When rapists are also murderers

There are some crimes that are so heinous and despicable that not to speak out against them is a crime in itself. The recent gang rape of a 23-year-old female student on a bus in New Delhi is one such example. The case, which has garnered worldwide attention, has changed dramatically in nature because the victim, after fighting for weeks for her fragile life, has died. We are now not looking at a sex crime — we are looking at murder. The whole of India has been on its feet protesting furiously against the crime, demanding justice for a young girl whose life was cut far too short. So brutally was she raped and assaulted (with iron rods) that she suffered from internal organ and brain damage. She underwent three operations and was flown to Singapore for further surgical treatment but she succumbed a few days later. Her body was cremated in Delhi yesterday. This is the kind of savagery one saw in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, a movie known for its rampant violence in a fractured society. India is one of the most dangerous places for women to live, given the coupling of a thriving, modern India with the traditional, patriarchal India that blames women for dressing provocatively and being too exposed. The modern day has seen many women brave the professional world to work and mingle. They are now more educated and more visible. The ridiculous assertion that this is the reason they are attacked needs to be chucked out along with the mentality that supports it — the patriarchal mentality. The government initially responded indifferently but has gotten its act together after the nationwide uproar. There are now calls for the death penalty and one believes this can be the only true justice. Attitudes in India are deep-rooted and extremely conservative despite free market and fast paced development that has hurried the migration of rural populations to the cities. Men from rural areas do not know how to deal with the modern urban woman and it is this mentality that has seeped into the city streets. One cannot help but think that Pakistan suffers from the same dilemma. In both countries a majority of rape cases go unreported, offering cover and chauvinistic attitudes to men from all classes of society. Both countries have the same kind of mindset when it comes to women and how they should behave. If the Delhi rape case is any measure of this mentality, there is no arguing that rapid and huge changes must occur within the very fabric of both societies and the people, especially men, who live within them.