Zero tolerance approach towards violence against women is the only acceptable path
Zero tolerance approach towards violence against women is the only acceptable path
The alleged violence against women is the proverbial tip of the iceberg; It hides much more than it reveals. But what it reveals can sometimes shake the collective conscience of a nation, especially a heinous crime that unfolds in broad daylight in the form of an attack on a young woman. The incident of violence in Chennai last week, where college student Satyapriya was beheaded after a youth chased her and pushed her into the path of an oncoming train touched the hearts of the public. Incidents of violence against women at railway stations in Chennai are following a pattern of almost imitation, after Swathi, a young techie, was murdered in 2016 by a man who was in broad daylight in a railway station. was following him again. In 2021, a young college-goer Shweta was murdered near a suburban railway station by a man in a ‘disturbed relationship’ with her. In each of these cases, the stalker’s inability to accept the fact that his proposal was turned down by the girl directly led to the violence. Earlier this month, an eight-year-old girl was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered in Delhi. In September, bodies of two teenage girls were found in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh. After the rape, he was strangled with a dupatta and hanged from a tree, police said. Only a few cases make headlines or make an impact on social media. There are many more unreinforced, largely unseen underbelly of the iceberg.
In India’s difficult history of tackling multiple forms of violence against women, the horrific Nirbhaya rape of 2012 marks a definite milestone. It shook the country with such force that lawmakers rushed to strengthen the law, and put in place systems and infrastructure that were in place to ensure that such horrific incidents never recur. However, according to the National Crime Records Bureau data, there were 4,28,278 lakh crimes against women in 2021. These included rape, rape and murder, dowry harassment, kidnapping, forced marriage, trafficking and online harassment. At this juncture, a decade later, it is pertinent to ask whether the government has implemented all the strategies envisioned and driven by the Nirbhaya Fund. The speedy process and resolution of the trial resulting in the conviction of the accused is a casualty in the courts which are full of pending cases. The Sustainable Development Goals underscore the importance of building gender-safe, resilient and inclusive cities. Any laxity on the part of the authorities in dealing with violence against women is not acceptable; Only zero tolerance is acceptable.