It is
fourth anniversary of 16 December 2012, the brutal gang rape and murder of a
student in Delhi that shook the conscience of the nation and led to
unprecedented protests against sexual violence across India. Crime against
women has been common in India, as has been the support for such crime in the
form of misogynist statements by those holding seats of power. The grammar of
shame in cases of sexual violence has always been inscribed on the bodies of victims,
avoiding most perpetrators.
It is
in this context that the Supreme Court of India taking on Azam Khan, a powerful
minister of Uttar Pradesh government, and making him unconditionally apologize
for a brazenly misogynist statement against gang rape victims, is a welcome
step.
Even
more welcome is that the Court has done so while framing a few fundamental
constitutional questions over such statements impeding with rule of law in
general and getting redress for the victims in particular. The Court
contemplated whether a person holding public office making such statements can
create "distrust" in the minds of victims about a fair probe in the
case and whether such a statement can be a part of freedom of speech and
expression. The Court had also asked if such statements could influence the
investigation into alleged crimes and thus affect the chances of victims
getting justice.
Having
said that the Supreme Court has rarely shown similar zeal in dealing with such
misogynistic statements by those in power, including many sitting Union
ministers, Chief Ministers and other lawmakers. For instance, Mamata Banerjee,
the Chief Minister of West Bengal has done the same time and again. She had once
termed the infamous Park Street gang-rape case as “shajano ghotona”, i.e. a
staged incident to destabilise her government. She had similarly termed
villagers of Kamduni as Maoists for protesting the rape of a girl student!
There
is no dearth of similar statements by other notables, including by Mulayam
Singh Yadav, who has several terms as Union Minister and Chief Minister of
Uttar Pradesh and is chief of Samajwadi Party that is in power in Uttar Pradesh
even now. Opposing death sentence for rapes, he had termed the crime a mere
mistake by “boys” and went on to promise to change such rules! Om Prakash
Chautala, former Chief Minister of Haryana, had similarly proposed early
marriages as the way to stop rapes in 2012. To add his name to this list of
dishonour, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had
asked protesting nurses to not sit on hunger strike in the sun as it could ruin
their marital prospects.
The worst of the lot, however, came in 2014 from Tapas
Pal, a member of Lok Sabha from Trinamool Congress when he openly threatened to
send party cadres to rape female family members of opposition parties. That was
until the current Union government upped the ante by appointing Nihal Chand
Meghwal, a gang rape accused summoned by courts, as a Union Minister.
Thankfully, he was removed as Minister in the last cabinet reshuffle, though he
continues to be a Member of Parliament, one amongst 186 of his parliamentary colleagues
that have serious criminal charges against them, including that of murder and
rape.
The
Supreme Court of India, which sat many-a-time over Azam Khan’s remarks and even
rejected his conditional apology, did not take notice of many of these
statements and appointments. It has not taken on the misogyny that legitimises
institutional bias against women in society and systemises it into all its
arms, official as well as social.
One
might hope that the proactive handling of this case by the Court would not end
up as a one-off case over a powerful Minister of a state ruled by a party that
is in opposition in the centre. One might also hope that the Court would take
the process ahead and would also direct the justice institutions to deal with
all crimes against women, including sexual violence, with the seriousness they
deserve and would get the women redress.
One
might hope that the Court would summon, say, top cops to enquire about such abysmally
low conviction rates and direct them to tighten up loose ends of investigation
process. One might hope that it would also take on the defence lawyers who
often end up converting the trial into traumatic repeat rape for the victims.
One might hope that it would also take on other misogynist leaders to create a
deterrence India so desperately needs against sexual violence.
Alas,
all this seems a far cry today, with conviction rates even in rape cases standing
at a paltry 28% in 2014. To put the figure in clearer perspective, let’s take
the case of Delhi, which reported 706 rape cases in 2012, the year that shook
the nation’s conscience.
Only
1 of those 706 rape cases has ended up in a conviction till now!
Evidently,
if the Court stops at making Azam Khan apologise, it would seem more like a
farce than the quest to build a gender just India safe for its women.
Post
script: Yet another case of rape in a moving car has been reported from Delhi
today.
Comments
Post a Comment