EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

FROM THE

When 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.