This is something I forgot to mention in my earlier post:
In the Delhi Gang Rape case, one of the rapists was a thief. The bus had tinted windows. The neighbours of the rapists had said that they all had animal-like mentality right from earlier times.
We are demanding strict punishments only for rape. We think the only reason rape happens is because there is no death penalty or because of patriarchal society.
Wrong-there is another, much more disturbing reason.
When a person commits a robbery, the police lets him off. He gets a dose of 'bravery' and decides to turn to pickpocketing to earn a living. We just call him a "Chindi Chor' and ignore him. This makes him even more reckless. He starts beating up people but the authorities say "Men will be men, fights keep happening". Finally he sees a woman and rapes her. THEN we all open our eyes and say "Hai hai, death penalty"
Similarly, in a family, when an uncle or male relative touches you or other female relatives in wrong way, you ignore it. After all 'Dus saal mein ek baar hi to milte hain". When he beats up his wife, we keep quiet. After all, "It's a private matter of the couple, why should we interfere?" He gets encouraged, and decides to rape an outsider on the street. THEN we say "OMG! Let's castrate that animal!!"
In order to stop rape, we need to be vigilant to ALL crimes, even the petty ones. Death penalty is there for murder also-does it stop? No. We need to teach people that there is no "Level" of crime, that today if you're robbing, there's a very big chance you could do a bigger crime tomorrow.
Im not saying that the Justice Verma Comittee is a bad idea, I've seen some very good suggestions here. And of course, we need stricter punishments and we need to change society's mentality.
It's just that I think there should ALSO be some kind of vigilance for ALL offenders, not just the ones who we 'think' are dangerous and need to be killed.
Like for example, all those molesters and 'eve-teaser's, when they get out on bail, what happens to them? Or when they are acquitted of their charges? There should be some kind of system to monitor them, apart from the database they are creating. They should atleast be given some kind of a warning or a counseling session before being let off.
Edited by IndigoBlues - 11 years ago