What's Wrong With Us?

The country is abuzz with the Ruchika Girhotra case. A budding tennis player, Ruchika was allegedly molested by a high profile police officer who went to great lengths to mess up the girl’s life. His follow-up acts include arresting and harassing her brother Ashu Girhotra and striking Ruchika’s name off the school rolls. The trauma of molestation coupled with the harassment eventually pushed the girl to end her life. Finally the case has gained momentum with the guilty on the way to get booked for abetment for suicide, something that was long overdue.

Molestation victims are often ostracized socially at the very behest. People waste no time in raising doubts about the girl’s character and humiliating her. I don’t know why the way a girl dresses should be an open invitation for ruffians to molest her or pass lewd comments. That’s a much inverted sense of thinking because even Punjabi suit clad girls happen to be victims. So what was their fault then?

I believe we need stricter laws against molestation. The Romeos have a very good sense of law and are assured that even if a girl musters enough courage and reports to the police, they will be left off lightly. These cheapos consider their birthright to scan every girl in the neighborhood but will waste no time in thrashing the guy who checks out his sister. By making molestation a non-bailable offence, we can expect the number of such incidents to come down. This is being vouched by lawyers across the country but it will be a few years before we see the law getting passed.

I happened to read this article in HT where a criminal lawyer Shrikant Bhatt was of the opinion that molestation need not be a non-bailable offence since no interrogations are required while detaining the accused. According to him, the girls who wear skimpy clothes and make provocative gestures should also be brought to book. My advice to Mr. Bhatt- get a life dude. No one asked you to look at skimpy clothes or get provoked by their gestures. It all boils down to the perverted bent of mind which reads harmless gestures as being sexually provocative. This guy seems to be a misogynist who maybe was slapped by a girl wearing skimpy clothes just because he approached her thinking she was ‘available’. This kind of immaturity exhibited by a lawyer is appalling to say the least and I hope he receives appropriate criticism for his cheap comments.