Rape: How many more before criminals are punished?

Right in the heart of the Mumbai, a woman was gang-raped by five men and her male friend was made to watch.

The victim, an intern photojournalist with a features magazine, was on an assignment in a deserted Shakti mill in the Mahalaxmi area with her male colleague at 6 pm when the five men overpowered them.

It is one of the many incidences rocking India every other day. After the brutal case of Delhi, the incidences have not stopped. In fact, more number of cases has come into light. There were cases of girls as small as 3 years old who had been brutalised and raped. One girl in Bandra was attacked with acid. A foreign national was attacked in Mumbai local train.

Where are we going with all these incidences?

How and why these incidences take place?

Although the Mumbai Police claims to have cracked the case with the identification and nabbing of two criminals and sketches of all the five accused ready, the question is why this incident happened in the first place? Why there was no security in the area? Why government fails to provide, time and again, proper security to the women?

Moreover, people start finding fault with the victim only. And jarring their freedom seems a better option to the society.

The problem is not with the women. What provocation can a small child of three provide to the assaulters? The women, in this particular case, was at the crime scene for an assignment in the evening at 6 pm. She was not wearing any provocative attire. She was at the spot with a male colleague for her safety.

The delay in punishing the culprits and admittance of FIRs in many cases till date has made public lose its faith in the police and the lawmakers. According to the national statistics, only 33 percent of the reported incidences are converted into FIRs.

Rather than playing a blame game, government and the administration needs to take the responsibility and admit their inability to protect women’s freedom. The government needs to make stringent laws and reform the police so that these incidences do not take place.
The government needs to speed up the process of trial so that the guilty are punished and the faith in the public is restored.

For how long can we be mute spectators to the crime against women?