Irresponsible Autocracy or Efficient Democracy?
The past few months and the next few have and will test the capability and efficiency of all governments across the globe. Governments have been trying their best to do right by their people. However, a lot of them haven’t been able to see positive results.
Everyone wants to be the best at something and India is no different. The failure of the Judicial and Executive bodies has allowed India to defeat all other countries in the race to become the worst-performing economy currently, the country with the highest number of Covid-19 cases and has recently been quoted as the most unsafe country in the world. Generally, these aren’t “titles” a country wishes to rein on for long but according to the current situation, it looks like we’re all going to be stuck in this phase for a long time.
Nevertheless, the most disappointing fact is when the current government tries to cover up their “Irresponsible Autocratic” behavior by implementing a few useless schemes to manipulate everyone into thinking it is an “Efficient Democracy”.
Having said that, the fear that has gripped onto most of us right now is the “rape culture” that has been prevalent in India for a long-long time.
As I mentioned earlier, India was recognized as the most unsafe country in the world for women. Syria, a country plagued by terrorists that hold women as captives for sexual assault is considered safer than India.
Currently, 88 rape cases are reported every day on an average (significance needs to be placed on the word reported). There are hundreds of other cases that have not and will not ever be reported. For a country that refers to their land as “Maa”, we sure do not know how to treat our women. From the benign catcalling to the fatal rapes, rape culture has been on the rise especially during the past few decades. The thought of “being raped” has crossed every woman’s mind and most of us still live in that fear. The fear consumes every vulnerable human being. Be it women, children, men, LGBTQ+, etc.
Countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE have some of the cruelest punishments for rape. The results? Their number of rape cases has been the lowest in the world and continues to be.
What can we infer from this? Do harsher punishments instill fear in people and halt them from raping someone? YES.
(I know this sounds radical but this is just my own opinion and I don’t wish to disrespect anyone)
Most of you may be familiar with the “Guillotine”. It is a machine that came into existence during the French revolution and was used to publicly behead violators. Does India need this to punish rapists? YES
But the question arises, can this actually deter rape? Will it severely affect poorer sections? As many rapes are committed by family members, will this reduce reporting? All of these are very valid questions. In reality, we will not know all the answers until and unless we explore.
It creates a situation where the life of a violator depends on a panel of judges. What can we do then? Should the public be given a choice in deciding whether or not to sentence a criminal to death? YES. This sounds tedious but the options are limited in a country where the judiciary keeps failing its people often.
Although sex is considered a taboo in India, our system hesitates to punish violators who forcefully have sex/rape.
I believe, no person has the right over anyone else’s life. This leads us to a moral dilemma, should someone have the right to sentence someone, even if it is the violator? I’m not sure yet. But, in my opinion, if one person has taken another person’s life violently (excluding euthanasia, abortion, death as a result of self-defense, etc.), then they deserve to be punished in an equal manner.
Nobody has the right over anyone’s life but, a good number of men think they can control women and their bodies, and this shows the flawed thought process.
Ps. I know this article may not make a lot of sense but I thought I needed to put my opinion out there. If I offended you or have a different thought-process than you, I sincerely apologize.
