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What do women expect from society? Has been a burning question over time but gained much attention over the headlines when the nation mourned another loss of a trainee doctor who was sexually assaulted and murdered at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata on August 9, 2024.
A unique satire laces this question as neither laws against such crimes are a mystery nor are such situations uncommon, but still people wonder what women want in continuance of these crimes.
A report by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) revealed that crimes against women have been on the rise, with 4,45,256 cases reported in 2022, which means 51 cases every hour. In sharp contrast, the conviction rates for rape ranged between 27%-28% from 2018-2022, which means out of 100 accused, only 28 get convicted.
As conveyed by Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly, ‘there had been stringent laws already in place, but they had to be implemented properly’ in light of the passing of the Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment), 2024, unanimously by the Bengal State’s Assembly.
Strict laws and capital punishment simply facilitate as a mechanism to punish wrongdoers as the aftermath of the crime, whereas the simple want of women is to call for a change – to prevent crime against women from taking place and if occurred the accused being convicted at the right time and systematic structural changes within society that doesn’t question her choices and freedom for the occurrence of the crime.
This kind of freedom as a want for a woman has been reiterated multiple times beyond the geographical boundaries across countries through various platforms, but it's the very narrative that what women ‘wants’ are perceived as luxuries rather than a necessity, which makes these ‘wants’ too much to ask for.
As a society, the oversimplified gender roles and overexemplified ethos and values lead to criminals and rapists still believing they can get away with their crime and blames women's freedom for the occurrence of the same. As said by the senior criminal lawyer Rebecca M. John, ‘One of the factors would be the absence of fear of the law,’ and added, ‘there is no consistent application of the law, that's one aspect. There is very poor policing, that's another aspect,’ as told to Reuters.
In order to solve both of these issues and deliver the justice required, it's important for the judicial system to be more proactive and ‘sensitive’ towards such cases not just in courts but also while investigating and policing.
There should exist an internal check mechanism as well as equipping such investigations with more female officers through which the victim has a certain sense of comfort in disclosing details.
Furthermore, the root cause of such gruesome crimes in India is the mindset of the criminal itself – the extreme liberty of thought such as ‘this is how the society should function and how women should be and shouldn’t be’ leads to them thinking they have the freedom and responsibility to fix the society.
These exact thoughts need to be changed at the very grassroot level by incorporating fundamental changes in gender stereotyping and turning over the patriarchy. It will be only with an effective judicial system , responsible policing system and better value system that such crimes can be eradicated from the pages of history.
The fire that burns in the heart of every individual on encountering such an incident gives enough hope to know we can do better as a society, but hope alone can neither save life nor change reality.
It requires every individual to be more introspective of their actions and the society to acknowledge the decade of discrimination that was faced by a particular gender that still bears its resonance in some form or another. It isn't a race for the establishment of a superior gender but a world where both equally feel belonged to.
The freedom, the legislation, the change that women want can’t be achieved by a society of people who are unreceptive towards them; neither can be achieved without acknowledging and accepting that the discrimination existed and continues to take place in new ways. The solution does not lie in isolation nor in empowerment alone. The wants of freedom and safety are not something one needs to ‘give’ them; rather, they are ones they reclaim, as it was forever theirs to ‘have’.
BY AGRIMA KUSHWAHA
TEAM GEOSTRATA
Reading this article has left me deeply moved and reflective. Women deserve to feel safe, respected, and valued in every aspect of life. It's time for us to listen to their voices and stand together against violence and injustice.
I think men have always wanted to prove themselves superior. They do this to display their power and assert dominance. If a woman is more successful than them, it hurts their ego. I believe this is one of the biggest problems in a patriarchal society.
What a thought provoking piece of writing! The narratives of women, from women, need to be heard.
This isn’t in world by men, for men.
Liberty of thought in criminals' mindset should end, be it either male or female. Rape convicts, however, should be punished severely. The RG Kar Case is a live example of what should not happen in a developed society and how the administration should not handle a sensitive matter. As for the justice, too late. We need reforms in the existing and outdated systems.