Sexual assault in India is finally receiving the
national attention that it should be. I have a vivid memory from when I was a
junior in high school when my teacher played a video for my class that showed
the gender indifference and violence toward women in India. Having a baby and
finding out that she is a female is considered a necessary situation for
abortion. Women are looked at as unfavorable to men. That mindset within an
entire country, especially one as large as India, without a doubt must play a
role into the sexual violence issue that India has. Madison Park wrote the
article "India grapples with rape and sexual violence" for CNN.com
and discussed how recent crimes that have been heard about worldwide has
affected the country and how Indian lawmakers have responded by creating “tougher laws and punishments for sexual crimes and harassment”,
which have not lower their sexual assault numbers in any way.
In a mind-blowing number, rape cases
in India have risen almost 900% since 1975. In response and as I wrote about
before, Indian government have begun making the sentences tougher on sexual
assault perpetrators and have even implemented the death penalty for repeat
offenders. Unfortunately, while the laws may change it is ultimately up to the
society to change their viewpoints on women in general before these numbers
will begin letting up in any way. Sexual violence in India is an absolute
epidemic and while many times people say that things need to get worse before
they get better, I believe they have already gotten worse. It is time for them
to get better.
Slowly but surely India can recover
from this. Park shed some positivity on this topic at the end of her article stating
that men and women around the country have come together to help educate and
prevent more sexual violence. While the current census says that there are only
940 women to every 1,000 men, it is up to the young males of the country to
become educated and mature and learn how to respect the gender that keeps their
population going generation after generation.
If the world continues to respond as incredibly as
they have to recent stories in India, maybe the message will begin to get
across and a sweeping opinion can change in the country. Gang rapes and child
assaults are not only heinous, but extremities. They are the kind of shocking
story that has already gotten the world talking and will continue to do so. Times
have changed in America and other developed countries and India will have to
get there at some point.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/15/world/asia/india-rape-problem/index.html
India's rape problem worries me. It does not really come to a surprise to me that tougher laws and punishments for sexual crimes and harassment have not been very effective in combating rape in India. One reason for this is because the new law has to be communicated effectively to the public. If a new law is made, but very few people are aware that it is in effect, it will not deter anyone from committing the illegal act. This could also be because the offenders do not feel that there is much of a risk as compared to benefits when they do this. If there were some cultural rule that would ensure that people who committed rape would be shunned by the public, it might have more weight. Because women are looked down upon in this culture, tougher sentences are not going to change anything until the perception of women and this crime changes. In addition to that, the public has to feel that there is a real risk of punishment for this act. If people are just aware that the law exists, but they do not hear much about people being punished for the crime, there is a likelihood that the law will not be taken seriously. If I had to make recommendations to India's criminal justice system, I would tell them to spread awareness of the law, to find a way to gradually stigmatize the crime of rape, and to make it very public when they punish offenders. This might help them with their problem in addition to the new laws that were enacted.
ReplyDeleteName: Alvin Powell, Jr.