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| An Indian participates in a candle-lit vigil to mourn the death of a gang rape victim in New Delhi. Dec. 29 2012. Photo: Associated Press/ Dar Yasin |
*Jino M Kurian
(Gist: Rachira Gupta, article on “Challenging India’s Rape Culture” published in The Hindu, 10 January, 2013).
Recently,
media reports are quoting more molestation related news. Coverage of similar
news, especially after the Delhi incident, is making them more socially
responsible and committed. The only agony is that they have been too late in
responding towards atrocities against women in the society. It costs the value
of life of a poor Indian woman, who sacrificed her life in a foreign country, by
victimisation of an evil done by some Indian brothers. The trend of reporting of
atrocities against women will result in the awakening of the society. Still,
the reports stimulate to think that crimes against women have just started or
there were no crimes before the alleged Delhi incident.
It’s not right; there were similar
kind of atrocities prevailed in Indian society even before this. Circumstances
may differ but the reason more or less the same. Rape is killing of dignity and
ingenuity of a woman. It is the murder of rights of a woman. A murder should be
punished with death penalty itself. Obviously, Delhi incident was rarest of the
rare and the accused has the liability to summon towards death penalty.
No one has the right to touch
others without their consent. It is the moral and legal duty inscribed in Indian
living cultural. People of India lost their genuine culture somewhere, was it
in the midst of the growth which is presumed being achieved? Or while in the process
of imitating others’ culture, by forgetting their own indigenous values? In neither
way it was a negligently missed conduct, but a conscious act done by the co
beings for mere showing up of maturity. People presume that they achieved a undefeatable
growth but still their activities are showing that they are living in a
prehistoric period.
Media reports about molestation and
other kind of atrocities against women is indicating a positive trend. They should
have made it sometimes before. Now, the society has gone through a series of
adaptations and it is not easy not to wipe away the existing and upcoming
crimes from the society. To a certain extent Medias were also factors in seeding
crime evolving environment in the prevailing society. Instead of keeping the
holiness of Indian traditional values, at least some of them went behind the
modernity of the West. West are not living without moral values. They keep
their cultural and moral values with enough priority. It is totally different
from the traditional Indian concepts. It is improper for an Indian society to
adapt with such differently moulded concepts. Such invasions on cultural values result in
generating crime oriented societies. Medias, literalists,
artists or other people who went behind other cultures also made the same
mistake.
The alleged news reported Medias
also have a role in this cultural disintegration. Medias cannot flip away from
their liability in changing India’s indigenous cultural values to the existing
modern culture. Different lifestyles, costumes and cuisines of post modernism is
conveyed to the society through Media’s advertisements and trend oriented
programmes. Indian people are not yet capable to distinguish necessary and
unnecessary things shown before them.
India is a democratic country, it
is not appropriate to change the existing systems with a spontaneous action.
Only remedy is to cultivate good cultural values among the people. Medias have
the capability to do this duty. They can make changes in the opinion and behaviours
of the social values. They can fix and wipe away cultural and moral values
among the people. Instead of Medias no others can make changes in this society.
So it is the time for Medias to make a code of conduct, which is purely dipped
in Indian colours.
