Raping The Daughters: This Repulsive Reality Is Sadly Neither Offending Us Nor Our Culture

A class eight student was allegedly abducted in Gurugram and three people raped her. The crime came to light on March 13 when an anonymous person sent her father a video of the incident following which he approached the police.

On February 22, a father and brother were arrested in Gurugram for raping a 16-year-old girl. The police reportedly said that she was sexually assaulted multiple times.

The aforementioned are recent incidents in just one city. A man in Bihar was out on bail. He reportedly drugged his minor daughter and raped her. The survivor raised an alarm on the roof following which neighbours rescued her.

The incidents show that despite the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act and stringent laws against sexual violence, rape cases and sexual assault are on the rise in the country. Our daughters are not safe in their own homes while a number of things happening around us offend us.

Files in the courts are titled Bisanda Rape, Odisha Rape, Hathras Gang-Rape, Nirbhaya Case and so on and so forth. Survivors have been reported to fight for years, in some cases for decades, before the criminal is sent behind the bars. In Bilkis Bano's case, the offenders were released prior to completing their life sentence on the grounds of good behaviour.

But on news channels, we are debating about the colour of the bikini that an actor wore in a song. From same-sex marriage plea to a Hindu actor Swara Bhasker marrying a Muslim political leader Fahad Ahmad, everything else offends the culture of India.

But what about rising cases of rape, sexual violence, eve teasing, gruesome murders and dowry deaths? Aren’t they offending the core of our existence? Shouldn’t we be ashamed of living in such a reality where a young girl is not safe even with her father?

More Than 31,000 Rape Cases Registered

According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report 2021, more than 31,000 rape cases were registered in India. The daily average comes to 86. There was an increase of 20% in sexual assault cases compared to 2020.

However, if you pick up newspapers, you would find at least one such report that would shake you to the core, but you might not take offence to it.

We have become accustomed to reading about such horrific incidents every day that it no longer makes us want to cry out or shout at the top of our voices that more needs to be done to ensure the safety of women and children.

21% Of Women & Girls Died Unnaturally Due To Gender-Based Violence

Recently, Hindustan Times quoted a forensic study which claimed that about 21% of women and girls died unnaturally due to gender-based violence between 2017 and 2022.

About 47% of these women died by suicide, 47% of deaths were in accidents and 6% of cases of homicides where perpetrators were partners and relatives. About 99% of these gender-based violence deaths happened at home. In around 87% of these deaths, marital disputes were major issues.

Does it offend you? We do not think so because, in cases of marital disputes, we often ask women to compromise or give their partners the benefit of the doubt. We ask them to adhere to the instruction laid down by their husband, and if god forbid things go out of hand, we say men will always be men. We crack sexist husband-wife jokes and move on.

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Over 33,000 Child Abuse Cases

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2021 report, crimes against kids rose by 16.2% in 2021 compared to 2020. About 33,348 cases of sexual assault were reported against kids, out of which 33,036 were inflicted against girls and 312 on boys.

In cases of sexual offences, most of the victims and survivors are either girls or women.

The gender-based violence keeps rising in a country where we pray to Goddess Durga and talk about the powers of Shakti.

However, these figures would not offend us, but an artist’s portrayal of the Hindu Goddess exploring their sexualities definitely did. It is as if we look for a minute and not-so-crucial details to create a hill out of a mole but would change our route when faced with an actual mountain of issues that exist in our society.

We might not be able to define our ‘culture’ but we sure can define restrictions for women in the name of it. We might not be aware of our history but that has never stopped us from comparing modern women and their values with the confined lives of women about a century ago.

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We have grown thick skin against such incidents. Our brain has become familiar with reading at least one such headline every morning. It would be a surprise if we do not have any newspaper reporting such an incident on any given day.

Now is the time to put the Nirbhaya Fund to use to design schemes that would keep a check on these crimes against women. It is time that we take note of women's issues and gender-based violence, take offence to them and work towards making society safer and better.