Why are the brutal assaults against women happening repeatedly? It is because we have not gone all out like we did for fighting against terrorism. We invested heavily into fighting terror. We became non sparing.
Unless sexual assaults against women also assume the same gravity and collective anguish, we shall continue having women in India stalked and situationally ravaged. Even the media is running out of space and time to focus on which one to highlight. It’s a terrible environment to live with, when we know for sure what can be done with a sense of collective urgency.
This crime of assaulting women to meet sexual needs of the deprived is widespread and under reported. It attacks one vulnerable woman, one lone voice, one life, which many times is not recorded as she reports.
She also does not have, (in many cases) the support of her family to report, as its a matter of social shame for them.
It’s left to the victim to raise her voice and fight to die or even get burnt one day. I am not being dramatic. I am stating only what is happening. It’s real.
My deep worry is while we are all seeking solutions to the problem we appear to be shying away knowingly or unknowingly from addressing the main ROOT of the problem. It is parenting and school education.
Without treating the real source of this mental disease we are fire fighting and being scared daily.
The indian society is getting maligned because of the few. Our reputation as a country is being hit.
As I ask myself, what is the root of this malaise of sexual assaults? Who is committing these? Where are these sick men coming from? Who are they? Are they born to be the way they became? What makes them commit this brutality? Are they demons and have no humanity in them? What made them this way?
Answers to these questions cut across social disciplines and social milieu.
I am addressing these from my limited knowledge and experience of law enforcement and a student of social sciences, including having worked with such ‘inhuman’? characters in my own Non profit organisation over the last three decades.
My simple question is are these men not out of the wombs of a mother? Have they not had a home and a family with elders? Have they not had siblings? Have they not been loved and cared for by their kith and kin?
Have they not had the lap of their parents and grand parents? Or are they the victim of family neglect themselves and seen their own mothers and sisters ill treated in their own homes and think this is a way of life.
I have conversed with several such accused during my responsibility as a serving police officer, later as incharge of prison administration, alongside running family counselling centres from my NGOs, my learnt answer is these delinquents are a product of family neglect, bad company with bad habits and exposure to porn, living a life merely to meet carnal needs, paid or demanded at any cost.
Their families are helpless. Their mothers are scared of even asking their sons simple questions of their whereabouts. Their fathers give up on them, Or are irresponsible themselves, Or who knows are scared of them too.
They are drop outs of their schools. They had teachers who too let them go. When failing in exams, they let them fail. They never indulged in perusing them to be corrected. They too gave up on them.
Had the parents and the school teachers not given up on them they would not be roaming or driving the streets looking for vulnerable women victims. Or girls even at home? Or in neighbourhoods.
We also do not have a police system which tracks such persons and drop outs and identifies them early to see they do not turn ruffians of their localities or neighbourhoods, by way of beat policing system. Or village police officers system. ( as being considered now by Telengana Police).
The community too either becomes indifferent or gives up for fear of being retaliated.
Which is why effective beat police system has to be put in place. Which means police officers incharge of specified areas forming area liaison groups with the community, schools and neighbourhood watch groups and the panchayats for community policing.
No child is born deviant. It’s the neglect which makes him so. And as time passes he graduates himself into a life of delinquency.
The family and the school has to take responsibility for the misadventures of their inhuman products with or without the direct help of beat police officer.
We need to realise that unattended deviant is the potential perpetrator to this crime who need to be held tracked by law.
But the law does not include this. (It can be at the time of taking sureties )
Preventive policing implies this. Hence doing so moves us into realm of crime prevention. And there are laws.
This is where the beat system of policing has to work. Where the local police station knows and maintains records of possible or potential delinquents. We maintained in Delhi Police called Rough Register of those who had deviancy in the upbringing. And kept watch or kept track.
Involve family counselling early on.
Effective grass root policing is the answer to such mushrooming. But this requires investments into more grass root policing. More feet on ground with right kind of training for community policing. We must sustain good practices of our predecessors.
The second major reason of high vulnerability for our daughters is absence of adequate visible mobile police. Which responds to emergency calls urgently.
They need to be linked to the police stations and the beat officers. Now with technology available the beat officers can have the access to verify the person before them as regards past records.
We could use the Nirbhya’s fund for this purpose. Invest into fear of increased mobile presence which increases the chances of getting caught, arrest or detain according to the situation.
Then comes investigation and prosecution. How scientifically and expeditiously we do. How fast is the trial. How certain is the punishment. And if during the trial if any of the accused is released on bail it is conditional to ensure he is afraid of repeating the crime. The sureties must be held vicariously liable in the event the person they stood for, violates the conditions of bail. Currently it is the weakest link.
Any person released from the prison with a background of such crimes must be known down to the beat staff. The beat police officer then is accountable to take charge and ensure sureties fulfill their responsibility. Failing which police moves for cancellation and forfeiture of their sureties.
There needs to be a close internal coordination in the criminal justice system, which is weak at present. Which is why left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. While these brutes are wild and hungry.
Meanwhile we keep failing out daughters, without whom there can be no joy and laughter in the homes.
***So much more can be said on how we reform and work with sex offenders inside the jail, even if on the death row. But this and more requires another article….
***also what value education be mandated for all which instils humanity even if they drop out.
***These shall be addressed in next piece. Along with explanations of the 6 P model of crime prevention already suggested.
Crimes can be prevented provided we are willing to dissect every incident to learn lessons for each crime which occurs.
Nirbhya, Unnnao and Telegana are case studies and evidence of what has been said. All three were preventable.
( Kiran Bedi is the first women IPS officer and at present L G of Puducherry )
