Can Ever Women Think Of Living without Fear in India?

December 2, 2019

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Shockwaves are running throughout India, with a mass gathering of women agony is highly seen on the streets and is protesting for their justice. They are asking if they can ever live in India without fear. The current inhumane incident of veterinary doctor of Hyderabad on 27^thnight had made people more violent and demanding for the accused to be given to them. They want the death of the accused.

The case has prompted repulsion across India, many of them started comparing it to the brutal gang rape and murder of a student on a bus in Delhi in 2012, which provoked thousands of women to be on the streets at that time and it’s after consequences resulted in some changes in the sexual crimes law.

Rape and inhumane sexual violence against women have been in focus in India since the December 2012 gang-rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in the capital, Delhi. But till today there has been no sign that crimes against women are declining.

According to the latest government crime figures, police have registered 33,658 cases of rape in India in 2017 – that’s an average of 92 rapes every day and every 20 minutes, there is a rape in India.

India has become the most dangerous place in the world for a woman because of the high risk of inhumane sexual violence, according to a 2018 survey conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The aftereffect of this dreadful incident was seen on a young woman in Delhi on Saturday; one woman protested outside parliament and said she was beaten by police when she had refused to move. The protestor’s only purpose was to get assurance that she will not be brutally tortured and burned to death tomorrow as she doesn’t want to die.

Indian women are in a constant state of attention, like a country on terrorist alert

After all, the Indian constitution preserves women’s rights to equality, including freedom of voice, movement, and rights over their own bodies. It is a country where millions of smartly dressed women go to work in offices every day, where laws have changed to protect women and where women and men have spilled into the streets to protest against the monstrous rapes of kids, the gang rape of eight-year-olds and even less than that, and of young women or old women activists are protesting at the trafficking of women.

In India, it is fact that a majority of women do not feel safe alone on the streets, at work, in markets, or at home, even though they have learned how to cope up with this existing nervousness. Women have customized their behaviors to feel safe, come home at night before dark; they don’t go out alone unnecessarily; get permission to go out; are always careful and alert; and they repress their speech, their clothes, and their body posture, including not looking at the men in their eyes.

Satish, a 52-year old banker said: “For rape, there is no fixed time, always be alert.” Indian women are in a constant state of vigilance, like a country on terrorist alert. There is no use of democracy if half its population lives in fear.

A National Crime Records Bureau statistics revealed that from 2012 to 2016 40% of female reported rape victims were minors and 95% of them knew the rapist. The rapists belonged to the “circle of trust” of extended family and friends.

What rape statistics really reflect is a ferocious cultural agreement that women have no consent. This means in turn that girls must be trained to act as if they do not exist, to diminish their presence to survive, to serve men and do not cause any inconvenience to them. This sounds outdated in this day and age, but it is true in India and to a greater or lesser degree across many cultures, irrespective of wealth or education.

The story does not end here but the dirty secret about men’s insensitive abuse of power through sexual violence against women has hit the global press. India and the rest of the world should do well to make and implement women’s safety laws strictly and freedom should be the central goal of democracy and development.

Since ages women, safety matters are in the discussion, but still, the matter remains the same, where it was. Though, the condition of women has changed from ancient to the modern world with respect to equality, dignity, freedom from discrimination; and on the platform of seeking and getting jobs.

Women have served at the top positions in the Indian government including the President of India, Prime minister of India, Lok Sabha Speaker. But still women are ruined; face sexual assault, gender inequality, and dowry.

We very well know that women in India are given a place of Goddess Lakshmi in Indian society. But, we also cannot overlook the challenges faced by women in India. Every minute some women are giving their life (a mother, a sister, a wife, young girls, and girl baby children) as they are getting harassed, molested, assaulted, and violated at various places all over the country.

Streets, public spaces, public transport, etc. have become unsafe places for women hunters. School/college girls have to guard themselves with the help of books or bags or they have to dress up which can cover them completely.

There are also incidents when a girl child is sold by her parents just to earn some money. Generally, girls face acid attacks on the streets and kidnapping for sex purposes by strangers. Women are still being raped by a family member in the rural areas, beaten by husbands or parents-in-law, burned for dowry, and so many cases.

Though, we never forget a dreadful event of Nirbhaya gang-rape. But after that many such cases have come forward, so the question remains the same, what is the outcome and solution of it? There is no answer but these cases are in progress some or the other place in India. When? The woman can breathe in a fearless environment that is still in question.

Approximately 50% population in the country is of Woman. So, they are 50% of participants in the growth and development of India. We are running in the advanced era of the 21^st century; however, it is very shame to say there is no women’s safety.

Marital rapes are also increasing, men think that women are their property and have the rights to do any kind of violence. In this aspect also some laws should be made for women’s safety.
The Indian government says the IPC on the concept of marital rape cannot be applied in the country since marriage is treated as a sacred in Indian society.

The minister said that the Law Commission of India, while making its 172nd Report on Review of Rape Laws did not recommend any criminalization of marital rape and hence presently there is no proposal to bring any amendment to the IPC in this regard of marital rape. Not only rape, but women are also facing a lot many acts of violence too.

Primarily government has to focus certain rigid and strong laws such that these cases drop down and secondly, men has to change their mindset and have to be become psychologically strong and respect women as they are also brought into this world by them.

❍ Hope Women Safety could be possible by working on below-suggested points

The most important suggestion is of helpline numbers, which are 24 hours active and are always alert mode for women’s safety.
The police department should be very active and fully trained; they should have good tracking systems.
The company should be extra vigilant for women employees.
Late working hours should be avoided for women’s safety.
Punishment to the culprits should be given within shorter periods.
Educating moral values, in people, and have to make them understand consequences of committing crime, a fear in the system, fear of law should be implanted in people’s mind for doing a crime, like telling the culprits for giving the capital punishments, and also how one feels life in jail, and about their families suffering etc.
Girls should carry pepper powders, or pepper sprays to fight if any molester tries anything wired.
Women should be trained with martial skills to protect themselves and also others.
Society should come out for help, react Sharp, other than being a spectator to crimes.
New laws to be made and lots of old laws should be amended for women safety