decEMber 7, 2019
Demanding the Wrong Kind of Justice
Why does society wait for a heinous crime to take place before it believes women?
W
e are all bystanders until something heinous happens.
Then, we transform into warriors clamouring for
justice overnight. In our urgency to declare ourselves
against these heinous acts as loudly as possible, we forget about
the voices we drown with our self-righteous anger. The brutal
rape and murder of Priyanka Reddy, a veterinary surgeon from
Hyderabad has taken the nation by storm, the likes of which has
not been seen since the case of Jyoti Singh in Delhi in 2012. The
accused have now allegedly been shot in a police encounter, the
details of which are still awaited.
Between then and now, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act,
2013, or the Nirbhaya Act was passed, and police helplines were
set up. The Justice Verma Committee recommended amendments
that would make the legal process for seeking redressal after
sexual harassment quicker. Yet, many more rapes have taken
place between 2012 and now. Like milestones, we mark the ones
that disturb our sense of civility with the names of places: Delhi,
Unnao, Kathua, and now Hyderabad. But, our outrage is reserved
only for those rapists who also kill, and in graphic and horrifying
ways. In our collective conscience, therefore, there is a line that
rapists must cross in order for us to consider their acts as objec-
tively condemnable. As long as this line is not crossed, we are quick
to find excuses. But, when this line is crossed, and there is no
defence that can be mounted, it is only then that we cry injustice.
It is, therefore, not surprising that the language in which this
is talked about, on social media, in the mainstream media and
generally in the public sphere, focuses on treating these inci-
dents as anomalies. The sensationalisation of these incidents
feeds into the voyeuristic tendencies of the public, serving a
commercial machinery that benefits from rising target rating
points (TRPs) and page views that incidents like these generate.
This reinforces rape culture and the inherent patriarchal biases
of the public that enable these crimes. All of this works together
to place the blame squarely on individuals, rather than on
society as a whole.
Since Reddy’s burnt body was found, everyone, from politicians
to film stars, was quick to express their shock and horror. Notably,
the Telangana home minister commented that if Reddy had
dialled the police rather than her sister, she might have saved
herself. These comments only betray the insensitivity to the
Economic & Political Weekly EPW DECEMber 7, 2019 vol lIV no 48
crux of the problem of sexual abuse by putting the onus on
women to “keep themselves safe” yet again. Even after four men
were taken into custody, several people belonging to the right
wing chose to fixate on the fact that one of the accused was
Muslim to malign the entire community. Blatant appropriation
of this kind only obscures the voices of women. All it does is
add to the empty clamour.
The loudest cries for justice have been the ones demanding
that the accused be hanged. Among the advocates of the death
penalty is the chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women.
Every time such an incident occurs, they argue that the death
penalty will serve as an effective deterrent. Asking for the
accused of “heinous” cases of rape to be hanged is, yet again,
another way of separating ourselves from blame, because, in
legal terms, the death penalty would apply to the “rarest of
the rare” cases of rape. How would one classify which cases of
rape deserve death and which cases do not? Once again, we are
relying on that line that rapists must not cross. So, what we, as a
society, are really saying is that rape and sexual abuse is okay
as long as it is done within certain limits. The vocal call for a
death penalty signifies nothing other than the ease with which
we are able to dehumanise people. By calling them monsters,
by separating ourselves from them, we are absolving ourselves
of the responsibility to look at what we are doing wrong.
The heart of the problem is cultural: it lies in our skewed
gender relations. We have known this for a while. Feminists
have been working for decades and crying themselves hoarse
trying to generate awareness about this. Yet, repeatedly, our
outrage fails to take cognisance of this. Despite laws, despite
protests, every time something like this happens, the need
for the patriarchal structure to be dismantled by recognising
and correcting everyday acts of sexism is always buried under
an avalanche of opinions that ironically come from those
who are eager to separate themselves from these “monsters,”
particularly men. In doing so, we fail as a society because, with
each incident, we choose to react with anger and violence. We
do not think about the fact that small acts of everyday injustice
that we ignore eventually build up the impunity with which
men commit heinous crimes. We are quick to discredit move-
ments like #MeToo, because somehow, society finds it difficult
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EDITORIALS

to believe women unless the damning evidence of a corpse is that is being said now, has all been said before. Therefore,
readily available to speak for them. there is really nothing new to say here. The problem, then,
We treat sexual abuse as a “safety” issue, and we continue must lie with those who need to listen. They are not listening
to put the onus on women to protect themselves. Everything hard enough.

8 DECEMber 7, 2019 vol lIV no 48 EPW Economic & Political Weekly