The "Ideal" Rape Victim

Recently a friend wrote on Facebook –“Where is the angry mob? Where have the people with ‘Hang the Rapists’ placards in Delhi gone?” This was in regard to the allegation on self-styled “godman” Asaram for raping a minor girl.

There is a definite lack of public action in this case. Is it because Asaram is a “religious/spiritual” leader? Is it because people think that he should be first proven guilty by the court instead of being convicted by the public?

The media is doing better -- at least, it is focusing on the case. But in the process, this rape case has become all about Asaram: news items cover how his supporters beat up journalists; they cover Asaram’s claim that Sonia Gandhi has set him up. There is little coverage on the issue of the rape; the case has become about Asaram, not the rape survivor. As my Facebook friend said, there is no outpouring of sympathy for this girl. Nor have there been protests to demand a speedy trial and timely justice.

In recent times, the case that made people find their humanity was the December gang-rape of a 23-year-old girl on a moving bus in Delhi. She was traveling with a male companion when the other six people on the bus, including the driver, physically assaulted her and raped her.

The brutality of the incident was reported by the media. The public was awakened and outraged by what was happening to women in this country. India Gate at Delhi played host to several protests by the public with demands for a safer city, fast-track courts, resignation of the police commissioner, safer modes of transport, and death penalty for rapists.

The recent Shakti Mill gang-rape case in Mumbai received similar reaction from the public, at least in Mumbai. One of the accused in the Shakti Mill case was even attacked with an axe outside the court.

So, why is it that people are so moved by one rape incident that they take to the streets and demand justice for the rape survivor or victim, but ignore the other rape cases?

On August 16, about a week before the Mumbai gang-rape case, a minor Dalit girl was gang-raped by two men in a village in Haryana. Why didn’t this become an issue for the public to be angry about? It is not to say that the Mumbai gang-rape case was not worthy of public outrage. But shamelessly, for us, it is not about the severity of rape as a crime as much as it is about who is raped where by whom, how many, and how.

As a society that places more importance on a woman’s body than a woman’s being, we create in our minds an image of an ideal rape victim, and only those meeting the criteria are worthy of our sympathy and support.

Criterion Number 1: The girl can remain unnamed, but the details of the case should reveal her economic background.

As a casteist society, we would move on to the next story in the newspaper, if the headline reads that a Dalit girl has been raped in Haryana (although mentioning ‘Dalit’ is of relevance because most rapes in Haryana have a caste factor to them). But a 23-year-old student in Delhi or another 23-year-old intern in Mumbai is somebody we could relate to because a college student in a metropolitan city is most often than not assumed to be from a middle-class family, and thus her story is worthy of our time.

Criterion Number 2: The girl should not be raped by one, but gang-raped by many.

In times of gang-rape, rape by one man does not generate sympathy. The more the rapists, the more the people at India Gate. If the minor was raped by Asaram & others, it would have been horrific. But it was just a one-man rape. Nothing new about it. It happens all the time.

Criterion Number 3: The girl should be critical.

The minor girl whom Asaram has allegedly raped is not on her death bed. She did not have iron rods shoved into her vagina. She was not thrown off a moving bus, which could have killed her so the rapist could also be charged for attempt to murder. The victim is supposedly doing fine health-wise. Because there is no fear for her life, there is no need to be tough on the criminal.

Also, the information available through the media in the Asaram case simply states an alleged rape, which is always assumed to be penile-vaginal rape. Probably, sodomy as part of the rape could have angered the people a little. Or may be not.

Not long ago (and may be even today) one of the major criteria for a rape victim to gain empathy of the public was to be a ‘virgin’. A sexually active unmarried girl had always found it hard to have public support on her side.

Interestingly, if the accused is poor, it is easy to feel and express anger towards him. Unlike the accused who is rich or a well-known face in the media (Asaram or Shiney Ahuja) because the public is always willing to give the well-known face the benefit of doubt; because what if they are being framed.

For the society to feel empathy for the victim, it has to be satisfied beyond doubt that the girl who was raped is an innocent lamb attacked by the bad wolves. She has to be injuried, bruised, bled profusely, unconscious and critical. She has to be raped by more than one man and physically tortured for the crime of rape to be considered severe.

She has to be the “ideal” rape victim for people to demand justice for her.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author's personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Newsclick