M L Satyan

Coimbatore, May 3, 2024: Janata Dal Secular leader Prajwal Revanna, grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, and the son of HD Revanna, is the name widely spoken these days across India. Thousands of videos allegedly showing Prajwal sexually abusing women have sparked public outrage.

The allegations against the father-son duo include charges of sexual harassment, stalking, intimidation, and demeaning women. These accusations stemmed from a complaint filed by a woman who was employed at Revanna’s residence.

It is sad and shocking that we have witnessed several rape incidents like Unnao case in 2017; Kathua case in 2018; Hyderabad case in 2019 and Hathras case in 2020. Besides these cases, there have been numerous other rape incidents in Northeast, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Madya Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala during 2021-2023.

Today no place seems to be safe for women. Shockingly, there have been incidents of rape that have occurred in a family/home environment involving a father, brother or relative. Also, we have witnessed rape incidents inside a temple or church/convent campus.

Today, women live with constant fear and they do not feel safe as expressed below:

• Girl children are worried about their safety within their own homes.
• Homemaker women are worried about their safety when they are at home.
• Working women are worried about their safety at their workplaces.
• School/college/university girl students are worried about their safety within their campus.
• The resident girl children of Child Care Centres are worried about their safety within their places of residence.
• Female patients are worried about their safety within a hospital.
• Women travellers are worried about their safety in a travel environment.
• Women devotees are worried about their safety in an ashram environment.
• Women religious are worried about their safety within their own convents/congregations.

Even after 75 years of Independence, the country’s women are not safe. Oppression of the lower caste, indifference to women and the silence of the mainstream, are among the many hard-hitting truths exposed by every rape incident.

The grim reality of the rape incidents is a proof that social media outrage and hashtags do not translate to on-ground change. There are enough statistical reports to prove that women in India are at risk, their lives are at risk and not enough is being done to ensure their safety.

The Constitution of India protects and provides equal rights to men and women to enhance the position of women in society. Yet many women are not able to enjoy the rights pledged to them. The major causes of gender discrimination are:

Illiteracy: India has roughly 960 million uneducated adults; two thirds of them women. Lack of education of the girls has been a major cause of gender discrimination. The female literacy rate differs from 51 percent in Bihar to 92 percent in Kerala. Illiteracy contributes to poor health conditions, lower living status and an increase in the number of crimes.

Poverty: Poverty is the principal cause of gender inequality in the male dominated Indian society. In most families, males are the sole bread earners, increasing the financial dependency on the male counterpart. This is cause of gender inequality.

Societal norms and customs: Women are trapped in the societal norms, its rules and customs. The orthodox traditional patriarchal family system has always constricted women’s role mostly to the domestic world. In India, men have dominated women for ages. As a consequence, women have lower status in the family and in society.

This conservative thinking of society is still prevalent in this modern era, leading to ‘testing the gender of the fetuses and termination of pregnancy in an illegal way. Mindset like, teaching kitchen work to the girl child is more important as compared to sending her to the school is horrible. Many families feel that sending a girl child to the school is a redundant economic burden as later on in life she will be married and sent to another family. This pessimistic thinking of parents and society is another cause of gender disparity in India.

Lack of awareness: Lack of awareness among the genders, especially women; for their rights and opportunities still exists in India. Because of their ignorance women tolerate the violence and trauma of the family.

According to World Health Organisation, nearly 30 percent of all women who have ever lived in a relationship have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner which further resulted in violence from family. Number of projects were launched by the government to reduce gender inequality in India. But they have been ineffective.

The list of culprits includes father, brother, uncle, relative, friend, office colleague, teacher, classmate, priest, swami/guru, auto driver, school bus driver, government official, politician and even police. Rapes occur anywhere and everywhere. So, where is the security for young girls and women in India?

This is the country where elections are fought with catchy slogans like ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ (Save the girl child, educate the girl child). This slogan of the ruling BJP government has become meaningless today. India continues to remain an unsafe space for women. We do not need slogans, hashtags or campaigns to save us. We need humanity.

On the one hand, we take pride in comparing the nation to a mother and say “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” (Hail Mother India). But on the other side, the vulnerable women live in fear throughout their life. This is the irony in our country.

The safety and security of every woman in India lies with the responsible parents, family members, teachers, journalists, lawyers/judges, religious leaders, politicians and police.

Shall we strive towards making India a safe place for women?