Photo credit: CBS
Every time news of gang rape comes out of India, it troubles you to the extent that you feel sick to your stomach. You can't even attempt to discuss these stories as the weight of the story is as bad as a chemical attack that killed children in a Syrian town.
Sexual violence is not new to the subcontinent. During the time of partition of India in 1947 over 120,000 girls and women were abducted and raped in the border areas of Punjab in India and Pakistan. Government estimates these figures to be 83,000. In the subcontinent the idea of a woman is held in high esteem. She's supposed to be "pure, kept in high regards, and respected." She's the one who brings in "laxmi or light or wealth" into the house. So to keep a woman happy is considered an important duty of an Indian household - whether its rural or urban.
A rapist being dealt with by women in a village. Photo circulated on social media
Reality is different. Especially in a conflict situation. Women get pulled in when there's a conflict between neighbours, castes, faith. They are the first to be targeted. And rape is used as an instrument of revenge. A Sikh columnist once wrote in The Guardian newspaper that womens’ bodies become highly coveted and treasured symbols of political and familial power in India and Pakistan.
Leave partition aside and let's move to another well-know story that most of us are very well aware of. The story of Phoolan Devi: She was born into a low caste family living in poverty in India's Uttar Pradesh state. She had an unsuccessful marriage, left home and joined a gang and raided trains and pockets of urban India with guns to make a living. She was considered a robin hood by many. Phoolan was caught in the gang war and upper caste rivals took her captive after killing her boy friend. She was gang raped over several days by 45 men. Paraded naked in front of the village before being raped. Phoolan Devi later regrouped to come back for revenge killing many men in the village that kept her captive. She served 11 years in prison but later became a member of parliament. She was shot and killed in her Delhi house outside in the 90s.
Phoolan Devi was caught in gang war in country India and rape was used a tool of punishment. Some of these pockets are lawless in India and the police tacitly support the village's upper caste hegemony, making it even more complicated to rely on police for a state supported law enforcer.
These two famous examples - partition and Phoolan Devi, clearly depicts how state and its apparatus has little or no control over enforcing law and order when it comes to stopping violence against women.
The two gang rapes that have shaken India in the last week are extremely gruesome and by now most of us have read stories or seen clips of the victims being circulated in social media. These two examples and Nirbhaya's case a few years ago underlines the same fact over and over again. That state apparatus cannot possible contain this violence.
The state has put in soft but long term measures like emphasis on female education and building more toilets. In the urban environment, seperate public transport for women in some areas, more female cops have been tried too.
But are these real solutions? Mainstream media is forced to talk about it as it reaches the comfort zone of most middle class Indians via facebook or twitter when horrible incidents happen. These crimes thankfully reach mainstream media across the world making it uncomfortable for the Indian government to continuously pin a narrative of development and progress on the international stage while gross injustice is constantly being meted against girls, especially in the country side.
The real solution will come from a strong counter-narrative. The real solution will come from smart phones and social media and the internet. A strong counter-narrative is being woven and these tools are more important than state intervention which has failed. A narrative that women and men are equal, that women have to be respected and rape is a crime that is punishable. Very simple and easy ideas, but very crucial ones. And this is happening in India. Street protests, social posts, TV debates, they are all contributing to this narrative. This debate has never been stronger in India than it is now. The middle class is charged about sexual freedom and female emancipation.
Each one of us can support this fight by sharing and commenting and curating stories that come from India. Our opinion matters and do not hesitate to say something. Sexual savagery can only be phased out with a strong narrative and social media will help create this and your voice is VERY IMPORTANT.