Rape of 100-year-old woman shows how low we have fallen

The rape of a 100-year-old woman in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut district is proof of the lows we have reached collectively as humans.

The woman, who the family says was so weak that she could barely raise an alarm, died as she was being raped. Describing her condition, the woman's grandson said, "She was very weak. She could only manage to utter feeble cries. We rushed to where she was and were horrified to find the man forcing himself on her."

The rapist and murderer, identified as 35-year-old Ankit Punia, reportedly barged into the house inebriated and forced himself on the bedridden woman.

It baffles the mind to imagine what pleasure a man would draw from such barbarity. Those who say women who are raped often "arouse" men with their clothes and behaviour need to answer, how a 100-year-old bedridden woman within the confines of her own house "aroused" the sexual depravity of a grown-up.

It is unfortunate that in order to build a discourse against rape, we have to refer to cases where the "arousal" card can be ruled out, that we still need to provide proof for the fact that the blame for rape falls squarely on the rapist and not the victim.

The incident highlights a reality that we have long ignored in debates about rape. Rape is not about sex, it is rather the manifestation of the mental perversion that is ingrained in the minds of our men by the engines of patriarchy. These engines ensure men don't see women as humans or as fellow beings. Women are rather seen as objects, who exist to serve men sexually.

The sanction of rape in our marriages is a manifestation of the sanction that this behaviour has in the society. Men have a right to demand sex, denying it is cruelty on the part of the women. It's infuriating to imagine we place the denial of sex higher than rape on the cruelty chart.

News of rape with old women disgusts us to the point that we just don't feel like talking about it. It's that ugly side of life we choose to ignore because it leaves us sick to the stomach. But it is important that we pause for a moment and think about this crime. We must reflect on where have we come and just where we plan to go from here.

Incidents of rape with children, some as young as just a couple of months, rapes of mentally disturbed people who can't articulate their trauma or rapes of old women as in the case of the Meerut incident must wake us up.

The rapists are on the prowl for weak targets just as they are looking for the stronger ones, whose strength they can't stomach. Each victim needs to be protected, to be talked about and to be fought for with equal conviction.

We need to save our society from the abyss of this moral and mental perversion and colossal depravity.

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