Hypocrisy of rape protests - are you serious?

Here is a post from Sameer khan. The guy is a free-lance and play-writer. Not sure what compulsion he had to write on this topic. But these self-righteous people get me sick. I  mean - what is their point? That rapes have been happening all along, and since we cannot correct that past, we have no right to protest against it now? That if we did not raise our voice against rapes earlier, now it's fait-accompli and we are hypocrites protesting against it.
I don't find him any shade better than Abhijeet Mukherjee - son of our esteemed president Pranab Mukherjee - who had the galls to say Delhi protesters are 'dented and painted' women .....

Let's continue with our efforts at brainstorming how we make Delhi better. Please share your views at www.zammrs.com/savedelhi


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India has been rattled by the gruesome incident of gang rape in a bus and now everyone is talking about rape as an issue and demanding capital punishment for the criminals. But much to our denials and pretentiousness our history and culture is tainted with sexual crimes and it’s never going to be washed away.

As much as it happens in any conflict our past is full of brutality of rape and sexual violence against women. The mindset of using a rape as a weapon of subjugation and humiliation of the other community, caste or religion at the cost of a woman has always been displayed fervently again and again and it’s the woman who has been subjected to it.

Rape has been the most dirty weapon used all along our history whether it’s the victorious mercenaries of East India Company against the beleaguered helpless people of Delhi in 1857 or the countless rapes and abductions of women and young girls carried out by Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims in 1947.

“Please don’t kill my adolescent daughter in front of my eyes. Came the reply: Ok! do as he says: Take off her clothes and pull over on onside” ( Sadat Hassan Manto’s Concession) His short stories of Bimla, Sakeena, Thanda Gosht all resonated the painful searing effects of rape on the women. I visited my friend in the Muktsar district of Indian Punjab in 2006, in town of Giddarbaha, There were Mosques yet not a single Muslim in the Village most of them had migrated or died in the violence of 1947. An old woman walked up to me and greeted me with a Salam alaikum, I was surprised and rejoined walaikum salam, She was Muslim grandmother of my Punjabi Hindu friend abducted as a 16 year old at the time of Partition. There are thousands of such stories in Pakistan too where Sikh and Hindu women were abducted during Partition of India and Pakistan. Can we ever fathom the pain of thousands of such women who lived a life of misery for rest of their lives?

We have recent memories of Gujarat of 2002 when the brutality of rape reached a new level of abhorrence. Pregnant Muslim woman’s belly was slashed and foetus thrown in Fire. A 19 year old pregnant Bilkis Bano was raped by three men with all bestiality and left because they thought she was dead. There are countless other women who also suffered the ignominy of Rape and are living a scarred life. Was their pain and trauma any less than that of the raped girl in Delhi? Did any women’s group march on India Gate? Did anyone bother to counsel them for their trauma? Did anyone burn a candle?

Over the years, we have been reading small 5 line news stories in newspapers of a Tribal or a Dalit woman being raped in UP and Bihar by land lords. Did we ever bother to raise our voices to the hundreds of stories that we grew up reading? There are voices demanding Capital Punishment for rapist does that punishment also include for rapes committed in communal violence too? And moreover how much is rape a result of our cultural mindset of subjugating a women sexually a cultural influence?

Rape has been always a part of our psyche and we have been hypocrites in choosing which of the rape that we chose to cry for and others that we turn a blind eye to. Thus when we demand Capital punishment and raise of our voices in favor of the rape victim we need to introspect and also ponder about our past hypocrisy and future apathy towards the different responses towards different rape victims.

Are we getting raped as well?

Today I read an excellent article from Rasheeda Bhagat "Rape is about power, not lust"
Here is full read
I was amazed at the severity of issue which is so much prevalent in our civilized society. Rape is surely a statement of power over women which man seems to be exercising from the time human race comes into picture. We Humans are the most intelligent race in this world but when it comes to respecting women even animals are way ahead of us. I am ashamed of calling those people Humans who carries out such a heinous crime like rape.
But my mind is not worried about only women getting raped in our society, there are more instances of entire human species getting raped by some individuals who are sitting at the top and calling orders. We The People Of India are getting raped continuously from past 65 years by the politicians and we were Silent. Silent... like a women somewhere in every house in India who suffers a lot and gets humiliated a lot, not only  from society but many a times from her own relatives and she never says a word. She never says a word since she has been brought up like that in a male dominated society. If she raise voice she is considered loose character , mad and treated like animal , beaten like animal.
"Is getting raped India's destiny?" We were raped by Britishers for more than a century. At that time there was no freedom of individual, no freedom of thoughts and we revolted . We revolted as a unit and the government tried to tame us with sticks , guns and bombs but at last we succeeded in throwing them out of our country.
Can We The People Of India call ourselves free today?
When a so called Yoga Guru starts protesting against black money and protest gain masses then force is used to stop them.. People gets beaten up by their own country's policeman.. The same policeman who gets paid because we pay taxes..
When a Girl gets gang raped and brutally assaulted by some bastards and people asks Questions from government about their safety, security and well being, they got answered not by voice but by Sticks and tear gases from the same policeman who we pay so that we can be safe.
Are we really safe in our own country?
A girl writes something on facebook which doesn't go well with some political goons and what happens? She gets arrested and her relatives gets thrashed and no person who is responsible for attacks gets arrested Why?
Can't we raise our voice is something is not right in society? Is there really something called Freedom Of Speech? Are we really a democratic country? Is the preamble from our constitution make sense now?

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY, of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;
and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, DO HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.

Is this the right time to Think, Right time to Act ? What does the future has in store for us?

PS: I am creating a repository of various crimes against women. Please post whatever additional information you may have on this at www.zammrs.com/group/218

Delhi rape case: Will castration be an effective deterrent?

It is perhaps common in our  society that when confronted with a serious problem, we let our emotions run riot even while refusing to look at the real solutions.

A case in point is the horrific gang-rape of a medical student in a moving Delhi bus last Sunday. Television and media in general have gone hysterical, and suddenly the same country that was discussing the barbarity of the death penalty in the context of terrorism is now enthusiastically espousing blood-lust as retribution for rape.

At another level, non-solutions are the order of the day. Since the rape happened in a bus with tinted windows and curtains drawn, the Delhi police are seeking to ban tinted glass and curtains. How ridiculous! Tinted glasses are intended to protect you from the heat and dust. They are not the cause of rapes. Their abolition is not going to get the crime rate down in rapetown. Rape will happen elsewhere.


The only thing that will deter rapists is the certainty of punishment, and not its quantum, or even the death penalty.

However, it is worth discussing an increase in punishment or a new form of punishment — if the intention is to publicise it widely and put fear into the minds of potential offenders.

Let’s first ask: is death penalty a deterrent?

Many male MPs in parliament have been busy demanding this, and some women MPs have also joined them in the surge of anger and horror over the bus-gang-rape.

But the death penalty is always problematic since the world is moving away from it. India is one of the few holdouts, but even we are reluctant to execute our death row inmates. So sending rapists to the gallows is hardly a rational choice. It is also worth recalling that before demitting office as President, Pratibha Patil commuted the death sentences of several rapists. A record 30 pardons were granted in double-quick time.

Among them was Santosh Yadav, who was already serving a jail sentence for rape. In jail, as gardener of the jailer, he and a fellow convict raped the jailer’s own daughter. He was pardoned by Patil. Dharmender Singh and Narendra Yadav killed a family of five when their minor daughter resisted rape. They, too, were pardoned.

If the general trend is pardon for even heinous rapes, it is difficult to believe that society will support the death sentence for rape once the immediate public anger abates.

Moreover, the problem is different: the purpose of the death sentence is to serve as a deterrent, not as retribution alone. There is no evidence that men with high libidos and weak moral consciences will be deterred by it. Few men are scared enough of the death sentence, especially when the process of conviction and sentencing takes years.

So if one is looking for deterrence, only something that frightens men might work.

Castration is one such possibility. If there is one thing that all men consider with a sense of dread, it is the loss of libido and the sex drive. So, the fear factor of castration would clearly be a deterrent, especially if it was widely publicised and the public knows in advance what is in store for rape. Some Indian judges has also mentioned it as a possible deterrent.

But castration, unfortunately, has its own problems. Many countries have tried them, with mixed results.

There are two kinds of castration – one is physical, where the male testicles are physically removed; the other is chemical, where male testosterone levels are reduced with drugs — usually Depo Provera — which lowers the libido and sex drive.

The physical approach seems the most effective, and studies over long periods show that physically castrated men do not usually relapse into sex crimes since the drive itself drops like a stone. But the physical removal of testicles does not by itself reduce the production of testosterone, since this is also produced by some other glands, and some men have reported normal sex drives even after the removal of their testes.

Chemical castration — which some countries like the Czech Republic, Korea and some states in the US have accepted — involves the injection or consumption of Depo Provera for long periods of time. It is effective, and if voluntarily taken by sex-addicts or high-libido persons, it can be effective. But any reduction in dosage can lead to relapses, as one case in San Antonio suggests.

However, castration is a leap into the dark for India for two reasons: if administered involuntarily to rapists, it can do psychological damage. If rape is partly the result of a damaged self-esteem, castration could compound this problem. Amnesty International says castration is “inhuman“. One one does not know if castration could lead to other undesirable side-effects. In dogs, castration sometimes leads to obesity since the operation causes a drop in the metabolism rate. If food intake remains the same, they gain weight.

Even so, on balance it may be worth having castration on the statute book as an option for one simple reason: it does scare the daylights out of many men. It could serve as a deterrent, even though its frequent use needs further study and research.

Coupled with the normal or enhanced jail sentence, it is worth trying out in extreme cases.

zammrs.com had recently run a speak-up campaign where over 5000 people from Delhi participated and voiced their opinion. Not surprisingly, more than half of the respondents just wanted to either hang the perpetrators or  castrate them. :)

Delhi Gang Rape

Last one week has been so unreal. Monday brought the news of  #DelhiGangRape, where 6-odd people unleashed unspeakable savagery on an innocent 23-years old girl. This incident demolished all established notions of safety. I mean - the girl was not alone, it was just about 9 PM and they apparently took public transport from one of the highly-crowded areas in the capital of a billion-plus people’s country. And the perpetrators not just violated her; they almost killed her – in most inhuman way thinkable.

It becomes a non-statement to say there is no fear of Police or Law among criminals. And a direct corollary is common man’s lack of faith on these institutions. But why are we destined to live this life where every moment we feel insecure, and without any recourse. Zammrs.com – an online platform for public discussions and opinion making - ran a ‘Speak-up’ campaign in Delhi to ask people what needs to be done to make Delhi safe and ensure such incidents are not repeated. More than 5000 people spoke their mind and gave their suggestions in writing. So, what do we get out of this?

This is certainly not a trivial problem to solve and people understand there can’t be any quick fixes. This is not entirely a law-and-order problem and it also has to do with fast-deteriorating human-values in our society. This is also a Social problem, a Psychological problem, a social-economic issue. There is need for inculcating human-values and there is need for inclusive economic growth. There is no getting away with these problems without attacking the roots…… BUT

BUT ….. while these long term steps are certainly necessary, there is a real need of urgent steps. The justice not only need to be done but it also must be seen as being done. And this is where the government and administration is greatly lacking.

There is unprecedented fury out on the streets, and whole nation is feeling let-down from powers-that-be. There is no reason why the Government, Bureaucracy and Judiciary could not come on a common platform to address people’s concerns and emotions. If it’s an unprecedented crime – followed by unparalleled public-protest, why can’t the government make an exception and attempt to address people up-close? Why does a Home minister address a press-conference only after so much of public protest? And most importantly, why does an elected government fail to gain people’s trust. Both Centre and Delhi state are being governed by Congress. How can they afford to be so out-of-touch with people’s sentiments? It’s either ‘Arrogance of power’ as media is putting it, or their smug belief they don’t need these people to win elections again.

I would conclude with the single most-heard message yesterday at India Gate. We need swift and decisive punishment to be given to the culprits, ASAP. This punishment has to be of comparable proportions to what victim is suffering and will likely suffer for the rest of her life. And this punishment has to be a credible deterrent so as to stop the all-too-frequent cases of rapes being reported hourly from across the country.

PS: Whole social media is abuzz with how political masters used their favourite pets to sabotage largely peaceful public protest. I was personally at India Gate whole of Saturday and know it for a fact that most protesters were not trouble-mongers but average aam-aadmi that are really feeling the pain of rape-victim. And the government had been trying to derail it since early morning today. Having miserably failed in dissuading people to come for protest, they resorted to this third-rate tactic. It’s no wonder people have absolutely no faith in them.