The Menace of Rampant Rapes

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 7 March 2024 International Women's Day (March 8) is on the anvil and the recent gangrape of a Spanish woman by 7 Satyrs in Jharkhand's Dumka, comes as an irony not because it has anything to do with empowerment or non-empowerment of women, it's because of the disparaging treatment meted out to women in a 'civilised' country which proudly says, Yatra Naryastu Pujyante Ramante Tatra Devta, Yatraitaastu Na Pujyante Sarvaastatrafalaah Kriyaah (Where women are honoured, divinity blossoms there, and where women are dishonoured, all actions, no matter how noble, remain unfruitful; Manusmriti) . I'm totally against any kind of physical punishment, let alone capital punishment to anyone, but seeing the cases of rapes in India almost every day, it seems to me that some sort of an exemplary punishment is needed to curb this menace. In Islamic countries, rapists are either executed in public or bobbitised. This may seem savage but the question remains, what to do with this scum of the earth who suffer from priapism? Should they be chemically castrated or put behind the bars till they breathe their last? What to do? It's a million-dollar question. Can such priapic people be reformed? It's a very deep and difficult issue. The problem lies in our mindset. Despite all tall claims, India is a third-world country with a third-rate attitude towards women. We may shout from the podium, Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, but our collective attitude towards women is pathologically pejorative. Our very approach to looking at women is flawed and sexually suggestive. India is a country of sex-starved and ever-salivating men. In a country where male-female ratio is always skewed and where boys still outnumber girls, sexual crimes are bound to happen. States like UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Haryana have always witnessed males outnumbering females. Moreover, lack of education, awareness and employment contributed to aggravating the issue. Indians talk of religiosity but hardly anyone talks of morality and ethics. People still think that religious people are also moral people. This is a fallacious belief. India is a religiously resurgent country, thanks to the current political dispensation. Then, why're so many rapes taking place every day across the country? A large section of Indians may be deeply religious and god-fearing, most of them are still morally bankrupt. It's time for the sociologists to mull over this issue. The useless 'spiritual' gurus are of no use. Laws should be much more stringent in dealing with the incorrigible rapists and a complete revamp in thinking is a sine qua non. Is anyone listening? ------ A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/menace-rampant-rapes/d/131862 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism