One of them is ‘animalistic’ (brute). But calling rape ‘animalistic’ is an insult to animals, because no animal rapes except humans. Such behaviors are not found in animals, as they are in humans
Niraj Krishna
After Darwin’s theory, it started to be believed that monkeys are ancestors of humans. We all agree that we are descendants of monkeys. But looking at those descendants committing rape on young girls, any animal, not just monkeys, would feel ashamed.
Whenever an incident of rape comes to light, it is condemned with various words. One of them is ‘animalistic’ (brute). But calling rape ‘animalistic’ is an insult to animals, because no animal rapes except humans. Such behaviors are not found in animals, as they are in humans. Rape requires an extremely depraved and distorted mentality, such as that of modern humans. We should learn to respect animals because they are better than humans in these matters.
Since the alleged sexual harassment video of BJP-JDS coalition candidate Prajwal Revanna in Karnataka became public through a pen drive, the country has been in turmoil, and all political parties are busy accusing each other on TV channels to save themselves. According to a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office in Karnataka, between the sex video scandal and the SIT investigation, Prajwal Revanna has gone abroad.
33-year-old Prajwal Revanna is a member of the Gowda family’s third generation. He is the son of former PWD Minister HD Revanna and the nephew of former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy. HD Revanna is the son of former Prime Minister and JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda. Prajwal Revanna graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from the Bangalore Institute of Technology in 2014. Since then, he has been active in politics. In November 2019, when Prajwal Revanna was 29 years old, he was appointed as the State General Secretary of the JDS.
Discussions are going on day and night on all channels regarding this incident. From street corners to Lok Sabha election rallies, everyone is trying to find a solution to the heinous problem of rape by wearing the glasses of morality. No one talked about Sigmund Freud. Freud has explored the three layers of the mind: conscious, unconscious, and subconscious. All the desires of a human’s sexual glands are suppressed in the unconscious, and they force such acts as rape. And this suppression is taught in childhood in the family. Therefore, treatment should be done by the family.
Whatever terrible consequences have occurred due to the suppression of sex, no matter how much one denies the truth, it cannot be falsified. Instead, by collecting the opposite and many times more powerful forces, it explodes. And when the suppressed truth explodes, it does so in such a way that it is difficult to recognize. By denying natural sex, people have started looking for unnatural doors here. They keep appearing righteous from the outside, but they are becoming beasts from within.
It is unfortunate for our country that we seek the solution to every problem in the law. We rely on the police to prevent every crime, but we do not consider how this mentality is created in men. It is true that “sex” is the fundamental element of this creation. It is found not only in humans but also equally in animals and plants. It is as essential for the functioning of creation as oxygen is for living. But when this behavior becomes uncontrolled, then social norms and legal systems become trivial.
If a lustful person is wealthy and influential, he uses his wealth and influence to suppress his desires. Only women who are poor or vulnerable become prey to such individuals, and they silently endure it. If this predatory behavior persists in deprived individuals who are deprived of basic necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, health, and security, they can victimize anyone, but they typically target women from the upper or affluent classes or those living a better life than them. The psychological reason behind this is that by committing such acts, they satisfy their blind “lust” and also feel a sense of triumph over the affluent class, thereby gratifying their minds.
Such a rapist is not afraid of any law because he feels justified in his struggle for justice. The root cause of such blind sexual desires in a person lies in their childhood, their parents’ behavior, and their environment, especially in the slums where they grow up. People living in small slums cannot keep their private moments as secretive as those from normal or affluent classes due to space constraints and compulsions.
That’s why children growing up in such households often become witnesses to things that plant the seeds of blind sexual desires in them from childhood. As they reach adolescence, they attempt to manifest those scenes in their minds, often targeting girls from their own class, community, and environment. These incidents are not widely discussed because the affected class, due to similar environments, doesn’t give them much weight. The rapist also starts feeling ordinary. As a result, such rapists often target women from affluent classes in the future, feeling equal to or even more powerful than them.
It is not that men from affluent classes do not commit rape. However, most cases of rape committed by them do not come out in the open. If attention is paid to such incidents, it will be found that such people target the weak and suppress the victims by paying them some money in many cases where resistance is offered. The tendency to exploit women in the affluent class among men from affluent classes arises from the belief that for the poor, bread comes first and honor later. They always want to buy respect at the cost of bread, and they do.
However, if we rely only on the law and the police, we will never be able to stop rape. It is essential for the law and the police to do their jobs to prevent these crimes directly. The government should provide the right to food, clothing, shelter, health, education, security, and privacy to the class in which rapists are nourished.
If rape were only committed by the intellectually disabled, the deranged, or criminals, it would be considered necessary to educate and rehabilitate them. However, as the figures show, all types of men are involved in rape. Judges, high-ranking officials, senior politicians, MPs, MLAs, writers, journalists, doctors, professors, successful businessmen, and even revered monks are imprisoned for rape. Thus, it should be understood that this tendency thrives in individuals due to their thoughts. The thoughts of the people in the categories mentioned above nourish this act.
The book ‘Women in India’, written by Kalyani Menon and Shivkumar in 1996, encapsulates interviews with 109 judges regarding violence against women. It reflects that 48% of the judges believed that slapping a wife by her husband is justified in certain circumstances; 74% believed that it is a woman’s primary responsibility to prevent family breakdowns, even if it means enduring violence; 68% believed that provocative clothing worn by women invites sexual assault; and 55% believed that a woman’s moral character is significant in rape cases! Perhaps, due to this perspective, more than one hundred and seven thousand rape cases are pending in the country’s courts. 333 cases are pending in the Supreme Court alone.
The mindset of politicians is even more horrifying. Some years ago, Trinamool Congress MLA and actor Chiranjit expressed his opinion on a rape incident, stating that girls are raped because of their short skirts, and women are responsible for it. Kailash Vijayvargiya also expressed his mentality that if women cross the line, then Ravana will appear, while Chhattisgarh’s Home Minister, Nanki Ram Kavar, stated in a case of the rape of tribal poor girls in a government shelter that the planets are responsible for rape. Socialist Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav says that boys make mistakes, and similarly, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat’s perspective is amazing, saying, ‘Rape happens not in India but in India.’
Half of the world’s population is still not considered human. Not only physically but also mentally, they are subjected to exploitation at every step. Governments talk about women’s rights, but look at the truth: only 5% of women are in the country’s police force. Even in the workplaces of the most powerful advocates and protectors of civil rights, women are not safe. Just as resources are allocated differently for women than for men in the workplace, until every aspect of their lives is made conducive to their safety, talking about their betterment will only be theoretical.
In this country filled with the arrogance of becoming a superpower, until the fabric of gender relations is properly woven and it is not given the status of equality, the distorted face of masculinity will continue to raise its head. In a society where a girl is killed in the womb and a woman is seen as an object of pleasure, barbarity against women will continue to be considered a sign of’manliness’. This disease needs to be eradicated from the root. Punishment can stop crime for a short time, but to end crime, change must come from within. Without bringing about changes at the roots, nothing is possible. Now, morality alone won’t work. Understanding psychology, living in harmony with nature, and nurturing children are essential.
In a country like India, where girls are worshipped as goddesses, the government, sociologists, psychologists, and police will collectively seek effective measures to deal with this heinous crime so that adolescent girls can be saved from becoming victims of such brutality.
In tribal communities living in remote forests, incidents like rape or sexual assault never occur. We are civilized and cultured; the thought of rape should never even arise among us. But the more civilized, the more cultured, the higher the incidents of rape. Tribal people may be wild, but they do not commit rape. What could be the reason? The reason is that they live in harmony with nature; there is no suppression taught within them through morality.
Now, the morality of suppression won’t work. Understanding psychology and nurturing children to live in harmony with nature might be the only way to rid a civilized and cultured society of this disgraceful stain. And only after that day can male society proudly echo the words of Jayshankar Prasad (Lajja — Kamayani)—Nari! Tum keval shraddha ho, Vishwas-rajat-nag-pal-tal mei., Piyush srot si baha karo, and Jeevan ki sundar samtal mei.
