The Most Violent Animal

 

I remember taking our 5-year old son to the Lucknow zoo many years ago and being disappointed that he was not really excited at seeing the animals. I guess 5-year olds are not predictable. What I do remember vividly from that visit is a sign at the entrance to the zoo that says “Meet the most dangerous animal on the planet”. If you follow the sign it leads you to a mirror.

We are so used to hearing words and phrases like “humane”, “milk of human kindness” and “man is a superior being” that I was taken by surprise. I then started thinking about the sign and realized that it is true. If you look back at human history, it is littered with conflict, cruelty, war and terror. You only need to go on a short tour of Europe to realize it – every city and town has a war memorial. When WW1 ended, most people would have thought nothing could be worse and in 21 years the world is at war again. 50 million died in WWII and it was so vicious that today WW1 is hardly remembered. If you thought WW2 would satiate our desire to kill, think again. In 1950, we had the Korean war, then the Suez conflict, 3 Indo-Pak wars, Vietnam, LTTE, Iraq etc etc. You get the point….

I am writing this today because there is a corollary to the fact that Man is the most violent animal. It is this  - “the Indian man is more virulent than his counterparts elsewhere”. As we lament the death of Nirbhaya, the poor 23-year old gangrape victim in Delhi, we should remember that this incident is a by-product of our society which pays lip service to gender equality, deifies women as Goddesses, makes them Party Chiefs and PMs but in reality treats them like dirt. Many women in our own families have at various times been leched at, groped, whistled at on roads, in buses and cinema halls. Let us not go on about how brave Nirbhaya was – like all of us she had a fierce will to live and that is what saw her fight for 13 days. It is similar to the platitude that is showered on Mumbai after every terrorist attack – “the spirit of Mumbai”.

We need gender sensitization initiatives in all our institutions to correct the inequity in society – schools, colleges, corporates and most importantly the government. Is it any surprise that the Women’s Reservation Bill is stalled time and again by Parliament? The whole issue starts even before the girl child is born. Just look at the Sex Ratios in the country as per the 2011 Census.

http://www.medindia.net/health_statistics/general/sex-ratio-in-india-2011.asp

It is striking that while the Overall Sex Ration has gone up from 927 to 940 in the past 20 years, the child sex ratio in the same period has fallen from 945 to 914. Clearly we don’t want more girls to come into our society. I see a clear correlation between sex ratios and the crime against women. It is an attitude that pervades our political class and the law enforcers. Look at the states/UTs with the highest and lowest sex ratios. Some of them like Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu are too small to be of significance (population < 5 lacs). The high population states with a sex ratio below 900 are Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. Is it any surprise that they are regarded as the most unsafe places for women? I heard a woman on TV today saying that of all the rape complaints taken to a police station in Delhi, only 12% result in FIRs. The rest are told that they are lying!

Top Five States/Union Territories with High Sex Ratios (females per 1000 males):

1. Kerala 1,084
2. Puducherry 1,038
3. Tamil Nadu 995
4. Andhra Pradesh 992
5. Chhattisgarh 991

States/ Union Territories with Low Sex Ratios (females per 1000 males):

1. Daman & Diu 618
2. Dadra & Nagar Haveli 775
3. Chandigarh 818
4. NCT of Delhi 866
5. A & N Islands 878

At this sombre time, while we grieve for the victim’s family, we will do a far greater service to our nation by sensitizing our children to the gender issue and ensuring that our sons grow up respecting women. Again in typical Indian style, we make the mistake of saying all Indians are my sisters and brothers! Respect <> Platonic love! This is about treating them the way we would treat our male friends.

As far as the law is concerned, a number of suggestions have already been made (Fast-track courts, making rape a non-bailable offence etc). We are good at creating new laws but pathetic at enforcing them. I know this case will be decided quickly because of all the media glare; we will know the system has changed if the 1 lac+ rape cases pending in court are decided quickly and the police acts to prevent future incidents. Till then the Delhi Police tagline “With you, For you. Always” should be changed to “With Men, For Men. Always”.

Posted: Dec 29^th, 2012