Justice Verma report forgotten

Public memory is short; it gets shorter when it involves humiliation and molestation of women. In a patriarchy like ours, where men can afford to flaunt their heightened sense of entitlement, our honourable ministers go into record-defying research studies to claim marital rape is not applicable in India. Why, because Indians treat marriage as a sacrament! The sticklers to the sacrament must be treating their women like goddesses; it's just another matter that every five minutes a woman gets bashed up by her husband or relatives in India, according to the national data on domestic violence. The rising number of reported and unreported cases on molestation, sexual harassment, acid attacks and rapes committed by strangers is a different matter altogether. 

In the wake of Arshdeep’s death, the adolescent, who was thrown out of a moving bus in Moga by her molesters, there is a fresh demand for implementation of the Justice Verma Committee report by the Punjab State Women Commission, especially to provide WASPS (Women Armed Special Police Squad) in buses to instil a sense of security among women passengers. But making laws, looking into the viability of laws and implementing them are entirely different issues, especially when the laws are aimed at providing dignity to the poor, including women. 

People may recall reports of members of WASPS being at the receiving end of miscreants and molesters a few months back. When those who are vested with the power to legislate laws for the safety of women find it hard to shake off patriarchy, for others it is easy to shun responsibility needed to bring about change in society that offers equality to women. No wonder, the Justice Verma report, drawn with the sensitivity required for a layered society like ours, is diluted by the implementers who cherry pick its recommendations so that it does not disturb the status quo of patriarchal rights of all shades.