In the recent past a horrific incident revealed the gruesome reality of the situation of women in our country. An eight month old baby was sexually assaulted by her cousin in a hospital in Delhi. We have so far understood that women face most of the violence at home, at the hands of intimate partners or family members. One can go so far as to say that violence and abuse, negligence and indifference to her needs are an everyday reality for women across the country. Against the given backdrop of “normalized violence”. From saying that it is the woman’s fault, to pressurising her to keep quiet in order to protect the family’s reputation, to almost normalizing everything we are weaving a hell. What adds further to the issue is the sheer discomfort and issue attached to reporting of the crime, in rural areas particularly authorities are hardly sensitive to the situation and the victim’s ordeal. This results in women who would have otherwise reported cases, preferring to keep away from the entire procedure of seeking justice legally. In rural spaces, crimes against women are normalized to a greater extent than in urban spaces. “Family honour”, “clan or community honour”, “caste honour” sometimes serve as related factors and variables guiding the politics behind choosing targets even as women in general suffer.
Lower class women, Dalit women, tribal women are the ones who not only suffer such abuses to a greater extent because of these factors but also are more oppressed in terms of exposure to the probability of seeking justice. It is this attitude and social outlook that encourages violence against women, and now it goes to the extent where even infants aren’t spared. The question to ask is are we turning into an insensitive monstrous society?
