As Stanford rapist’s case causes outrage in US, India remains blasé about rape

Since we are known as the rape capital of the world, I guess ugly and unspeakable ‘anecdotes’ on the subject in other countries would be of consuming interest. Brock Turner, aged 20, was a former Stanford University swimmer who was accused of raping a woman. He should have got 14 years for the assault but the judge was obviously in a genial mood and gave him only six months in jail. This is the relatively tame part of the story. [caption id=“attachment_2823188” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] A letter written by Brock’s father to the judge before sentencing was recently made public. Brock’s daddy wrote that it’s a bit much to send his son to prison for “20 minutes of action” and shouldn’t he let him go. Say what? Sexual violence on campus in a whole new parental perspective. Perhaps in future, rapists can grade their victims when they are asking for leniency in their sentencing. ‘She was a C minus, Your Honour, I don’t deserve more than a slap on my wrist.’ Talk about us being challenged for this dubious throne but there you are! Hot from Santa Clara in California comes a new high in absurdity. This has shocked Americans and is running as the biggest story of the day. Today, as a nation goes up in arms it won’t be that shocking for us because whenever we have a rape, we have Mummy and Daddy and all the people they know roped in to save the guy. We even have politicians who are avuncular in their support and says things like ‘boys will be boys’ and also, if that fails, blame different cuisines for the hormonal gush. You pick up a paper in India and it is got a nappy rash of rape stories. Every morning. Babies, little children, pre-teens, women, we don’t care about age. And we never get told what happened to those venal people who were accused or caught with their pants down. Where do they go…home? Somebody posted a story on Tuesday on FB about an old man who married a nine-year-old and she died on her wedding night. You cannot even vomit but your mind is full of hideous visions that won’t go away as much as it is full of grief for that child. Who are these people who attack children and when are we going to stop it? It has come to such a pass that our synapses have shut down. It is like part of the scenery. Man rapes 10-year-old…oh oh have a cracker. You land at the airport and after being grumpily allowed in by Immigration you take a cab and the sign says, ‘We will take women without worry.’ The car in front of me says, ‘Women are safe in my taxi.’ The cab ahead of him has a larger sign which says, ‘This taxi respects women.’ And therein lies the problem. The taxi might but what about the driver? There are just too many incidents occurring in the land for it to be a passing phase. Somewhere the wheels have come off and the system is outraged but not pro-active in saving these victims and those to come. Are we also going to end up like this father in Santa Clara who measures punishment by the length of the time taken to have sexual pleasure? So blasé, so worldly, so proud of sonny boy, go on son, knock yourself out, it’s only a girl. We are already into the advanced stages of indifference to paedophilia because we don’t even recognise it. You don’t believe me and you think I am exaggerating. Pick up today’s paper or go to a website…okay fine do it tomorrow because tomorrow hasn’t happened. The rape will have…more’s the pity.