Picture from: https://www.change.org/p/narendra-modi-t-s-thakur-hang-every-rapist-in-india-8696f2c9-be3c-4e9a-a918-85fa969ec190
The recent rape and murder of a young veterinary doctor on the outskirts of Hyderabad has brought to the fore, once more, the anger and frustrations of the people about the safety of women in our country. In response, it is common to hear people say that they would like to hang (or in this case, burn) the perpetrators of this heinous crime. Sadly, this knee-jerk reaction seems to be coming from every sphere of society. Nobody seems to want to take a step back and identify the real solutions to the problem.
Of course, the real solution to this problem is for parents to educate their sons. But let us put that aside for the moment. Everybody knows that the real issue is that we bring up entitled brats for sons and protect and molly coddle them into thinking that they are somehow special.
But what can we do today?
There is only one immediate solution to this problem – a better, more sensitive police force.
For one, we need to educate and sensitize the police force on how they must react to such cases. Questions about whether the girl has a boyfriend or whether she was out drinking must be erased from their minds. Rape cannot be justified by the behavior of the victim, even if she were to walk naked down the street. In fact, we should aspire for a world where we can walk down a street without clothes and gather nothing more than glances. Hours are lost when relatives or friends rush from one police station to another to get the authorities to act.
The police force must be seen as a friend rather than a force of fear. Outreach programs between the police force and the local communities must be carried out on a war footing. People should not just know that the police are their friends, they should experience it. A recent story on a grade V student approaching the cops with a complaint about the cycle repair guy not returning his cycle where the police intervened is what we should aspire to.
Investigation of complaints must be quick and fair. The people must see that action is being taken. Regular communication from the police and other law enforcement agencies on the progress in the cases through the court of law will go a long way in showing the people that the cops have their best interests at heart.
Anarchy is not the solution to the problem. It will in fact only serve to exacerbate it. Circumventing the rule of law will only put more power in the hands of unsavory elements, which is never a good thing. Instead we need to empower our constitutional institutions with the power and the sensitivity to act quickly, to act properly, and to act decisively.
Then, we can begin to tackle the problem of how to bring up our sons. That’s a whole different ball game.
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