By Ahmed Wafi RashidÂ
Rape. Pick up any dictionary and itll probably give you a definition in which most sane people will understand that it is an immoral and downright wrong act. What most people understand by rape is that it is forced or dissented sexual intercourse and how can anyone feel that rape in any form is acceptable?
Why is rape becoming more rampant across the world? The ultimate question is ˜where does the problem lie? In December 2012, in the heart of India, in New Delhi, a 23-year-old medical student by the name of Jyoti Singh was brutally raped and later died with injuries she suffered from the rape. The worst part of it is that she had to live through that pain for a few days. At one point she must have thought death would have been better than what she had to go through.
In 2013, a 22-year-old photojournalist was gang raped by five men. Also in India but this time in Mumbai. In 2014, the Malaysian population was shocked and disturbed by the news that two minors were gang raped by more than 30 men. The list of rape cases goes on and on. It must be understood that women are not always the victims in rape cases, men are also victims of rape but in most cases, it is usually women who suffer.
In the wake of the 2012 Delhi rape, an Indian lawyer claimed that women are œmore precious than a gem, than a diamond which is a good enough point in all honesty. He continued, œIf you put the diamond on the street, certainly the dog will take it out. The statement made suggests that he, the lawyer, Mr. M.L Sharma feels that men are similar to that of dogs but even dogs can be your best friend if trained well enough. That may be where the problem lies, in the grooming and upbringing of the boys in our society.
BBC directed a documentary as a part of their Storyville series which exhibited the rape culture in India and for some reason, the Indian government banned the documentary from airing domestically. The question that rang around the minds of the public was why? Why was the documentary banned in their own country? The whole world has seen so if they thought that by not letting their own people see it, it would protect their image? The logic in that is not apparent to me, unfortunately. If there’s anyone who should see that documentary it should be the people of India. Obviously this will further raise awareness to the public about the atrocities of rape and crimes of that nature.
Fortunately, the Indian government and the public are working hard to put an end to rape in the country and rightfully so. By the grace of Allah, rape is not as notorious as it is in many other countries, nevertheless, it is still a problem. It can be noted that there were an alarming 50% increase (2000 to 3000) in the amount of rape cases in Malaysia from 2013 to 2014 (Free Malaysia Today, 2014). We are not going to stand still and wait for it to become a major problem before trying to tackle it. We, the people, have a duty to protect our country from threats from within. This problem must be dealt with at the root and it must be dealt with swiftly.
Islam teaches women to cover certain parts of their body for a reason. One of those reasons is to protect themselves from the prying eyes of men. Unfortunately, this does not stop some men from performing such heinous crimes against women. Nevertheless, following the Islamic dress code is more likely to make men see women in a better light but some men, without much moral values to spare, will still rape and harass women as they please. This is where we need to teach our men not to rape and teach them to respect women and look away when necessary.
All in all, this problem may be a very sensitive topic and difficult to address but if we, the people, dont address the problem, then who will?***
Photo courtesy of The Huffington Post