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Delhi Gang Rape: Saudi Justice Needed?
![]() Delhi gang-rape is national shame. Police-danda is the only thing that will control Indians. Saudi-Justice needed for rapists in India. A 2ndlook. |
he Delhi gang-rape has evoked some curious reactions – that can be divided in three, broad categories
Desert Grass Is Greener
On social media, thousands wrote on Twitter and Facebook that India needs Saudi justice, using amputations and beheadings .
Of all the people in this world, Indians should know about rape in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Justice and Law
Thousands of Indian-women from Hyderabad, Kerala, on a khadama visa, have been raped, abused, enslaved and then imprisoned in Saudi homes.
Ever heard of any punishment to a Saudi national for raping a Filipino or an Indian woman? Even as foreign workers, the force behind Saudi economy, are easily beheaded.
Coming to rape in Saudi society, with women confined within four walls, rape in Saudi Arabia happens within the house.
The other question that needs asking is how well does Saudi law protect ordinary Saudi women? Any reading of Saudi law enforcement seems to imply that it is designed to protect and extend the privileges of the established elites.
If Saudi justice and executions were so effective, why are there rape incidents in Saudi-Arabia?
So, while vocal Indians on social media was asking for empty ‘Saudi’ justice, what was mainstream media promoting?
Mass Media On Mass Suicide
Mainstream media on the other side led a campaign to increase police powers, presence and prerogatives. More laws that will imprison more people to be apprehended by more policemen.
Any data to support that more police works?
None.
But, there is data that shows countries with bigger police forces – especially in the West, have seen the opposite result.
In all these countries which have gone down this road of police powers, presence and prerogatives have discovered that more laws and more police create more criminals and more prisoners.
US with the world’s largest police force and the biggest prisoner population in the world also enjoys the distinction of having one of the highest rape incidents-count in the world.
Most voices followed the lines:
- Saudi Justice
- Making India into a police State
- All Indians must be ashamed
Did You Know
Does Indian society promote rape? Should we be ashamed?
Unlike the leering image that Bollywood portrays of Indian underworld, even Indian criminals have scant regard for rapists.
In fact, as 2ndlook posts pointed out a few years ago, rapists need to be afraid while in prison. Indian criminals and under-trials do not accept rapists worthy of any respect.
The Delhi gang-rapists have been moved to special cells as they have faced violence and threats from other prisoners. Though denied by Tihar Jail authorities, news agencies report that the gang-rape accused were made to drink their own urine and forced to eat excreta by other prisoners.
Shunned inside, rapists in Indian prisons lead a lonely and threatened life.
What Worries Me
In April 2008, the world woke up to a stunning case of incestuous rape – an Austrian, Josef Fritzl was charged with imprisoning and raping his daughter for 24 years. During this period, he fathered 7 children with his daughter.
These kind of cases, where (mostly) father’s sexual identity gets mixed up seem to occur frequently all over the world – and in India, too. These cases should be keeping our researchers busy – finding a solution to this seemingly global problem. There is little quantitative data on this – but plenty of anecdotal evidence, that incestuous rape is common.
Strangely, one area where this seems to be nearly absent is the Indo-Gangetic plain. Is this because sexual-marital are defined from a young age – by a mechanism that prohibits marriages within a sub-community and even among distant relatives is taboo. This extended prohibition, a ban on सगोत्र sagotra marriages seems like an effective solution.
Except in the modern, liberal-progress narrative, this tradition is regressive – and must be done away with. Haryana’s khap panchayats, who have been at the vanguard of keeping this tradition alive, have been persecuted, lampooned in India.
Such a price for modernity.
Voices From Cyberia
https://twitter.com/chits0alotmore/status/285006140566290432
Related Articles
2ndkook posts on Delhi gang-rape case
- Rape Metrics: A Global Comparison (quicktake.wordpress.com)
- Delhi Gang Rape: A Mirror To Our Society? (2ndlook.wordpress.com)
Related posts – External Sites
- Indians abroad hold candle light vigil for Delhi gang-rape victim (thehindu.com)
- NRIs demand justice for Delhi gang-rape victim (thehindu.com)
- Delhi Gang-Rape: Ruling Party In India Proposes Chemical Castration Of Rapists (ibtimes.com)
- VIDEO: Delhi rape victim’s funeral held (bbc.co.uk)
- Delhi gang-rape victim cremated amid fresh unrest (itv.com)
- Rape victim cremated in low-key affair (thehindu.com)
- Gang-rape victim cremated in Delhi (firstpost.com)
- Body of Indian gang-rape victim returns home (thetimes.co.uk)