“India’s Daughter” is indeed a heart troubling documentary. The world welcomed it, India opposed it and still most of us have seen it. Then we heard that a Delhi based businessman made “Britain’s Daughter” and highlighted the Rape Crimes in Britain. Someone while discussing these documentaries and the nations that have a high rate of crime against Women highlighted “India has a rape every 20 minutes, but US has a rape every 6.3 minutes. India records almost 1/3rd of the crime against women as compared to US, but still India is not considered as safe for women as US.” The point that was made really shook me off on the state of affairs on Crime against women.
I was more shocked to learn from the various sources the kind of crimes they commit when resorting to violence against women. Reading about the atrocities that were reported in few African countries, where they reported of chopping off breasts or mutilating private parts was insane. The logic that backed their such a barbaric act is “they wouldn’t be able to birth rivals”. Ah, they look beyond humanity and genocide to finish their rival clans. Similar cases were also heard from some of the recent cases in Middle-East and a few cases in Afghanistan.
As if those cases were not enough for horrifying someone, there tragic news is the way the society looks at those who are victimized by the rapists. Be it India, be it US or any other country. Most of the cases that I reviewed and read about had one commonality – Victims were being highlighted as the seducers and the culprits were getting the Sympathy. In all the cases majority of those interviewed felt it was the mistake of the Girl to either wear something provoking or to have acted in a specific fashion. It was shocking in some the cases where the victim was administered drugs by mixing in the drinks and those interviewed stated “Why did she have to drink it, its her mistake”. Ah, excuse me, everyone who wants to have a drink is free to. Be it Sodas, other beverages or Alcohol.
The more I read, the more I was pained and the more I was surprised at the way the society behaves. If the Rape victim dies of assault, people say “God Bless her, she was relieved of the pain with which she would have to live through life” and if the Rape victim survives, the same set would say “How can she withstand the society, damn, she should end her life to end the agony.” Moreover the rape victims on one side after getting hurt by the Culprits, face the character assassination once again when they report the case to police and then face the lawyers in the court. They get to face all sorts of questions to explain the act including the way culprit behaved and touched them to the position in which they were Raped. To add to the agony, the Media does more character assassination by doing stories over stories.
All the while from the time a women is victimized by the Rapist to the time the case doesn’t get over and the culprit doesn’t get the punishment, the Rape Victim faces Character Assassination. The pain, the agony and the hurt of the victim is totally ignored by each one of us.
What they need as our sisters and daughters, what they need as our friends and for representing Half the World, is respect, love, care and to top it all their own space to live their life.
Both the documentaries as referred in the start of this article mentioned “Daughters” in their title, yet they represented the Negative side of the societal norms that a daughter (girl) faces. For them, it might just be their work (because none of them did this for Social Service, one did it because She was working for someone and that someone needed fame and TRP and the other did to counter the first one). In their acts both of them forgot that they somewhere are talking about Daughters, Daughters who are the most Precious and Lovely for any Father and for all the Parents. Both of them and all of us need to learn to respect them and tend them with care.
