Molested, assaulted, raped?

The entire world is up in arms. There are people with placards and black bands, holding hands, united in revolution. There are journalists writing up incriminating articles in the papers and there are the television presenters, with their uncanny ability to drag a debate till infinity, moderating discussions. It’s a liberated world; it’s a world which feels for the woman, it’s a world which recognizes her pain, her trauma and her anxiety. She has been molested, no because it left like an assault, but not still because she has been raped!!!

Liberation and freedom arrived in India only recently with the recent recognition as an IT powerhouse. The ordinary middle class now had an opportunity to visit foreign countries and explore diverse cultures. The Indian ladies now had the privilege of having the doors opened for them, being treated as equals and more importantly they were now a part of every male bastion previously considered a taboo. Parties in office now had women invitees, who indulged and to some extent even competed in their capacity of alcohol intake. But alcohol seldom comes without the company of tobacco. Ladies in traditional salwar kameeses now could be seen matching butt by butt with the traditional male smokers. Soon, the culture had spread to the other divisions of the working middle class.

But some things have never really changed over all these years. People want values and honor but also want the adventure that freedom offers. People want the tattoos but not the pain associated with them. The law always respects and protects the woman because she cannot ever really let her own modesty be outraged. But what if the woman is not in her senses? What if there is another side to the story? There is the very senior and respectable Judge who has been accused of molestation. There is a doctor who has been accused, tried and also sentenced. Sexual assault and molestation to some extent have become everything except what they really are.

When Shri reached his designated work center in a well-known company’s office, he was hardly surprised to get a call from the project manager. Shri has been known to be a straight talker and often ended up offending people. Fresh out of college and still a rebel at heart, he found it difficult to fit into the discipline and rigor of processes and procedures. He was in for a shock when he found that he had been accused of abusing a lady colleague. Though he was quick to apologize publicly and save his job, he still harbors a fear for women. Turns out, Shri and the colleague had an argument over an assignment. Argument soon led to a tiff and Shri, never one to mince his words, told her, he would do what he pleased and she should mind her own business. The next day, the complaint stated, he had used expletives to get prove his point. The lady eventually quit the company, married someone rich and Shri heads the technology division of a startup. But the small incident has led him to a trauma so great that today he has to be counselled into marriage!

Is it the man’s fault if a woman, not completely in her senses responds to his advances? Is it the man, who is at fault if he invites an intern, old enough to be his daughter to his residence? Is it Shri’s fault that he lost his temper on a woman? Or is it the fault of the thousands of men who are accused by unscrupulous women of dowry, abuse, harassment, assault and even rape? Isn’t it time for the country’s legislature to get better equipped legal machinery? All these questions need to be answered and answered fast so justice can be delivered and not be used as a weapon for revenge. It’s time for better investigation and much better laws. It’s time for better use of technology to aid justice and sense rather than blind faith in archaic laws. It’s time grow up!