Midst the different happenings in the country, there is a current affair that is not new to the society but new in the way the aftermath was dealt. A juvenile, a school student from Uttarakhand, was denied bail by the state High court. He had made obscene videos of his female classmate and circulated amongst the class mates. Fearing that her character would be under the scanner and her family’s dignity in the radar of society’s brutal verbal assault, the victim committed suicide. The victim’s family eventually filed a complaint, after the loss of their daughter; had the victim been alive, the chances of filing a complaint would have been scanty. Following which the accused was arrested. And as always, the boy’s family applied for his bail. Now here is where the story does not follow the usual script. He was denied bail by district court, followed by High court. Finally, making all of juvenile’s mother’s efforts abortive, the Supreme Court denied him bail on 21st May, thus making an exception to the norm that children in conflict with law should be granted bail irrespective of seriousness of the crime. This is why this case is unique. Crime against women is nothing new that the society has been witnessing. It is as common as the practice of marriage; well, even matrimonial alliances serve as a base to the wrong doings against women. But the change in the way the proceedings of this case were dealt, is what actually brought a wave of hope.

We are aware that all age restrictions applicable to the content online are with the intent to barricade the vulgarity up on the web from today’s younger generation, which apparently is out of control due to the hormonal imbalance. Why? That will be clarified in a bit. But what happens to these age restrictions when it comes to crime against women? Women of all ages are being raped, molested, assaulted by men of all ages. It is literally a case of ‘age no bar’ when it comes to both victims and accused. Such crimes by men of any age are absolutely insufferable and disgraceful but when these heinous crimes are committed by boys who are literally kids, one is left to ponder on where are we failing as a society? And this is not the first instance of a juvenile being accused. Who is unaware of the infamous Nirbhaya Case? That case also brought to light the extent to which minors can hamper a woman’s honour and even be murderers. Even after more than a decade to the case that sent shock waves nationwide, we haven’t moved an inch in protecting women and ultimately society as whole. When young boys see women in their house being mistreated and yet they do not protest, they tend to develop the idea that this is acceptable and then project their thoughts in the society in the form of their actions which results in crime. When boys see their sisters or other women being objectified for what they wear, they tend to develop the notion that the problem lies in women’s clothing. There is a museum in the US which has put on display the clothes women were wearing when they were subjected to these assaults. There were all sorts of dresses- pyjamas, shirts, dresses, nurse uniform and even a baby outfit with diaper! How do you justify rape of a 2 month old? What is she supposed to wear to keep herself protected? The problem is not what women wear. The problem is their outfits being interpreted into something even they are not mindful of. When the length of your dress interprets your modesty, when the amount of makeup you wear mirrors the purity of your character, when your lipstick shade points out your mood, that’s where the real issue is.

There are several proportionality relations in physics. There’s one in society as well exclusively for women which is ‘the length of dress is directly proportional to your character’. Even though women these days pay no heed to these mindless ‘proportionality relations’, nevertheless, their character is always questioned.

A kid who has the sense of harming a woman’s dignity cannot be a juvenile. When crime does not see the age limit, why does justice take cognisance of it. Hence, we need laws that legibly declare ‘AGE NO BAR FOR PUNISHMENTS AND JUSTICE’. As much as we need stringent laws for crime against women, we more importantly need a society with a better mindset and mentality. Instead of caging women, men should be counselled in this regard. Teaching young girls self defence is important but alongside teaching boys the moral code of conduct and counselling them about their behaviour towards women is equally important.

She was raped. No. he raped her.

Protect your daughter. Yes, but educate your son.

“You shouldn’t wear short clothes, you’ll be safe.” Tell your boy to close his eyes and open his mind, it will be safe then.

“Your daughters should stay at home at night, it will be safe.” You should make your boys stay at home, it will be safe then.

We can’t change society. No, we can and we will fight for our safety till we get it because we hail from a country where Lanka was burnt and Mahabharat happened when a woman’s dignity was tampered. Candle march has never been our thing.

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