Women in India Are Vulnerable To Crime

With education and equal rights like men, women have become more independent, but this freedom in some sense has brought many such issues regarding the safety and security of women in India which are either being neglected or there must be something lacking in the system of law and order. Women in India have become more educated with literacy rate of 65.46% and are excelling in all the fields alongside men.

This sudden rising of educated women into the corporate world came with all the multinational companies hiring more and more people including women. And women were the preferred choice as they have the graceful appearance along with more patience and good learning attitude. These companies wanted young and dynamic women who would be able to work on rotational shifts or most commonly known as the ‘Graveyard Shift’. With the great alteration that has taken place in the last 10 years in the competitive world, more and more women have came forward and are trying their hand in Corporatism.

Another thing that came with these multinational companies was the night life which India was not well aware of. Earlier women were not allowed to leave home after 8 in the night, soon the whole situation got upside down.  A new revolution has taken place and people have become more broad minded, which can be said to have brought women this liberty to move even at night hours. Particularly the money that came with these kinds of jobs was one of the reasons for people accepting this change. Night life is not forbidden in India, neither are women, to be part of this life. What should be forbidden are the dangers that are coming along with the flow of this modern culture. Women are the easy prey of these dangers and Indian women are becoming more vulnerable to all the sexual crimes which were earlier hidden somewhere behind the walls of another world.

Rape, molestation, eve teasing, acid attacks, sexual harassment all these are getting practiced  frequently on women either because women are now easily accessible for the night hours they have to work in or the law and order of the country is still not awake enough. Every now and then there are rape cases with young women while returning to home and they are raped by no strangers, rather by those with whom she travels everyday and in most cases the drivers are the active participants. Who is to be blamed? The girl who is being raped because she has dressed in a provocative way, the most common blame put on women by the society or the people involved in the rape because they were men and this was enough for them to have the bloody right to rape.

Rape, brutally beaten up and left to die, and once the case is presented in front of the court; the case keeps hanging and hanging, pending dates with no outcome. Law and order is being ‘just’ or not? Women are getting rape at an alarming rate, with the insecurity and fear levels rising high, is it the punishment that women are paying being the weaker sex? Myriad girls migrate from small cities to metropolitan cities in search of better economic opportunities, and most of them choose these kinds of night jobs because of the money that comes handsomely with the job, but this doesn't mean that they are choosing the sexual crimes along. It’s an equivalent world of both the sexes, and despite all the law and order present in the country for crime against women, these acts of violence are increasing rapidly.

Women apart even young girl children are getting rape, molested and when someone tries to raise their voice they are often suppressed by the law itself. Indian women are suffering, more and more sexual crimes are taking place every day and justice is still pending. Looking at the situation of the law and order of India people have now started using a very popular quote “Justice delayed is Justice Denied’, which in its true sense has come alive.  And still remains undeniable, is the bitter fact that Indian women have become more vulnerable to crime.

*Monalisa Joshi*