There are also talks about having an open source database of all rape convicts so that the public knows about the whereabouts of the convicts and “prospective” rapists are dissuaded from committing the offence. One thing that strikes out in this mire of dialogue is the fact that the talk about rape is out in the public domain.

Rape as one of the myriad forms of oppression of the weak is not new in any society. In some societies it is used as a form of punitive action. And every time we saw, heard or read about an incident of rape, we tightened our chastity belts, tightened curfew, and some of us talked about marrying off our daughters at a pre-pubescent age. The Vasant Vihar gang rape case changed that because it proved that chastity belts and reduced curfew hours do not guarantee protection from this heinous crime. Hence, legal reforms, administrative reforms, penalties for administrative inefficiencies are being sought, loudly, distinctly and courageously.

There is also another aspect to this problem that demands space here, and that is of the disparities in justice, in legal outreach and under-reporting of cases where the victim is from a sub-stratum, i.e., a Dalit or an Adivasi.

The concern for safety should be for all at-risk populations. Some of us have our constitutional and civil rights snatched away by the very law enforcement and state machinery in charge of protecting our rights and for no tangible or proven offence. Our history and the “progress” of our civilization never fail to provide us with fresh evidence of this happening over and over again. My concern is not small for the hapless victims of rape in the cities, in elite suburbias, who are visible, who have a voice, who count and whose stories elicit such mass upheaval, such shock, and such demonstrations which are powerful enough to shake Mr. Shinde and Dr. Singh into forming special committees to combat violence against women.

However, my concern is greater for those “expendable” bodies, from not-so-elite villages and rustic areas, who are violated and left to die on the side of a gravel road, who are never found, who are never searched for, who do not have the power to elicit such mass outrage, simply because they are invisible. Zero-tolerance laws can hopefully deter rapists from committing the offence, but can they prevent it, especially in populations who are not protected by the law anyway? In the meantime, I cannot but join the government rhetoric on “long-term” interventions in combating rape, which are effective, sustainable and most importantly, inclusive. However, I feel that my alliance with the so called government rhetoric ends at the words “long term”.

As a student of the public health sciences, I have come to believe in the power of dialogue, of acknowledging a problem as a problem as such and talking about it in the public domain. Health literacy is the most powerful method of prevention in the 21st century and I was just thinking if that can have an application in this war against violence against women in general and rape in particular. For that to happen, we need to acknowledge that rape is a pathology which is hosted in the otherwise “normal” social organism called the society, our society. Here, our own are the victims and our own are the perpetrators as well.

Public health enterprises have had grand successes in India. Some of the examples are small pox, the guinea worm and the plague. We are almost set to conquer polio. Think about the methodology adopted for achieving these grand successes. Was it vaccination only, or were the TV, radio and paper advertisements equally effective? What about the tireless efforts of the health workforce, social workers and other ground workers in teaching the public about the diseases and the ways of prevention? Call me a romantic, but I feel the public health system of our country should be given equal responsibility (along with law enforcement) in tackling this problem.

Unfortunately, there are no vaccines that can prevent rape or violence against women in general. However, these problems can be prevented by sustained dialogue in families, at the community level, in schools, colleges and universities, in offices, at public hang-outs and wishfully, at khap meetings as well. We can expect refusal, backlash perhaps, but we should never under-estimate the power of so un-pretentious a medium like education and dialogue in making real change. (IPA Service)