To summarise the event, 23 year old 'Damini' (her real name has been afforded anonymity by the ratings hungry media surprisingly) and a male friend were watching a movie in Delhi, the Indian capital.
After the movie, they boarded a private bus for their journey home. The bus was not supposed to be in operation but the bus began its fateful course on the roads of the capital. The windows had been covered with black film to avert any gazing eyes from becoming aware of the despicable acts taking place within. Five males had been on board the bus and they began to act in an abhorrent manner towards the young woman. Her male friend tried to intervene but he was beaten by the gang and incapacitated from interfering. The group of criminals proceeded to systematically gang-rape the helpless woman, whilst the driver of the bus drove along some of the busiest roads of South Delhi, with the cabin lights switched off. Having tortured this woman for an extended period of time, they exemplified their vicious instincts by inserting a steel rod in the woman’s private area. Having sated this animalistic drive, they threw the young woman and her friend out on the street, to be discovered by passers-by some time later. The young woman could not recover from the damage to her organs and perished in a hospital in Singapore on 29th of December. This has sparked mass protests and vigils throughout India, where it has become the number one issue in the current national discourse.
Was this deeply regrettable incident the conduct of a few sick people or is there a deeper issue at the heart of such criminal behaviour? Is it an inherent problem of Indian social attitudes? Do the Indians not respect or value women sufficiently, a country where female foeticide is commonplace? Does this require a thorough assessment of something more foundational, something beyond the Indian society?
Let us level the playing field a little, throwing light upon the global society as a whole, when it comes to levels of rape. From the troubled abyss of South Africa to the relatively excellent record of Azerbaijan and Albania, rape is an endemic disease. The United Kingdom has a shameful record in this regard, possessing a statistic of 28.8 rapes per 100,000 of the populace. This represented close to 60,000 rape and sexual assault cases according to the latest available statistics. In a nation with a theoretically well-established legal, policing and judicial system, that is not a metric to be proud of.
The picture is even more bleak when assessing the so-called 'leaders of the free world', the USA. In this beacon of 'democracy' and 'rule of law', one in four young college women reported surviving rape or attempted rape in their short lives. I suspect this figure to be even more acute amongst those who do not make it to college, suffering considerably worse social conditions in general. According to a conservative reading in the "Prevalence, incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women" report conducted by the US Department of Justice, one in six women and one in 33 men had experienced the horrors of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetimes. The statistic means a woman is raped somewhere in the USA every 2 minutes. The problem is amplified if including instances of domestic violence against women in the United States, where one in three women reported being assaulted by their partners at some stage in their relationship.
Is this the record of a morally cohesive and harmonious society? Can any country really pontificate about the virtues of their system, such core deficiencies? This should induce deep thought and soul searching to establish the real causes which make such treatment of women acceptable, for so many perpetrators of such atrocities.
The classic argument presented by many is that it is partially the fault of the victims. This explanation seeks to posit that women’s attitudes and attire can be invitational towards those possessing such moral-less views of the female population. Whilst many may make positive presentations for the pseudo-evidence that supports this viewpoint, the problem is deeper still. It is not the fault of the woman if she is raped and this is true in almost all instances of rape. The real problems lie with the attitudes of society with regards women, not women exclusively.
There is a classic line used in advertising, namely 'sex sells'. This mantra reinforces the despicable way in which all societies have utilised women as commodities, to further their commercial aims. Such abhorrence is rooted in societal behaviour, where women are urged to increase their self-worth by following a particular image or role-model, to draw appeal from the opposite sex. A woman’s worth is not inherent in her visual aesthetic, nor in the scarcity of clothing she may adopt in an attempt to shatter the proverbial 'glass ceiling'. A woman, like any man, is an embodiment of her intellect, self-respect and morality which combine to produce her persona. This persona can not be driven, intentionally or subconsciously, to please or oppose the male population. A young girl cannot be expected to fulfil the objectives of patriarchal societies, present in virtually every nation across the globe.
This may partially be blamed upon the diverse array of ruling systems, dominated by men. How can man be expected to fully appreciate the perfect needs of every woman and thereby legislate for them, and vice versa. It is another anomaly of democratic thought. Its shortcomings are evident in one group legislating on behalf of the population, always possessing inherent bias in their understanding and opinions.
Society needs a radical review of how laws and attitudes are formulated, to the detriment of those who are excluded from such processes. Why the life of such rapists (or pedophiles and murderers for that matter) is sanctified in the 'civilised' world in beyond comprehension. The value of women is embodied in the saying of the Prophet Muhammad(saw), who stated "The most perfect of the believers in faith are the best of them in morals. And the best among them are those who are best to their wives."
By Adnan Khan
[Adnan Khan's Blog]
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