RAPE — loss of “Honor”?. India, a land of many languages…
Tags: Rape, Culture, Women, Womens Rights, India

India, a land of many languages, cultures, and religions is also the country that is most dangerous for women https://poll2018.trust.org/.

According to the 2019 annual report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 32033 rape cases were registered across the country, or an average of 88 cases daily.

According to India’s National Family Health Survey, 80% of women who have experienced sexual violence never tell anyone about it. Why is there hesitation in reporting sexual offenses when any other offenses, don’t face the same hesitation?

In all crimes, the perpetrator is put to shame and punishment, but in a sexual offense, the victim faces shame and punishment. This article will be revolving around the reason why it is so.

Gods are not crazy, we are:

India, a country that boasts about worshiping women as gods is also the most dangerous for women in the world. I was constantly hit by this paradox. How is it that a country that treats its women as gods is the unsafest place on earth for women? After a long battle inside my head, I arrived at something which dumbstruck me.

The very reason women are treated as gods is the very same reason they are facing such hardships. I am sure this would instigate anger in many.

Gods in India are meant to be pristine. Only the priests are supposed to enter Garba Griha and touch the idol and anyone else enter and touches the idol, the idol loses its worth of your worship. It is exactly what women go through in the country. Women are expected to be pristine throughout their life. They are expected to save it for their husband. If lost, they lose their honor and their family’s honor.

Virginity:

From the day a girl attains puberty till her menopause she is constantly reminded about a myth, Virginity. The reminder comes in various forms and various sources. Family, school, relatives, movies, TV, and many more.

Virginity is seen as a minimum qualification for marriage. They are expected to be a virgin before marriage and those who are not are shamed and discriminated against. Virginity is a visa for every woman to live in this society without which, her visa will be rejected and deported to the land of shame.

The Attached Family:

In the case when the god’s idol is assumed to have lost the worth of worship, all the other idols in the temple lose their worth of worship. The entire temple is closed. Similarly, apart from the victim being shamed, the entire family is also shamed. If the victim has a brother or sister, their marriage chances get gloomy.

Despite the cons:

Despite these cons, very few women muster the courage beyond all this struggle to come forward and complain. When she does so, society questions her character, integrity, and social nature and she is made to justify herself and her actions. Even if a prostitute is sexually offended, it is a crime. The nature of her job does not give anyone the freedom to violate her. The victim is humiliated so much that it intimidates the next woman who was to raise her voice. All the mustered courage is ripped apart.

I am not saying we should blindly believe the women’s complaint and shame the accused. Even if we can’t empathize with the victim they should be treated with compassion.

Conclusion:

We as a society have put so many obstacles before a woman and we whine every time we see a sexual offense in news. The most disturbing fact is that our four pillars(Administrative, elected, judiciary, and media) have failed them. They are the ones to whom the victim reaches out for help and justice. Be it the police, the judiciary, and the media, they all approach the offense as a loss of honor for the victim and the family rather than a violation against her. This makes the women fall into a vicious cycle where they are intimidated to report which empowers the perpetrators and continue to do the same without fear or guilt.

I believe this will change once we stop seeing women as a god or we change our opinion about gods. Until either of these changes happens, an increase in rapes will continue and it will go unreported.

Rape is not a loss of “Honor” but a violation of consent.