Navodita takes a hard look the rising sexual violence against women. Seven years back, on December 16, 2012, the Nirbhaya case happened. What’s the role of media? We introduce a new weekly column, every Thursday, exclusively for Different Truths.

As Jammu and Kashmir still reels under the pain of no internet for the common man in the Valley, it is the slow economy with a low GDP, onion prices and rising crimes against women that have kept the Modi sarkar worried about the state of affairs on the domestic front. On top of that the legislative assembly elections and the electoral results did not augur well for the BJP either, adding to the woes of Modi-Shah duo, almost giving a setback to the political strategy of NaMo.

While Modi is still wondering how to handle a whole lot of issues, it is the law of the land that has eyebrows raised – as the Hyderabad encounter of the rape accused poses serious questions about not just crime but also about justice

While Modi is still wondering how to handle a whole lot of issues, it is the law of the land that has eyebrows raised – as the Hyderabad encounter of the rape accused poses serious questions about not just crime but also about justice. A spate of such incidents of violence against women have surfaced in various parts of the country. With a whole lot of people blaming the social media, television and mobile phones for the rise in such crimes, I’m compelled to think about the carefree times I have spent as a child and an adult and wonder whether the future generation will be able to live such a life, free of fear. With television channels debating the issue all day and media trying to ‘make India safer for women’, are we truly sensitising the society about how women ought to be treated in a civilised society or are we making the society more immune to such gory incidents of rape and murder.

Looking back media was a lot different – with 80s and 90s movies being mainly ‘love stories’, heroes being the ‘goody goody’ Rambo coming out of bushes just in time to save the female star caught by goons unlike the anti-hero that took shape in the modern era and the female protagonist being a sassy gal with pepper spray in her hands and well-versed in martial arts. What’s changed- almost everything, right from costume to language to even the extensive use of swear words and violence in films. Do movies, then, really influence the youth today? Somewhere they do. As women are being represented in a more bold avatar than their counterparts of yesteryears, they are also projecting a more independent image of women and new version as the 21^st century ‘Sati-Savitri’.

Definitions around what it means to be independent, dynamic and cultured at the same time have shaped roles of women in ways where they are not ready to take decisions involving them in a passive way. Women want to be at the forefront of the change that 21^st century has ushered in, be it in media, technology or value systems.

Definitions around what it means to be independent, dynamic and cultured at the same time have shaped roles of women in ways where they are not ready to take

decisions involving them in a passive way. Women want to be at the forefront of the change that 21^st century has ushered in, be it in media, technology or value systems. Women want to fight the labels and the stereotypes that have kept them in shackles and behind closed doors. If women have put in effort in some work, they now want credit for it- in whichever role they may be. It’s not just about being a dutiful mother, daughter, sister anymore. It’s about rights and rightful place in society, too. Laws are being made to support them in this endeavour but what is still required is a ‘social behavioural change’ in society. #MeToo movement was one such case in the media that drew attention to the fact that even the most educated class in society has not reconciled with the notion of an ‘equal partner’ in the workplace or at home. Leave alone the ones who are living in gullies, streets and villages.

It is ironic that while you have the first woman fighter IAF pilot being named in 2018 and the same year who have a high incidence of rapes in the country, too. It is oxymoronic that the fearful and the braveheart get a headline the same day. On the one hand, Section 497 of IPC ensured adultery is no longer a criminal offence in India with the then CJI Dipak Misra saying, “Husband is not the master of wife. Women should be treated with equality along with men.”; on the other, rape accused gets free in the garb of Juvenile Justice laws as was seen in the Nirbhaya case. While the legal system tries to find a middle path between reformist and deterrence views on juvenile justice, Indian laws are also struggling to find ways to make India an ‘equal’ place for the new generation. The question is: how far has it achieved gender parity?

We were born in a generation where we would cringe at a ‘sanitary napkin’ advert on television, while watching television with parents. This generation is different – they freely discuss periods, sexual violence, LGBT rights, Section 377 and Section 497.

We were born in a generation where we would cringe at a ‘sanitary napkin’ advert on television, while watching television with parents. This generation is different – they freely discuss periods, sexual violence, LGBT rights, Section 377 and Section 497. We are definitely becoming an ‘open society’ where transparency and openness is almost synonymous with modernity and progressive thinking. But are we truly becoming progressive or do we need a fundamental change in the way ‘social media technology’ is handled.

Democracy is all about freedom of expression, rights as much as it is about duties. However if the State is unable to grant safe, secure environs to its citizens – male or female, citizens are bound to take law into their own hands. That would result in total anarchy. Recent reportage of rape incidents have left us all thinking about the kind of society we are living in today. In fact, a section of the media opposed the release of BBC documentary of Nirbhaya’s gangrape titled ‘India’s Daughter’. Their argument was – it projects a negative image of India to the world. It is this very reason that lot of rape incidents used to go unreported, atleast in the past- social ostracism of the rape victim, dishonor to the family of the rape victim, too. It’s now time to tide over this syndrome and come out in support of women who are fighting violence in and around their homes, in their cities and states.

India needs to become safe for its daughters, mothers and sisters. While media does much to fight the case for a rape victim, it should also sensitise the people on such issues.

India needs to become safe for its daughters, mothers and sisters. While media does much to fight the case for a rape victim, it should also sensitise the people on such issues. More importantly, a fundamental change is required in the way justice is administered. Even today, justice delayed is justice denied!

Photos from the Internet