Courts must speed up rape trial cases to deliver justice to women who have become victims of horrid crimes. Even children of the age of four years are not spared. Sometimes, they are raped by their own relatives or step-fathers. Barbaric laws like those of Saudi Arabia and other Arabian Gulf countries should be introduced in India where the rapist is either beheaded or stoned to death. Of all crimes committed against a person, rape is the one that leaves a person feeling the most violated. A rape victim is often left with the feeling that that a part of them has been torn apart. Because the feeling is still with them, the victim may have a sense that the crime is continuously occurring.
The existing laws on rape are weak, which is why we have not been able to curb the numerous cases of sexual assaults on women that are taking place daily. Perhaps the most uncomfortable procedure in the investigation of such cases is the identification parade. In most of these cases, the survivor finds it very difficult to identify the accused after the horrible experience she has faced. The men who commit such gruesome acts are frustrated human beings. They have no religion at all and look upon women as mere sex objects.
Women are not sex objects, nor are they slaves to sex. They are human beings just like any of us. What is wrong with our men today? Why do some of them commit heinous crimes like rape and murder? Are they not born out of a woman? Do they live an uncivilized life in an uncivilized society? How do we stop these crimes that are taking place almost everyday? How many men can truly say that they look at a woman without lust? How many men would raise their voice when they witness an abuse of a girl in their own homes, in trains, buses, workplaces and public places? How many men can utter the following words to a woman whom they encounter in life, be it a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a colleague, a co-traveller, a student, an employee or a housemaid?
“Oh woman, do not be afraid,
You can be of yourself as I am of myself.
I respect you and value you for what you are.
You can wear what you like as I wear what I want.
You can go where you want and when you want, as I go about freely where I want.
You needn’t be afraid of me as I will not harm you.”
Jubel D’Cruz
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
