ALI SUKHANVER
The Pakistani society is always blamed of having the blobs of terrorism, corruption, political instability and all type of lawlessness by the western and Indian media but a lot of thanks to God Almighty, this ‘lawless’ society is still very safe for the women. Though every year there are a few incidents of maltreatment with the women but the number of such incidents is such small that it becomes negligible. When we compare the situation with other countries particularly with India, we no doubt feel exhilarated. According to the Hindustan Times, the total number of registered rape cases in New Delhi till 23rd November 2014 is around 1926 whereas the total number of registered crimes against women in Delhi till 23rd November 2014 is around 13230. The paper says everyday more than 40 cases of crime against women are registered in the police stations of New Delhi. According to the National Crime Records Bureau 2013 annual report, 24,923 rape cases were reported across India in 2012. Out of these 24,470 were committed by relatives or neighbors. In short rape is the most common crime against women in India. The Times of India says in a report published on 27th November, 2014, ‘Close to 3,400 rape cases reported in the state of Madhya Pradesh in nine months of year, 283 rapes in a month, indicate women’s vulnerability and unsafe conditions for fair sex in Madhya Pradesh. In 2013, Madhya Pradesh topped states with maximum number of rape incidents when the NCRB recorded 4,335 cases of rape — a 37% spurt in rape cases compared to 2012 when 3,445 cases of rape were reported in the state. In 2013, it was a surge of 52% compared to 2001 when 2,851 cases of rape were registered in the state.’
It is also a fact that different human rights organizations and the people belonging to the educated and civilized stratum of the Indian society are doing all their best to eradicate this crime from the Indian society but their efforts would certainly take time and yet they have not succeeded in getting positive results. There is another more painful and more unfortunate fact that the Indian military troops are using this most condemned and the most grievous crime of the Indian society as a tool against the innocent and helpless people of the Indian Occupied Kashmir. Some of the analysts are of the opinion that the involvement of the Indian troops in rape crime shows that the Indian government wants to promote this crime under its own ‘kind supervision’. According to a recent report since 1989 more than 10,129 Kashmiri women have been raped by the Indian soldiers in the Indian Occupied Kashmir. The situation has no possibilities of getting better because the Indian government never takes any serious action against army personnel involved in such cases. The impacts of overlooking the rape crimes in the Indian Occupied Kashmir are no doubt casting effects on the Indian society also. The rape crime rate is rapidly increasing in India. The women are so unsafe in the Indian society that it has become impossible for them to travel alone in taxi-cars and cabs. So many times it happens that the driver of a private cab takes full advantage of the opportunity if a woman is traveling alone in his cab.
Recently the rape of a Multinational Company executive in North Delhi by an Uber Cab driver proved a blob of shame on the face of the peace loving Indian society. Uber is an American cab company, though the Uber authorities in India claim of not being American. The police have arrested the Uber cab driver suspected of raping the female executive. The suspect was held in his home town in Uttar Pradesh where his car was earlier found abandoned. The 26-year-old woman reported that she had been sexually assaulted and beaten after hailing a ride home with the Uber driver from a social event late night in south Delhi. The most unfortunate aspect of this issue is that Shiv Kumar Yadav, the cab driver accused of raping, had earlier been accused of raping another woman in South Delhi in 2011. He had spent around seven months in jail during the course of trial. It is the climax and extreme of lawlessness that a person having such a criminal record was again allowed to drive a public cab. The people of Pakistan must be thankful to the Indian authorities that they didn’t handover the responsibility of investigating the Uber case to the officials of RAW. If they were given the responsibility, they must have framed Pakistan and the ISI behind this rape case in the same way as they have dragged Pakistan into the terrorist Attack in the Indian Occupied Kashmir a few days back.