Sex crimes on the rise
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: July 15 2011 -

On July 8, 2011, in the city of Ahmednagar in Maharashtra six dacoits entered a house where there were six women residents. They took away 30 grammes of gold and ` 5000, before which they had allegedly gang raped two of the six women, the other four, much older in years, were stripped and beaten up.

In spite of the reports of the victims, the district Superintendent of Police, one Krishnakumar made a public statement saying 'There has been a rape but it was not gang rape and the older women were not stripped'.

There has been a surge in the number of reported sex crimes in the country. This could be one of three reasons, or a combined result of the three reckonings. One, sex crimes have dramatically increased, or, reporting of sex crimes have increased, or, as suggested, a combination of the two.

In a land where casteism prevails and caste dominance is often enforced through male sexism, sex crimes are a dime a dozen. In Manipur, though sex crimes have increased because of TV and press highlightings. In other words we do it because others are doing it.

Sex crimes are sickening and calls for blood. In the rest of the country these tales are common place instances.

The tendencies are always on frontal view. For example, in a late, late DTC bus in Delhi when there is only one single lady passenger, if a Sirdar is on board he will cast aside all vacant seats in the bus and stand very close to her. To us simpletons, the message is not lost, there is mischief in the air.

And yet, crimes against women and children, based on a gender bias should be brought to an end. Alas, it is easier said than done. In India sex crimes are obviously related to the Indian's fatal attraction of male issues and preference of pre-natal female foeticide.

The law is firm against female foeticides in words, but in action, it remains blinking and gaping. Through selective pre-natal killings Indians have significantly introduced an imbalance in the male female sex ratio and this has short circuited the sexual mannerism of the Indian, in particular, the North Indian.

But now to go back to our original story of what really happened in Ahmednagar. The suprintendent of police said there was rape but no gang rape. Is this of any comfort to the victims and their families ? Would their families have said in gratification, 'Thank god, our child was only raped and not gang raped'.

This would constitute a morbidity of what trauma really means. One can understand the difficulties of definition in societies where sex crimes are scarce. Like in Bhutan, in the early 50s a panel of judges could not decide what constituted a rape, and the judges finally decided no violence was committed because the scene of activity was god send solely for pleasure and not for criminal acts.

But in the sex crime champion of the world, India, we wish to ask SP Krishnaprakash, how does he define gang rape. Is it of any solace if he says the rape victim suffered traumatisation only once, and not repeatedly ? Would her family have said, cheer up it was only once.

These are bad tidings, the next thing could be an interaction between a government employed doctor and a cop, where the doctor says, 'Sir, all these talks of multiple fatal wounds are completely unfounded.

The only fatal wound was the bullet which went through the two cerebellums'. As if fatality has to be proven and probed again and again. But we all know, the beat will go on.