Let Draupadi be looted, everywhere today
(Kolkata incident special)

Priyanka Saurabh *

If this is not rape culture, supported and upheld by sane men and women of society, institutions, and government organs, then what is it? You can bring in all the laws, all the fast courts, and even the death penalty, but nothing can change unless there is a corresponding mindset change that initiates a new way of thinking about girls and women. We have not even begun the work of eliminating rape culture. We have not even lit the matchstick that will set patriarchy aflame. The brutal and horrific nature of these attacks has shocked Indian society and once again brought the issue of women's safety into the spotlight.

In 2012, the Nirbhaya incident, the gang rape and murder of 23-year-old Delhi student Jyoti Singh, sparked protests across the country and put a question mark on the safety of women in India. After the Nirbhaya murder, strict laws were made on sexual violence and eventually death penalty was introduced for rape. Despite this, sexual crimes have not ended.

The nature of rape has become more aggressive, more brutal and has to some extent become a form of vigilantism and gangsterism. Brutal rapes are reported almost every day in India, and reports of horrific sexual assaults have increased in recent years. “This is the new India where the rule of law has completely broken down, which has a direct impact on women, as it is also an era of brazen encroachments of patriarchy.

A large number of rapes go unreported due to the prevalent stigma around victims and lack of faith in police investigations. Convictions remain rare as cases linger for years in India’s paralyzed criminal justice system.

According to National Crime Records Bureau data, about 90 rapes are reported daily on average in India. In the year 2022, the police arrested 11 people after the alleged brutal gang rape and torture of a young woman, in which she was paraded through the streets of Delhi. In 2022 itself, a police officer was also arrested in India.

He is accused of raping a 13-year-old girl who had gone to his station to report that she had been gang-raped. In March, several Indian men were arrested after a Spanish tourist who was on a motorcycle trip with her husband was gang-raped in 2021 In 2012, a 34-year-old woman in Mumbai died after being raped and brutally tortured. The infamous gang rape and murder of an Indian schoolgirl made global headlines in 2012.

Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, was raped, assaulted and left to die by five men and a teenager on a bus in New Delhi in December of that year.

The horrific crime threw international headlines at the high levels of sexual violence in India and led to weeks of protests and eventually a change in the law to introduce the death penalty for rape. The brutal and horrific nature of these attacks has shocked Indian society and once again brought the issue of women's safety into the spotlight.

Women at the lowest level of India's centuries-old discriminatory caste system – known as Dalits – are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence and other assaults. Violence against women has become even more normalized. For example, trolls on social media, who seek to silence, abuse, or rape every outspoken woman or her daughter, are not held accountable.

With increasing impunity for violators and judicial means also surrendered to political masters, fighting rape has become difficult. The rise in sexual crimes against women in the country, as well as the treatment of those at the lowest rung of the country's rigid caste system, acts as an encouraging factor as a result of a culture of impunity from top to bottom.

It is a backlash against women occupying more public spaces and challenging male hegemony in almost all spheres. Most men are overwhelmed and do not know how to handle their hurt egos and widespread unemployment has led to overall frustration.

The low rate of convictions with cases getting stuck for years in India's criminal justice system is also a breeding ground for such brutal crimes. Men often use sexual violence as a weapon to reinforce oppressive gender and caste hierarchies.

Despite the increase in the number of reported rape cases and more women coming forward, the conviction rate in the country remains low. In many cases, lack of evidence is often cited as the reason for the low conviction rate or the overturning of convictions by higher courts. What happened to the Spanish tourist a few years ago is completely unacceptable and tells a lot about the lawlessness in the country.

We know that sexual crimes are grossly under-reported and this has to change. If this is not rape culture, supported and upheld by sane men and women of society, institutions, and government organs, then what is it?

You can bring in all the laws, all the fast courts, and even the death penalty, but nothing can change unless there is a corresponding mindset change that initiates a new way of thinking about girls and women. We have not even begun the work of eradicating rape culture. We have not even lit the match that will burn patriarchy.

In December 2012, the government finally listened to us. For a moment, it seemed like we were making progress. Instead today we have stalled or, worse, gone backwards. In the name of protecting women, we now have laws that virtually ban interfaith marriages and courts that refuse to grant protection to couples who fear for their lives.

The first template for a modern uniform civil code in independent India calls for mandatory registration of live-in relationships. Women’s autonomy and free agency are being eroded at every level. Not that home is always a safe place. Horror stories include incest and domestic violence.

In India, which has the second-highest prevalence of intimate partner violence, 46% of women consider it acceptable in some circumstances – to disrespect in-laws or to leave home without permission. Until we can change those views, we will continue to lament India’s loss of reputation, not because we have a rape problem, but because it looks bad on the international stage. Dukh hi hai ki-

Cheerahran ko dekh kar, darbari sab maun.

Question the king of darkness, who is Vidur to be?