MUMBAI GANGRAPE - Who is accountable?

Aamchi Mumbai – the city of dreams, the maximum city and the city that never sleeps; there are many more names to describe this city which certainly makes it to my list of favourite places. Having grown up in Pune, another metropolis some distance away from Mumbai, I am very well versed with the robust and happening lifestyle both these places have to offer and not to mention, the safe environment for women and young girls.

But the gangrape of a 22 year old photojournalist last Thursday has raised some very serious questions at the nature of safety of women in the city that is supposedly considered the most secure workplace for them.

So here’s what really happened – A young photojournalist along with her friend was out at work, shooting at the Shakti mills compound in South Mumbai when 5 drunkards committed this horrendous crime with her. Shakti mills, an old dilapidated and abandoned structure reportedly serves as a safe haven for drug addicts, alcohol addicts and other such anti social elements.

 The police was pretty much in the know of this locality and the purpose that it served but didn’t bother to intervene. And why should they? What would it avail them to do such a thing? Nothing! After all, who’d sit at the thana and do all the moolah gathering for registration of the complaints and F.I.Rs? What about the shaam ki do peg? They have other such important duties to commit to, you see. Yet I feel that we as people, insensitive to their needs and commitments do hold some right to dadagiri, if not much and can nag them to get them to solve some of our problems and hassles. But as I mentioned above, they always have too much on their plates to already get on with. Busy bees! So we’re left to fend for ourselves. Some of them though, don’t have as many commitments and believe me if you ever happen to run into one of these during times of crisis- Lucky ass!!! You’d have struck gold!!!             

Jokes apart, I’m one girl who has always felt very strongly about the state of women in our country. The sheer insensitivity, brazenness and callousness with which police officials deal with the investigations involving cases of rape and sexual assault infuriate me to the hilt. What could be more tormenting for a girl, just having suffered such a heinous attack, than having the police grill her for hours about the hellish incident and have every detail elaborately divulged? And no, it doesn’t stop here. In an attempt to gloss over and cover up their inefficiency, the police, in a manner most audacious, point out the kind of clothes the girl was wearing, the time at which she was out and the people who were with her and offer it as a justification for the incident. Isn’t it just ridiculous that in a country that is said to be the world’s biggest democracy, a girl doesn’t have the freedom to live her life on her own terms?

The December 16th gangrape of a 23 year old paramedic in Delhi last year sparked off nationwide protests with people taking to the streets in every nook and corner of India and continuing to do so even months after the incident was over. Promises were made, laws were amended but has something really changed on ground? NO! NOT AT ALL! A fast track court was inaugurated for the trial of this case but nine months on, we’re still waiting for the judgement to be delivered. Here I’d like to quote a tweet that I read just day before yesterday – “Fast track courts in India are as fast as Manmohan Singh’s speeches.” They indeed are. Infact the hounorable Prime Minister’s pace of speech is in many cases, I reckon faster than that of the fast track courts.

So really, what were the lessons that the government learnt after the December 16^th incident? What have they really done to ensure that the fate that brave, young girl suffered is not lived by any other? False hopes and fake promises were all they had to offer which got completely exposed with this recent incident in Mumbai.

Talking of politics, how can we afford to miss out on the many gits sitting in the parliament and various state assemblies all across India? What exactly to expect when we have rapists sitting in chairs of power at the highest rungs in Indian politics? Here’s what these various gits had to offer in the aftermath of the December 16^th incident:

Git from Congress: “I think it’s a very unfortunate incident and I strongly condemn it. However I think it’s too early to jump at conclusions. We’re looking into the matter as of now.”

Respected git and the rest of the Congress party, if at all you manage to form the government next year also, please make sure that our pleas to elect a Prime Minister who is NOT deaf and dumb don’t go unheeded.  

Git from BJP: It’s a shocking incident and is very upsetting. The Congress party has some really serious questions to answer.

And what about the ministers of your own party who were caught watching porn videos in the Karnataka assembly while the session was underway? What about another git of your very party who told women to stay within their limits and bounds of the household and that if they didn’t, they’d meet the same fate as Sita? All of that was perfectly alright, eh?

Git from SP: We demand immediate resignation of the Prime Minister. They’re inefficiency to handle such cases has been totally exposed.

Respected Akhileshji (in response to what your party git said), what about your state having the maximum no. of MPs and MLAs with rape charges against them? What about UP having the fastest growing graph of cases of sexual assault? 

These are just few of the many crackheads who’ve given out absolutely bizarre statements on sexual assault. Some said that films were a reason for growing cases of sexual assault while others said women had to start dressing up decently to put an end to such incidents. It’s them who’ve to be ousted first. Only then can we hope of having a better future for the women of our country.

When it comes to fixing accountability, the inefficiency of the police and politicians alone can’t be blamed. It’s the young men-to-be of the country who have to be sensitized about these issues first. It’s them who have to recognize and comprehend the need to give due to respect to women and treat them as equals and all of this begins at home. Its only when the parents inculcate in their sons the values and principles and make them breed respect for girls can some real change be brought about.

So at the end of it I’d like to conclude that Indian polity, police inefficiency, patriarchal mentality and laws that aren’t stringent enough or rather the weak implementations are all equally to blame for the present state of women in our country. Only can mending all these defects bring about some real change.