Opinion: Need to spread moral values to ensure safety of women

“Tamil Nadu, the land of spirituality and divinity, has somehow turned out to be a land of rapes,” observed Justice N Kirubakaran while hearing a case relating to the rape of a 60-year-old mentally challenged woman. Known for his forthright ethical views, the judge, further observed, “Even toddlers or children are not spared by these brute beasts. Something is basically wrong with the development of the society or the psychology of men.” 

There was another gruesome rape of a hearing impaired girl in Ayanavaram, Chennai, by several men which sent shock waves across the society.

We have to define morality. It is a specified set of behavioural norms which the society at any given point of time had accepted to be practised. We have a plethora of laws spelling out stringent punishment for all these heinous crimes. Death penalty for raping a child has been passed by the parliament but whether severe punishment is a deterrent is a moot point. 

The breakdown of the moral structure of a society is always associated with some calamity, be it man-made or natural. Black death which had enveloped Europe in the year 1347 to 1350 with the spread of an epidemic that took away young lives, gave rise to a strange phenomenon. When people faced their imminent death, they wanted to live life its full in short spell. There was general breakdown in values and obnoxious conduct became order of the day. Or again in times of war and in War zones excesses occur.

Extreme poverty on one hand and opulence on other hand leads to moral degradation. The poor have nothing to lose and the rich filled with abundance indulges in notoriety. Only the middle class and those struggling in life adhere to certain moral values. Moral values are everlasting, permanent like Truth, freedom, compassion, charity, humanity love for living creatures respect to environment. The Constitution of India enumerates the duties of citizens in article 51A which emphasises respect to women and their protection as primary duty of every citizen.

A policeman has the arduous task of ensuring that laws are dutifully enforced. After all laws are based on morals, that which ought to be enforced for peaceful coexistence. Policing is all about ‘moral’ policing as laws are by and large based on morals. But moral policing connotes a totally different meaning as if it impedes with one’s freedom. There is a feeling of entitlement among young adults which makes them believe that laws are archaic and are meant to be defied or it is considered ‘cool’ to defy any authority. This is nothing but a natural behaviour associated with youth, a tendency which is more attributable to physiology and psychology.

There is information explosion thanks to internet which has both good and bad effects rolled into one. Luring the youth to different forms of challenge is turning into a genre of cybercrime. Many youngsters have fallen a prey to an online game, the blue whale challenge, which pushes each participant to the limit of excessive behaviour starting from minor delinquency to serious crime including rape.

Moral degradation is reflected in the way we defy traffic signals and rules. That is the beginning of moral degradation. Over indulgence in partying, night out, crossing limits in sleep overs in friend’s places by youth, are all few examples. Anxious parents are not able to control their young ones. 

There is a crisis in society. We hear of murders due to illicit affairs, child abuse, matricide, fratricide and so on. People are impatient and media further fuels it with gory depiction of crime and sex. That which bleeds leads the day in crime reporting. Can this be generalised?

Unemployment, drop out from schools, poor enrolment in schools and colleges, increase in crime by juveniles and young adults, drug abuse increase in number of unwed mothers, increase in divorce cases and so on. But statistics gives mixed trend. General enrolment in higher education has shown a healthy increase, which is good.

The National Crime Records Bureau recorded over 73 lakh complaints of cognizable crimes on an average every year. Cognizable crimes are relatively serious offences for which police officers do not need a warrant from the magistrate to investigate, such as murder, robbery, rape etc. Between 2005 and 2015, crime rate for cognizable crimes has increased by 28% from 456 complaints per lakh to 582 per lakh. This has been primarily because of increase in crime rates of alcohol-prohibition crime, theft, kidnapping and abduction, crimes against women and cheating.

The rate for conventional crimes under the Indian Penal Code like property crimes, offences against body and those under some special laws have declined while rate for crimes against women (e.g., rape, cruelty by husband or his relatives, insulting modesty of a woman) have shown an increase.

In prisons we find predominantly young adults among the inmates. Crime is not by choice but poverty and illiteracy are the main reasons. 66% of the prisoners are under trials while 33 % convicts are serving a prison term.

Someone asked Swami Vivekananda this question and he gave a great answer, “Everything excess in life, is poison.”

This is indeed a wake-up call for all of us to spread goodness and celebrate good deeds to counter the cancerous growth of evil.As the saying goes if we do not measure what matters then what we measure matters a lot.