Two years after the brutal gang rape of a medical student on a bus in Delhi, not much seems to have changed in India with the case still in court and regular reports of assaults across the country. The latest incident involving an Uber taxi driver operating undetected, despite being a serial offender, has prompted activists to say that more needs to be done to stop the menace of rape. On paper, India moved fast after the December 16, 2012, assault of ‘Nirbhaya’ to draft stronger laws, hoping to deter rapists. But the implementation of the law, both in letter and spirit, is needed today. Rapes continue with regularity, suspected rapists are let out on bail and cases crawl around the winding alleys of the judicial system. Six fast-track courts were set up after 2012 that disposed of 400 cases this year and around the same number last year. Still, more than 1,000 rape cases are pending in Delhi courts.
India has embarked on a drive to make the country clean. Politicians, celebrities and the common man have joined hands to implement this. The movement will be complete when this will include a drive for a cleaner mind and sensitivity towards the opposite gender and an awareness of what is going on around us. Only then can there be genuine cleanliness.
