Essay on Crime against women in India : Women once venerated as the mother and the perpetuating angel of mankind, has come to be looked upon as the unblessed creature of God’ in India. There has been a rapid increase in crime against women in India. The crime has much to do with the existing lo status of women prevalent in Indian society. If we turn on the dailies in the morning we shudder to read Indian society. If we turn on the dailies in the morning we shudder to read hair raising instances of crime against women.
Essay on Crime against women in India
Women once venerated as the mother and the perpetuating angel of mankind, has come to be looked upon as the unblessed creature of God’ in India. There has been a rapid increase in crime against women in India. The crime has much to do with the existing lo status of women prevalent in Indian society. If we turn on the dailies in the morning we shudder to read Indian society. If we turn on the dailies in the morning we shudder to read hair raising instances of crime against women.
Rape, wife beating, bride burning, child marriages, prostitution, sexual harassment, eve teasing etc. come under the range of crime against women. Now-a-days, the girl child is often killed even before the birth. Sex determination tests have made it quite easy. With the advance of material prosperity and easy money, crime against women has become the order of the day. Rape, incest and brutal murders have become indeed a slur on modern Indian society that the cult of violence has grown to such proportions in free India. Dowry deaths are the culminating point of violence. All the social, political, economic and cultural programs made by our government are nullified by the simultaneous increase in crime against women.
Low status of women in our society is the chief cause for increase in crime against women. Our attitudes against women have not undergone much change. They are still treated as burden. We persist in our wretched belief that women are weak and helpless creatures who need constant watch by their fathers, brothers, husbands and sons at different stages of their life. The race of eve-teasers and chain-snatchers is creasing. In temples, at fairs and festivals, in crowded public places and in the buses, these lynx-eyed brutes abound and carry on their depredation even where policemen are on duty.
One of the most hideous aspect of our society is the dowry system. It is a complex phenomenon and there are several dimensions to it. It reduces a young girl into a saleable commodity and lowers her dignity. In case the bride brings an inadequate dowry, it exposes her to the risk of maltreatment after marriage. Thousands of girls immolate themselves at the altar of this evil every year, some of them before marriage because they cannot afford dowry and some after marriage because the dowry is insufficient to quench the rapacity of the in-laws. Despite anti-dowry measures, thousands of women are being harassed and ill-treated by their spouses and greedy in-laws for more dowries.
Greed is not the only motive force behind the crime against women. Sex-hunger is another cause. Young girls are decoyed on promises of a decent job or marriage and once a girl has fallen, she is black-mailed into a life of vice and forced to spend her life as a call-girl or a whore in a brothel. If we want to get a feel of the rottenness of our social milieu, we have only to know the experience of working girls in our country. From standing at the bus stops to the place of their work, they are exposed to the vulture eyes of males of all ages and all classes. If the way lies through a deserted place, there is always the danger of facing a potential molester. The journey from home to office is nothing short of travail. Again women are the first casualties of human rights. They are subjected to rape, molestation and brutal killings. The recent gruesome tan door murder' at New Delhi is a burning example in this context.
Though various proactive and preventive measures have been taken to check the increase in crimes against women but the impact of these measures and legislations remains weak. There is still much to be done to make women aware of their rights and measures initiated to curb violence against them. Women may have begun coming out of their homes to report atrocities against them but to boost their confidence in the State's efforts to protect and prevent them from being victimized, a great deal still remains to be done. Under these circumstances, a heavy responsibility falls on the shoulders of our social workers. We have to change our attitudes against women so that no violence against them takes place. They have to be treated with equality and respect. The provisions of enactment like Dowry Prohibition Act, Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, Indecent Representation of Women Act etc., should be implemented effectively and strict action taken against the defaulters. But the biggest responsibility will be that of women themselves. They have borne the tyranny of man far too long. The time has come for a crusade.
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