Rape. A Question...

Its been a while that India is going through the rape crisis. The growing numbers of rape seem unstoppable. Be it an urban metro city or a remote village, the story is just the same. Women are being brutalized everywhere. Being a citizen of this country, as much as I am ashamed, I am frightened more. One of my colleagues once asked me, what is that you fear the most? And my prompt reply was, "rapists". Since a man was saying this, he started laughing. I made my point saying, my sisters, my female friends, my fiancé roam around on the streets alone and I keep thinking almost all the time how safe are they. In a country where neither a 6 year old kid nor a 80 year old lady is safe anymore, what is the safety assurance of a common citizen?

There are a lot of analyses and counter-analyses doing the rounds. Some saying sexuality and objectification of women in cinema should be banned. Others are going a step ahead and saying that prostitution should be legalized. And again some are saying that proper education should be given to everyone. These are all valid points at their own places, no doubt, but these do not provide any solution to the real problem.

With the Modi government coming into power we can just hope that things will get better with stricter laws. We can just hope. But is it really their headache to set things right? They roam around with security guards all the time. Their family members are not at peril. What if they don't give a shit? What if they don't do anything? Of course we can throw them off the chair then but that would be after 5 long years.

Instead of waiting for the government to take steps, what can we do to make the streets a safer place for the women of this country? How can we make sure that the rapists get scared well enough to suppress their animal instincts and don't dare touch a single woman citizen of India?

I am still searching for the answer...