Stalker strikes

Haryana, the state known for being the nursery of power women, ironically, remains a study in contrast. It prides itself for every glory earned by its talented women — wrestlers, hockey players, a space scientist, even a Miss World — and, of course, its improving sex ratio. But despondently, for every girl who has smashed orthodoxy and emerged out of the ghunghat to put Haryana on the international map, there is many a shameful crime committed against women that is rooted in patriarchy. More worrisome is the fact that this gory crime rate is on the rise, with law enforcement often caught on the wrong foot.

The shackles of bigotry continue to bind the state to a level that eclipses the achievements attained. Statistics tabled in a Haryana Assembly session last year indicate that there is still a long way to go for the society to evolve into a modern and free one, where the girls feel safe and equal to boys: there has been a 47 per cent spike in the number of rape cases, over 100 per cent rise in cases of kidnapping of women from September 2014 to August 2015 and 26 per cent increase in molestation cases between September 2014-August 2015 and September 2018.

The gruesome murder of a young national-level taekwondo player, Sarita, allegedly by Sombir, a wrestler who had been stalking her, at her home in a village of Gurugram on Monday, is symptomatic of the problems that plague our deeply patriarchal society. Till boys are taught by their mothers, fathers, teachers et al to be sensitive about the consent of a prospective partner in a relationship, they will find it difficult to take no for a proposal and turn violent, as in the present case. It’s equally important that the police take immediate note of complaints of women feeling threatened. Had they listened to Sarita’s pleas and acted swiftly, she may have been alive today. The only silver lining in Haryana’s gender crime rate — the downward graph of dowry harassment and death cases — owes a lot to awareness and stern action taken in such cases over the years.