; his parents and the society in which he grew up are as well. Women must be respected, and we must learn to respect them. They should be taught to be intolerable. If we see sexual harassment in the workplace or in public areas, we must report it and not tolerate it. Whatever she wears should be entirely her decision. Who are we, after all, to pass such a judgement?
Boys should be raised in such a way that they see a girl as a human being rather than an object. Parents, for example, can teach their children to be more nice to females and all other genders through proper parenting and sex education in order to fight for them and the justice they deserve. Why are only the girls exposed to this heinous atrocity when everyone else has equal rights to live in this society?
References
- https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.outlookindia.com/website/amp/india-news-horrendous-rape-cases-in-2021-so-far-show-that-minors-are-biggest-victims-of-sexual-assaults/376609
- https://thepressindia.in/2021/06/27/lets-not-normalise-rape-culture/
- https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2019/01/normalising-rape-culture-is-the-greater-problem/amp/
- https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2019/11/compilation-ways-you-can-stand-against-rape-culture
- https://www.iol.co.za/amp/news/why-sexual-violence-should-not-be-normalised-in-society-44547688
- https://www.marshall.edu/wcenter/sexual-assault/rape-culture/
- https://inside.southernct.edu/sexual-misconduct/facts
