Laws on sexual misconduct should be uniformly and firmly enforced across the country

These instances of an anti-women attitude of parties in power in order to bolster their political fortunes is what contributes to the general disrespect for womanhood and, further, disrespect for the law itself. Unless public pressure is built on all parties to desist from showing mercy to sexual offenders, the menace will continue to haunt the national conscience.

Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal Chief Minister and the feisty boss of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), is squarely on the back foot today. Is this the beginning of the end for this born fighter? If so, the BJP will have succeeded where Bengal-based parties have failed. The BJP is cashing in on Mamata’s many mistakes in dealing with the rape-murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata to turn even some of her own party workers and supporters against her.

The doctor was shamelessly brutalized at her workplace. It almost seems that young men are on the prowl looking for opportunities to rape and kill their chosen victims. There is a loud call for more stringent laws. The question to ask is: Is the Indian state truly concerned about these girls of ours or is it led by men who believe, like Mulayam Singh Yadav, the late Samajwadi Party leader, that “boys will be boys”?

Why are boys not boys in every state of the Indian Union or in other countries of the world? The answer to this question should guide those in power to take remedial measures. Much depends on the political will to combat the menace of sexual perverts running amok. The solution does not involve formulating new laws but ensuring that existing laws on sexual misconduct are uniformly and firmly enforced.

With regard to the Kolkata case, the insidious practice of appointing ‘civic volunteers’ in government-run hospitals should be immediately discontinued. These workers are chosen from among the ruling party’s supporters without proper verification of their antecedents, habits and proclivities. Lumpen elements who constitute the stormtroopers of every political party are allowed to slip in. The ‘carte blanche’ given to them to roam around in hospitals, ‘helping’ patients secure beds and medical attention, has led to this sad occurrence.

Regularly recruited social workers who train students for true social work should replace these ‘civic volunteers’, whose main job is to extract ‘speed money’ from patients in distress. All indications point to the sharing of the proceeds of corruption with those who have helped them secure unofficial employment.

This menace is not exclusive to Bengal or to one political party. In Gujarat, I learnt that besides teachers recruited from amongst the ideologically aligned people, the ranks of the Home Guards were chosen from the same partisan source. The Home Guards are often sent to assist the police in law and order or traffic regulation. If such recruitment of untrained men and women is not discontinued, incidents like the one that has hit Kolkata in its solar plexus will multiply.

Another very urgent remedy to reduce cases of sexual misconduct is to send out a clear message to potential offenders that they can expect no mercy from parties in power. They will be caught by the police and sentenced by the courts. At present, there is a very wrong message being circulated that if you support or help the party in power, your time in jail will be curtailed by the easily obtained parole and even jail sentences can be prematurely terminated.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim, a self-styled godman with a large following in Haryana, was convicted of two rapes and a murder. He was released on parole for long periods coinciding with the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. That may have helped the ruling party get a few more votes, but it encouraged sexual offenders to go ahead with satisfying their lust.

Similarly, the dozen or so men convicted in Gujarat for rape and murder during the 2002 riots were released prematurely, thereby sending out a clear message that a partisan government would not stop aiding and abetting such offenders as long as they are the party’s supporters. The Calcutta High Court fortunately intervened when the TMC was more than kind to the medical college principal, who appeared to have shut his eyes to the unlawful activities of the ‘civic volunteers’. The principal should have been given a punishment posting but instead was sent to a bigger and better hospital before the court stepped in. That error of judgment was widely interpreted as an indication of the TMC’s support for what was radically evil in the hospital management.

These instances of an anti-women attitude of parties in power in order to bolster their political fortunes is what contributes to the general disrespect for womanhood and, further, disrespect for the law itself. Unless public pressure is built on all parties to desist from showing mercy to sexual offenders, the menace will continue to haunt the national conscience.

Mulayam’s adage that “boys will be boys” is presently the reigning philosophy in our land. It is fortunate that educated women have revolted against this philosophy. It took the BJP leadership quite a long time to sideline Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a party MP who doubled as the president of the Wrestling Federation of India. He was a serial offender who ran several educational institutions in and around his home town. He commanded votes in more than three Lok Sabha constituencies. And that mattered more to the BJP than all the slogans that placed women on a pedestal and that were glibly repeated day in, day out by the party’s eminent leaders.

If action had been taken earlier against Brij Bhushan, Vinesh Phogat would not have missed the trials for the Olympic wrestling slot in her preferred weight category. And we would not have had to approach the Court of Arbitration for Sport, begging for rules to be changed!
(The author is a former governor and a highly decorated retired IPS (Indian Police Service) officer)