Everyone wants the perpetrators to meet hurried medieval executions
to
satisfy a meaningless closure that
does the least in proving to be a deterrent.
The public sentiment between such sexual offences
is the resignation that
things will never change.
The aftermath of the sexual violence witnessed in Kolkata and Thane
are not the
first to prompt pubic outrage. The Justice Varma Commission Report was the result
of a similar outcry following the gang rape and murder of
Jyoti Singh, a 22-year-old
physiotherapy intern, in Delhi on December 16, 2012. In
29 days a comprehensive
630-page report was submitted to propose amendments to the criminal laws in
India. Consequently, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 popularly referred to
as the Nirbhaya Act drew criticism of insufficiently adopting recommendations of
the Justice Verma Commission Report. The report that was completed in good
speed, was unfortunately hurried in parliament and in no time public memory
rushed on to other things.
A year later two gang rapes took place in Mumbai at the abandoned Shakti Mills. An
18-year-old girl was gang raped on July 31, 2013 and
a 22-year-old photojournalist
intern was gang raped while her male colleague was restrained
by the offenders.
She was threatened with making
photos and videos of her
rape going public if
she
dared complain to the
police. The accused were
convicted of rape, three
of
them were awarded
death penalty. In 2015,
two teenagers were gang
raped and
murdered in
Budaun district of Uttar
Pradesh, the two were
found hanging from
a tree the following day.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a closure report
stating there was no evidence of gang rape, but in 2015 the POSCO court rejected
the CBI’s report. On June 4, 2017 a 17-year- old girl was gang raped and murdered; a
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA was convicted of rape and also the murder of the
victim’s father in judicial custody. On November 27, 2019 there was another gang
rape and murder of a 26-year-old veterinary doctor, whose body was then crudely
burnt. The accused were arrested and were killed by the police in an encounter on
December
6, 2019; this sudden news drew popular praise from the public across
the country. There were literal celebrations held at the killing of the accused saying
they deserved to die like that. On September 14, 2020 a 19-year- old girl from
Hathras, Uttar Pradesh was gang raped and succumbed to her injuries.
Her corpse
was then unceremoniously cremated in secret by the police in the early hours
September 29, 2020; the same day another 22-year-old girl from Balrampur, Uttar
Pradesh was gangraped, her legs broken and sent home in an autorickshaw, she
succumbed too. This year on August 9 a trainee doctor was raped and murdered in
the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata; four days later in Badlapur,
Thane, it was reported that two four-year-old girls were sexually assaulted by a
male attendant in the school wash room. In Kerala, the Justice Hema Committee
Report that was submitted in 2019 was made public on August 19 this year.
Following the charges of abduction and sexual assault filed by film actor Bhavana
against Dileep, a film actor and producer—the Justice Hema Committee was
constituted. Dileep was arrested for a while and now the case is put on hold. There
are many other cases of rape that have not been mentioned here.
The Justice Verma Commission and the Justice Hema Committee were two concrete
outcomes of public outcry. Both outcomes came in to honour timing, they happened
fast but did everything possible not to hurry the process. Although these processes
are not proportionately met with the genuineness of public memory, knowledge and
impulse, it still wields
the historic power to shape the course of building a safe and
accountable criminal justice system. In the heart of the larger public outcry,
meaningful protests
are outweighed by relentless rhetoric
of answering violence
with violence. Everyone wants those perpetrators to meet hurried medieval
executions to satisfy a meaningless closure that does the least in proving to be a
deterrent. Public sentiment between such sexual offences evolves into a collective
resignation that things will never change and therefore, mind one’s own business .
During this time, most girls and women are educated to carry pepper sprays, return
home early or just remain homebound and stay away from a potential situation of
sexual offence (whenever or where ever it may strike).
The men, well nobody
really knows what they are given to understand, but most of them are easily
offended by women (whom they feel) threaten their general knowledge of violence
against women. So now, in addition to women trying to avoid sexual assault, also
need to massage the threatened consciousness of these men by saying ‘not all men’.
The truth of the matter is that this battle has been consistently addressed by
feminist movements in our country for decades. They look beyond public rhetoric to
strengthen the criminal justice system in addressing sexual offences that do not
attract the blessings of public outrage. They identify the pragmatic role of a
sustained response as opposed to the reactionary thrust of the hurried pleasures of
a banana republic.acts of violence that lead up to the impunity of sexual offenders.
The fight against sexual assault cannot be seen in isolation. There are several other
acts of violence that lead up to the impunity of sexual offenders.
When their impunity
is not developed from hurried reactions, how much more must we saddle
the responses born out of meaningful protests to bring justice to them. While we
cannot avoid public outrage fuelled by despair and helplessness, it is important to
preserve the sanctity of empathetic protests. I do not know if there are measures for
these things that I have mentioned, but I do believe
that sustaining the potency of a
response can serve as a much needed compass in observing public outrage.
May we harness the power of public outrage in an amnesia driven society that is
obsessed with fanatic reactions, when it needs more of a committed response to be
healed.
