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'Rape' survivor chops off godman's genitals: Questions to ask parents

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Navamita Mukherjee
Navamita MukherjeeMay 22, 2017 | 20:14

'Rape' survivor chops off godman's genitals: Questions to ask parents

I would like to take some brazen liberty today and admit that May is turning out to be the hottest month of the year - both in terms of soaring temperatures and the pace with which women are reporting rape in the country.

It is like a shameful rape marathon month where every incident is trying to compete with each other in the manner the crime is committed.

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Just as were trying to get over the horrific details of Rohtak gangrape incident, another case of sexual assault against a woman has taken centre stage.

The near-castration of a Kerala godman by a rape survivor, where the victim was pushed to a limit that she took law in her hands and chopped off the godman's genitalia. Almost all reports suggested that the survivor's mother was party to the crime.

In this scenario, though, please pay a good attention to the deafening silence of the mother who never took a bold step to protect her own daughter. And this for eight long years. Being a woman herself, how could she allow a self- proclaimed godman subject her own flesh and blood to years of insurmountable physical and mental agony.

Now imagine what would have been the turn of events had she revolted the day the crime was brought to her attention the first time. At best, she could have retained her daughter's sanity. And, at best, she could have saved the godman his beloved penis.

What do these stories of women with terrible timidity exemplify? Why are women failing to protect their own shadows?

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The sexual assault survivor was pushed to a limit that she took law in her hands and chopped off the godman's genitals. Photo: Videograb/Indiatoday.in

Worse still, why does a woman even think she is obliged to suffer any abuse, even a rape that robs her off her dignity and status in the society.

Now take a closer look at how women have been brought up in the Indian society and we will have our answers. We are wired this way, to bear, tolerate, suffer and keep mum. Which is why such women find themselves trapped in a perpetual cycle of endless suffering because they never muster the courage to pipe up and rebel.

To a certain extent, and I have witnessed this myself, some women carry a certain sense of pride for being able to accede such torture.

"It is our fate that we cannot alter," they say.

Better to adjust to the horrific eccentricities of these regular crimes and live the life of an ostrich that buries its head in the sand.

For once, let us also talk about the upbringing of men that suffuses them with a belief that they have the power to control women. The seed of inequality that is planted at a tender age. The patriarchal society we inhabit that discriminates women on a random basis of accident of birth, tilting the scales and power equations forever against them.

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The male child gets the best food, best clothes, best education, a ticket abroad to further enhance his education, full financial support to set his business up. All this to ensure a secure and settled life.

For a woman however, the step is simple. Treat her dream like a balloon and marry her off. Her fragile dreams will take her nowhere. Many would disagree, but such treatment is still par for the course in many families, in fact in some elite, educated communities too.

This is no exaggeration. Let's admit it that all of us, at some point in our lives, have faced this discrimination. Some of these valid concerns were raised after the rape and murder of Jyoti Singh in December 2012.

The way we are raised in our society was discussed ad nauseam. All this reasoning somehow has lost its sheen in the larger narrative of the story but can we afford to ignore that, it's indeed true that our upbringing has gone horrendously wrong somewhere. Still find my allegations baseless?

Read this positive story that found a fitting subtitle to describe how women battle all odds to empower themselves.

"A bunch of school girls borrowed a page from the Mahatma's book and fasted their way to school upgrade," it read.

That's one hell of a subtitle. In this story too, their mothers psyched them into believing that they cannot study further. What exactly were the girls clamouring for?

Just a minimal upgrade of their school to senior secondary. That's quite a powerful ask. I would take a bit of liberty again and confess that instead of feeling pity, the subtitle made me laugh. That's what years of discrimination do to you.

This begs several questions: Why have all our achievements been always overlooked? What did we not do to prove ourselves, to counter that timeless argument that women are less equal?

Talk about those countless women who have conquered the world - a certain Indra Nooyi who admits that women cannot have it all but still leaves her crown in the garage once she gets home, Sushmita Sen who is incredibly stubborn in raising her two adopted daughters all on her own, Priyanka Chopra who is on a mission to position India on the world map, Mary Kom who became a world champion while nurturing three children, the likes of Kalpana Chawla and the list is endless.

Grit, determination, tolerance, affection, fearlessness, subtlety, patience, perseverance. I have named them all, we have proved them all.

And if you still have misgivings about our strengths, think about the sheer resilience of those acid attack survivors who picked up their life despite their terrible misfortune. Even their deformity couldn't stop them from claiming what they deserve.

So, the solution is pretty straightforward here. The first step of protecting women from rape or any other crime has to begin at home.

And our parents have to take the onus of being the primary agents of change, preparing their male and female child into believing that they both are equal or until every male in the country learns to value the importance of equality before respect, women will be continued to be abused in our society and no amount of capital punishment, life imprisonment or castration will ever succeed in acting as an effective deterrent.

Last updated: May 22, 2017 | 20:16
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