India Today 21st May 2018 | Page 3

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF : Aroon Purie

GROUP EDITORIAL DIRECTOR : Raj Chengappa EDITORS : Kaveree Bamzai ( Special Projects ), Ajit Kumar Jha ( Research ) GROUP CREATIVE EDITOR : Nilanjan Das ; GROUP PHOTO EDITOR : Bandeep Singh MANAGING EDITORS : Kai Jabir Friese , Rajesh Jha EXECUTIVE EDITORS : Damayanti Datta , S . Sahaya Ranjit , Sandeep Unnithan DEPUTY EDITORS : Prachi Bhuchar , Uday Mahurkar , Manisha Saroop Mumbai : M . G . Arun Hyderabad : Amarnath K . Menon Chandigarh : Asit Jolly

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Volume XLIII Number 21 ; For the week May 15-21 , 2018 , published on every Friday

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FROM THE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

W hen I read the daily roll call of children being raped , it makes me sick to the stomach with disgust and makes my blood boil against these perverts . I imagine many of you must feel the same .

This is a story you may not want to read , but you must , because it explains why there is a silent implosion of rage among India ’ s men ; especially those who are violating children — the most vulnerable section of our society , and because rape is not always just a sexual act , but can be a political weapon , a demonstration of power , a way to keep the weak in subjugation . In India , in these last few ghastly weeks , it has been repeatedly used as all of the above , exposing the schisms at work in contemporary India . In Kathua , an eightyear-old child was allegedly raped and murdered by a gang of eight men ; in Surat , an 11-year-old girl was found raped and murdered , her battered body bearing the marks of 86 injuries ; in Etah , a seven-yearold was raped and murdered at a wedding . The list is endless , each case more horrific than the last . The recounting is necessary , though , to remind us that we are human , that we can still feel the pain of others , enough to perhaps make a change .

What evil lurks in the hearts of men ? And why ? What has happened to turn Indian society into a powder keg of sexual and psychological pathology that claims the lives of about 20,000 children a year , 50 a day , and two every hour ? Girls between the ages of eight months and eighteen are being mangled , raped and murdered , often with careful planning and precise organisation . There are clear reasons for it . India is facing a mental illness epidemic afflicting more people than the population of Japan — and this is quoting no less than President Ram Nath Kovind . Compounding this crisis is a lack of trained professionals to handle these issues , with just about 5,000 psychiatrists and less than 2,000 clinical psychologists . Given the breakdown of traditional systems of containing personality disorders and the absence of adequate professional help , most people go undiagnosed , untreated , continuing to punish innocent and helpless victims for their imagined grievances . Add to this the problem of weak application of laws , and as was seen in both Kathua and Unnao , where a teenager was allegedly raped by a BJP MLA , sometimes unabashed support

from the political establishment .

Executive Editor Damayanti Datta , who wrote the cover story , spent considerable time investigating the reasons for such behaviour . What could drive a man , or indeed several men in a group , to commit such horrendous acts ? She found experts describe two types of child rapists — the paedophiles , who committed such acts for pure pleasure , and those in whose brains aggression is hardwired , often due to biological , hormonal , genetic or environmental factors . In an increasingly toxic social environment where people can be killed for what caste they belong to , what they eat or how they worship , those who prey on the defenceless can consider it open season . When political protection is added to this poisonous mix and those in power weigh the fallout before condemning such acts , it can only be called no country for children . Datta says : ‘‘ Beyond the physical brutality , the most painful aspect of child rape is the breach of trust . I understood for the first time why courts determine quantum of punishment by the degree of betrayal — of individual as well as of social trust .’’

The series of rapes did lead to the Narendra Modi government passing an ordinance , invoking the death penalty for the rape of girls under 12 , but there is very little other evidence to indicate that those in power are serious about preventing such crimes . A report by the Kailash Satyarthi Children ’ s Foundation says up to 100,000 child rape cases are pending in courts . The report shows a child rape case registered in Arunachal Pradesh can take up to 99 years to go through the courts while a child raped in Gujarat could wait 53 long years for justice . It is a difficult read , as I said , but a necessary one , I believe , especially as we now know that the little girl from Kathua has become the hottest item on child porn websites , brutalised even in her death . Wishing the worst punishment for those who raped her is not enough . If we are to call ourselves a civilised nation , we have to ensure our laws work , the deviants are severely punished , and those who show sociopathic tendencies get the help they need before it is too late . For all of us .

( Aroon Purie )

MAY 21 , 2018 INDIA TODAY 1