The Rape of a Nation
Much hoo-ha was created when a college student was raped by a policeman at the Marine Drive area in Mumbai. The city came on to the streets protesting against lax police officials; against lawlessness in Mumbai; against lawlessness among the law-enforcement agencies themselves. Some wanted the constable in question to be hanged; while some wanted him castrated. That was three weeks ago.
Following the rape of the 16 0r 17 year old (the media has not been able to pinpoint the age), the media in Mumbai, and indeed across the nation, kept reporting more rapes and molestations. It was as if the rape season was on.
Rape has always been committed since prehistoric times, and no one can wish it away. It is the most heinous of crimes; yet, my guess is that no one will be able to stop it. Therefore, I am a bit surprised that the media, like it does in most cases, highlights cases only when it suits them. For example, India reports more than 15000 rape cases a year (41 a day), so who is to decide which rape is newsworthy or not? Should the rape of a farmer's wife by the local moneylender be considered worthy of a mention, or should the rape of a slumdweller be more important? Who will decide? The editors in their ivory towers, or the reporters on the field, or someone else?
More importantly, as columnist Shankar Raghuraman points out in his piece in the Times of India, for every reported case of rape (at least in Punjab), there are 68 that go unreported. So, we can safely assume that there are more than 1 million rapes committed in India every year (assuming the ratio of 1:68 holds true)! How do we rehabilitate the lives of 1 million women?
The media will forget rapes in some time, and get back to scams, politicians, sting operations, cricket, and why Narain Karthikeyan should be hired by Renault or McLaren, and not Jordan.
Now go figure that one!