Increasing Rapes in India-Causes & Solutions

This heinous gang rape on 16^th Dec has shaken the whole country and for the first time, this country is united and fighting for a cause which is completely non-political and people are showing a will to not make it a fading memory without any stern actions taken.

So let us understand what the people are demanding

1. Death penalty for the accused and hence a stricter law which makes sure such gang rapist are hanged to death in future as well
2. Fast track trials for Rape and domestic violence related cases. We can't tolerate such cases to go on for 4-5 yrs without judgment
3. Considering an immense increase in rape cases across India (80 K rape cases pending in Delhi itself) to have a special investigation cell and court to handle these cases
4. Police verification of all Drivers-Buses, Taxi, Auto & Trucks before assigning licenses and permits. If people with any criminal record are caught in these positions, AVP should be held accountable and he should be suspended.
5. Non tolerance policy of no leader in parliament-Rajya Sabha & Lok Sabha to hold position if he/she has any criminal record effective 26^th Jan 2013 ( Don't know if people are demanding but I think it is something we must demand

I think these are very reasonable demands and it should have been so easily addressed by the government by now without so many protest and death of a constable. This shows the will of Indian government and I would describe this as worse than British Rule. We are no more independent, democratic. We are ruled by criminals, rapist (168 leaders in the parliament have active/prior cases of rape and domestic violence case against them) and pseudo secular leaders who are among the richest people in the world and don't care a damn about this country

The purpose of me writing about this issue was not to state what is already being discussed and written all over the net but is to brainstorm on a very different angle to the Rape cases happening in India. I being a consultant, tried to use a very systematic approach to this issue and I did a root cause analysis of Rapes in India.

There are basically 8 types of rapes happening in Indian Society out of which 3-4 are commonly recognized as Rapes while others are still under a Taboo

1. Gang Rape-if more than 1 person rapes a girl
2. One to one rape-if the girl is forced by a man into sex
3. Family Rape- if one or more family members indulge in a forced sex with the girl
4. Molestation/Sexual Harassment- eve teasing, touching girls purposefully, whistling etc.
5. Smart Rape-tricking a girl into having sex 
6. Casting Couch-having sex for jobs, promotion or any other favors
7. Affairs- having a relationship with a girl only for satisfying sexual needs of a man
8. Prostitution- having sex with a girl by paying her money

So now let's look at why rape happens in India and is it more popular among any class of people.Some alarming statistics to begin with 2002 -In India girl is raped every 54 minutes’ 2012-Girl is raped every 20 Minutes. Let's do the Math. There are 525600 Minutes in a year. Hence 26,280 girls being raped every year (Mind you these are the reported-given the ratio of five unreported rapes to every reported case that is widely admitted is around 130K) which 62% increase in rape cases in last 10 yrs. So considering these as conservative reported numbers we can imagine in which direction our society is moving and how effective our law and order is. 

* Source ministry of home

Delhi reported 453 and Mumbai 252 cases

According to Tehelka story, nearly 17 of the 30 policemen interviewed by the magazine believed that “real” rape cases are rare: “There are cases but 70 percent involve consensual sex. Only if someone sees or the money is denied, it gets turned into rape.

This incident is not an isolated one; sexual assault occurs with frightening regularity in this country. Adivasi and Dalit women and those working in the unorganized sector, women with disabilities, hijras, kothis, Tran's people and sex workers are especially targeted with impunity – it is well known that the complaints of sexual assault they file are simply disregarded. The fact that cases of rape have a conviction rate of as low as 26% shows that perpetrators of sexual violence enjoy a high degree of impunity, including being freed of charges

So let's examine why rapes are happening in Indian society. What is the root cause of this heinous crime? I am listing down some reasons which are debatable and are not intended to hurt anyone's sentiments

1. Poor Sex life among Married couples in India-this leads to large population of sex deprived frustrated men who is looking for satisfying their urge
2. Society Taboo on pre-martial sex-Average year of a guy's marriage in India is 27 yrs. That means majority of young population between 16-26 are sex deprived and are the major threat to society as they have higher urge to have sex
3. Truck/Bus/Taxi drivers who are always on move and have a very pathetic work life balance-This is almost 5% of men who are more dangerous as they are morally uneducated and are very desperate to satisfy their urge at any cost
4. Lastly unethical & morally plagued men who want to empower their ego and want to Rape for the sake of it or just to have fun.

So now let's examine different alternatives men have in other countries to satisfy their sexual urge besides raping a girl. Before that I want to put a disclaimer that we universally accept the fact that urges for sex is a natural process and there is nothing wrong in having a strong urge to have it. Also I am putting a fair assumption that Indian women have more self control and are more empowered to curb their sex drive if they have don't have access to it than men

1. Educated & Young unmarried men can satisfy their urge by masturbation, having relationship which allows physical intimacy with his partner. This seems to be a large section of population but not everyone is in a relationship and not every relationship has sexual binding
2. Poor, Lower Middle Class & uneducated un-married men in India have no avenues except some limited sex institutes which are also highly prone to STD diseases
3. Married men particularly from professions such as construction, transport etc who are either sexually active with their wife or not also have strong urge for sex because of the type of job. These people also can hunt for such sex institutes which are cheap and affordable
4. Rich married men can afford escort services or can indulge in affairs which might give them avenues for sex

My aim to point the above points is that, bringing strong laws, punishable laws, putting CCTVs everywhere is just a small part of the solution. What we need to question is why sex is such a Taboo in our society. What are other alternatives to solving this issue in parallel to stronger laws? Some of my suggestions out of the above analysis are:

1. Increasing sex education awareness among youths-both among educated & uneducated men & women. Encourage them to use self pleasing techniques to satisfy themselves and prevent the stage of extreme urge in any stage of the life
2. Counselling centers opened in small cities, villages to guide such people
3. Self Defense classes for girls should be compulsory in every school, corporate and govt institutes
4. Look at the option of opening more avenues for sex institutes for e.g. legalizing prostitution, allowing strip clubs, dance bars, opening small affordable porn studies for people to pay and satisfy themselves. Important thing is that govt should have a strong regulation and control over such activities since miss use of such avenues is very easy in India
5. Society should debate the concept of Pre-Marital Sex-pros and cons. Today when girls and boys have taken a conscious decision to marry late in lives, how feasible is it for them to stay without having a physical relationship with their partner. And if this is happening anyways behind the society why not accept it and make it part of the solution.
6. Married couples need to question themselves and ask introspect their current sexual life. Both men & women need to rethink their priorities and make sex one of the biggest priorities of their life. I feel 80% of child molestation solution lies in happy sex life of married couples.
7. Last but most important is Fear of Law. Unless there is fear of law it is impossible to reduce rapes in any society. It i impossible to have a society which is morally sound and hence and law and order came into place. There has to be stringent punishments and I strongly recommend death penalties to life imprisonment for such cases so that these rapist don't come out of jails and take revenge from victim's family. 

I want the Indian society to indulge in strong debates related to the way we handle issues related to sex in addition to protest for strong laws from government. Indian women will have to stop depending on govt and other men to protect them and build a strong defense mechanism around them. And if a woman accepts sex as positive and non taboo thing, I feel Indian men will have no choice but accept the new civilized way of Indian society.