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INDIA

Independent Nation of Democratic Integration Alliance

Independent and Democratic, are we?

 We are a nation whose daily newspaper headlines are about the rapes of women from 8 month old to 80 years old; Molestation is a regular thing for women around the country. For most of the part of country, Respect for women is a myth ! And if someone ever tries to ask the people in power,those leader of ours; What are they doing for the safety and security of women in the country?  They either repeat their whole manifestos or simply say,  
"NO COMMENTS."

“Of all the evils for which man has made himself responsible, none is so degrading, so shocking or so brutal as his abuse of the better half of humanity; the female sex.” 
                                                                                                                               -Mahatma Gandhi

I would like to start by sharing an incident that happened with me.  There was this middle aged man standing next to me in a local bus. It was around 9 a.m, the bus was very crowded and I saw that this man was constantly pushing and rubbing himself slowly to a young girl’s back who obviously was feeling very uncomfortable but was keeping quiet about it. 

The more she tried to move ahead the more this man pushed himself. She even turned and gave him a stare but the man just laughed it off. I couldn’t control anymore so I intervened and pushed him back to which he came on me angrily shouting curses. When I told him and everyone about his unvirtuous and perverted behavior most people didn't react as if it was a normal thing, even when I asked the girl to file a complaint she thanked me for stepping up but she would not like to get into all this “Jhamela”. That man started shouting at me calling me a social worker and even Gay for stopping him from doing such a thing and then he fled. So,because I stood up for a girl and didn’t objectify her made me gay in the eyes of such men. For them maybe the definition of being a Man or Machoism is different than mine.

Now coming to a more serious scenario, ‘In India a girl is raped every 20 minutes’ ! Before we keep a minute silence or organize a candle march we should look at the situation of our country.This is some data that throws some light on the scenario.

YEAR	No. of Rape Cases registered	No. of Rape conviction
2009	21,397	5,316
2010	22,172	5,632
2011	24,206	5,724

In 2009-11, around 68,000 rape cases were registered across the country. Approx. only 16,000 rapists were convicted. Every year registered a growth in number of rape cases, which for a developing country is something to be ashamed of. 

The rape cases registered on state level was no different. The situation is not in control, even in the states where convictions are happening the point we miss is that the number of rapes is not going down. And we should not forget the data that we get to see is 'SARKARI'. 

The data state wise is as follows :

States   (2009-11)	No. of Rape registered	No. of Rape conviction
Uttar Pradesh	5,364	3,816
Madhya Pradesh	9,539	2,986
Assam	5,052	517
West Bengal	7,010	381

As a common belief; Rape is what takes it all away from a woman. It is when there is nothing bad to go beyond; an act of forcing yourself on a woman, trying to take away her integrity! 
Honestly, i feel its not the loss of  that woman its the man who loses it all. Those who think they have gained by forcing themselves are a disgrace to mankind. Sexual intimacy is an act of pleasure for both partners, but men go blind in their lust and destroy the feeling completely.

What is more disturbing is that in the past few years the rate of sexual molestation has gone high. It is the first step, if this is controlled or crushed the rate of crimes against women will surely go down.
This is the state of affairs in some of the major states.

States   (2009-11)	No. of Molestation cases registered	No. of conviction
Uttar Pradesh	9,030	7,958
Madhya Pradesh	19,618	6,091
Kerala	9,232	718
Maharashtra	10,651	595

"The poor rate of conviction is primarily due to prosecution's inability to gather enough evidence against the accused following inadequate police investigation" , a Home Ministry official said.

Society plays a major factor in such cases. The way a survivor is looked upon, treated by neighbours, co-workers, colleagues is often that forces her into depression and the result often is the end to a beautiful, blooming life.Some pre-conceived notions and the reaction to rape survivors by people around or our society on the whole.

·                     People blame women !  They say she was ‘asking to be raped’. Instead of holding the rapist responsible for the rape, we blame the survivor. In court, Defence Lawyers always try to attempt to undermine the testimony of the survivor. It mostly prevents justice from being done.

·                     People doubt what the survivor says. We think that ‘she was not really raped’. This can mean that the survivor does not get the support she needs from people around her. It can also make officials in the criminal justice system doubt her testimony, preventing justice from being done.

·                     Rape survivors feel too ashamed or too guilty to report the rape or to share it with friends and family. The survivor ends up isolated and does not get the support she needs to help her recover from the trauma of the rape. Studies estimate that only one in nine survivors report rape. This means that most rapists walk freely among us, unpunished and ready to re-offend.

·                     The fact that a rapist can come from any race, social class or environment. It makes us feel more distrustful or afraid of certain people based on stereotypes and prejudice, not based on the facts of the situation. It makes us believe that we can tell what makes someone a rapist when this is not the case.

·                     People believe that we can prevent rape from happening to us. This stops us from addressing the real sources of the problem, for example people’s attitudes to violence and to relationships between men and women, also known as gender relations.

Society tries to take away the dignity and humanity of the survivor, causing her more trauma and pain and lowering her chances of recovery. Rapists are always far from being prosecuted. It is vital that all of us in society accepts survivors and boycott Rapists. This will enable survivors to fully recover and more rapists be convicted. Marital rape, custodian rape, statutory rape,domestic violence and rape by family members the list is just endless.

FYI:  If a person is prosecuted for a rape charge and the rape survivor who files the case is unable to prove that the accused is guilty and if he is left by the court of law and the case is dismissed. The Survivor is deemed NOT RAPED ! 
What i am trying to say is if the accused is left free of charges and the case is dismissed the survivor is automatically taken to be a liar, someone who either got into the sexual act with consent or its a false case. Such is the law of our land!

Foreign nationals do not feel safe and are always concerned about their safety. 

Foreigners are exotic to us Indians; they are stared, sometimes even mobbed. Major part of the country is conservative and patriarchal.

 Law enforcement and security is very weak not only for foreigners but also for the citizens.A land of snake charmers is better than being called a land of ‘Perverts’ ‘molesters’ ‘Rapists’

According to Hindu scripts women were always respected in all ages and 'Yug'. Let me show you what our Vedas,Scripts say about women.

·                     Of the 407 Sages of Rigveda, 21 are women. Many significant hymns are by women.

·               Gayatri mantra, the most lauded meditation is devoted to the divine feminine aspect

·                      In the practice of Dharma, wisdom, knowledge, prosperity, & power are considered divinely feminine aspects.

·                     The Ganges river is feminine. Earth and nature are Prakriti, feminine.

·                     The study of the Vedas is completed only when we learn the religious knowledge of women, Apastamba Dharmasutra, 2.2.29.11-15

·                     Mansusmriti 9.12 states women can never be controlled by force

·                     Mahabharata 4.3.12 states the wife is to be treasured and respected

·                     Atharvaveda and Rigveda state women are sacred, ‘Brahmasyopanita’

·                      There are no domestic rituals in which women do not participate – and in some the presence of men is undesired.

·                      Varahamihira Brihatsamhita (ch74) states women are superior to men due to their faith and Dharma

·                     Manusmriti 9.130 Nirukta 3.4 states there is no difference between son and daughter

·                      Mahanirvana Tantra 8.47 states educate both sons and daughters

·                     Matsya Purana 154.414-417 states the birth of a daughter is very meritorious

·                     Dowry is absent in all scriptures

·                     Atharvaveda 14.2.71 states husband and wife complement each other, just like heaven and earth, lyric and melody

·                      Rigveda 1.179.3 states husband and wife will overcome all adversities if the two exert themselves together

·                      Taittiriya Brahmana 2.2.2.6 & RigVeda 8.31.5-9 states a married man cannot perform worship without his wife.

·                     Hindus have various female saints of varying classes. Yoginis, Saadhvi, Rishika, Bhikshuni, Panditas. Some examples are Lalleshvari of Kashmir, Akka Mahadevi of Karnataka, Kaarikkaal of Tamil Naadu, Muktabai and Janabai of Maharashtra. There are many more. Modern examples include Ma Anandamoyi, Ammachi, Mata,  Nirmala Devi, Sister Nivedita, Mira Aditi, and Ma Sharada

·                     There are plenty more scriptural incentives conveying the role of women in authentic Sanatana Dharma.

In QURAN, Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "Treat women nicely, for a woman is created from a rib, and the most curved portion of the rib is its upper portion, so, if you should try to straighten it, it will break, but if you leave it as it is, it will remain crooked. So treat women nicely"

In BIBLE,GENESIS 2:21-23:  So the God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

So all religions say the same thing, and yet women are not respected ! 

Modern India has a muscular democracy and a growing economy, both of which have significantly transformed the lives of women. But female success, in a place like India with complicated social structures and patriarchy is not an easy thing. A successful woman is very likely to have had a supportive male in her life: a father,brother, spouse, friend or a mentor; And its a great thing that now men are coming out in the open for demands of women rights, or to protest against injustice with women. This generation is trying to break the shackles.

‘A woman brought you into this world, so you have no right to disrespect one.’

Sources  : NCRB, Research