Fast Judicial Process, Responsive Policing, Civic Facilities, Workplace Security Must For Security of Women Against Sexual Abuse
A spate of incidents related to sexual violence against women in the last few weeks has turned the spotlight firmly on the need for fair, speedy trials and fast track courts. Focus has been missing on the need for accountable policing which reflects lack of state intent. Corporate media and ruling class politicians and Govts. have fanned public hysteria to deflect the issue from answerability of governance i.e. of state and judicial institutions, to baying for street punishment. People frustrated with lack of punishment in the cases of brutal sexual assault on women and increasing recurrence of such incidents are falling prey to this propaganda. Those who are responsible for long delay in the meting out justice to the accused, if at all this happens due to very low rate of conviction, turn the attention of the people away from their own culpability and accountability. We must rise for speedy trial and meting out justice to the victims of the rape and rape-murders and maximum punishment in such cases.
However there is a careful distinction in the targets they create for people who are simply fed up of poor justice delivery and rotten governance. MLAs and Ministers and Judges, generally the mighty in the present system, who misuse power to sexually abuse, ruin both survivors and the families and even murder for covering up sexual abuse by them, are never the targets of media and rulers’ created hysteria. Not even Senegar nor Chinmayanand, who have openly and blatantly used the might of the state to subvert their victims’ quest for justice.
Despite a massive struggle on the issue of sexual violence that erupted after the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder, speedy trials, fast track courts, responsive police promises then made, have not been delivered. Nirbhaya funds lie unused and govts are not in the spotlight for not putting streetlights even in big metropolitan cities leave alone villages. Why are the funds not used to set up fast track courts? In the case of the Unnao -2 victim, she was shifted from UP to Delhi to deflect attention and everyone knows that a person with 95% burns has no chance of survival in this country. Yet her death is being presented as an unfortunate occurrence by the corporate media and rulers. These incidents also serve the purpose of serving as a warning to other survivors who are fighting for justice.
We must demand immediate arrest against policemen who do not file FIRs in cases of missing women or sexual violence complaints. This is the instant justice we should demand. We must demand immediate arrest of the policemen who defend rapists or lodge false cases against the kin of survivors or the survivors themselves like in the cases of both Unnao survivors or even the Chinmayanand case. We must demand immediate dismissal of public prosecutors in cases of sexual violence who do not appear in courts for more than one date in the entire trial. We must demand that investigation in all cases of sexual violence be time bound and that too in a short period and a short period be fixed in which these cases go through fast track courts and appeal process. There should be a maximum period for the entire process the honouring of which should be the responsibility of Law Ministers of States and Centre. These are the real causes of public frustration and let us unitedly bring these issues for direct action to the fore. We should build a broad-based militant mass movement on this so that ruling classes’ design to selectively channelize the public anger against accused from weaker sections and lead astray a principled movement against violence against women and the patriarchal mindset which is at the root of it.
This has been a bitter year for women’s struggle against sexual abuse. From the alleged involvement of the CJI himself to the flaunting of every fair procedure to prove him right; to heinous cases of Ministers and MPs of BJP Govts who were accused of sexual abuse succeeding in really harming the survivors even though the cases against them continue to survive; to the fake encounter in Hyderabad in the name of women and the attempts of the Telengana police and Govt. as well as corporate media to push the discourse away from accountability of state institutions to brutal street punishment of suspects. So does the RSS lynch Muslims, so are women targeted as witches or for relationships of love outside caste and religion, so are Dalits targeted by ruling class elements in villages and small towns for public lynching. And now police fake encounters are sought to be given public sanction in the name not only of women’s safety but on women’s demand!
Let us, on 16th December 2019 strengthen our collective fight to expose the patriarchal state institutions and rulers, to demand accountability of courts, police and govts in all cases of sexual violence against women, and for speedy and certain punishment to those guilty of sexual assaults.
Fight patriarchy! Fight for Women’s Safety!
Defeat the rulers, attempts to divert our struggle and thereby to defeat it.