Molestation- should we live with it?
Molestation; a(part) of our lives
Molestation, in India, is something that occurs on a daily-basis; it inhibits and intimidates us . It’s one of the most frequent crimes and the conviction rates remain low as ever. To raise an alarm, statistics say that most cases of molestation in public spaces go unreported. It happens in all spaces that are a part of an average Indian’s life; on the streets, in the bus, in trains, metros, schools, colleges, universities, workplaces, shops, clubs, and even in our homes. We all know about the cases of molestation, we read about them in newspapers, we hear about them in the news, sometimes we witness them, and those other times, we experience them.
We actually are very aware about them because why else would we warn our girls to be careful and to return home before dark and not say even a single word to our boys (in most cases at least)? And the sad thing is that despite knowing about it, nothing is really being done to stop it. It’s only if the public raises uproar that the government and the social services take strict action. The scary thing is that because nothing is being done, the cases of molestation are increasing. In 2012, there were 381 reported cases of molestation in Delhi, and by September 2013, the number of reported molestation cases had increased to 2,267. But a positive view to this is that more and more people are coming forward to report the cases and are leaving the unnecessary “shame” that we’ve associated to our girls.
Do we have to protest to get someone justice every time they are molested in this country? And why do we even have to protest to get justice? Isn’t justice a fundamental right of a human being? Isn’t justice entitled to every Indian according to our constitution? How is it possible for the father of an accused to shoot a girl despite that she had already complained to the police? What was the police doing? Why were we unable to ensure her safety? A legit answer to these questions has still not been given.
Students protest against molestation in Jadavpur University.
A large part of molestations that happen in India, happen in public spaces. A very important and yet a very basic question arises right here, since these happen in public spaces and since we have a HUGE population, why don’t we step forward and stop the molestations right there? Have you noticed something? Most of the times molesters aren’t alone, they molest in pairs or groups to appear intimidating to us so that we don’t come forward to stop them and they manage to succeed in this mission of theirs. Even if anyone does come forward to stop them, they’re beaten up or killed by the molesters.To say the worst, a man was recently pushed off a moving train by molesters when he intervened.
We are to be blamed in this, it is our fault. We raise our boys in such a way that gives them this “liberty” of treating any woman the way they want to. We let them molest and so they molest. We allow ourselves to be intimidated and we allow ourselves to be targeted. As soon as we realize that this basic change in grooming and education can bring in a phenomenal change in preventing gender based violence, the world will be a better place to live in.