Rape

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

In one of the plays in the Absurd Drama genre, in the end a man and woman survive after the whole of the mankind is destroyed. Will these two male and female create mankind again? The answer does not count. What counts is: can sex be without marital relationship, a valid, legal- moral relationship? In the Mahabharata the queen mother Satyabati invites her own illegitimate son to have sex with her two widowed daughters in law only to prolong the clan: was that valid sex or shall we call it authority enforced rape?

The word rape sends shivers down my spine. The modern day mass media (social media) have made the word obnoxious to the limit. The cacophony raised over it and the media trial that happens lays bare the ugly face of man. As the media is vibrant today almost all urban rapes are reported in gory detail. Many cases go unreported. Political bosses make sexist comments. Male prejudice is openly bandied in the name of religion. Debates rape our sensibilities. But nothing happens the next day. Convenient memory relegates the matter to the subconscious level.

Rape is an aggressive expression of male ego. To possess a woman by force paying no heed to her protestations is inhuman to say  the least. The sexual predators are proud of forcing a woman for their own stolen pleasures. They are never ashamed of the fact that such enforced acts are cowardly. They will never understand  that a woman who is raped loses forever her self esteem. The psychological injury like a wound festers. Hate for men and disinterest in sex at times take away their interest in sex. The male world takes it as a done thing. As Mulayam Singh Jadav( Former U.P. Chief Minister) has said -"boys are boys  and they will do such things..." After the Nirvaya case in a Delhi bus, for a few days, the conscience of India rose to a pitch. New rape laws were framed. Justice Burma framed the new law awarding death penalty in rarest of rare cases. Nirvaya's mass rape and brutal murder was definitely a rare case and the rapist deserved the death penalty. But even after four years no one has been hanged. It is now obvious that death penalty is no deterrent. The Indian judiciary is  handicapped by several loop holes in the legal system. Lower court, appellate court, supreme court and finally President's mercy- the process is so long and intricate that the victim or survivor can never savour justice when it comes, if at all. The police and the Central Bureau of Investigation take years to file even the charge sheet. Those who are rich and powerful employ high-priced  lawyers to defend them and the cases hang fire.

But all said and done, who rapes? A man who lives in a family and society which follow certain moral codes, however, flexible they may be. There is a legal system in the country within which the society operates. The Indian Penal Code is very much in operation. Why then rapists commit such heinous crimes? The parents do not have compunction, their conscience is never shaken over the crime of their son. But the woman's parents suffer a hurt pride and in certain communities kill their own wronged daughter to escape so called social stigma. No social moral sense is disturbed; no group accosts the rapists, no social ostracism happens and to cap it all no justice operates: legal or moral.

How can rape be eradicated from society? Advices are dime a dozen. Women activists, police and others dole out free advise. A special corset too has now come to the market to prevent rape. All these things are laughable. Rape is a primordial crime and it may continue as long as the women are considered to be the weaker sex. The day a woman dares a rapist and maims or kills him the men will be on the back foot. Civilization has given polish to men and women but the predatory instinct is beyond civilizational polish. Moral lessons are of no help. The only way, as I see it, is empowerment of woman even in the physical sense. If the society enjoys a comparatively greater degree of freedom and men and women both freely mix with each other openly there may be more of consensual sex; not rape. But I am not sure. Fathers rape daughters. Cenci is still around . Rasputins and Casanovas are in every dark alley; unless men treat women as equals and the society does not make distinctions between man and woman rape would continue. But once the conscience is awakened may be the number of rapes will decrease .