Thoughtless protections and rabid lawmaking by our government have brought us to this point where the laws to protect women are a joke. We are just blindly tweaking. A court accepting a rape victim’s statement has now become everybody and his cousin and media having to accept victim’s statement as the sole truth. Women cannot lie, say the popcorn gallery who don’t want delays on the way to the next outrage. Oh really? A woman would say she willingly did something that is being seen with disapproval? Heck I know women who lie that they didn’t break a cup to avoid disapproval. Women are not liars any more than men are, but the unquestioning acceptance of their word is rapidly becoming a weapon too, while the wretched ones are still struggling to be heard.
Then is the one on anonymity. We do not disclose victims identities to protect them from any social stigma that may ensue. Instead, we have women who use the anonymity and credibility to wage media wars of accusations where there simply is no way to dispute the narrative without seeming to be “victim blaming”. There is no anonymity with press releases and media interviews. The anonymity is only that while they can launch accusations, none can reach them, nor can they be questioned.
Then a question also arises whether a rape victim who does not file case and uses media to make a point should be anonymous. Surely, if media court is the justice of choice, then robust questioning should be possible? Weaponizing painstakingly created safeguards to wage uneven wars puts the punishment before the judgment, but worse, creates resistance to protecting the millions of women who need protections desperately and misogynists see reasons to refuse and vilify women that get difficult to explain to one not used to thinking of gender inequality.
Classic case of elite women doing a “Khaye piye khiske.” without giving a thought to the collective they sabotage as when use the unquestioning acceptance of the victim’s word created for all who need that trust. This unequal right was granted by law – yes, granted, not a “fundamental right” to be permanently treated as perpetual voice of truth – because there are terrible crimes that need to be stopped and vast majority of women would not lie about them. But rape itself is now changed. Dropping this now. It is a festering anger that needs its own post.
We are at a permanent default of outrage. A hit and run groping and a gang rape get the same response. There is no sense of proportion, and any punishment can’t be enough. We are just masturbating vengeance on the entire list of gender inequality we have discovered and want thousands of years of a mess fixed now. Escalate everything.
So rape is now 10 years instead of 7 years. Slightest penetration of any part of body against consent constitutes rape. You cannot question if a woman says she was raped, and it is fucking impossible to prove that you didn’t rape for accusations like fingers or objects. Rape kits are meaningless, semen won’t be there. If you are accused of rape, letting you go itself will get a court bad publicity.
If you are a man, you will know what it is like to live at permanent risk of trauma you are helpless against. If you are a woman, your fight to be believed when you seriously hurt got tougher.
PS: Angry rant. Take it or leave it. Don’t nitpick.
I do agree with this article. Even the women suffrage activists would be seething with anger. What they fought for was equality – that women should also be sent to prison like men and given voting rights.
However one cannot deny that women have not been treated equally except on paper. So does it mean to compensate that should we make laws more favorable to women? Or should we correct all mistakes and finally start to implement something which has been in our constitution for long?
What seems to be happening is that the target audience of these laws who are poor disenfranchised women are not getting the benefits. All the media attention is taken up by those who abuse the law. Whereas we’ve seen in case after case that women who have been raped still can’t get an FIR registered and have to deal with idiotic policemen and judges who say she “invited it” etc.
At the same time, it’s not good legal procedure to blindly accept anyone’s version of events.
lol. you said it so easily. I have been blind with rage.
The several instances of anonymity and lack of questioning being used by victims to entirely make one sided attacks using media is something that is increasingly disturbing me. The law is to protect victims, not to provide a shield for them to go on vigilante media massacres. It makes sense if it is a tough case and public support will make a difference, but a victim who is fine running a mega campaign of own rape while not filing FIR is misusing that anonymity.
Sad part is that I don’t see this changing any time soon. Media likes to pretend it is in public interest and these are high selling topics, so over and over, we will see this happen :/