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Kolkata Case | Why is India so UNSAFE For Women?
https://youtube.com/@uniqueinsights-k1t?si=_Yp15DEz3kd0eOiq
Hello, friends! The heinous crime that took place with a 31-year-old
trainee doctor in Kolkata's R.G.Kar hospital has shocked our nation's soul. We
have seen protests in many parts of the country including West Bengal. Doctors
have gone on strike, the protesters were attacked by goons, and the hospital
was being ransacked.
So far, the police has arrested 25 people. Everyone is questioning
Mamata Banerjee, who is not only the Chief Minister of West Bengal but also the
Home Minister and Health Minister of West Bengal. It was strange to see her
take out a protest rally after this incident. But the question is, against
whom? No one could understand this.
The main culprit of this incident is Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer in
West Bengal Police. In the past, three of his marriages ended due to domestic
violence. The first question is, what kind of a person was recruited here to
become a civic volunteer? Looking at his history of domestic violence, police
should have taken against him already.
CCTV footage, his Bluetooth device, and DNA samples were used by the
police to arrest him. He has confessed to his crime. But the second question
is, how did he have access to all the departments in the hospital? A few days
after the incident, there was a demand to transfer this case to CBI. CM Mamata
Banerjee tried to shrug off this demand by saying that she has no problem with
this.
If the police couldn't do anything in the next few days, she said that
she would transfer this case to CBI. The Calcutta High Court, while citing
reasons such as lack of trustworthiness of the police, ordered the case to be
handed over to CBI. Along with this, the High Court has also reminded that the
demand to hand over a case to the CBI shows that the state police is no longer
trusted by the people.
And this is the failure of the Home Minister and Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee. Here comes our third question, how was a man like Sandeep Ghosh,
appointed as the principal of R.G.Kar Medical College? He is accused of being a
corrupt person. Allegedly, he ran this medical college like a mafia. But his
transfer was stopped again and again.
It's suspected to be because he was close to TMC. In this case too, he
is accused of atrocities. He is accused of trying to suppress the matter.
Trying to play it off as a suicide. The victim's parents were not allowed to
see the victim's body for hours. There was a delay in filing the FIR and when
he was removed from there, he was made the principal of Calcutta National
College.
I mean, if a person is not fit to be in charge of one place, what sense
does it make to transfer him to another place? Calcutta High Court pointed out
this nonsense and sent Sandeep Ghosh on an extended leave of absence. To
investigate the corruption charges on Sandeep, West Bengal government has made
an SIT, which is asked to submit its report in a month.
CBI has interrogated him four times in this particular case. When people
all over the country wanted justice for this case, then for the safety of women
in workplaces, West Bengal government announced some initiatives. Supreme Court
took a suo-moto cognizance of the matter, gave some strong statements like
"What is equality under the Constitution if women can't be safe in their
workplace and are being denied basic equality?" To bring about ground
level changes, the country can't wait for another r@pe.
A few days ago, I wrote a post on this case and asked you not to
"lose your interest" in this issue. By the time this video is
released, maybe the outrage will be over, maybe the protests will have stopped.
But will the nearly 80 r@pe cases taking place in our country every day have
stopped? Not at all.
After Kolkata, we got this news from Uttarakhand. A similar incident
with a nurse. In this case, the bus driver and bus conductor were involved. In
Bengaluru, a 21-year-old college student was going home from a party when a
similar incident happened to her. In Maharashtra's Badalapur area a school
cleaning staff was reported to have s€xually abused two girls aged 3 and 4.
Hundreds of agitated parents blocked the railway station. Looking at
these news, you may feel that over the last 8-10 days, there have been more
incidents of r@pes in the country. But this is not true. r@pes are happening
every day, but they are not reported every day. Outrage and protests do not
happen every day.
The first large-scale protests in the country were probably in 2012
after the Nirbhaya case. Then in 2019, when a 26-year-old veterinary doctor was
r@ped and mu₹dered in Hyderabad. Then in 2020, people were outraged about the
Hathras case. Where this happened to a 19-year-old Dalit girl. And now in 2024,
this case happened in Kolkata.
Over the last 12 years, there were 4 large-scale outrages and protests.
Maybe I'm even forgetting a few cases, but broadly speaking, there haven't been
more than 7-8 outrages and protests. And it's not that there is something wrong
with being outraged. Feeling outraged after hearing something like this is a
natural emotion.
Protesting is also a sign of our being alive. But there needs to be some
improvement in the situation. If we look at the situation from 2012 to now, it
has been the opposite. Around 2012, 25,000 such cases were reported in a year.
Whereas according to the latest figures of NCRB, in 2022, 31,000 such cases
were reported.
That is, 85 r@pe cases per day. If we compare the proportion with the
increasing population, we can see a leap there too. Since then, the country's
population has increased by 1.14 times. But the r@pe cases have increased by
1.25 times. It's clear as day, the situation is getting worse. The root causes
of r@pe not only do they continue to exist, but are even increasing.
This is why I feel absurdity. It's okay to protest for a week, but for
the rest of the year, if a person is behaving like everything is fine it's
absurd. What should be done to improve the situation? Are you ready for this
uncomfortable discussion? This discussion will be uncomfortable because you
will perhaps see that many of you are indirectly a part of this problem.
Will you acknowledge this? I don't know. Because Vir Das had simply said
that we are living in Two Indias. On one hand, women are worshipped in our
country and on the other hand, they are subjected to heinous crimes. It wasn't
incorrect, but people took offense. Similarly, after the Nirbhaya case, Leslee
Udwin released a documentary.
India's Daughter. It was such a powerful and thought-provoking
documentary that it should have been shown to 10th-grade students all over the
country. But in our country, people were uncomfortable and banned this
documentary. Claiming that this would ruin India's international image. After
today's discussion too, you may feel uncomfortable like this.
But if you are genuinely concerned about this issue, then watch the
video till the end and the steps we will discuss as the solution, let's be a
part of the solution. Let's start this video with a small info, those of you
who have purchased ChatGPT's course, can now access a new free update. New
lessons of over 2 hours have been added to this course.
And in these new lessons, not only ChatGPT, I will teach you about
software like Perplexity. This is a free update for those who have purchased
this course. You don't need to do anything except log in to the course and
watch the lessons. And those who haven't bought it yet, you still have the
chance use coupon code GET41 to get 41% off.
The first 500 people can avail of this coupon code. The link to the
course is in the description. Or you can scan this QR code. Right now, the
total content length of the course is more than 8 hours, but you will continue
to receive such free updates in future. Let's start this video with a very
simple question.
Is r@pe wrong? You will accuse me of asking an insensitive question.
Obviously, r@pe is wrong. But when we look at the societal attitudes around us,
then we get a completely different picture. Everyone says that r@pe is wrong,
but everyone applies their own conditions to it. Take Nupur Sharma, for
example. The BJP leader who said objectionable things about Prophet Mohammad
thrice in a single day on three different TV channels.
I had made a video criticising this in which I explained how Nupur's
statements were completely deliberate and malicious. And because of this, our
country was embarrassed in front of Arab countries. But merely because of
Nupur's misstatements, is it justified to send her r@pe threats? Not at all.
God knows how many de@th threats and r@pe threats she received which can't be
justified in a civilised society.
Look at Audrey Truschke's case. She is a trained historian. She has
written about Aurangzeb a lot. She hasn't called Aurangzeb a great ruler. But
according to her findings, Aurangzeb was a complicated character. On one had,
he broke down Hindu temples and on the other hand, had saved them many times.
If someone finds her historical findings wrong, they are free to argue
with her, can present evidence against her claims. But no, what do people give?
de@th threats and r@pe threats. Look at Indira Jaising's case. Famous human
rights lawyer. In her fight for gender equality, she appeared in many landmark
cases.
When Nirbhaya's r@pist was about to be hanged, she made a statement
against capital punishment. For context,the de@th penalty has been abolished in
112 countries. Still, it can be argued that Indira Jaising's statement was
ill-timed, wrongly worded, or it was wrong of her to make such an appeal to
Nirbhaya's parents.
We may disagree with her views on the de@th penalty, but what did
Kangana Ranaut say? She called her a r@pist sympathiser. Not only that, she was
Jaising to be jailed with the r@pists for some days. "Keep that lady in
jail with those boys for 4 days, she wants to show them mercy. Women like her
give birth to such monsters.
" this trap of political opinion or political support makes it
possible for Bilkis Bano's convicted r@pists to be released. Such r@pists are
welcomed and honoured, are called modest Brahmins but people don't outrage.
Prajwal Revanna, who was reported for s€xually exploiting more than 2,500
women, but many chose to remain silent.
Convicted r@pist Gurmeet Ram Rahim is given parole before the elections
again and again. His blind devotees agree that r@ping is wrong they acknowledge
that their leader was convicted too, but still, they choose to ignore this and
vote for the person their leader tells them to. Brij Bhusan Singh, Kuldeep
Sengar, and the Kathua case's r@pists get rallies supporting them.
And BJP leader Choudhary Lal Singh who was holding a rally in support of
the r@pe accused, was later included in Congress and was given a ticket for the
election. That's why I say, on social media, everyone agrees that r@pe is
wrong. But when it comes to supporting the r@pist, when it comes down to their
political opinion and their own views, then people apply 'conditions' to it.
If you do not agree with someone, you can criticise them. If they have
done something illegal, report them to the police. But r@pe is wrong. Full
stop. Giving r@pe threats is wrong. Full stop. But the problem is that people
keep on adding ifs and buts. And it's not just limited to sociopolitical
opinion. In fact, in numerous other provisions too, people apply 'conditions'.
For the Hathras case, on Zee News, Sudhir Chaudhary said that the victim
had romantic relations with the accused. To prove this, he interviewed a
villager. "According to our investigation, the victim and the main
accused, Sandeep, knew each other for a long time." "A love
affair?" News18's reporter Anamika kept shouting for 45 minutes on a show
that there were 104 calls from the victim to the accused's number.
They had been talking for hours. She claimed to be delivering the truth
to you. "They have been talking for hours, for total 104 times."
"We bring the truth to the fore." "Whatever News18 claims, it
always speaks the truth." Arnab Goswami went as far as to say that there
was no r@pe.
And the accusations were baseless. BJP leader and former Chief Minister
of Haryana, Manoharlal Khattar said something similar. He claims that in
80%-90% cases, the accused and the victim know each other. And if they get into
a fight, the girl accuses the boy of r@pe. We have heard similar insensitive
statements from West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.
For example, the 2022 Nadia r@pe case. Where a 14-year-old child was the
victim. The CM said that the girl had a love affair with the boy. It feels
awkward debunking such statements. Do we really need to explain that being in
love doesn't mean a license to r@pe? It's very simple. r@pe means a violation.
It is a violation of someone's freedom. No matter how much a person is
in love with another, both partners need to consent. Consent means agreement.
The girl's consent is crucial. And the second thing is that consent is
reversible. That means, the boy or girl can withdraw their consent whenever
they want.
Everyone has the right to withdraw their consent at any time. Thirdly,
the case Mamata Banerjee was speaking about, the victim was a minor. And in
cases of minors, consent is not even considered. Earlier, the consenting age
was 16 years, But under the POCSO Act of 2012, this age was increased to 18
years. Now, the first thing we saw people's sociopolitical opinion.
Second, love affair, being in a romantic relationship. Third, 'if and
but' condition of people is "What was the girl doing out so late at
night?" Two minors were r@ped in Goa. BJP leader and Goa's chief minister,
Pramod Sawant asked "Why were the girls out at night?" When a tribal
girl was r@ped and mu₹dered in Jharkhand, then a MLA of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha
said the same thing.
He blamed the victim's parents and asked them why do they let their
daughters go out after evening. Do you know what is interesting? One of
Nirbhaya's r@pists, Mukesh Singh thought the same. He believed that if a girl
goes out at night and wears "wrong" clothes, then she is responsible
for the r@pe.
Once again, this is utter nonsense. r@pe doesn't happen because girls
are out at night, they happen because r@pists are out at night. If someone
thinks that their child is a potential r@pist, then they need to keep their
child locked up in their house at night. Secondly, year after year, NCRB
reports show that in more than 90% of the cases, the accused was someone close
to the victim.
In the 2015 report, 95% of the accused knew the victim. 93% in 2017, and
96.8% in 2021. This includes neighbours, friends, co-workers, immediate family
members, and relatives too. In November 2020, Delhi police handed over a report
to a Parliamentary Panel that stated similar data. In the cases that took place
in Delhi, in 98% of the cases, the accused was close to the victim.
In 57% of cases, it was a family member, a relative, or family friend.
This is seen in other countries too. In America, it was found that in 80% of
cases, the victim and accused knew each other. So in most cases, when someone
close to the victim assaults them, then how does it matter whether a girl goes
out at night or not.
The fourth condition is the victim's "loose character." It is
said that though s€xual harassment is wrong, but it was a sign of the girl's
loose character. "Drinking and going out with guys, girls like her do
these. Not girls from decent families. This is what happens to such girls. If
she calmly goes with a guy and drinks with him, any guy would think that they
are asking for it.
Or else why would they go with them, drink with them?" In the
protests against r@pe, we often hear that women are the form of goddesses. She
is someone's daughter, sister, or mother. But another problem is that people
either see women as goddesses or they see them as mere objects. Why not treat
them as humans instead? Like a man, every woman is a human too.
Whether this woman is a local stage dancer or even a s€x worker, our
Constitution gives her a right to freedom like everyone else. But then what are
the dialogues we get in films? "Saving the dignity of a s€x worker and
imprisoning Tees Mar Khan, are both useless." "Saving the dignity of
a s€x worker and imprisoning Tees Mar Khan, are both useless!" Some people
with a r@pist mentality think that if a girl is dancing on a stage, it's okay
to harass her.
Such people point fingers are the woman's character. While the truth is,
no one can be more characterless than people who think like this. There is a
great film on this topic, Anaarkali of Aarah. in which Swara Bhaskar played the
role of a local stage dancer. A politician assaults her so she fights back.
The film shows that every woman has a right to her own body.
"Pink" is another sensitive film which shows that a girl drinking
alcohol does not mean that she can be misbehaved with. This is another excuse
of the people with a r@pist mentality. That the girl was drunk. It's true that
drinking alcohol is harmful to health.
But drinking alcohol cannot be a parameter to judge someone's character.
And it cannot be used as an excuse for s€xual assault. Consent is required here
too. In fact, Section 63 of the BNS also states that if the woman's consent was
given while intoxicated, it can be grounds for r@pe charges too. The sixth
condition, the most common form of victim blaming, that though r@pe is wrong
but the girl was wearing short clothes.
Once again, this is a vile, nonsensical argument. If r@pes occur due to
short clothes, then why are young children r@ped? Why are older women r@ped?
Why are mentally ill children r@ped? Why are women covered in saree or burkhas
r@ped? Why are there r@pes in villages? In Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, it is
very rare to see girls in short clothes.
So why is it that most cases of r@pe in our country are from there? Such
a stupid argument, but still, I don't know why, many people in our society
think like this. They hold on to this thinking that a girl is r@ped because of
her short clothes. "All the ladies, wear short dresses or are n@ked, to
(get) r@ped.
If you are the parents, please control the girls." A man made this
statement in front of the Bombay High Court, that short clothes are the causes
of r@pes. In Kozhikode Session Court, a judge said that in a photo, the
complainant was wearing provocative clothes. So, prima facie, the accused will
not be charged under sections for s€xual harassment.
BJP leader C.C. Patil gave similar statements who was later caught
watching p0rn in the Assembly. BJP MLA Renukacharya and Rajkot BJP Mayor Raksha
Boriya have given similar statements too. An NGO, Akshara Centre surveyed 8
cities. It surveyed approx 3,000 men and 3,000 women between the ages of 15-29.
54.
8% of the men said that wearing revealing clothes leads to r@pe and
s€xual harassment happens. But amazingly, 39.2% of females also believe this.
That means women themselves believe these lies. A popular perception is
responsible for this way of thinking people believe that r@pe is caused by
s€xual Urge. A few days ago the film Maharaja was released.
It was a good film but it showed this incorrect representation of r@pe.
In many old Hindi films, r@pe is used as a shallow plot device. Where Prem
Chopra, Shakti Kapoor, and Ranjeet, have played the roles of r@pists, there too
r@pists have been portrayed in the same way. This old film, Jaani Dushman,
crossed all limits.
Akshay Kumar's character asks the girl to forgive her molesters. Saying
that, because she was so beautiful even a dead man would be tempted. "Even
a dead man would be tempted if he sees someone as beautiful as you."
"And these young men are alive." "How can they resist?" But
the truth is that s€xual urge has nothing to do with r@pe.
So stop justifying it as the passion of youth. It's not that those who
don't r@pe don't have an urge. And r@pists have such an urge that it becomes
uncontrollable. This is nonsense. Many times r@pists do have a consenting
partner. They are married. In Paul Gebhard's research and many other surveys,
this has been proved repeatedly.
In reality, there are three reasons behind r@pe. And r@pists are divided
into three categories. First are Power r@pists, who are victims of self-worth
issues. Through this act, they want to feel in power. Second are Anger r@pists.
They are angry. They are abusive and use vile language. And even if the victim
doesn't resist, they still become violent.
The r@pists of this category often kill their victims. The third type
are the Sadistic r@pists. Sadism means to get pleasure in other people's
physical and mental suffering. To enjoy themselves seeing others being
oppressed or being tortured. Such r@pists often torture their victims over a
long time.
But one question that will arise here is this evil desire to gain
control, this anger, and sadism where do these come from? Often in discussions,
it is seen that to express their anger, people say that the r@pists must be
mentally ill. It is wrong to compare so because we are only stigmatising mental
illness.
Some r@pists may have a history of mental illness but not all r@pists
are mentally ill. They are simply monsters. You can call them demons, monsters,
evil or anything else. But the next question you'll ask is why do some people
become like this? There must be some root causes behind this. Look at this
research.
This research was done on 269 offenders and included r@pists. Many
causes were identified. The child abuse they faced in their childhood.
P0rn0graphy exposure before the age of 10, physical abuse, parental violence,
emotional abuse, cruelty to animals, exposure to violent movies or media in
childhood, a relationship filled with anxiety or distance from parents.
It is important to study these causes so that we can prevent the
creation of new r@pists in our society. Now, due to such reasons, a person's
personality is shaped so that he has an evil desire, anger or sadism and wants
to dominate. But in America, when we hear of mass shootings, there too, anger
is a common factor.
In some people, such deep-seated anger turns into depression. So, the
question arises, in the case of r@pists, their evil desire to dominate, their
anger or their sadism, why is it expressed as r@pe? The answer to this is our
r@pe Culture. This phrase is used all over the world to denote those mass
media, societal attitudes, and traditions that trivialise or normalise r@pe.
For example, in the film Kambakht Ishq, Kareena Kapoor says that he
can't stop her from speaking. So Akshay Kumar's character forcibly kisses her.
And this was supposed to be "comedy." The same so-called comedy is
also seen in the film Kabir Singh, where the lead character molests a girl
holding her at a knife point.
Many famous stand-up comedians like Louis CK, George Carlin and Norm
MacDonald have been seen making jokes about r@pe. And even in Indian stand-up
comedy there's no end of vile language. Not only male but even female stand-up
comedians use such vulgarity, insulting mothers and sisters, which normalises
s€xual violence.
Even in casual conversations with friends, many people use such insults
which has now become common. Some people do so in anger, some only as a joke.
But doing this, normalised r@pe culture. This is called r@pe Normalisation.
Where you laugh at r@pe jokes, you don't feel guilt watching r@pe videos or
giving r@pe threats.
Psychologist Madhumita Pandey talked to 122 convicted r@pists and 65
convicted mu₹derers. She noticed a clear difference between mu₹derers and
r@pists. Most mu₹derers regretted their crimes. They also realised how their
actions destroyed other people's lives. But on the other hand, most r@pists had
no regrets about their actions.
That's why we see this in our society that many r@pe accused persons are
repeat offenders. Because even after they commit their first crime, they do not
see it as something wrong. And the question here is, why don't they regret
this? Madhumita gave them two questionnaires and their regressive views about
women was clearly seen.
But this is not the only such research, There have been many such
researches before. Susan Brown Miller said this in her 1975 book Against Our
Will: Men, Women, and R@pe. That r@pe is a conscious process of intimidation.
Apart from Susan, researchers like Richard Johnson, Danielle Cusmano, Rebecca
Whisnant, and many other researchers reached the same findings.
On top of this, we come to toxic masculinity and patriarchal culture.
Where, instead of a free human, a woman is seen as an inferior subhuman. There
are countless restrictions on women. Don't wear this, don't go out, don't laugh
out loud. A woman is often seen as an object. Ranbir Kapoor's cringe-worthy ad,
"Score More With *** Blast," shows the same mentality that girls are
objects.
Kareena Kapoor's song, "I'm a Tandoori Chicken, gulp me down with
alcohol." "Impress me with only a missed call." Badshah's song,
"I'm the one your mother must be warning you about." They are
basically glamorising assaulters. Toxic masculinity is being stylised in movies
and songs.
"They want a virgin wife, but like to visit Bangkok frequently. A
guy surrounded by six girls is a stud. But a girl surrounded by six guys is a
sl*t." And then these singers say that they have female family members at
home. Their music always comes from a place of responsibility and respect.
Singer Honey Singh showed outrage about this Kolkata case.
But what does he write in his songs? "I can't get enough of brown
girls, I'm a lion, I don't graze grass." As long as women are being
objectified like this, as long as this r@pe culture continues, this problem
won't be solved. And talking about solutions, there are three types of problems
here.
First, the conditions that can damage someone's personality. Second, the
societal attitude due to which such people take out their urge to dominate,
anger or sadism on a woman. And third, the material conditions mismanagement of
which leads to such cases. To end this problem from our society, we have to
work on all three fronts.
And everyone has to take part in this. First, the root causes need to be
removed so that twisted personalities can be prevented before they are formed.
The government needs to speed up women empowerment across different
departments. People need to be educated. Education needs to be our number one
priority.
We need to improve employment conditions. s€x education should be given
in schools. Children should be taught about good touch and bad touch. All
governments need to bring improvement in the legal processes. Second, talking
about other societal attitudes, this isn't government's responsibility only,
all of us need to work on this.
First of all, we need to eradicate these insults targeted at women.
Friends, let's make a commitment today that you will never use these words or
phrases ever again. Neither in your daily life, nor on social media. No matter
how much you disagree with a person, or how much you hate a person, r@pe
threats should not be made.
You should not laugh at r@pe jokes. After this, wherever you see a
s€xist attitude in the society, whether it is an ad, a film, a song, a YouTube
video, a comment, a stand-up act, it should be called out. We need to raise our
voices against it. To make law and order strong, we need to fill the vacancies
in the police.
The police need to be more independent from the state government so that
in any such case, politics can never interfere with justice. I hope you learned
something new from this video. Share this video with your friends and family so
that we can spread awareness about this among all. So that all of us can work
together on these solutions.
