BACK TO BASICS: Male attitudes haven't been able to keep pace with women's choices

"Crimes against women will halve if they are careful about what they wear and know their limits." R.S. Gupta, Police Commissioner, Delhi

Out of every 100 accusations, only 5 rapists are convicted.

Admittedly, there have been some revisions in the procedure. Unlike earlier, no questions can be asked at the time of lodging an FIR if a woman says she is raped. And soon after, informs advocate Lekhi, "women are to be examined by a female doctor and escorted by a female constable". But these procedures are seldom followed. "Many police officers don't know the requisites of the law themselves," adds Lekhi. And attitudes seldom change. "There is no such thing as a crime-free society," says Vimla Mehra, joint commissioner of police of the Crime Against Women Cell of Delhi Police, dismissing the recent episodes as "freak cases". Whereas Pradip Sawant, DCP, detection crime branch, Mumbai, explains it away by saying, "It is very tough to get evidence in rape cases."

However, some change seems to be under way. The Mumbai Police are being sensitised to attend distress calls on priority. They are also creating awareness through posters where women are advised on how to deal with the situation. The Delhi Police too is on a similar exercise. It now has a special helpline number for women in distress (3317004) manned by an all-women staff. Also, whenever a rape is reported, the police are supposed to call an NGO representative for immediate counselling and comfort of the victim.

By the time the law takes its course, most women have had enough. Though in-camera trials are now obligatory and only the people and officers directly concerned are allowed in, they are not easy by any standard. "There is no provision to make the presence of a woman public prosecutor mandatory," says advocate Ranjana Kaul. Also, "defence lawyers do their best to confuse the rape victim and that is where the uncomfortable questions come in," she adds. Flavia Agnes, lawyer and president of the Mumbai-based Forum for Oppression Against Women, says that in her 20-year career she has seen very few middle- and upper-class women actually daring to report rape given the legal procedures involved. This is especially true if they are raped by a family member or a powerful personality who is capable of manipulating the system. "Even the Supreme Court has considered the victim's 'character' before deciding on the sentence for the rapist," says senior lawyer Kamini Jaiswal.

RAPE IN CINEMA

SEX On The Screen TIPPING THE SCALES: Raj Babbar and Zeenat Aman in Insaaf ka Tarazu Think film rape. And you will recall Raj Babbar's lustful machinations on Zeenat Aman in B.R. Chopra's Insaaf Ka Tarazu. "It is over 20 years old," says Babbar, "but still relevant." It is. Not much has changed. The stereotypes are still reinforced: a disgraced sister, a girlfriend in distress, a macho male, a salivating villain. The rapist is never a hero. Yet, popular perceptions of rape are drawn from him. Rape victims are still a cinematic cliche: Kajol in Dushman, Rekha in Lajja, Aishwarya Rai in Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai, Nandita Das in Bawander. Even Ekta Kapoor's TV soap Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki had it. The question whether the great Indian rape scene has a subconscious bearing on society is not new. Victimisation of women in cinema is still debated. "The portrayal of women needs to be looked at," says ncw's Poornima Advani. "Why are they projected as sex objects?" asks AIDWA's Brinda Karat. "Some ads are demeaning. Why use women to sell every damn product?" Agrees Delhi lawyer Meenakashi Lekhi: "When you expose the young to sexuality like on FTV, you expose them to what they can't deal with when they are still experimenting with their bodies." "Though films depict rape," says Tanuja Chandra, director of Dushman, "it is only a vague approximation of the horror. Not showing it will also not help." The media has always been a convenient whipping boy when it comes to social issues. Unlike in films, however, the debate is nowhere near "The End". Police records reveal that 80 per cent of rapes are planned.

So how do women get out of the clutches of this hydra-headed monster? Poornima Advani, chairperson of NCW, says there are serious questions to be addressed. "How gender-sensitive are the law enforcement agencies? Instead of woman's police stations, why not women's desks at every police station?" she asks. Obviously, educating the judiciary is half the battle won. So Sakshi is working with a core group of judges to sensitise them and improve the environment in courts.

Sexual crimes against women will not decrease unless the abuse cycle is broken and interrupted at every stage. Right from sensitising young men to affect attitudinal changes, to curbs on pornography and sensitising the law and judicial environment, the task seems herculean. "Pornography works as instruction, and rape becomes the practice," says a psychologist. More than anything else, the families of the victims need to be informed that reporting a crime and seeking redressal are not only important but crucial. Also, as Tihar Jail Superintendent O.P. Mishra points out, there need to be safeguards that prevent the misuse of the law on rape.

After the recent incidents, NCW wants to open complaint cells in universities with regular meetings on sexual assault. It is also looking at institutionalising a curriculum on gender sensitisation of police officers and gender awareness weeks in police stations. There are NGOs which disseminate handy information for all. Like, report a rape immediately because delay may spoil invaluable evidence like semen stains. A woman constable has to accompany the victim to a government hospital. Medical examination will include a vaginal or swab test. Once an fir is lodged, the investigation should begin. All evidence must be produced within three days.

Even after the National Commission for Women Act, 1990, many states do not have women's commissions, leaving thousands of women without an effective redressal mechanism. They need to be empowered to effectively counter the growing menace.

There are no clear solutions to what is a serious and growing social threat. There's no easy way to treat the Indian male's psyche when he perceives nothing wrong with his gender bias and macho attitude. When seven people can sit in a train compartment and watch a drunken lout rape a helpless 12-year-old girl and do nothing, the societal fault lines run too deep for band-aid solutions. More policing is hardly the answer: in case after case, it's the policemen who encourage rapists by their attitude. Segregating women in safe compartments, safe zones, safe clubs and bars is turning the solution on its head: they offer survival at the cost of freedom and choice and give the male even more of a superiority complex. The goal, say sociologists, should not only be to sensitise men but also to bring up boys to treat women as people instead of "objects". Some journeys defy the map. This seems to be one such journey.

-with Sheela Raval, Kavita Murlidharan, Stephen David, Ramesh Vinayak and Subhash Mishra