So much has been written and said about the brutal assault
and rape of a young 23-year-old medical student Nirbhaya by six men. It is not
that this incident is something new to our society. What is new is the
solidarity and united voice “Enough is enough, it is time to awake.” Every rape
and killing of women has always been a yet reminder of another brutal attack to
women. How far can this go? Instead of trying to remember other such horrible
instances of the past, let’s straight get into why the rapists are so
emboldened to commit such crime over again and again, and how to control such
menace from the society. First, let’s find out what is going in the mind of
these rapists. Why are they so emboldened to commit such heinous crime? Although
today girls perform better than boys in education and many fields, their
mobility and socio-economic growth have been hampered by these treats and
crimes against them. Now let’s us focus on two institutions that need immediate
reforms. First and foremost, we need to have judicial and police reforms.
Judicial Reforms: Slow,
low conviction rate, and lighter sentence embolden these criminals. It takes
years to convict a rapist. Many rapists are moving freely in the street,
uncaring of their conviction thinking there are hundreds of rape cases pending
before them. Speedy, impartial, and efficient justice delivery is the need of
the time. It is widely known that there are large vacancies of judges in both
lower and high courts. Our judges are overstretched due to this. The lack of
the number of judges and poor infrastructure such as the lack of
computerization make the delivery of justice a snail pace. Until we have enough
number of judges, the need of the time is computerization of our courts to achieve
quick case disposal. We should seize the opportunities of information
technology, such as video conferencing, for faster delivery of case. Considering
the increasing number of criminal activities against women, the need of the
time is to set up fast-track courts especially to address crimes against women.
No any case should lay idle on the file for more than a month.
Police Reforms:
Retired IPS officer and social activist Kiran Bedi had rightly stated that the
unfortunate gangrape of Nirbhaya was an avoidable one if the basic law and
order measures were implemented by the police. She went on to say that the
worst is that the police escaped unpunished despite failing to do their duties,
because their officers themselves either don’t know whats and whys of policing
and governance or misplaced their priorities. What is more appalling is the
victim’s male friend revelation that the police wasted more than half an hour
over jurisdiction argument. Had the victim been rushed to a nearby hospital,
she could have been survived. Before talking further of police reforms, we are
better not to forget that just like judges, there are enormous vacancies of
police personnel too. Our officers are overstretched. These unfilled posts and
VIP security duties make an appalling ratio of 1 policeman for ordinary 760
ordinary citizens and 3 policemen for 1 VIP. VIP security service is very often the excuse
for the police why they can’t provide enough security to stop such crimes
against women. Since police reforms are huge and the goals can’t be achieved
very soon, let’s us divide our priority into short- and long-term goals.
Short-term goals: Increase the number of women police officers
in every police station, register all FIRs to cases against women and prosecute
those who don’t do this, install GPRS to all public vehicles and cabs, install
CCTVs to public places and roads, issue non-temparable ID to auto and taxi
drivers, identify vulnerable areas and conduct random checks on vehicles, and tinted
glass should be removed from the vehicles everywhere irrespective of cities and
other areas. And most importantly, to augment our meager police personnel we
need to use the community resources. Create village defense forces, and utilize
NCC cadets, citizen wardens, and special police officers. With proper training,
discipline, and guidance, they can deter the incidence of crimes beyond
imagination. Cooperation between police force and community will build up
better relationship between the two, but they should be under constant review.
Long-term goals: Here come accountability and transparency in
the functioning of police officers. Our police functioning must be insulated
from the interference of politics in the recruitment, posting, transfer,
arrest, and prosecutions. Finally, the 2006 Supreme Court-mandated police
reforms --- in the recruitment of the police chiefs, DGPs, IGPs, senior SPs ---
must be implemented.
Besides all the measures and reforms, it is education that
can make our society a peaceful and crime-free one. It needs discipline and
respect to women to prevent crimes against women. And we get discipline from
education. But home is considered children’s first school and parents their
first teachers. Hence good parenting and good school education play the most
important roles of all. Shutting down metro stations, cordon off streets, and spraying
water canons are not the answer. When the whole nation stand up in anger and
shout in a common voice, can the government dare to waste more time instead of
having an emergency joint sitting and pass a stringent law against rape and
crime against women. Don’t politicize
safety of women. Set aside political interests. It is the time to shun off
these blame game and selfish political interests.
A tip to Congress!!! The government, which has already long
suffered from trust deficit and corruption, must not miss this opportunity to rebuild
the lost trust. With the election just one year away, seize this opportunity.
Pass a strong rape law and immediately punish the convicts with maximum
punishment. This will again boost confidence to people that the government does
really care for the people. Don’t forget the real power lies at the hand of the
people. The government is formed by the representatives of the people. The
people can bring the fall of the government anytime at will. When the whole
nation awakes in anger against you, the only thing the government should do is
listen to them carefully and do what they want.
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