A woman's worst nightmare

India seems to be fast becoming a woman's worst nightmare. A couple of weeks ago a girl was molested by a policeman in Mumbai. The cop was apparently drunk but man oh man, these are the people that are supposed to be protecting us. And, this incident happened in a city considered to be the safest in India for women. Even more recently, a woman was dragged into a car and molested in Delhi. What is going on in our cities and villages?

That's not all. What's even more disgusting is the kind of sensitivity shown to the rape victims. The judge on another rape case actually asked the victim to show up and answer the accused's intention of marrying the victim. She told the judge that she'd like to see the guy hang.

Shiv Sena, in response to the Mumbai rape, said the following in its magazine Saamna:

There seems to be a competition among youngsters to show their undergarments in the name of ‘below-waist’ fashion,’’ says the article. ‘‘It is no longer feasible for a family to roam on Chowpatty. To see girls dangle a cigarette openly is worrisome. If a man is incited by such clothes, who can one blame?

(I didn't read the actual magazine but I got this from this article in the Indian Express.) Here's more wisdom:

Another senior leader, Pramod Navalkar, said, ‘‘We are compromising with our culture. The manner in which girls behave and socialise today is exceeding all limits. In the good old days, girls from Ghatkopar would not venture to Chowpatty.’’

It's disgusting to read statements like these. These are the same people who want couples not to display affection in public or probably even go back to the women being in the home, preferably in the kitchen. Neanderthals!

The person who's committing a rape, he won't care about whether a woman is wearing a bikini or a burkha. He'll do it anyway. To say that a woman who's wearing skimpy clothes is inviting a rape is sheer nonsense. And all this traditional bullshit doesn't work either. I don't think women in villages wear low-cut jeans or whatever else is "non-traditional" in our moral police's views.

What we need to do is to make the streets safer for women in India. It starts with stopping the eve-teasing, the jostling in buses, and even the way rape and molestation is (disgustingly) depicted in movies. While the police have to do a better job, so do we as ordinary citizens. I've quoted this before and I'll do it again:

All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. -- Edmund Burke