The Age of Prejudice
We live in dark times. We live in times when prejudices abound. The prejudices shared by the fair-skinned and not so (or not at all) fair-skinned against the darker brethren of humanity that range from various forms of racial discrimination and extend to find echo in a mother-in-law’s ecstatic “Ooh! It’s a beautiful ‘white’ baby!”. The prejudices shared by the urban and rural majority (read belonging to both ‘Bhaarat’ and ‘India’) against what they term as the ‘indecency of the well-heeled and minimally garbed women’ who, in their words, ’invite rape’. The small prejudices that we allow to crawl into our minds when say, a new neighbor /colleague/daughter-in-law enters the confines of our neighborhood/workplace/family. Someone (mostly, a supplier of gossip) would say, “Aha! Do you know that he/she said/did THAT, or behaved like THIS.” And foolishly, unsuspectingly, we’d say “Really? Oh my!” letting ourselves fall prey to yet another prejudice. Why can’t we train our minds to respond, “No.Wait a sec. What I am hearing might not be the truth. Let me try and find out for myself what the real deal is.” This response might well be the case in an Utopian society. The ground reality is indeed dismal.
Gradually, we become so used to living with prejudices that when confronted with reality we find it hard to believe. To make matters worse, these deeply ingrained prejudices have seemingly multiplied instead of diminishing as one would expect in this age of information bombardment. Although reason might forbid it on second thoughts, still it's almost an indulgence to give in to thinking that seems to satisfy the ego (or the majority if you will). There is a tiny minority who tries, and out of that even fewer who manage to overstep the secure zone of 'what will people think/say', when it comes to objectively voicing one's thoughts on matters, especially those that fall into the spectrum of the grey. Death penalty, framing of laws for crime prevention, sex education, women’s liberation, freedom of speech and expression - these are some issues that keep surfacing in newspaper and TV debates time and again, and are often found overlapping with enough commonalities to make them interconnected and alive in today’s age of information overload.
The Delhi horror of December 16, 2012 shook the conscience of all who heard it. It touched enough people in a manner that saw widespread protests and calls for the death penalty. Prominent women were shown on national TV moved to tears and outraged at the levels to which human nature had stooped to. I still find a lump in my throat when I think back to the event that found mass outpouring of emotion and galvanized the slumbering government to at least think of amending laws for curbing crimes against women. Among the many voices clamoring for the hanging of the guilty, was mine too. I had held forth for a long time in favor of the death penalty especially with regard to criminal and sexual assault against women. It was only recently that I found a shift in my stand away from it. The oft-repeated argument by human rights activists about death penalty hardly being a deterrent had nothing to do with my change of mind. In fact, it was after listening to a gang-rape victim’s opinion on a news channel that I found myself agreeing with her that death, perhaps, was not severe enough. Said she, “if he (one of the rapists) gets the death penalty, then he will die in an instant without realizing why, without feeling anything of the pain that I went through…” She wanted the guilty to go to prison for life. Her words found echo in the recent Justice Verma committee report that advocated a maximum sentence of life term with respect to the full life period of the convict in the case of sexual assault. The Verma committee itself had considered and rejected some of the recommendations that were made as punishment measures like chemical castration and death penalty in the most extreme cases of sexual assault. The victim of the Delhi December incident, as per her father, had demanded that those guilty of the attack on her, be burnt alive. The extreme agony that human soul had gone through to make such a wish, only she alone knew! If her attackers go to prison for the rest of their lives, will it atone for their ghastly crime, the inhuman levels to which they tortured her and the utter contempt they showed while taking away a human life? I do not know the answer.
The Delhi incident brought back the focus sharply on women’s issues, especially with regard to security and crimes against women. The mass protests saw the government buckling to pressure and announcing the formation of a committee to promulgate measures for tackling the rising crimes against women. Some months back, a slew of rape incidents had been reported in the media in the neighboring State of Haryana, where the victims were mostly from the lower castes. While the government looked the other way, the influential and patriarchal Khap Panchayats issued a shocking and bizarre statement saying that the victims were to blame and asked for the lowering of the age of marriage to 16 years. The predictable media and social outcry was loud but did not last long. Like any other protest, the issue lost its sting as the momentum ran out. So, as some social observers said, it took an incident of the nature and proportion of December 16 to shake the ruling powers out of their self-imposed sloth.
With the spotlight returning to atrocities against women, past cases were once again in the news. The 21 year-long Bhanwari Devi case in Rajasthan found itself again on national TV. A grassroots worker of the Women’s Development Project in Rajasthan, Bhanwari, a lower caste woman, was sexually assaulted by a group of upper caste men for trying to stop child marriage in her village. Alienated from family and community alike, weary and disillusioned, she is still awaiting justice.
Yet another gang rape case is in the media. Dating back 17 long years, the victim of the Suryanelli case in Kerala has once again asked for justice. A two-member High Court Bench had tried and let off all the 35 accused except one, for lack of evidence. The sole convicted man, Dharmarajan jumped bail and became an absconder, only to be caught again. Public attention has focused on a political bigwig whom the victim names as one of those who assaulted her, yet who seemingly escaped being named due to his political connections. Women’s groups and opposition parties in the State are asking for the case to be re-investigated. One of the former judges who pronounced the judgement, Justice R Basant was recently caught on camera talking about his judgement on the case wherein he had termed the victim as having been used for ‘child prostitution’ and cast aspersions about her character. His remarks have raised protests and demands for a public apology from women’s groups and political parties baying for his blood. While hearing on TV and reading about the former judge’s remarks I was struck by the fact that he called the 16-year-old victim ‘deviant’ in nature solely by attributing the fact that she had reportedly not tried to escape from the clutches of her captors even after being taken to the doctor for a ‘sore throat’. “How could”, he opined, “a girl have not attempted an escape under such circumstances?” This proves, said he, that she was complicit in the so called crime. He then, goes on to urge the reporter to read the judgement as all the details could be found therein. I am amazed at the fact that a person of his experience and legal standing (he was one of the judges) could base his judgement on such questionable grounds. Did he know the circumstances under which the girl was reportedly ‘taken to the doctor’? In a case where, the testimony of the witnesses is questionable in view of the recent disclosures about shoddy investigation and deliberate concealment of the real culprits’ names, can a former judge be so utterly casual and irresponsible in his remarks? It is interesting to note that in view of the girl’s fresh appeal in the Supreme Court, the Apex Court set aside the High Court ruling and has paved the way for a possible re-investigation of the case. So, for now, justice Basant can forget the ruling he delivered as it no longer holds good.
Societal prejudice plays a huge part in leading up to the rising number of crimes against women. Right from the family level itself, where preference, amenities and opportunities are given to the male child often at the cost of stripping the female child of all her rights, there is something drastically wrong with the kind of environment in which we are bringing up our children. As the female child grows, the fear factor is instilled in her that she is the vulnerable party and that she is the one in need of protection. As the numerous posters part of the protests in Delhi pointed out, why can’t we “teach boys not to rape”, instead of telling girls “not to get raped”? In almost every case of sexual assault, the victim was pronounced as the one to blame for ‘attracting the crime’. Her clothing, demeanor, lifestyle and sometimes even marital status was said to be the reason behind the crime. There needs to be a sea change in our attitude as members of a responsible civil society if we are to see a drop in the rate of crimes against women. We must tear out our deep seated prejudices about women being the ‘weaker sex’. Sex education in schools, colleges and work places with the focus on encouraging and answering questions, self-defense classes for girls in schools and putting the onus on parents and teachers to inculcate respect for women among their wards and family - there’s got to be something that we can change if we try even a little bit. Above all, if we try to act and behave responsibly by not giving in to what is easy and comfortable to hear and say but rather to learn to question and look for the truth from the hearsay, general beliefs and common (mis)conceptions, we might see the light at the end of this tunnel clogged with darkness and prejudice.
Gradually, we become so used to living with prejudices that when confronted with reality we find it hard to believe. To make matters worse, these deeply ingrained prejudices have seemingly multiplied instead of diminishing as one would expect in this age of information bombardment. Although reason might forbid it on second thoughts, still it's almost an indulgence to give in to thinking that seems to satisfy the ego (or the majority if you will). There is a tiny minority who tries, and out of that even fewer who manage to overstep the secure zone of 'what will people think/say', when it comes to objectively voicing one's thoughts on matters, especially those that fall into the spectrum of the grey. Death penalty, framing of laws for crime prevention, sex education, women’s liberation, freedom of speech and expression - these are some issues that keep surfacing in newspaper and TV debates time and again, and are often found overlapping with enough commonalities to make them interconnected and alive in today’s age of information overload.
The Delhi horror of December 16, 2012 shook the conscience of all who heard it. It touched enough people in a manner that saw widespread protests and calls for the death penalty. Prominent women were shown on national TV moved to tears and outraged at the levels to which human nature had stooped to. I still find a lump in my throat when I think back to the event that found mass outpouring of emotion and galvanized the slumbering government to at least think of amending laws for curbing crimes against women. Among the many voices clamoring for the hanging of the guilty, was mine too. I had held forth for a long time in favor of the death penalty especially with regard to criminal and sexual assault against women. It was only recently that I found a shift in my stand away from it. The oft-repeated argument by human rights activists about death penalty hardly being a deterrent had nothing to do with my change of mind. In fact, it was after listening to a gang-rape victim’s opinion on a news channel that I found myself agreeing with her that death, perhaps, was not severe enough. Said she, “if he (one of the rapists) gets the death penalty, then he will die in an instant without realizing why, without feeling anything of the pain that I went through…” She wanted the guilty to go to prison for life. Her words found echo in the recent Justice Verma committee report that advocated a maximum sentence of life term with respect to the full life period of the convict in the case of sexual assault. The Verma committee itself had considered and rejected some of the recommendations that were made as punishment measures like chemical castration and death penalty in the most extreme cases of sexual assault. The victim of the Delhi December incident, as per her father, had demanded that those guilty of the attack on her, be burnt alive. The extreme agony that human soul had gone through to make such a wish, only she alone knew! If her attackers go to prison for the rest of their lives, will it atone for their ghastly crime, the inhuman levels to which they tortured her and the utter contempt they showed while taking away a human life? I do not know the answer.
The Delhi incident brought back the focus sharply on women’s issues, especially with regard to security and crimes against women. The mass protests saw the government buckling to pressure and announcing the formation of a committee to promulgate measures for tackling the rising crimes against women. Some months back, a slew of rape incidents had been reported in the media in the neighboring State of Haryana, where the victims were mostly from the lower castes. While the government looked the other way, the influential and patriarchal Khap Panchayats issued a shocking and bizarre statement saying that the victims were to blame and asked for the lowering of the age of marriage to 16 years. The predictable media and social outcry was loud but did not last long. Like any other protest, the issue lost its sting as the momentum ran out. So, as some social observers said, it took an incident of the nature and proportion of December 16 to shake the ruling powers out of their self-imposed sloth.
With the spotlight returning to atrocities against women, past cases were once again in the news. The 21 year-long Bhanwari Devi case in Rajasthan found itself again on national TV. A grassroots worker of the Women’s Development Project in Rajasthan, Bhanwari, a lower caste woman, was sexually assaulted by a group of upper caste men for trying to stop child marriage in her village. Alienated from family and community alike, weary and disillusioned, she is still awaiting justice.
Yet another gang rape case is in the media. Dating back 17 long years, the victim of the Suryanelli case in Kerala has once again asked for justice. A two-member High Court Bench had tried and let off all the 35 accused except one, for lack of evidence. The sole convicted man, Dharmarajan jumped bail and became an absconder, only to be caught again. Public attention has focused on a political bigwig whom the victim names as one of those who assaulted her, yet who seemingly escaped being named due to his political connections. Women’s groups and opposition parties in the State are asking for the case to be re-investigated. One of the former judges who pronounced the judgement, Justice R Basant was recently caught on camera talking about his judgement on the case wherein he had termed the victim as having been used for ‘child prostitution’ and cast aspersions about her character. His remarks have raised protests and demands for a public apology from women’s groups and political parties baying for his blood. While hearing on TV and reading about the former judge’s remarks I was struck by the fact that he called the 16-year-old victim ‘deviant’ in nature solely by attributing the fact that she had reportedly not tried to escape from the clutches of her captors even after being taken to the doctor for a ‘sore throat’. “How could”, he opined, “a girl have not attempted an escape under such circumstances?” This proves, said he, that she was complicit in the so called crime. He then, goes on to urge the reporter to read the judgement as all the details could be found therein. I am amazed at the fact that a person of his experience and legal standing (he was one of the judges) could base his judgement on such questionable grounds. Did he know the circumstances under which the girl was reportedly ‘taken to the doctor’? In a case where, the testimony of the witnesses is questionable in view of the recent disclosures about shoddy investigation and deliberate concealment of the real culprits’ names, can a former judge be so utterly casual and irresponsible in his remarks? It is interesting to note that in view of the girl’s fresh appeal in the Supreme Court, the Apex Court set aside the High Court ruling and has paved the way for a possible re-investigation of the case. So, for now, justice Basant can forget the ruling he delivered as it no longer holds good.
Societal prejudice plays a huge part in leading up to the rising number of crimes against women. Right from the family level itself, where preference, amenities and opportunities are given to the male child often at the cost of stripping the female child of all her rights, there is something drastically wrong with the kind of environment in which we are bringing up our children. As the female child grows, the fear factor is instilled in her that she is the vulnerable party and that she is the one in need of protection. As the numerous posters part of the protests in Delhi pointed out, why can’t we “teach boys not to rape”, instead of telling girls “not to get raped”? In almost every case of sexual assault, the victim was pronounced as the one to blame for ‘attracting the crime’. Her clothing, demeanor, lifestyle and sometimes even marital status was said to be the reason behind the crime. There needs to be a sea change in our attitude as members of a responsible civil society if we are to see a drop in the rate of crimes against women. We must tear out our deep seated prejudices about women being the ‘weaker sex’. Sex education in schools, colleges and work places with the focus on encouraging and answering questions, self-defense classes for girls in schools and putting the onus on parents and teachers to inculcate respect for women among their wards and family - there’s got to be something that we can change if we try even a little bit. Above all, if we try to act and behave responsibly by not giving in to what is easy and comfortable to hear and say but rather to learn to question and look for the truth from the hearsay, general beliefs and common (mis)conceptions, we might see the light at the end of this tunnel clogged with darkness and prejudice.
Very Very beautifully written...esp the lines "Right from the family level itself, where preference, amenities and opportunities are given to the male child often at the cost of stripping the female child of all her rights, there is something drastically wrong with the kind of environment in which we are bringing up our children." are so true, many of us having been treated by our own parents as inferior to our brothers. I myself have gone through such agony of partiality in my growing years.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much ABD for your appreciation...I know that it's still prevalent in society today. Hope that our future generations will be able to say that they don't see it any longer....
ReplyDelete