How I changed my mind about rapists
If Indians want justice for the victim of this gang rape and her counterparts, they will have to start with themselves
The writer is a student of political science at Delhi University and tweets @anshul_pandey
Following the heinous Delhi gang-rape case — whose victim tragically has now died — I was one of the many people demanding castration for the accused. Confronted with a crime of such a barbaric nature, it was only natural for many like me to demand a punishment of equal barbarity to teach the rapists ‘a lesson’. However, I have since come to realise that castration or capital punishment for the rapists does not solve the larger underlying problem of the culture of misogyny that pervades Indian society. Capital punishment or castration would not solve these larger social problems that we as a nation need to confront urgently in order to rein in the crimes against women which have gained a sense of normalcy in one’s daily life due to our own apathy.
The arrival of a girl child in most families in India is not marked by distribution of sweets or a chorus of joy. Instead, there are only curses reserved for the child whose only crime is her gender. She is denied an education to pursue any goals and ambitions she may have in life. She is restricted to the four walls of her house for the sake of preserving her virginity which is her only asset in India’s arranged-marriage market. She is often married off to a complete stranger at an age when she should be in school. Right from day one, she is treated as the property of someone or the other and the onus of preserving her ‘value’ is put on her head.
When Indians have such a culture, which blames the consumption of chow mein or greater interaction with the opposite sex or most importantly, the victim herself, as the main reasons for rape, rather than looking inward, how can one expect to satisfy the chants of justice by castrating or hanging the rapists? The accused are only a small part of the problem and dealing with them in isolation isn’t going to prevent the rapes. India needs, urgently, to review — first and foremost — its understanding and behaviour towards women. Unless or until Indians are ready to change their mindset — which is so pathetically evident in the misogynist lyrics of Bollywood songs and the portrayal of women in mainstream media — they cannot expect to put an end to these crimes against women. Domestic violence, female foeticide, honour killings, etc. are no less heinous crimes than rape, so why should we be outraged just by rapes only?
It is instinctive to demand severe punishment for the rapists. However, when one tries to see the effect that the fulfilment of this demand would have, one comes to terms with the larger picture. If death penalty for rapists is made a law in India, it would have to convict and hang several of its own members of parliament since many have charges of rape pending against them. Furthermore, there would have to be trials of people from India’s armed forces who have charges of rape pending against them. We would have to hang fathers, brothers, grandfathers, uncles, relatives — in short, every person who is convicted of rape and that tally would not be small. Is Indian society so bloodthirsty that it is willing to hang these men but not address the underlying flaws causing such acts?
Castration for rapists is already a law in South Korea and yet, the country is not ranked very high in terms of gender equality. A section of Indian society is rather moderate in demanding the death penalty and says that it should be awarded in the rarest of the rare rape cases. But can one weigh the heinousness of one crime with regard to another on a scale of brutality?
By offering prophylactic solutions like castration and the death penalty, the whole debate is reduced to a rather simplistic story of a villain and a victim. This also means that we, in effect, absolve ourselves of the larger responsibility of creating such a stifling patriarchal society in the first place. If Indians want justice for the 23-year-old dead victim of this gang rape and her many counterparts who are struggling in various other parts of the country for their lives, they will have to start with themselves.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2012.
The arrival of a girl child in most families in India is not marked by distribution of sweets or a chorus of joy. Instead, there are only curses reserved for the child whose only crime is her gender. She is denied an education to pursue any goals and ambitions she may have in life. She is restricted to the four walls of her house for the sake of preserving her virginity which is her only asset in India’s arranged-marriage market. She is often married off to a complete stranger at an age when she should be in school. Right from day one, she is treated as the property of someone or the other and the onus of preserving her ‘value’ is put on her head.
When Indians have such a culture, which blames the consumption of chow mein or greater interaction with the opposite sex or most importantly, the victim herself, as the main reasons for rape, rather than looking inward, how can one expect to satisfy the chants of justice by castrating or hanging the rapists? The accused are only a small part of the problem and dealing with them in isolation isn’t going to prevent the rapes. India needs, urgently, to review — first and foremost — its understanding and behaviour towards women. Unless or until Indians are ready to change their mindset — which is so pathetically evident in the misogynist lyrics of Bollywood songs and the portrayal of women in mainstream media — they cannot expect to put an end to these crimes against women. Domestic violence, female foeticide, honour killings, etc. are no less heinous crimes than rape, so why should we be outraged just by rapes only?
It is instinctive to demand severe punishment for the rapists. However, when one tries to see the effect that the fulfilment of this demand would have, one comes to terms with the larger picture. If death penalty for rapists is made a law in India, it would have to convict and hang several of its own members of parliament since many have charges of rape pending against them. Furthermore, there would have to be trials of people from India’s armed forces who have charges of rape pending against them. We would have to hang fathers, brothers, grandfathers, uncles, relatives — in short, every person who is convicted of rape and that tally would not be small. Is Indian society so bloodthirsty that it is willing to hang these men but not address the underlying flaws causing such acts?
Castration for rapists is already a law in South Korea and yet, the country is not ranked very high in terms of gender equality. A section of Indian society is rather moderate in demanding the death penalty and says that it should be awarded in the rarest of the rare rape cases. But can one weigh the heinousness of one crime with regard to another on a scale of brutality?
By offering prophylactic solutions like castration and the death penalty, the whole debate is reduced to a rather simplistic story of a villain and a victim. This also means that we, in effect, absolve ourselves of the larger responsibility of creating such a stifling patriarchal society in the first place. If Indians want justice for the 23-year-old dead victim of this gang rape and her many counterparts who are struggling in various other parts of the country for their lives, they will have to start with themselves.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2012.