Over the years rapes in India have remain a major concern for the people at the personal and social level and for the governments of the country both at federal and the state levels. There are many causes of the increased rate of rapes in the country. But, a section of the people is there who consider only one cause behind the rapes, in increased rate of rapes. The cause is the change living standards and dress codes of women, and girls. This might be a limited cause but it surely is far away from being the sole cause of this menace and this disgrace for the nation. Had that been the case no women, or girl, with proper dress would ever have been raped.
Those people, who say that girls nowadays wear indecent clothes and are raped as a result, are throwing the actual causes to the dust. And this neglect of the actual causes has kept the rate of rapes increasing alongwith their brutality. This, in fact, is part of a sick though process, and sick mentality, where people try to keep the women folk always subdued and in a subservient position. The raising of questions about the life style of women is part of this tirade against women, their rights and dignity.
The real causes are the many viz the lack parental and societal controls both on boys and girls, consumption of liquor, easily availability and excess to porn sites on the internet, faults in the justice delivery and a near absolute level of impunity of the culprits, especially the ones holding the higher posts and positions in various political groupings and even governmental organization who indulge in this gruesome crime. Dress code could be taken care of if the other causes are eliminated from the picture.
There is no doubt that about the fact that women, and even men, should wear decent clothes. The demand of morality, and moral rules, is that. I am sure that majority of women would not refuse this and majority of them wear decently but blaming clothes for the increased rate of this crime by some mentally degraded people is no solution to the problem. The real solution lies to identifying all the causes and problem areas, planning proper interventions and corrective measures. Once that is done the rate of rapes in India and anywhere else would surely start declining and time will not be far when it will reach to the negligible levels.
Rapes, or any other crime, party involve two parties; the one which commits the crime and the one on which the crime is committed. So the corrective measures and parental, societal, governmental and legal controls should also involve two approaches. One of the approaches should be directed towards how the potential committers of crimes could be prevented from doing that and how the potential culprits could be protected from the criminals and culprits. Blaming only one party and taking measures against or for only one party is a faulty way of dealing with rapes and all other crimes.
Blaming clothes that women wear or wear not is surely a way leading to nowhere. It is also about avoiding responsibilities by citizens and governments of the country and avoiding of responsibility is also a contributing factor in the increased rate of rapes in India. If clothes were the sole cause of rapes then in the countries and regions, where many of women remain almost half naked and even fully naked by our standards, the rate of rapes should have been much higher than India. But in reality that is not the case which belie the unreasonable claim about wearing clothes or not wearing them, decent or indent.
Human logic and human rationality demands things to be dealt in proper manner and finding real causes of all the maladies in order to cure them. In case we keep blaming women for wearing indecent clothes and thus becoming the victims of rapes, the problem will keep hunting us and will keep haunting within us.
Best approach is to take a broader view of the problem and act accordingly. Listening the unreasonable and illogical arguments and dictates of few sick minds is making things painful and keeping the societal ills intact. To treat the malady of rape the necessity of the time is to adopt proper approach and not any parochial one which has all the potential to keep the rate of rapes increasing. The sick minds need to be taken to task and that can be done by following the proper approach. In the mean while, stop listening to these sick minds.
Arshad Khan can be reached at arshad9708@gmail.com
