SAFETY OF GIRLS

I have been wanting to speak my mind about ghastly rape of the girl by cab driver in Delhi but just could not bring myself to marshal my thoughts as I was so upset. Today I decided to write what comes in my mind.

First of all this act by that evil man is beyond any words to condemn. What is more hurting is the way we have gone about blame game and suggested the obvious what should have been rightly done by those blamed. The politicians have used it to make political mileage. Hardly anyone has actually pointed finger at what, as per my thinking, is the root cause of not only rapes but molestations and eve teasing also. It is the mind set of our society at large – BOYS ARE SUPERIOR AND SHOULD BE GIVEN ALL THE FREEDOM. Very few of us treat our daughters at par with sons. How many of us teach our sons from tender age itself to respect girls and treat them as equals? Particularly so in uneducated masses. Do we set an example by giving our daughters the same facilities as our sons? Most of us will say NO.

So the long term remedy for putting stop to crime against women is to start change of society mindset. For this there is need to inculcate sense of respect for girls in the minds of boys as well as that they need to treat girls as equal. This should be done right from tender age at home, in schools and colleges also. Political parties, social organizations as well as prominent persons of social standing should hold regular seminars, sabhas, panchayats, nukkad meetings or whatever ways to do this. They should start with teaching parents to treat daughters as equal to sons. It will take a few years before results are visible, so it has to be carried out over a long period regularly.   

Till this bears fruit, we need to look at short term remedies. One which comes to my mind, apart from much spoken about verifications etc, is that for safety of girls travelling alone or even in company of another girl, particularly at night or lonely places, we should make use of services of retired Defence personnel in receipt of pension as they come out at relatively young age after their term of engagement. We may even include ex – paramilitary personnel in receipt of pension. If such persons can drive it is good, otherwise they may be sent as escorts in the vehicle.