There is a report everyday in dailies and there is news footage in every
television channel showcasing the ill face of violence against women in
diverse forms. The introspection shifts to our loved ones who are yet
to return from place of work or study centre and mercury levels are
soaring due to concern about their safety. The violence against woman
takes contradistinct dimensions such as sex-selective abortions, female
infanticide, child abuse, domestic violence, violence at work place,
dowry affiliated violence, trafficking, war related violence, caste
violence, honour killing, etc. It is disgraceful that the victims are
predominantly held accountable for the assault sparing the criminals.
Women’s future becomes questionable and only a few manage to get back to
their normal life. The society, relatives, colleagues make the
resurrection path more rough and add to the woes of the survivor. Most
of the victims remain silent and do not even report fearing the
consequences due to revealing of their identity, emotional torture in
the name of police investigation, legal hearing and so on. Even the
media at times behaves nonchalantly in handling these issues for
boosting their television rating point (TRP).
As citizens of motherland, what do we do to end this menace? We cry and
pray for victims, we debate and condemn muggers, we write on blogs and
social networking sites, organise rallies and the very next day there is
a fresh report of brutality. What can we do? Do we have legal,
political and administrative powers to eradicate such cruel acts? Such
questions are meaningless and just come out as supporting statements to
justify our inability. It takes a brave heart and attitude to stand
against violence against women (VAW).
Efforts to abolish violence against woman should instigate from targets.
It is the responsibility of parents, teachers and members of society to
teach a girl child about violence against women and its ill
consequences, methods of self-protection, about nature of different
people they should confront, means to understand their motives and body
language, how to act at times of crisis, how to behave with friends and
neighbours and how to deal with strangers and so on. They should take
prodigious care and ensure that wrong impression and fear is not
generated in the young minds.
Chapters about types of violence against women, reasons, preventive
measures should be incorporated in the textbooks. Self defence including
martial arts should be made mandatory for all school and college girls.
The legal system should be intensified to deal with cases involving VAW
and pace of procedures and judgement should be accelerated. The
government should ensure safe, healthy and respectful livelihood for
victims.
The role of individual in combating VAW is meaty. It is men who harm
women. When we deeply analyse the root cause of such incidents including
social, cultural and psychological reasons, the shaping of an
individual morale is very much crucial. We should promote the habit of
reading books preaching good moral, behaviour and stay away from
pornography, etc. Every individual should raise his voice against VAW in
any form. He should report any form of violence immediately to the
police or concerned authorities and should not be afraid to present
himself as a witness. People should not hesitate to provide first aid to
victims. We should voice against movies, magazines, advertisements
which portray woman as a sex object and should boycott should products.
We should not tolerate the interference of money, caste and politics in
shielding the attackers. Every man should stay away from evil acts such
as sending objectionable messages to girls, using abusive words against
them and so on. We should never demean women by passing sexual comments
against them. We should be aware of the legal postulates and acts
related to violence against woman and know our duties, rights and
responsibilities. We should donate liberally to non-profit organizations
which fight against VAW. We should provide security to our friends and
colleagues during times of crisis. We should not try to justify the
physical appearance or dressing of women as reasons for attacks against
them. We should behave with dignity when we confront women in public
places including malls, crowded buses, etc. We should create awareness
about dating violence among teenage girls. We should read books written
on VAW and should ensure such books are present in college and general
libraries. We should also share and forward documentaries related to
VAW. We should stand against violence against married women in the name
of dowry.
Violence against women during war by soldiers should be condemned and
all the attackers should be punished severely. Women who are taken into
custody by policemen for social crimes should be treated with dignity.
Women athletes and sportspersons should be treated with respect by male
coaches and sportsmen.
Though the system of sati and devadasi do not prevail anymore, Child
marriages are still taking place in villages which lead to premature
pregnancies, social and medical complications.
It is shameful that girls and women in orphanages and rejuvenation camps
and refugees are also subjected to violence. Women who are physically
weak become targets of trafficking. Violence against women in the name
of religion is disgusting. Genital mutilation performed on women under
unhygienic conditions even without the use of anaesthetics is nerve
freezing.
To put it in a nutshell, educating women, providing them social
equality, treating them with dignity, protecting them and comforting
victims are responsibilities of a true man. I should not do anything to a
woman which I feel should not be done by anyone to my woman. So “I will
not let down women!!!” JAI HIND
