Rapes in the rise: How are the ‘good people’ to be blamed?
Just as the whole country is reeling under the shocking number of rapes that are being reported ever so frequently, a strange case of rape is reported from Pathan, Gujarat. A 22-year-old man has raped his own mother. Just as the cabinet approved the ordinance recommending death sentence to rapists of children below 12 years of age, a gory incident such as this one has occurred. There have been many horrible instances of a father has raping his own daughters. But this case of a boy raping his own mother is a rarest of rare case. The entire society has to hang its head in shame over this. Why did something like this happen? How did we as a society become responsible for this?
What enabled the young man to grow such a perversion? Can the government ever help curb such evils by commuting death or life sentence to the guilty?
Though each rape is horrible, the first mistake we make is that of putting all rape cases on the same scale. There is a difference between a debauchee raping a child, and the Kathua case where a 7-year-old girl was drugged, raped and killed. Kathua is not just about being a perverted act, it also has dirty politics involved in it. The girl became a victim because she belonged to a particular community. Hence, another particular community showed solidarity with the culprits.
We cannot place Kathua and Khairlanji rapes alongside other rapes and address all of them in a monolithic manner. Here, the motives are clear. They know the ways to fix this too. The culprits are not just looking for ways to satiate their sexual needs.
Today, a lot of sexual assaults on children are happening at home. The society has probably created a more than conducive atmosphere for such crimes to thrive. It is not too tough to analyse the reason behind the Gujarat rape. The boy was addicted to porn videos. He had spoken to his mother about his inclination of wanting to experiment with sex. She was well aware of his sexual drive being active. If the parents had paid closer attention, they could see their son going astray with this addiction to sex. They could have, probably, taken him for medical and psychological treatment. But they were not willing to comprehend with the factor that their son was disturbed. Hence, the whole thing ended in a tragedy.
Many years ago, if a paper published a vulgar picture, people hesitated to take the copy home. There were magazines that were dedicated to porn and they would never be sold in open. ‘Cabaret’ dancers as they were called, were exclusive dancers who wore skimpy clothes and pranced in a film irrespective of the script demanding it or not. They would appear in one small song, and disappear soon after. They wouldn’t be seen again in the film at all.
But they gradually disappeared. Leading ladies and even children began to wear clothes that were skimpier than that of the cabaret dancers. Leading ladies merged with cabaret dancers and would wear even more skimpy clothes. Today children form the major chunk of television viewers including women, children and all aged male and female members; and mind you, that television does not have the slightest of responsibility to change this situation. The leading dailies splash vulgar pictures on the very first page itself with no sense of what it would do to young minds. Internet takes people close to disaster very fast. People would read magazines with sexual content on the sly and hidden from the other members. Porn is watched irrespective of age now by both parents and children, on their own mobiles.
Internet is even more dangerous. Porn is freely and economically available now. If a young boy who has to decide on right and wrong thing, commits a crime owning to free porn, who should we complain to? Internet
When parents are busy with other joys of the internet, children watch the wrong stuff and turn into a menace for themselves and the parents too. Parents pay attention to this ugly habit by children only when they try to exhibit it openly.
Some time ago, the government had decided to clamp down on vulgar websites. Many people raised an objection to this. They said this interfered with the ‘freedom of expression’ and they continue with their works. An awareness has to be created opposing porn videos. It is right that the government should focus on bigger issues at hand. To close down these porn websites is the need of the hour for the sake of our children, grandchildren . Children should not be given mobile or any kids of luxury till they are old enough to handle it responsibly. Instead of suffering after losing him, parents should pay attention to their son’s whereabouts everyday.
Children from poor background and into begging or the ones that live in slum areas, should be guarded. Parents have to spend time with their children and shape their personality by way of sharing and caring. Only then, the rapes can be brought under the control of the government. The government needs to reprimand earlier, now I think they have made peace. Parents have to work with children to showcase the richness of this diversity. Only then, we can claim the nation has progressed.
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'Even Ajmal Kasab was given a fair trial': SC remarks in Yasin Malik case
New Delhi, Nov 21: Even Ajmal Kasab was given a fair trial in our country, the Supreme Court on Thursday remarked and indicated it may set up a courtroom inside Tihar Jail for the trial of J&K separatist leader Yasin Malik in a kidnapping case.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih was hearing a CBI plea against the September 20, 2022 order of a Jammu trial court that directed Malik, serving life term in Tihar jail, to be produced before it physically to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses in the kidnapping case of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of politician Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
The bench, however, remarked, "How will cross-examination be done online? There is hardly any connectivity in Jammu... In our country, a fair trial was given even to Ajmal Kasab and legal assistance was given to him in the high court."
Kasab, the lone Pakistani gunman caught alive after the Mumbai terror attack, was hanged till death at the Yerawada Central Prison .
The bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, to take instructions on the total number of witnesses in the case.
Mehta pointed out security concerns and said Malik couldn't be taken to Jammu for the trial.
The law officer accused Malik of "playing tricks" for having asked to appear personally and not engaging a lawyer. Mehta said Malik was not an ordinary criminal and showed a purported photograph of Malik sharing the dais with terrorist Hafiz Saeed.
The top court said it could order trial to take place inside the jail premises and ask the judge to come to the national capital for the proceedings.
The bench, however, noted all the accused persons in the matter had to be heard before it passes an order.
Mehta said Malik appearing in the Supreme Court physically raised security concerns previously.
The bench said Malik could be allowed to appear virtually in the apex court proceedings and posted the matter on November 28.
The CBI in the meantime was directed to amend its petition and implead all accused persons as respondents.
In 2023, Mehta wrote to then Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla flagging a "serious security lapse" after Malik was brought to the Supreme Court to appear in a case.
Malik, serving life sentence in a terror-funding case, was brought to the high-security apex court premises in a prison van escorted by armed security personnel without the court's permission.
Expressing surprise at his presence, Mehta informed the apex court there was a procedure for high-risk convicts to be allowed into the courtroom to argue their case personally.
The CBI said Malik, the top leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was a threat to national security and cannot be allowed to be taken outside the Tihar jail premises.
The apex court on April 24, 2023, issued notices on the CBI's appeal following which the incarcerated JKLF chief wrote a letter to the registrar of the Supreme Court on May 26, 2023 seeking permission to appear in person to plead his case.
An assistant registrar took up his request on July 18, 2023 and said the apex court would pass necessary orders -- a decision the Tihar Jail authorities reportedly misconstrued to allow Malik to appear and argue his case.
Mehta referred to the CBI's contention in its appeal against the trial court order to bring Malik to Jammu for the in-person examination of the witnesses in the kidnapping case, and said under Section 268 of the CrPC a state government may direct certain people to not be shifted from the confines of a prison.
On September 20, 2022, a special TADA court in Jammu directed Malik to be physically produced before it on the next hearing for him to cross-examine prosecution witnesses in the kidnapping case.
The CBI challenged the trial court order before the Supreme Court as appeals in TADA cases are only heard by the top court.
Rubaiya was abducted near Lal Ded Hospital in Srinagar on December 8, 1989 and freed five days later after the then BJP-backed V P Singh government at the Centre released five terrorists in exchange.
Mufti, who now lives in Tamil Nadu, is a prosecution witness of the CBI, which took over the case in early 1990s.
Malik is lodged in Tihar jail after he was sentenced by a special NIA court in May, 2023 in a terror-funding case.
