Rape: A Crime Against Humanity Seldom Acknowledged As One

Key Takeaways

• Rape is the term given to the act of non consensual and forceful sexual intercourse committed against a person.
• It is recognised as an offence in Sections 375, 376, 376 A, 376 B, 376 C, 376 D and 376 E.
• However, the laws pertaining to the heinous crime of rape have failed to act as an deterrent towards it.
• The offence of rape also invites a plethora of opinions, biases, taunts, remarks, advice, and blame, most of which are unsolicited and create a sense of trauma for the survivor.
• In this article, we will cast a social gaze towards the softer, often unseen aspect of rape, away from the scrutiny of laws, statutes, precedents, and other institutions of law enforcement.
• The highlight of this article will be its outlook towards the act of rape from a victim centric point of view.

Introduction

India is one of the few countries where women are revered in the form of goddesses. They are worshipped by millions and it is ensured that these goddesses never face any sort of deficiency in their service. There are even festivals like kanjak that celebrate womanhood by worshipping and serving young girls. However, for a country that holds the womankind to a holy pedestal, the ground reality is the complete opposite; it is dark, dull and gloomy. Rape is a word that cannot be severed from the headlines of a newspaper. Cases of harassment, kidnapping, molestation, stalking, violence (both domestic and public) are commonplace to the point that the Indian psyche has gotten used to it and one does not even blink an eyelid when such cases reappear time and time again. Things have deteriorated to the point that even children are at the receiving end of such unmentionable, disgusting and gut wrenching sexual violence. And yet, no matter how much one rants or laments the occurrence of such incidents, the reality is yet to be different. It is said that a rape victim begins their journey in the pages of countless FIRs filed only to end up as a case to be cited. Their names are forgotten and their experiences are brushed under the carpet. What is worse, they are even blamed for it, more often than not. Even if the perpetrator is put behind bars or hanged, the victim is the one who has to relive with the horrors every single day. The question remains, is justice really served? How long till this gender war ends?

The Narrative Around Rape

The first and foremost fault lies in the manner in which a crime is reported in the media. It is written as “XYZ was raped” instead of “ABC raped XYZ”. The difference lies in the subconscious psychological effect it has on the reader. In the first instance, the onus of responsibility is subconsciously placed on ‘XYZ’ whereas in the second case, the accused is clearly demarcated. The light of shame is shifted from the victim to the one who is the perpetrator. This change in narrative makes a huge difference and empowers more people to speak up and part of the shame associated with being a rape victim is lifted. It is high time the onus is shifted from the aggrieved party to the one who is truly responsible. Another point of difference is the manner in which the aggrieved woman is referred to. Mainstream culture refers to them as ‘rape victims’ which subconsciously shows them as someone to be pitied, someone weak and hapless and not capable for standing up for themselves. This in itself is a patriarchal outlook towards the aggrieved woman and shows our ‘savior complex’. One might say, what is the point of playing with terminology, which at the end of day, refers to the accused and the prosecution? To this argument, I would just say that the word ‘Rape’, ‘Molestation’, ‘Harassment’, ‘Domestic Violence’, ‘Cruelty’ are just words too to someone who hasn’t been subjected to their meaning in the real sense. The change starts when the narrative changes.

The Blame Game

The moment a woman speaks up about rape, she is bombarded with the a combination of the following lines:

• What was she wearing?
• Who goes out this late at night?
• She has so many male friends! What else do you expect?
• She is probably lying!
• What proof does she have?
• She is just ruining the reputation of the innocent boy.
• She is just doing it for attention!
• She must be the one who enticed the boy!
• Was she intoxicated?
• Did she say ‘No’?
• She was asking for it!

Reading through these lines is just a littles less triggering than actually hearing them, especially when one has been subjected to one of the most disgusting and painful human horrors imaginable. Regrettably, this is what most rape survivors are subjected to. It is the habit of most people surrounding the person who has been raped. The onus of safety is always placed on the woman and when something like this happens, she is blamed for failing to take adequate care. This is utterly wrong and is a major flaw in today’s society as it leads to the societal acquittal of the rapist. The rapist is not held accountable by the society as the limelight falls upon the woman who has been raped. Instead of questioning the rapist, it is the woman who has to face the brunt of intrusive and insensitive questions and in case the raped person is able to muster up the courage to answer them, their narrative, experiences, and horrors are brushed aside. In some cases, the person who has been raped is even blamed for it. The most common reasons used for ‘justifying’ rape revolves around the kind of clothes the woman was wearing, the relation between the rapist and the survivor, the age of the woman, the time at which the incident occurred and if she had even tried to stop the rapist. These regressive attitudes put the integrity and honesty of the person subjected to rape at stake. What is more disheartening is that these regressive viewpoints are often seen in the halls of the Legislatures themselves. The very elected politicians, who are supposed to light the way for the country as it progresses forward, are often the ones making callous comments that do more harm to the reputation of the raped person and give a sense of social acceptance of to the rapist, as the rapist feels that what they did cannot be wrong as after all, a politician is supporting it!

Need more proof? Here is a list of the some of the most shocking things said by politicians about the criminal offence of rape:

• “Boys will be boys; they commit mistakes” - Mulayam Singh Yadav, SP supremo.
• “Two men raping a woman is not gangrape” - K J George, Karnataka Home Minister.
• “Rapes are an urban crime caused by westernisation and do not happen in rural India rich with traditional values” - Mohan Bhagwat, RSS Chief.
• If a woman is caught in a rape case, then both she and the boy should be punished” - Abu Azmi, SP State President.
• “Just because India achieved freedom at midnight does not mean that women can venture out after dark” - Botsa Satyanarayana, former Andhra Pradesh Congress Chief.
• “If anyone from the opposition or their wives and sisters are here, then listen up, if any one of your people touch anyone from TMC I will destroy you, I will not spare them. I will send my boys and they will rape people” - Tapas Pal, TMC MP.
• “This is a social crime which depends on men and women. Sometimes it's right, sometimes it's wrong” - Babulal Gaur, Home Minister, Madhya Pradesh.
• “If we go into the details of rape cases and abductions, it is found that victims and accused in 90% of cases are runaway couples. So the cases are consensual” - Dharamvir Goyat, Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) member.
• “Why were the girls out so late? Parents should be responsible for ensuring that minor children don’t go out late into the night” - Pramod Sawant, Chief Minister, Goa.

Why do rapes happen

Answering this question is useless because whatever may be the reason, it is not correct or reasonable enough to justify it. However, it is important to take a look as to what causes rape. According to social psychologists and social historians, the reason behind the occurrence of a crime like rape happens lies in the way women are viewed. Since ancient times, women have been viewed as a chattel belonging to her father, brother, husband and sons. This notion has also been enforced through pop culture, mainstream media as well as the morals imparted over generations to young children. The idea that a woman needs to be submissive and respectful towards her elders, especially male members of the family and society, with particular focus on her father, brothers, husband and sons, has created a sense of entitlement, which has been ingrained into the society’s common psyche. Hence, when a woman denies to comply with a sexual predator, this mindset kicks in. Another view is that since women are viewed as ‘property’ belonging to a paternal figure, it is believed that outraging the modesty of a woman and violating her bodily autonomy is a perfect way to hurt one’s ego. This trend was particularly seen during the time of Partition, when rapes occurred with the sole motive to violate and disrespect religious communities. The common reason is the refusal to accept ‘No’ as an answer.

Rape: A Cis-Het Gender Biased Narrative

Now, we must ask ourselves this question: Is rape something that is always committed by a man against a woman? Is the victim always a woman? The answer to both the questions is a loud and clear ‘No’. The rapist need not always be a man. Similarly, rapes are committed against every gender spectrum, that is, male, female, transgender, gender-queer and gender fluid persons. What is important here to note is that rape is not a gender war where one gender plays the role of the aggrived party and the other is always the perpetrator. By continuing the cisgender and heteronormative narrative around rape, we are limiting the room for discussions and expression of the experiences.

Conclusion

Rapes, saddeningly, are becoming more and more common. However, the frequency of the same must not be equated to their social acceptance. Rape is one of the most violent crimes that one can commit against another. While dealing with such a gruesome act, it is important that all entities surrounding the survivor, like the survivor’s immediate support system, the police, the attorneys, the judges, the media, and in short, the whole society at large, take care as to be sensitive to the victim’s mental, physical and emotional state. It is also high time that people representing the country, that is, the elected members sitting in oak panelled legislatures, realise their duty and expand their mindset so as to not make callous comments that further endanger the safety of women by not placing the blame on the party on which it is to be placed, that is, the rapist who committed that violation against the woman. Blaming the innocent party is detrimental to society as it gives a free pass to the rapist, who then feels that no wrong has been committed.