Shobhaa De | Does anyone give a damn for rape victims in India?

And chew on this: in seven out of 10 cases, rapists escape punishment. How come? Simply because we don’t have a sufficient number of prisons to accommodate the staggering number of rapists running around, assaulting defenseless women. Rapists are like India’s stray dogs: impossible to count or control. Seen as a menace to society and a threat to the vulnerable who they pounce on, they run wild and roam free. The statistics for unreported rapes are beyond computation. Experts say culprits get away with the crime because our overburdened police lack the time needed for a thorough investigation. The conviction rate in rape cases is a dismal 27.4 per cent. Shocked? I am not. The ugly truth is that rape does not count as a “serious” crime in our twisted society. Nobody really cares, no one bothers. Rape happens, we shrug. And move on to the next story.

Rape remains just another four-letter word.

Didi has suddenly woken up to rape’s seriousness. There has been a huge hungama over the stringent anti-rape bill that was unanimously passed by the West Bengal Assembly recently, which proposed the death penalty for rapists, no less. No half measures. Seedha maut. The Aparajita Women and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill 2024 wants to alter sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The bill also recommends imprisonment of 3-5 years for disclosing the victim’s identity. The West Bengal chief minister’s critics accused her of milking the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital tragedy to score political brownie points and hog headlines. It is a clumsy, misplaced attempt to demonstrate good intentions, after messing up big time. Unfortunately for Didi, the latest stunt has backfired and comes off as a loud, theatrical act that has raised more questions on the rape-murder scandal, without addressing the issues themselves. Is anything likely to change anytime soon? Will the passing of the bill transform the lives of women by ensuring their safety? Certainly not! This is an eyewash, and hogwash, that hasn’t fooled anyone. So long as there is police apathy and appalling conditions at the workplace remain, the bill will be a piece of worthless paper. A footnote, best ignored.

It may be worth researching why women in the Northeast are relatively better off, with a lower rate of sexual crimes than the national average. Are they more valued in society? Better respected? Is the mindset of men from the Northeast significantly different from that of their counterparts in Delhi? Why is Delhi stuck with such a vile reputation? How come Delhi “leads” with one nasty incident per 700 women -- the country’s highest? If India’s capital can “boast’’ about this “achievement”, is there any wonder why the rest of the country damns the “rape culture” there and families are reluctant to allow their daughters to seek employment in such a dangerous city? But Mumbai, with all its swag, is not much better, despite the perception of it being the safest metropolis in India. It is anything but! Millions of female Mumbaikars risk assault on a daily basis as they rush to work, looking over their shoulders constantly. Most cop stations are frightfully under-manned and the havaldars on duty barely look up when a woman walks in to file a rape complaint. She is treated like a nuisance who is wasting their precious time and keeping them away from more important cases.

With all the noise surrounding the Kolkata rape and murder case, the selective outrage also underlines the class discrimination faced by other rape victims, like the two Dalit teens who were found hanging from a tree in UP’s Farrukhabad district. Officials claimed swabs were sent for testing “to rule out rape”, after the family protested. Since when has the “swab test” become the definitive test to establish rape?

I am scratching my head to find some cheerful news worth sharing as we herald the forthcoming festive season. I am stumped! I can’t get over the absurdity of all the stories surrounding the 35-foot steel statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj that toppled over at Rajkot Fort in Malvan. The impressive statue of the warrior king was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2023 during the Navy Day celebrations. Nine months later, the gigantic statue fell off its pedestal during high winds. And all hell broke loose as rival political parties started the blame game. Meanwhile, the terrified sculptor disappeared! I am feeling really bad for 39-year-old Jaydeep Apte, whose track record has been pretty impressive so far. In 2019, Apte was commissioned by the UK-based Sikh Soldier organisation to sculpt a bronze bust of a Sikh soldier which was unveiled in West Yorkshire.

It’s crazy that seven police teams were unable to find Apte for 10 days! Come on… he is not a gangster or some underworld don. Hard to believe the ex-alumnus of the J.J. School of Art successfully eluded the cops like a seasoned, hardened criminal. Now comes the good news: the absconding sculptor has finally been nabbed after he surrendered to the police outside his own home. Ridiculous, or what? Perhaps, as the poor fellow said in an earlier interview, he wasn’t given sufficient time to work on the statue. Most importantly, what exactly is his culpability? Isn’t he as guilty or as innocent as corrupt road contractors whose slipshod work at an inflated cost leads to so many fatal accidents. Nobody arrests them, so why go after the sculptor? Clearly, the politics of the statue are more important than fair play. There is talk that Apte is a close friend of Shrikant, chief minister Eknath Shinde’s son. Is that why seven police teams failed to locate him? Meanwhile, the Malvan police filed an FIR against Apte and Chetan Patil, the structural engineer, under several sections, including “attempt to murder”. Huh???

For now, I am cheering myself up as Mumbai gets ready to welcome its much-adored Bappa over the weekend. It’s modak time as hundreds of pandals gear up for ten days of energetic celebrations. The Assembly elections in Maharashtra are around the corner, with Uddhav Thackeray actively pitching himself as the next chief minister. Get ready for fireworks, folks. And do watch out — the biggest rocket is in Sharad Pawar’s hands.

Ganpati Bappa Morya!!!