Is it only me or is everyone feeling this way? I am feeling suffocated with the spate of rapes being reported everyday in the newspapers and TV channels. Has there been a sudden spurt in rapes or is it that there is an increase in the reporting of the crime?
Either way, the media is covering only the sensational part, i.e the reporting of the crime only and not following them up to their logical conclusion. The media may argue that their duty is only to report the news!! "Point taken" on that but if your duty is to only report the news - then please keep doing it till the end i.e if you report a rape then follow up the news till the time the perpetrators of the crime are punished/or atleast booked by police. Dont just report a sensational rape one day and move onto another sensational rape/or other story the next day, leaving us worried about what happpened to the earlier victim.
Detterence is much better than securing timely punishment.
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If we can successfully deter an individual from committing a crime it is far better than being able to secure timely punishment for the perpetrator of the crime. A detailed coverage of the troubles and stigma the families of the perpetrators of rape offence face may be a first step in that direction. The humiliation, pain and angst of the perpetrator in custody and his family (after the crime was committed) may be covered in great detail in the media to instill a sense of fear in the hearts of others!!! There should also be periodic coverage of how these rapists are languishing in jails, their living conditions and the life of their families (while these guys are in jails). It is however accepted that such tactics may not be suitable for 'hard core rapists' but they will atleast tackle the ordinary rapists (frankly there is nothing ordinary about a rapist but the word is used only to distinguish between the hard core ones and the others) and may reduce the incidence of the crime.
Death punishment for rapists?
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When we read the newspapers of two or three year old children being raped and killed - then one cannot but support death penalty for rapists. But it has another larger issue that if such a law is implemented, the rapists may kill the victim to avoid being identified and thereby the death sentence. The 'death sentence' would be enough for the rapist to justify the killing to his own self. Ordinarily not many rapists kill a victim and leave her by the wayside - therefore it is better that the 'death sentence' law may not be taken up to ensure safety of the life of the victim. However, the courts may as hitherto reserve the right to award death sentence in the 'rarest of rare cases'.
Community guards?
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Are they the order of the day? When all else fails can the citizens fend for themselves?. How about formation of community volunteers in each area of every city to prevent any untoward situation? Look at it this way - how long can u wait for someone to come and make a difference in your area/gully/locality etc? Can we devote some time towards making our own neighbourhood safer?
This is one 'moral policing' which would be welcome by all sections of the society if any organisation also takes up!!! any takers?!! shiv sena/abvp/rss/akali dal/mim/islamic organisations/biblical societies etc. whoever takes up (I hope they do), would surely win the hearts of both the masses n classes.
(A good initiative, as we understand was undertaken by Mr. purnachandra rao, city police commissioner of visakhapatnam in andhra pradesh, who initiated the community guards programme for the first time in the country. Though the norms slightly vary from what is elucidated here, the underlying principle remains the same i.e to aid the police forces in maintaining law and order).
(A good initiative, as we understand was undertaken by Mr. purnachandra rao, city police commissioner of visakhapatnam in andhra pradesh, who initiated the community guards programme for the first time in the country. Though the norms slightly vary from what is elucidated here, the underlying principle remains the same i.e to aid the police forces in maintaining law and order).
While we wait for that someone, there would be no need to spend hours and days in protest, mourning a victim's tragedy, if we all can effectively make our neighbourhoods safe for women and children. This obviously requires a lot of coordination between the residential associations in each locality and in addition to coordination effort, it requires right thinking men to devote time to this particular task. Time - as we all understand is the most precious commodity in today's world but we must somehow extract that 'Time' from our busy schedules for this particular task - to make our neighbourhood a safer place for our mothers, sisters and daughters!!!
Its really time for that great saying of Swami Vivekananda-
'Arise, Awake and rest not till the Goal is achieved'
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