"Delhi rape" has lost public shock value
It's been two years today since Jyoti Singh Pandey was raped and fatally assaulted on a bus in South Delhi. Two winters ago, we the people, gathered at India Gate, called on the government, shouted slogans, organised marches, cried ourselves hoarse and swore we wouldn't stop till we reached a point of change. Two Decembers hence the city has marked the mourning not with change or triumph but with yet another case being given almost as much attention as the "Nirbhaya rape case" - the Uber rape case. The only difference between our reactions to this and the case from two years ago is that our anger levels look like they've subsided depressingly, and in place we seem to have developed a communal sadness with a deeply jaded undertone. Sadder still is that the repetitive offering of "Delhi rape cases" seems to have lost its public shock value.
In the two years post "Nirbhaya", the flimsy answers the government has offered have been dismal to say the least. In their misguided and essentially patriarchal attempts to "protect" the female public, we've witnessed changes that have and will perhaps only serve to confine us, women, to the home more and more. Bars closing down earlier, various "hotlines" that never seem to work, segregated public transport and of course the most recent and heroic of them all - the banning of private taxi services. (I hope my sarcasm is evident here.) In the meantime, Jyoti Singh Pandey's case hasn't had a hearing in six months. Let's not forget the glittering display of politicians' intellect and opinion on feminist ideologies, spewed so casually at the public and into the media at a time we were praying leaders would simply hear our prayers. RR Patil, Home Minister, Maharashtra - home to Bollywood, claimed rape was thanks to obscene media images. Mulayam Singh Yadav casually said rape was just boys making mistakes, and promised that he would aid the revoking of anti-rape laws. But Babulal Gaur, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister, perhaps shed the most light on the darkness of those who lead us when he clearly said, "Rape is sometimes right and sometimes wrong." To add to his revelatory remarks, his colleague, Madhya Pradesh minister Kailash Vijayvargiya said, "When women cross the moral limit, these things are bound to happen."
Their comments make one thing clear, that whatever spread of education and mentality shift is taking place is within the women of the country, not the men. It puts into perspective the rape cases being added daily to the list, the casual male attitude towards the issue and in turn the hysteria of those who, like actress Shenaz Treasurywala, demand an even more complicated answer (death penalty) to what is already a hodge-podge situation. Scathing as this sounds, men basically don't think of rape as their problem. Maybe it's time we stop collecting data on how many women have been raped and molested, and start asking how many men around us have offended.
Possibly the greatest indicator of the close to unchanged levels of safety for women in the capital city should have come not from what we as women go through everyday (because maybe, just maybe our hopes and dreams lend us our bravery and somewhere taint for us the reality of the situation), but from the reactions our bravery begets from male counterparts.
"You're wearing that?"
"Gurgaon? No chance."
"Taking an auto after dark?!"
"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"
Even after we have rallied and fought, bit down and spoken up, it's incredible that the changes we'd like to perceive are taking place, are not being felt by a large part of the public - the male folk around us. And though it breaks my heart to say this, maybe that should indicate just how safe we are, because they should know. After all, they're men.