The title of this TOI article, “Every hour, 18 women face abuse in Indiaâ€, seems disturbing not for its large number, but for the surprisingly low one. Remember, this is a country of 1 billion!
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports that in 2006 (forget the time lag!), on an average at least 18 women in the country were victimised–and the numbers are increasing. That is, those numbers which are actually reported to the police by victims, and that the police actually count as numbers. So in 2008, we should at least have passed 30, no?
Kiran Bedi, former outspoken police chief (see here for a post on her), blames the rise on the widespread loss of ethics and values.
“We are losing our values. When a man goes and molests a woman, he forgets that he has a sister and mother back home,” she said releasing the ASSOCHAM’s study ‘Women Top in Education Why Miss Top Position’.
“The problem starts from the family and education system. May be we are not instilling proper values in our children,” she said.
I find it interesting that she plays on the sense of Indian values, deeply rooted to the coherence of the family unit. Many conservatives would advocate traditional roles for women. Nevertheless, women, as mothers and sisters (but not wives?!) need to be respected. But is it that values are being lost, or that they were never there in the first place? Where in the structures of family and education is respect towards women missing? Or perhaps the proper question is: where is it not missing?! On another note, perhaps she should instead be asking, “Maybe we are not adequately discussing sex with our children”!
Bedi also notes the problems of data collection and believing in statistics.
“Police says that the crime statistics are dropping but we know that it is not true. Hiding the data will not improve situation but revealing it will. This way we will be able to know where we lag behind,” said Bedi.
Expressing unhappiness over the non-registration of cases by the police, she said many cases were not being registered as the police wanted to show less number of cases.
“Non-registration of cases leads to more such offences. Why hide behind the fair statistics. The police department should come out with the true numbers. Then only we will be able to focus on the problems and lack of proper infrastructure,” she added.
The difficulties that women face are not for the lack of laws, however. For example, the anti-dowry law 498A seeks to protect women from harassment by their in-laws, yet the deterrent effect of the law does not seem to have had any positive influence.
“We already have too many good policies but the problem is that they are not being implemented as they should.”
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