RAPE: A preventive outlook

RAPE, a heinous crime, particularly against women in India is not only a menace to the society but also is a brooding cancer, which if left unchecked could shatter the fundamental values of our society. The recent rape case clearly epitomizes this issue. A young girl was brutally raped and assaulted in a moving bus and then thrown out like a piece of shit. Despite the presence of a male companion the barbaric incident transpired. She was a well educated girl and a budding physiotherapist. She could have grown to become anybody, but all she became was a dead body. By now you would have sensed the anger in my words. I think we all share this anger. But this article is not composed for the sole reason of expressing my anguish or pain. I wish to have a discussion over the possible solutions to this hazardous problem and crimes against women in general. I do this as I am extremely unhappy over the past few debates or the so-called discussions media had conducted. At the same time, I am hopeful seeing the ongoing protests against this incident.
Let me begin by exploring the crime of rape, its aspects as well as its technicalities in the context of Delhi.
I would only discuss the preventive measures here as I am more inclined towards preventing the crime in its first place.
If a woman is surrounded by a group of boys with a carnal will to commit rape, it would be impossible for the woman to avoid it under normal circumstances. All it takes is a woman among some drunk boys in a moving vehicle, for the rape to happen. My point is, execution of rape is very simple and hence the theoretical possibility of the happening of this crime if it could happen would be high. So, it makes sense that it would be very difficult, if not impossible for police or any other special force to predict this crime beforehand. Any organized body would be limited by number. I was reading about some solutions in this regard which proposed to increase police patrolling in remote areas at night. Also, there were propositions to have a regular checking of vehicles at check posts. I endorse these ideas and agree that they would minimize the incidents of rape. However, I am still skeptical if these would bring a drastic reduction in numbers of rape in Delhi. It would be as impossible to stop every vehicle and check it at regular check posts as it would be to patrol on numerous isolated roads in Delhi. How many patrolling officers and that deployed at check posts would be sincere and how many could be corrupt or lazy would be another important consideration in this regard. But I still hope these measures would reduce the crime. However, as I stated the limitations in predicting this crime beforehand, there is a need for some indirect and psychological measures for this problem as well as its repercussions are irreplaceable. Surely, education would be one way and should be done on one hand. There is a huge difference between the crime rates against women in Delhi and Kerela as per the records of national crime records bureau. In my opinion, this is due to the cultural and educational differences between the two places. But the problem with education is that it takes time to seep in and transform a society. We cannot afford to have more rapes till education does its job. Also, usually the rapists are brash rebels who had rejected schooling or other forms of education when they had the chance to do that. Or they belong to the high class society where they got perverted by the spell of money or power. So, education will not be the immediate solution but is definitely a necessary one and should be improved. In my opinion, fear is a faster psychological tool to counter rape. Fear of something bad could happen if rape is committed has to be instilled in every perverted mind. Question is how to instill fear. Should it be done by formulating stricter laws? Should it be by better implementation or execution of laws? Section 376 of IPC states that the punishment for rape should not be less than 7 years of imprisonment and can go up to life imprisonment. While this has not proven an effective deterrent of rape, there are demands for capital punishment. In my opinion, capital punishment could be able to instill fear in the minds of people if it is rightly awarded to the rarest of the rare cases and the recent delhi rape incident is definitely one of them. But to have a law to provide capital punishment for every rape case as is the ongoing demand, could be counter productive as well. As activist Kavita Krishnan rightly pointed out, such a law could encourage rapists to murder their victims after the crime in order to evade a death penalty which would be a given if their crime became known. It could also be understood from the fact that every murderer tries to dispose off the body as a murder opens up a possibility of death penalty in the mind of the perpetrator. A smarter implementation of laws could be a better way to instill fear. A sincerer form of responsibility by police which could involve occasionally lashing out at eve teasers in public or regular sign boards displaying a warning from police could terrify the right group of people. Perhaps
However, I am still not satisfied. There should be solutions at the disposal of victim or to-be-victimized person as well.
There should be a mechanism for the victim to inform somebody in anticipation of a rape. The delhi government recently started a helpline number in light of the recent rape case. It was reported to be dysfunctional later on. There is already a police number 100 in place that seldom works. If there is too much congestion of calls, government could call for volunteers from society itself who could provide their mobile numbers on which the victim could call. They may then inform someone important or the police station in the vicinity of the crime. Operator in charge could then dial back to check if everything is alright to distinguish between accidental calls and the actual ones. In case of too many calls, the calls that may not be received by anybody could be automatically routed to a storage device to record the conversation on the victim's side and then listen to it later on. Victim could be smart enough to provide the location immediately the phone connects.
There could be numerous such possibilities that could make such mechanisms work at the victim's end. It is important to find solutions at the victim's end to provide a fool-proof security to the women.
Public transport vehicles and private buses could be required to be appended with an additional broad window towards the bottom made out of some transparent material which would make everything going inside the vehicle visible to the public eye.
There could also be physical and psychological training for women in schools to learn how should they act in
adverse situations in order to minimize the damage to their bodies.
There could be many "coulds", if their is a will in the government as well the society to act. Situation is dire and the consequences grievous. It is important that we act in a positive manner now or this sore could spread like a cancer causing damages lasting for generations.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- Skartik