The Gang Rape of Damini Should NOT Taint All of Indian Society!

I learned about with considerable distress, the gang rape of a young woman on a New Delhi Bus by six men along with a complicit bus driver.  I also read about the response of Ms. Sonia Gandhi, who addressed this incident and said this - "It deepens our determination to battle the pervasive shameful social attitudes and mindsets that allow men to rape and molest women and girls with such impunity."  I was shocked to hear that from the leader of a party that should know better.  I could not help but reach the conclusion that this woman was speaking from a western mindset, being that she is Italian.

Across the media and across the world, this incident is being portrayed as "evidence" that Indian men do not respect women or something along those lines.  That is a shame because this incident feeds into a much mistaken stereotype of Indian men by those in the western world who do not really know anything about India or Indians.  For starters, who really do you call an "Indian"?  Is that someone who is Hindu, or Muslim, or Christian. Buddhist or Sikh?  While one can pretty much guarantee that a Sikh would never perpetrate such a crime (yes, that is the undeniable and awesome reputation of the followers of the Guru Granth Sahib), anything else can be attributed to basic human nature and the failure of the government to enforce law and order.  Rapes occur all across the world, even here in the USA!  Does that mean that American Men are monsters?  Of course not!

While from the names of the accused it appears that they were all Hindu, one must remember that in the Hindu religion, women are considered equal to men.  A Hindu man is incomplete without his wife and cannot participate in Hindu religious ceremonies without his wife by his side.  The reverse is the case as well - a Hindu woman is incomplete without her husband and must be accompanied by him in all religious functions.  I am sorry if this is not widely and well understood across all sections of society in Northern India, but that can be chalked up to forced dilution of Hindu values through centuries of foreign invasions.  Delhi in particular has a perverse culture that tolerated what is euphemistically known as "eve teasing".  I stress - it is a uniquely New Delhi phenomenon!  Gang rape is nothing new in New Delhi.  I distinctly remember a group of young girls who gang raped a mailman in their home in the 1980's.

Unfortunately, what this incident really shows is the failure of the government to keep the peace and enforce law and order in a country where there is massive, unbridled corruption.  In fact, if it were not for a country such as India with a largely peaceful, tolerant and violence free population, there would have been widespread chaos, looting and violence every day for which any police force could have done nothing!  The nation survives and thrives despite the presence of an inept, ineffective and symbolic police that is corrupted to inaction by a system that condones bribing and lethargy.  

So, I ask people in India and people across the world NOT to judge Indian men and Indian Society through the lens of Western Perception, but understand that this is a Law and Order issue and NOT a Societal Values Issue.  If you must have a stated perception of India, then this is it -India as a country values Women better than any nation on this planet!  Every nation and every people have their "dark moments" and their "black sheep".  Let us NOT judge India and Indian men through incidents such as these despite what a foreign born self anointed leader of India might say!