Men and women as humans form society which means that a human is a unit of a society. But, society is closely linked with human behaviour and its environment too. The recent heinous motorway incident of gang rape has shaken our society once again, tough it was not the first incident of its kind and sadly will not even be the last.
People were very anxious and demanded severe punishments for the culprits but this stir was not also observed for the very first time. If we look at the victims of such cases, we discover that a woman in a society is equal to any other and especially to its male counterpart. Gender is just a myth – though as far as for Pakistan like other third world countries, things are not as they should be.
Living in a misogynist society
Women are considered worthless. They do not have respect as that of men. Especially, in rural and areas with less literacy rate, they are looked down upon. They don’t have any say in comparison to men. Apart from equality, their basic human rights are not provided and they have no uniformity with men. When a creature already does not have its basic rights, then their plight as a victim, further deteriorates.
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Our society at large is misogynist due to its patriarchal approach. Moreover, falsehood and hypocrisy are on their zeniths. Truth is hardly seen around. The other traits of havoc are dominant in elite, politicians and general public. Greed is overwhelmed due to materialistic and artificial lives.
Being more than half of the population, women even don’t have free access to register a complaint as FIR in our police stations. Firstly, police do not acknowledge their complaints seriously and if the pressure is greater then the process is being complicated. Secondly, the process of investigation is too weak with negligible presence of female staff. Moreover, there are flaws in our legal system.
The major hurdles are the inefficiency, corruption and slackness in courts and police. Every rape case must be decided in three months but unnecessary delays torture the victim itself and her family other than the rapist. Society must be sensitive about rape like crimes. The conviction rate in rape cases is hardly five percent in Pakistan. The problem is not the lack of laws or severe penalties regarding rape, child abuse or other such crimes but it is the lack of strict implementation of these laws.
Ineptness is a crime which is most devastating
Chemical castration or public hangings are not the long term or permanent solutions to follow. Furthermore, chemical castration might have psychological effects which may lead a person to more torturous forms of other offences and it is also a drug based procedure as when the treatment is discontinued, it may reverse the process. These under consideration solutions are just transient things to put off social media uproar.
When we dig deep into the matter, there are number of societal problems which are most important to address the issue. One of the biggest problem is uncontrolled population. Low literacy rate is another factor and literacy must not only deal with particular degrees but there should be a depiction of education with the process of formation. Homes, schools and societies show the real character of a nation. Additionally, illiteracy with rampantly increasing unemployment is adding fuel to fire.
Sub-standard education and amoral brought-up are the things to be considered for amendment. Skill based education must be encouraged. Societies change in years so a long term planning is needed as everlasting cure. Modern policing must be adopted for controlling crimes. As murder, rape and dacoity are considered the crimes against state all over the world.
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It is time to fix the cracks in our system through which most of the times culprits escape. No new legislation is required at the moment. The already existing laws are sufficient. Morality is the foundation of a nation, society and democracy but as we lack morality so all these entities are also absent in their true essence in Pakistan like countries.
Our police system is still stranded in 1861 police act roots
Police have failed to earn people’s trust in Pakistan, sadly. The main purpose for which the institution of police established is to cease crime and disorder. But, absence of rule of law results into the spread of many more social evils. Whole world has shifted to mobile phone data, CCTV Cameras, softwares, face reading, forensic tests and scientific analyses. Vision and visionary people are important to amend the systems. Deep thinking and keen observation are the real things to catch on. Quality education is also necessary for survival of morality.
Proper training of investigation officers with more female presence is needed. There must be more Medico-legal officers. Two Finger Test type methods are outdated, inhuman and unethical. Such medical tests must be banned at once because World health Organization also disapproves such procedures.
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Firstly, women rights are needed to be ensured and patriarchal culture is required to be suppressed. The phenomenon of uniformity between men and women must be encouraged at state and societal level. Secondly, people have lost their trust about system for any good so priorities must be set to amend the system. Thirdly, hasty and superficial decision making at local and national level must be corrected.
Lastly, there is a need of the hour to rise up against every evil without any compromise individually and collectively. Until and unless no sound is heard from the conscience, things will not change at all. Humans must change themselves first to change the system. In fact, change starts from within. Silence or neglecting the things will affect everyone sooner or later. So, stand up against every cruelty before you become its very victim by sidelining personal interests for the service of humanity.
Dr. Zeeshan Khan is an analyst, commentator, human rights activist, content writer and contributor to the Op-Ed pages of different newspapers in Pakistan and India. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.