The gang rape of a 23-year-old woman In India on Dec 16, 2012 has enraged the world. It was extremely brutal and involved five men who have been identified as Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta, Mukesh Kumar, Ram Singh, and Akshay Thakura. This incident hit the global headlines. The protests and related activities are forcing authorities to focus on atrocities committed against women with specific reference to India and in other countries. “Rape in India has been described by Radha Kumar as one of India's most common crimes against women.”
The protests and other civil actions are not confined to India. The incident has caused women in other countries to speak out and publicly identify the crimes committed against them. Hundreds in Nepal took to the streets in solidarity of a 21-year-old woman allegedly robbed and raped by a policeman. In Pakistan, women organized a candle light vigil on Dec 31 to condemn the crimes against women. In Bangladesh, there is also protest against the gang rape of a teenage girl.
National and international social agencies, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, and World Health Organization have defined rape. However, the definition varies from country to country. In 1998, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rawanda defines it as “a physical invasion of a sexual nature committed on a person under circumstances which are coercive.” In 2012, the FBI changed the 1927 definition and redefined the term. In some cases, the word rape is not used but sexual assault. Among the different types of rape are “date rape, gang rape, marital rape, incestual rape, child sexual abuse, prison rape, acquaintance rape, war rape and statutory rape.”
Rapehas been described as the worst crime and should be treated as murder. In murder, a woman loses her life. In rape, the women are robbed of their dignity. It is murder of the soul. They are tortured daily and relive the experience in their nightmares. They must live with this brutal experience until death. One woman said, “Rape is a crime that should be severely punished. The rapist should be executed. The woman’s style of dress should never be used as an excuse for rape.” (RA)
One young sister says, “Rape is inhuman. No matter whom the woman is she should never be put in this position. There can be no justification for this crime.”(SW) Another one says “Religious laws have been deliberately misrepresented by men to formulate rulings to justify oppressive customs and practices aimed at dominating the lives of women and to relegate them to a life of servitude and degradation.” (ZA)
While we may condemn the laws of rape in a third world country, “anywhere in America, if a man rapes a woman, he should only expect to serve a prison term of 128 days." The article goes on to say, “When you consider the years of shame, false guilt, post traumatic stress disorder, possible pregnancy and thoughts of suicide that a victim of rape goes through, 128 days of free shelter and food hardly seems fair or just for the rapist. The punishment simply does not fit the crime.”
Culturally, when a woman suffers rape in a Middle Eastern or Asian community, the family does not discuss it and the deafening silence places the blame on the woman. The family, despite the circumstances, is convinced that the victim has brought shame, disgrace, and has tarnished the family image. Immediate family members and relatives bear the stigma. It is as if the raped woman no longer exists… she is dead to the family. She is ostracized and for her safety and sanity, she remains in seclusion. She is subject to ridicule of men and women within and without the home. She is considered unclean and not fit for any form of social relationship. Marriage is out of question. There are thousands of cases like this.
In these societies, the rapists are roaming free as if they have done nothing wrong and the woman was asking for it. In the case of a rape, a woman loses everything. She has been violated, and there is physical proof of this abuse. One opinion is a man will commit rape in a traditional society because he can get away with it. The customs and practices favor him and it is a male dominated environment.
All religions have laws that relate to the position of women in the society. It is ironical that the religious laws are clear on domestic violence and rape, yet in many countries, the laws do not reflect the convictions of the theologians and statutory lawmakers. Priests and speakers at “religious gatherings” champion the rights of women, extol their virtues, and emphatically declare the extent to which the Holy Scriptures have elevated the status of women.
They portray women as a Sita, Mary, or Khadijah. Muslims will say the mother has three rights and the father has one. Heaven lies at the feet of mothers. Great! But wait. So if the women are free, have been elevated, are equal to men, have rights and privileges, who have caused them to be subjugated to extreme forms of discrimination? Who are denying them their God-given rights? Who? Why have women suffered from acid throwing, bride burning, dowry death, female genital mutilation, and forced prostitution, and honor killing?
Religious leaders, village chiefs, and politicians claim that the laws they enforce or the customs and practices that they upheld have religious support. Because of their intentional flawed interpretations and misrepresentations of religious laws, they appear as misogynists and sexists. Every religious book - Quran, Ramayana, Gospels, Torah - has elevated the status of women. However, the interpretations of the theologians have been more political, highly subjective, and dictatorial.
Leaders who arrogate to themselves the prerogative to determine the fate of women enforce the laws to derive authority, power, wealth, and dominance. “In Majority Muslim countries, women exercise varying degrees of rights with regard to marriage, divorce, civil rights, legal status, dress code, and education based on different interpretations. Scholars and other commentators vary as to whether they are just and whether they are a correct interpretation of religious imperatives.” The conclusion can be made that since the highly learned jurists (Ulama) are involved and are making the rulings (fatwa), we are not following the commands of God or the directives of Muuhammad (S), but the opinions of men. Therein are the problems and the rule of customs and practice.
The Islamic jurists have classified rape as a crime, “hariba”, which means a single person or group of people causing public disruption, killing, forcibly taking property or money, attacking or raping women (hatk al ‘arad)…” The Prophet (S) executed a man who had committed rape based on the solitary evidence of the victim. Maliki Judge Ibn ‘Arabi said that "hiraba with the private parts" is much worse than hiraba involving the taking of money, and that anyone would rather be subjected to the loss of money rather than rape. What is preventing Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, or Bangladesh from administering the death penalty?
“Rape as hiraba is a violent crime that uses sexual intercourse as a weapon. The focus in a hiraba prosecution is the accused rapist and his intent and physical actions, and not second-guessing the consent of the rape victim. Hiraba does not require four witnesses to prove the offense, circumstantial evidence, medical data and expert testimony form the evidence used to prosecute such crimes” (Uzama Mazhar)
Rape is not limited to one geographical area. It occurs in the poorest and the richest countries, in the privacy of a home, office, car park, bus, in the street, or in the park. International statistics are available. According to reports, only 10% of rape cases are reported. The rape case in India has prompted Rachel Madow to deal with the subject on her TV show (Tuesday January 8, 2013, MSNBC: 900-10:00). She states there are 19,000 sexual assaults and rape in the military each year. She also refers to politicians who appear to be insensitive or ignorant of the situations. Richard Murdock ® wanted to force raped women to give birth and claimed it is an act of God, and Todd Akin ® spoke of legitimate rape.
Other reports state about 17.7 million women have been raped in America. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a woman is raped every 2 minutes and about 300,000 women are actually raped annually with only 23,307 arrests for rape. In South Africa there are about 494,000 cases per year. A woman is raped every 17 seconds while 28-30% adolescent reported that their first encounter was forced.
Rape figures have been given for countries as per every 1000,000. In United Kingdom the figure is 28.8; in Germany 9.4; in Kuwait 4.5; in Egypt 0.1. In Guyana it jumped from 8.2 (2009) to 15.5 (2010); USA 27.3; Morocco 4.8; Botswana 92.9.
Between 2006 - 2011, rape complaints have increased by 25 %. An increase in complaints has witnessed a decrease in convictions from 46% to 26%. The is no confidence in the lawmakers of India for a report states that about 300 of them have been accused of rape. It is shocking and alarming how officials of a religion, politicians, lawmakers, and the justice system deal with rape.
The death of the Indian woman has also sparked off legal issues related fast track trial, provision of an attorney, and the trial of criminals as adults. The juvenile charged in the case was the most violent but because of his age, he can only receive a maximum sentence of three years. It is as if her death has empowered women all over the world. From different parts of the globe, women are rallying and fighting back. Women and men have been using the electric media to create public awareness and pressure governments. One petition calls for $1 billion dollar to eradicate sexism and sexual violence in India, and 600,000 signatures have been received calling upon the Indian government to reduce the incidents of rape in India. Men are also getting involved for it is their daughters, wives, mothers, sisters or aunts who have been raped.
The world has changed drastically over the past fifty years. Leaders by compulsion must be educated to function effectively in the modern world. We cannot go back to the seventh century. It is very dangerous and a mockery of the system when village chiefs make laws to supersede the laws of the state and their religions. By extension, this means that if the religious laws cannot be applied in the world, then the religion has become obsolete. Similarly, if the state machinery fails to enforce the laws there will further violations of women, and they will continue to suffer degradation and the atrocities of the worst kinds. Can the religious scholars and the lawmakers change the conditions of women through the promulgation and enforcement of the laws?