There doesn’t go a single day in India when the newspaper headlines don’t scream of ‘Molestation and rape of a girl’. Not to mention that the humongous increase in such damages to the country are spoken about enough. Oh, did I just say “damages to the country”? My apologies, because our country and justice system don’t have any sympathy towards the victim but find it necessary to critically analyse her. Common story? Certainly.
That’s not some sort of a new phenomenon, but something that we females have had to deal with ever since we hit adolescence and in some cases even earlier, and so it’s something that we have gotten used to given the circumstances.
The recent news of a girl being molested in Guwahati by a mob of 20 men was enough to pierce one’s heart. But was it the only thing that pierced the heart?
The insensitive statements of officials haling the incident as a terrible outcome of westernised trends of clubbing, and the clothing of the girl didn’t go unnoticed as well. Following it was a similar incident in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district. Won’t this be hailed as a terrible outcome of the highly patriarchal society of ours? Why would it when the Trinamool MP justifies eve teasing.
YES, you read that right.
“Eve teasing is a very old concept. The reason behind its increase is short dresses worn by women. This in turn instigates men,” was what the Trinamool Congress MP, Chiranjit Chakroborty had to say..
So, mister politician and all you people who have this notion etched in your mind, do you mean to say that men are like wandering dogs? One look at a girl in a short dress and they start wagging their tongues.
They are probably watchdogs too. So why count on parents when certain men unapologetically undertake the task of moralising the opposite sex? The 16 year old girl in Guwahati had a similar fate when she was groped, raped and her clothes were stripped off in full public view.
Another case was of a 37-year-old woman, a mother of two, who became a victim of not only a legally punishable but also morally downright disgusting crime in Kolkata.
It must have taken undying courage for her to lodge a complaint when the nation at large was defaming her.
“[S[he is just another h00ker or pervert. why else will a 37-yr-old mother of 2 decide to sip beer alone in deserted road @1pm night and than decide to befriend guys half her age (20 yrs) n go with them in a car?”, was what a commentator from the TOI had to say about the incident.
What I see as an upcoming trend is blaming the woman for everything, either good or bad. As they say, if you are proud enough to witness victory then you should be gracious enough to accept the loss too. But this way?
We protest for equal rights, equal opportunities and equal recognition. While India is celebrating woman power in all fields from the corporate world to sports, it is forgetting the most fundamental right of a woman, dignity.
That right exists but isn't really provided to us.
Ironically the people who had framed this right are the same people who haven't let go of a single chance to blame women if anything atrocious happens to them.
If clubbing instigated molestation then why is a 17-year-old girl walking home from school abducted and molested ruthlessly in the Pira Garhi area of North West Delhi in an estranged car for 2 hours?
If clothes are the ingredients to such a wretched dish then why was a 40-year-old, saree clad woman being molested?
If roaming around at night was an implicit signal of asking for it then why was a woman, correct that, a pregnant woman pulled into a car and molested in Goregaon in Mumbai, in broad daylight?
If your behaviour decided your fate of being molested then why was a 7-year-old girl raped and murdered in Nashik? Did her innocent smile pave way for it?
Its human nature to blame another person for one's faults, but what I see is a practice, a malpractice. Ancient malpractices against women like polygamy and Sati maybe non-existent now but this malpractice will never die, especially with the kind of perceptions that people have gotten used to.
Women, make note, for each and every case of misbehaviour, rape, molestation or eve teasing, you will be held responsible.
So instead of wearing skinny jeans, wear a loose salwar and if you become a target even then, well you could expect some sympathies from the public if not full-fledged support.
That's what Indian women have been taught for time immemorial.
Parents tell their daughters to dress, behave and talk in a certain way and ask their sons to keep a check on that.
Lessons on respecting a girl's dignity, punching the roadside Romeos instead of becoming one of them, and deploying your 'guy gang' to kick the asses of a 20 men mob molesting a girl instead of recording it and having a laugh later, exist only in fairytales.
What prevails is the reality, the crude reality, that women seek invitations in this um... kind world?!
Shruti Maheshwari
Image Source [http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/women-violence.jpg]
