Again, the evil ones have struck in India; another gang-rape has been recorded on the night of Thursday 22nd of August 2013. This time it was a twenty-two year old photo journalist who was gang-raped while working on a story in Mumbai. This latest case reminds one of another gory experience on December 16th, 2012 , in which a University student was gang-raped by six men leading to her death, two weeks later. This is besides the several others that go unreported in the past few months.
The real question should then be, why? What is the special problem that bothers on sexuality that has infested the nation of India? Or, are there some issues beyond the ordinary that are behind this unhealthy and un-called for assault on women? The truth of the matter is that something is really critically wrong with the men of that country; and this needs to be addressed immediately before it becomes a national disaster.
To be sure, India has always been a country with a large population, yet gender has hardly been a negatively sensitive issue there until now. The recently revealed experience of a female reporter with CNN, has brought to the fore the urgency of finding solution to this issue/problem that is gradually developing into a cankerworm.
Sara Sidner has been a reporter with CNN for five years, and based in India; a few years ago, precisely on November 27th, 2008, while in India, covering the celebrated terrorist attack on Taj Mahal, a popular Mumbai hotel, right in the middle of a crowd of men, suddenly, there was light out. Within minutes, she was grabbed, groped and rough handled by the men she was interviewing just a few minutes earlier, live on television! Indeed, something is terribly wrong with the psyche of the men of India. But, exactly what are the issues? It is left for the authorities there to begin to look for the root cause of this problem.
However, here in Africa, and particularly in Nigeria, the several reports of men violating little girls, and fathers violating their own daughters, have brought the issues to the front burner. So, what can be done? Well, while the authorities are working on a possible solution and psychologists and sociologists are intensifying efforts at researching the root-cause of this shameful conduct with a view to pointing at the solutions, women themselves should begin to re-assess their lives with a view to confront this monster that is staring us all in the face.
For example, women should begin to train their young girls to be cautious of their relationship with the opposite sex, whoever that person is to them. Whether it’s a father, brother, cousin, friend, acquaintance, workmate, school mate, neighbor, or whoever the person is, as long as he is an opposite sex, be careful. And our grown up girls must learn to always have handy a bottle of pepper spray, especially when they have to go to a violence-prone area, for whatever reason.
All women should be conscious of security around them at all times, this is a first rule of safety. Rape is a dirty act which can maim a female, psychologically, for life. All women, individuals or groups, should intensify their effort at the reorientation of the society towards the respect and preservation of the dignity of the females. No society can thrive without the development or progress of their females.
