The recent case of molestation that happened in a park in Sector 41 is something shocking and scary. The parks in the sector are poorly lit and have easy access from the road. There has been a demand from the residents, and rightly so, to increase vigilance. The silver lining is the fact that the residents have come out in huge numbers to show their disgust and the RWA and the police have become a little cautious. But the question arises why does our society still need a check or vigilance? When will the women continue to feel unsafe?
The creepy and indecent acts of some bike-borne men, calling out names, eve-teasing around schools and some even crossing all limits of obscenity and flashing their private parts to girls have been reported not just from sector 41 but from some other sectors too. While the perpetrators of such offences must be brought to book, it is also necessary to look into the genesis of this ugly problem that we have been facing for time immemorial but increasing by the day.
In India, eliminating, the menace of sexual harassment and other crimes against women would be a farfetched idea due to several reasons. One, in poor and even in some middle-class families, much less impetus is given to the health and education of a girl child and thus begins the conditioning of a girl’s mind to accept discrimination as a usual course that will entail throughout her life. Two, the lax attitude of law enforcement agencies in cases of crime against women and the long-drawn judicial processes deter women from pressing the charges. Indifference on the part of society towards the victim of a sexual offence demoralizes the victim, the social stigma attached to a rape survivor discourages many of them to come open and initiate or follow the litigation process and at the same time it encourages the perpetrator of the crime to move on happily in life.
Hope lies in the fact that more and more Indian women are slowly but steadily becoming more assertive about the demands of their rights…and rightfully so. Hope also lies in the fact she is becoming more and more participative and contributive to our socio-economic system. The need of the hour is for this trend to trickle down to the woman at the lowest ebb of society, passing through all the classes.
Things can improve faster for the Indian woman if we as a society do not remain a mute spectator to the positive change our women desperately seek for themselves. Each family needs to tell its son that his power of masculinity lies in respecting and if the situation demands, in protecting the dignity of someone’s mother or a daughter and not in taking it away.
