Rape incidents 'underreported' in backward areas, victims mostly don't get justice

By Sudhansu R Das

The horrific incident of rape and murder of a sincere resident doctor in the RG Kar hospital in Calcutta has triggered nationwide protest from the doctors’ community, political parties and the general public. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi advocates death sentence for the rapists. He said fear should be instilled in the minds of the offenders.

Experts blame the unsafe atmosphere in workplace and deteriorating moral standard of people in the society. The incidents of rape are always underreported in backward areas and the victims in the majority of the cases do not get justice or wait for justice for decades.

If the offender belongs to the rich and influential class, he has various ways to get acquitted. It is good that CBI is investigating the RG Kar hospital rape; the CBI investigation may reveal the real faces behind the rape and other heinous crimes in the hospitals.

People's trust on the justice system shoud be restored; without which no country will progress. Inclusive justice is the foundation of a developed nation. Though the death sentence and stringent punishment will work as deterrence, it will not reduce the growing sexo-holism in the society.

The best solution to reduce the sex crimes lies in quality moral education in schools; children while studying should learn to respect women. Only morally strong teachers can give moral lessons to children.

It is very essential for the government to spend more on schools and appoint quality principals who can lead the teaching staff and create responsible future citizens. It is high time to teach self defense to both boys and girls; a girl can defend herself while a boy can rescue any woman in distress.

The police and the judges need to be honest and ensure quick punishment; no innocent person should be punished by law or get harassed by police. Law should protect those who dare to fight the predators. In many cases people remain silent fearing false implication.

Over the years smartphones have become a moral hazard. The majority of children get easily lured by adult content. It was propagated that smartphones help in browsing study related information. In reality it causes more harm than good.

If the offender belongs to the rich and influential class, he has various ways to get acquitted

If smartphones help in study, why keep schools and teachers? The free flow of sex contents in the internet degrades the morality of our children. It will create an unsafe atmosphere which will be difficult to control in the long run.

The growing unemployment, inflation, concentration of jobs in big cities, loss of interest among the village youth in physical work, urban centric education, erosion of community capital like ground water, rivers, crop diversity, mineral resources and minor forest products etc. compel youth to migrate to distant cities for jobs; this dismantle the joint family system which once taught children discipline and moral value. The majority of sex crimes happen due to this migration and breaking up of joint families.

When the youth from villages and small towns go to big cities for study or for work, there is nobody to guide them. Many of them fall into bad companies, return home late at night, get addicted to sex, alcohol and drugs. More jobs should be created in small towns and villages by tapping the natural sector economy and developing skills among the local youth. The root causes of the sex crimes should be treated with a sense of purpose.

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