The entire society hangs its head in shame over the recent incident in which women were stripped, paraded naked, and one was gangraped in crisis-ridden Manipur. A lot is being spoken about the situation in Manipur, faultlines there, politics et al. However, it appears that the media discourse is tilted heavily towards political nature, instead of addressing the universal core issue -- How long will ‘she’ be targeted? Just one simple internet search brings to one’s screen scores of results relating to the incidents of women being assaulted, gangraped, stripped, and paraded naked in various parts of the country as well as in neighbouring Pakistan. There are other incidents also in some terrorism-hit countries where women are not only gangraped but also killed brutally later on. There is enough of evidence available in the form of reports of various incidents, to drive home the message that women are soft targets even in the era of so-called empowerment.

 

The restrictions imposed on women in some religious fundamentalist countries look like a smaller sin in front of the horrible instances of women being raped, molested by mobs, paraded naked. There appears to be no end to such sickly behaviour of society. The ugly phenomenon is not restricted to any particular State of India like Manipur, but is spread across other States including Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Delhi etc. This is not to dilute the heinous and ugly reality of Manipur, but to bring out that targetting and abuse of women is widespread and needs to be tackled beyond mere political, religious, sectarian, ethnic, and provincial approaches. In one case, woman was stripped and paraded naked because mob attacking her believed that she was a ‘witch’. In another case, a married woman was stripped, beaten, and paraded naked on suspicion of her having an affair with someone else in the village. In some other case, two Dalit women were gangraped, stripped, and paraded naked in Hazaribag district of Jharkhand in 2002. In January 2022, in East Delhi, a 20-year-old woman was assaulted and paraded naked by her neighbours as they believed that a teenage boy in their family had ended his life because she spurned him. In Pakistan, four women were paraded naked as they were suspected of shoplifting. In various countries, incidents have been reported in which men have hacked to death the woman they loved in the most brutal manner and reflecting the medieval cruelty and barbarism. May it be rural area or urban area, this country or that country, women are being subjected to ugliest kind of abuse, humiliation, sexual assault.

 

Why? Because, probably, women are being treated as soft targets to settle the scores that range from dispute between neighbours to clash between groups. Why cannot the society respect women? Why is it so easy to target them and go scot-free? In 2011, the Supreme Court had slammed the then Government of Maharsahtra for not seeking harsher punishment (than mere one-year jail term) for the four accused who had paraded naked a young tribal woman in 1994. Just one-year jail term? Uncontested? How can society live with such a paltry punishment. Doesn’t the forever-scarred dignity of women in such incidents demand for harsher punishment, and that too, in an expedient manner? While the women are stripped and paraded naked, predators on the loose in the society are not even ashamed of assaulting the innocent young girls luring them with chocolates! Sadly, even in such cases, legal technicalities often result in undeterrent sentences for the perpetrators. Does anyone think about how afraid the girls must be feeling throughout their life? A lot of factors may be held responsible for this situation. Legal remedies are available only after the incidents happen. But, what about preventive social measures? Unfortunately, apart from grooming boys, specific action points are not talked about.

 

There has to be a deeper understanding of grooming. How does one think the children are being groomed by watching obscene, coarse, sexually explicit content on television, in movies, on mobile phones in hand, on OTT platforms, on the Internet? But, that is big commerce. Hence, there the same custodians of ‘social interest’ speak the language of ‘freedom to watch’. However, not one study has been conducted by any of the top-ranking professional institutions regarding the impact of such coarse, violent, obscene content on the grooming of children in impressionable age. Undue emphasis invention of newer gender identities is just making the matters worse, as such narratives focus more on sexuality than on sensitivity.

 

Why? Another aspect is focus of media, especially social media, on finding identities of the perpetrators or victims before taking up any case. They forget that such narrow considerations embolden the perpetrators. In some recent videos that went viral, the perpetrators of acts of violence against women were seen laughing while shooting the entire scene! Identity-based selection of cases on social media leaves perpetrators assured about their identity group standing by them, and this makes them have no remorse or shame for the wrong they commit. There may be many ‘Whys?’, the answers to which are difficult for the society. But, even if the society decides to take the cue from Manipur incident, it is time for some concrete action at multiple levels so that women and children do not become soft targets in any kind of conflict and mob violence. It is time for the Government also, irrespective of which party is in power, to come up with stringent laws with provisions of harsher punishment in such heinous incidents, than in other ‘crimes’. For, a society that treats its women badly, destroys the very foundations of trust on which are based the virtues known by different names -- mother, daughter, sister, grandmother, aunt, niece, friend, colleague, love interest. Will the latest incident serve as a trigger for some long-term change? Well... women are watching!