India protests but gang-rapes and rapes continue, mother saved her 4 year girl

A four-year-old girl was saved by her mother in Nagpur as she descended on time. Neither police nor judiciary could save any girl or woman from being raped or gang raped. The need of the hour is to discover more and more innovative measures for preventive action through greater family and community participation by adopting a holistic approach.

HIGHLIGHT

• Five gang rape and six rape cases came into limelight since November 28.
• The victims are from 4-year toddler to 55-year-old women.
• A rape victim was shot dead and body burnt in Buxar city of Bihar. Just 24 hours after this incident one more half-burnt body of a girl was found in Samastipur.
• A woman's charred body was found in West Bengal's Malda district in the evening on December 5. The body has several injuries, police suspects she was raped and burnt.
• A 4-year-old girl was saved just before the crime as her mother arrived.

While demands for stricter and speedy punishment are becoming louder from the road to parliament, the news of horrible gang rapes and rapes are coming from throughout the country. India has witnessed at least five gang rape and six rape cases in the past week since the horrible gang rape and murder of the veterinary doctor in Hyderabad.

Besides, the audacity of the culprits is also increasing by the day. On the eight day of Hyderabad gang rape and murder case, two more heinous crimes shocked the country.

In the first case, a woman's half-burnt body was recovered in Samastipur district of Bihar on Thursday morning. Soon after, one more horrible news came from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh. A gang rape survivor in Uannao was set ablaze on her way to court to attend the hearing of her own gang-rape case, a year ago.

This is not the first rape and burn case in Uttar Pradesh. A 15-year old rape victim died of burn injuries on November 30 in Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital. She was raped and set on fire on November 22 in Sambhal district of Uttar Pradesh.

No city is safe

In last week, the cases of gang rapes were reported from Puri, Firozabad, Mirzapur, Vadodara, and Bilaspur while reports of heinous rape cases came from Delhi, Buxar, Jaipur, Indore, Shimla, Rohtak, Tonk, Kalaburagi (Karnataka) and Ahmedabad. In the previous week also, gang rapes were reported from Ranchi, Bundi (Rajasthan), Kolkata and some other parts of the country. The charred body of a woman was also recovered from a forest in Balrampur area of Chhatisgarh on December 1.

The victim in Indore case was a toddler of just 4-year-old, 6-year-old in Tonk, 9-year-old in Kalaburagi and 9-year-old in Rohtak. Their dead bodies were recovered in very bad condition. Shockingly, the rapist of a 9-year-old girl in Rohtak was her own father. The girl died. A 15-year-old girl was raped by her cousin in Shimla. On November 30, the dead body of a 55-year-old rape victim was recovered from her residence. On November 29, Ranchi police arrested 12 men for gang-raping a law student.

Also in Hyderabad, a teenage girl was raped and murdered by her boyfriend on her 19th birthday on November 27. She has lied to her mother to meet the boyfriend but then he raped her and murdered. The victim in Jaipur case was a hotel management student and in Ranchi was a law student. Though in the majority of cases the police have arrested the culprits but could not save any girl from rape or gang rape. While the author was concluding the news, the news came about the charred boyd of suspected rape victim in Malda city of West Bengal.

A mother in Maharashtra saved her 4-year-old daughter

A four old toddler was saved from a 35-year-old devil by her mother as she arrived just on time. Finding the child alone in her home at Pardi area of Nagpur in Maharashtra, the pervert was trying to rape her when the mother arrived. Hearing her cries and shouting, she immediately called neighbours. They nabbed the culprit and after some initial treatment, he was handed over to the police. Hereafter, the role of police and court starts. This case also shows a way to prevent rapes and crimes against women.

Community Participation is need of the hour

Increasing anonymity in urban as well as rural areas of the country is one of the major reasons behind increasing crime against women. In Maharashtra, the girl child was saved not only because her mother came on time but also due to the whole neighbourhood responded immediately to nab the culprit. They took him under their possession until the police arrived.

In their overdependence on police and paramilitary forces for their own security, the legislators in India hardly ever attempted to nurture and utilize the strength of communities in handling crime against women. The role of the police and court comes after the crime is committed but the community has a strength to prevent the crime from happening. However, the most unfortunate fact is that neither Central nor state governments have any guideline for communities on how to respond in criminal cases. Though community may have its limitations but it could prove the best option in preventing crimes against women particularly in rapes and gang rapes provided government comes with well-defined protocols for intervention and a little bit of training so that they did not face criminal cases for human rights violations.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are the personal views of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)