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We must have seen many times in Bollyhood movies where a helpless girl is caught by the rowdy mob, Hooligans try to grab the girl, molest the girl and then in the nick of time somebody ( Most of the time ,The Hero ) comes into the picture and rescue the modesty of the girl. We cheer, we clap and we blow the whistle and feel a positive character by supporting the hero for his bravery and rescuing act.
This cliché bollyhood reel scene was real in front of a bar on Guwahati-Shillong Road on the night of 10th July. A girl was molested by around twenty people in a busy area and no one was there to rescue. The girl was trying to fight but she was helpless before the jeering mob. Some were actively participating in molesting the girl; others were playing the part of spectators. Interesting part of this story was, media personnel were too present at the scene but instead of helping the girl, they were capturing the scene. No one came forward to save the modesty of girl, No one even tried to help the girl. Police were informed about the incident and after the information they took 30 minutes to reach at the crime spot. When Director General of Police, Assam asked about the delayed action, His comment was: police is not like an "ATM machine" which can be present at the crime scene the moment one inserts a card in the machine. Such insensitive and condemnable reaction from a senior police officer shows that how police forces take these incidents lightly. Media personnel can be considered lesser villain because at least they captured the incident and brought strong evidence against the culprits. But those who were spectators are as villain as molesters.
We have seen that, in recent past, crime against women increased substantially. According to Nation Crime Records Bureau‘s report, Crime in India – 2011, Chapter five, A total of 2, 28,650 incidents of crime against women were reported in the country during the year 2011 as compared to 2,13,585 incidences in the year 2010 recording an increase of 7.1% during the year 2011. These crimes have continuously increased during 2007 -2011 with 1,85,312 cases in the year 2007, 1,95,856 cases in the year 2008, 2,03,804 cases in the year 2009 and 2,13,585 cases in the year 2010 and 2,28,650 cases in the year 2011. West Bengal with 7.5% share of country’s population has accounted for nearly 12.7% of total crime against women by reporting 29,133 cases. Andhra Pradesh, accounting for nearly 7.0% of the country’s population, has accounted for 12.4% of total crimes against women in the country by reporting 28,246 cases in the year 2011. Incidents of Molestation in the country (42,968 cases in 2011) have increased by 5.8% over the previous year (40,613 cases). Madhya Pradesh has reported the highest incidence (6,665) amounting to 15.5% of total such incidences. Kerala has reported the highest crime rate (11.2) in molestation as compared to the National average of 3.6. The National average of rate of crime against women is 18.9 whereas in Assam, it is 38.9, which is quite high. The rate of crime against women means number of crime against women per one lakh population.
Our India police are completely inadequate, inept, inefficient and insensitive in dealing with crime against women. In many cases, it has been seen that when a victim goes to police station to complain, instead of getting help from the police, she is re-victimised by them. Indian police forces are male dominated where women police are only 2.9 %. (Total police force – 15, 76,697, Women police – 45,886). There are many police station where there are no women police force and male police who are posted there; they lack proper skill to address the problems of victim. Recently, a gender related case had caught the attention of the nation. This was the case of Pinky Pramanik, an athlete from West Bengal who was falsely implicated by her live-in partner. Without ascertaining the gender of Pinky Pramanik, male police came to arrest her and they behaved very rudely and vulgarly during her arrest. The picture of her arrest is given below; please see the hands of the police personal who are left to the athlete.
Need not to say, the above picture shows the inhumane and ill-mannered face of Indian police. Indian police will have to more humane and polite while dealing with crime against women. They will not only have to catch the culprits but also they will have to show empathy with the victims so that Victims can lead the life fear –free and with dignity. Police force will have to improve the gender ratio and they must be given specific training (behavioural reforms and attitudinal changes at individual and institutional basis) to deal with women related crime adroitly.
It has been seen that molestation is never considered as a serious crime. A woman faces molestation / eve teasing at every place, at school/college/ work place, bus/train/ public transport, club/ party and even in home. A girl, right from the beginning is taught to underplay the instances of eve teasing and molestation. Until unless the molestation does not become glaring, we the people try to ignore it. Sometimes, some people have wrong notion that women enjoy eve teasing and mild molestation. The shame and lack of vociferous protest due to fear or other reason encourages the spirits of molesters. It is imperative that women must protest the eve teasing and molestation at first instance. The model example of protest is Rupan Deol Bajaj, who was modestly molested (Patted at her posterior in intoxicated state) by K.P. S.Gill, who was a senior police officer then. She fought a case against him and finally won. Another famous molestation case was Ruchika Garhotra case, in that she was molested by then Inspector general of Police, Haryana, S.P.S.Rathore. She and her family were continuously harassed by the Rathore and police force. It was completely a case of power abuse which resulted in the suicide of Ruchika. Even though she did not live to see the justice but her father continued fighting against him in the court and finally got the delayed justice.
Above examples show that the only way to overcome the trauma of molestation is to fight against it. We must take a vow that we must adopt a zero tolerance against eve teasing, molestation and other crimes against women. We must fight against such evils from heart and soul for a better and gender discrimination free India.
References :-
1. Crime in India, 2011, Chapter 5, Crime against Women (http://ncrb.gov.in/)
2. Indian Police: An Introductory and Statistical Overview (http://bprd.nic.in/writereaddata/linkimages/1645442204-Volume%201.pdf)
3. Photos downloaded from Internet .
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Ramanuj Dubey
