By Ranjona Banerji
Trying to watch TV “discussions†on rape, women’s right to dignity, political interference and policing is an extremely trying experience. Night after night, the subject is up for debate though what there is to debate is not really clear.
On Vikram Chandra’s show on NDTV the other night, the anchor himself had plenty of facts and figures on how rapes occur in other countries and that conviction rates can be pretty dismal everywhere. There is nothing new in that. The issue in India however does not need to be conflated with rape figures elsewhere except for the purpose of argument. It also allows what is a very serious crime to be buried under a barrage of “whataboutery†and roundabout excuse of “If they also do it, why blame only usâ€.
All this just obfuscates why so many people in India were appalled and sickened by the details of the two current instances of rape under discussion, the first in Jammu and the second in Uttar Pradesh. In the Kathua case, the victim was an eight-year-old girl and the police report says that her gangrape and murder was planned and deliberate: an attempt to intimidate the community she belongs to into quitting the area. Supporters of the rape accused, which include a temple priest, took out a rally to defend the alleged perpetrators. Lawyers refused to let the police file their charge-sheet. The rape and murder happened in January but these subsequent events are more recent.
In Unnao, a minor girl claimed she was raped repeatedly by a politician known to her. But her complaints were unheeded and ignored. Her father took up her cause for which he was arrested and then was beaten to death in police custody. The accused is an election representative of the people.
A substantial part of the public anger in both these cases is that the alleged rapists found more support than the rape victims. The issue therefore is not rape itself but political and official support to those accused of crimes against women.
One can understand when politicians or the authorities deliberately ignore the question of such support because it directly points to them. But it is nothing short of shameful for journalists to give in to this thinking. Especially when the evidence of such support for rapists is building up.
The people of Unnao have taken out a rally to support their local MLA, much as happened in Kathua.
https://www.thequint.com/news/india/unnao-rallies-in-support-of-bjp-mla-sengar
And this is what has happened in the Bhima Koregaon, to the woman who complained to the police about her house being burned down in anti-Dalit violence in January this year:
https://www.hindustantimes.com/pune-news/bhima-koregaon-woman-whose-house-was-burnt-in-violence-found-dead-in-well/story-svUZw7icBmNsxSAabO5ecN.html
I bring up this story, although it is not about rape, because it emphasises the problems faced by victims of violence by powerful people. Saying “they also did it†cannot be an acceptable response by ruling dispensations, to the media.
Instead of focussing on these matters, our esteemed TV anchors – and not just the one I have named – allow the issue to get sidetracked. There is violence against women and there is support for such violence. Any journalists with even minimum experience would know the difference. And would also know that all these ordinances for death penalties are nothing but attempts to deflect the argument and cynically earn some brownie points. Who really believes that people supported by a particular political ideology are going get the death penalty for the Kathua rape? Please.
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If this was not bad enough, some journalists have also allowed the crisis within the judiciary to be deflected by those who do not want the citizens of India to know what is going on.
​ ​Someone needs to wake up.
​Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She is also Consulting Editor, MxMIndia. The views here are personal​