Not a day goes by without multiple reports of rapes across the country. But such was the height of bestiality displayed by one gang of rapists in Haryana’s Rohtak district last week that a graphic description of their actions against a 28-year-old mentally-challenged Nepalese woman should not find a mention in newspapers lest the fainthearted lose faith in life.
Like the Delhi gangrape of 2012, this brutal gangrape brings into question the very attitude of men to women in the country. Hardly has the controversy over the behaviour of a cab driver in New Delhi died down comes another shocker that takes the breath away. How much lower can men descend in a country in which some of the earliest texts were written on how society should treat its women? Politicians have spoken at length on the measures taken to provide safety to women.
Large funds have been earmarked for providing security to them in the cities where they go to work. Promises have been made to protect innocent children from the beastly behaviour of men in cities.
The police receives rude wakeup calls each time an assault on a woman or child takes place, but there is no sign yet that the incidence of molestation and rape has subsided. That women are increasingly under attack is obvious from the number of cases reported to authorities. Even so, only a change in the outlook of men towards women can bring about a real change in society. So far has the rot penetrated our society that we fear for the safety of any woman who has to leave home for study, work or leisure.
