Consultant Psychiatrist
The brutal sexual assault of a four-year-old girl in a well-known school has left Kolkata stunned. In broad daylight, the girl was sexually molested in the toilet by two male teachers. The question is: are these two men sick or is the society sick? Let us find out.
This is by no means an isolated incident. Perpetrators of rape often get away with it. In fact, society feels the victims (mainly women and children) “deserve” to be raped or they acted “provocatively”. In some cases, they even feel that the victims “needed to be taught a lesson”. Even in this instance, the principal of the school tried to pass it off as “Dushtumi or naughtiness.” Trivializing a heinous crime like sexual assault, especially of a four –year old is incomprehensible.
Let us see how we compare with other countries. Over the past 35 years, the rate of rape in the U.S. has fallen by 80 percent. (U.S. Bureau of Justice National Crime Victimization Survey). In fact, Margaret Wente in her article, “The amazing news about rape statistics” says, “That is bad news for the grievance industry, which must stretch its definitions of assault and abuse to ridiculous extremes to keep its numbers up.”
In the US, at least, there has been a paradigm shift in the mindset of society. In the dark ages, women had no rights, men held women as property, and men could rape and beat women with impunity. Police treated rape as a joke, and the onus was on the victim to prove her innocence. The comments that we hear today in Modern times were heard in developed countries in the Dark ages. This includes comments like “Victims should not provoke men” or, “They should not be out at night,” or “They should not dress revealingly” or “They must not smoke.” The diktats are endless.
I have personally wondered what is wrong with the attitude of our society regarding women? During my training in the United Kingdom as an MRCPsych and while working there as a psychiatrist, I felt that people had a radically different view of masculinity than what I see here. It is regarded as an act of cowardice to harm women and children. If anyone did so, they’d face the ire of ‘real’ men. In fact, pedophiles were kept in solitary confinement for safety reasons.
In India, the focus is on teaching the girl a lesson. “Sabakshikhana”. Or condoning rape as “boys will be boys”, the onus is on the girl to protect herself and face the frown of the society if they fail to do so. While we have embraced the Western way of life with regards to Smartphones and tablets and laptops, we are far removed from their mindset. We are dazzled by the hollow consumerism, we have not appreciated their spirit of freedom.
But, what was it like in ancient India? In ancient scripts, it is written, “Yatranāryastupu̅jyanteramantetatradevatā”(Gods are happy where women are respected). When Rabindranath Tagore wrote “GandharirAbedan” (the entreaty of Gandhari), he condemns the barbaric act of disrobing Draupadi. He writes, “Pourushkothaygechechhariya Bharat” (Has manliness left India!). In fact, one of the reasons for the War of Mahabharata was to avenge the insult on Draupadi.
I am waiting for the day when this Sick Society will move towards enlightenment. When rape, like “Sati Dahan” (forced self-immolation of widows), will be a thing of the past. Hopefully, the words of Rabindranath, the ancient scripts and the essence of freedom of Western countries will guide us.
So, we come to the final question, “Are they Mad, are they Bad, or are they a bit of Both?” The verdict is an emphatic, “They are Bad.” Unfortunately, the badness is fostered by society leading to tragic consequences.
