16th December is a very important date, for a gamut of reasons. And – I hope – from now on, it must be a shamefully important date in recent history of Delhi, at least. It was December the 16th, in the cruel year of 2012, that a girl was raped in a moving public transport in the early hours of late night. And she was, wisely, with a male friend. I mean, how much more circumspective can it be?
Up until very recently, all my female friends thought south Delhi to be the safest part of Delhi, generally. Suffice to say is that the myth has been broken. A carefully cultivated myth it was, nonetheless, by the PCR vans patrolling (by patrolling I mean parked on the red lights of flyovers, over which such things were happening) on the inner and outer ring roads. And a couple of days ago, on Arnab Gowsami’s show, Additional Commissioner of Delhi Police, Lt. Gen. Tajinder Luthra, kept insisting on the fact that in 2005 there were 100 PCR vans, the number stands at over 600 presently, and they’re in the process of taking it up to 1000 and more. Mathematically, the PCR vans have grown up by over 600 percent since 2005. The crime rates should have been reduced proportionately, presuming there is some feeble correlation between the former and the latter. However, not so surprisingly, the growth in crime rate has outpaced the growth of PCR vans! How does one go about in explaining this baffling anomaly? Oh, I know! If you use the words “useless” along with “absolutely”, things start falling into place. This line of argument is entrenched infallibly by Delhi polices’ conduct in general. And let’s not even talk about their mentality and upbringing or societal background. So, in short, it’s time that we stop pretending that we believe in the charade of Delhi Police. We’ve always wanted to, though; told ourselves as well as our near and dear ones repeatedly the same lies, hoping that they might eventually turn out to be true. But mother of all ironies! It hasn’t, so far. And considering the ongoing travesties of law and order, it’ll be hopeless naivety to believe that it will, in some point of time which any of us might be able to see.
We’ve been following their recommendations almost religiously. More, out of the fear of our own safety than the respect for authorities, however. When will we realize that it has never been about the time, place, company or what was she wearing. The reason why we have had no substantial answers so far is because we’ve been asking the wrong questions. The questions should have been directed towards him, and not her. But someone, at some point in time messed it up royally then; and repercussions have been ripe ever since. Many of us must have seen the movie Daamini (this is just one name which pops up in my head right now, there must a score of other such movies) where the female protagonist is subjected to despicably vulgar cross questioning by a very-well-acting Amrish Puri. But nobody thought of cross questioning the accused. How drunk was he? Were his parents or guardians informed of his late night shenanigans? What do his mother, sister and other of his close female relatives have to say about the allegation? And if he was such a macho man, why didn’t he attempt the rape all alone. You see, rape is not about masculinity. It’s about mob mentality. The same mob which nearly raped the girl outside the bar in Assam, but for the presence of camera and other media personnel.
I believe that rapes in Delhi are exponential functions of untapped sexual energy and unsatisfied lust. And the violence is sadomasochistic, which is a corollary of lust. And such things have no distinction of economic class. This is the reason why there are almost no reported crimes of burglary and mobbing of citizens in dark alleys. How many Delhites are actually worried about such things as- a couple of thousands of cash, credit cards, smart phones, watches and jewellery while they are out late in the night? No one is bothered about such things in Delhi anymore, because Delhi has upgraded to a higher class of criminals. All we are worried for is the security of our female friends when we are out. This is so not the case when we are hanging out with all guy friends. There is almost no worry involved then. Why should there be such a difference? Be it 3 AM in the night, while you’re smoking up along with whiskey out on the ring road. Or drinking in your Car. It’s all good. Just don’t get females out. Because then, you’ll be beaten up. Because we’re going to molest them any which way. I think I speak for all the rational males when I say that we can’t be involved in a brawl if there are any number of horny guys with iron rods and guns. We do realize that we’re not living in an out and out commercial movie. In fact, we, as a single entity are utterly helpless and completely benign. That is why, there are only gang rapes in Delhi. The bachelors live in houses or PGs where women are not allowed. Which explains the fetish with moving vehicles. Actually, the fetish is more of a constraint, but we have learned to enjoy it. And the alcohol. Delhi government has made sure that you will have a continual supply of liquor, irrespective of the economic strata of the society to which you belong to and irrespective of whatever time of the night it is. The Delhi police sure do collude in this. You see, the government is working. Not working in the right direction, but never mind that. Work is all that matters. Hence, Gang rapists under heavy influence of alcohol.
The solution is not death penalty or castration. There is a stark distinction between us and them, and it must be kept in place very firmly. Because what will violence begetting another form violence will teach our future generations? And making the litigation swift will be a short term solution; not that it is not needed. The long term solution is changing what our society believes in, their mentality and their mind set. But that will take at least a generation or two. Apparently, we can’t wait for that long. What can be immediately done is that we flood the streets of Delhi with women all night. We stop telling them by when they should be at home. We stop telling them what they must and must not wear. We start accepting the fact that they might smoke and drink with you, but surprisingly, won’t sleep with you. It should be a normal sight to see a woman alone at 3 AM in the night. Then fascination with the women will be a little subdued then. What really needs to be done is that make it totally normal for women to step out at any time of day, in whatever she feels is comfortable, with whoever she wants to, and whatever she wants to.
Delhi police and youth are surely not taught any of this in their trainings and schools and colleges. But the institutions do teach them about egalitarian society, the fundamental rights; including the right to live with dignity. Don’t they have this much of brain to see that this is exactly what it is, and nothing more. There is no regressive mindset at play here. It’s plain simple matter of convenience. Tomorrow, if a woman sees a man reliving himself shamelessly in front of her, and if she kicks it really hard, will the police say that he was asking for it? The day our authorities answer that in affirmative, is the day we should be striving towards.
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Cellar Door 