PITYING THE PERPETRATORS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT-RIGHT OR WRONG?
At a press conference of the Bangalore Bus commuter’s forum, the survivor of a sexual harassment attempt narrated her experience got on the cities’ metro. She had boldly complained to the police, who in turn had hauled in the perpetrators of the crime. They were white-collar employees of a well known global brand. Getting them to the police station was a task in itself. So too was obtaining the CCTV footage from a metro attendant, who loathed to oblige her. At the police station, the chastened young men pleaded with the girl, saying they would never do anything like that again. One of them even pleaded with her not to file a police complaint as that would affect his going abroad for a job. The woman decided to not file a police complaint but did not let them go without getting some third-degree treatment from the police. The woman let them go because she was satisfied with subjecting them to police atrocities. She said she was satisfied with the fact that the police had heeded her complaint and had given the perpetrator a dose of their medicine. Under normal circumstances, one cannot expect such cooperation from the police. But it was because she dealt with the police in her line of work, day in and day out that the police heeded her request and acted on it. Such incidents are commonly heard of in today’s times, but not many women can pardon the perpetrators of the crime like our survivor did.
In another incident, the driver of a public bus in the city of Bangalore verbally abused and slapped a 16-year-old girl who happened to be the daughter of a trade unionist. The mother, Madina Taj of the Garment and Textile Workers Union complained to the police and to his employers, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation. Since then Ms. Taj faced great pressure from all quarters to drop her complaint and pardon the culprit. Why are we employing such a lenient stance against the perpetrators of such crimes? Don’t such culprits need any punishment? Should they be let off without any punishment so that they can continue their tirade again with some other girl, the next time? This and many other questions beg our attention when we tackle such cases. The question as to whether the culprit is pardoned should be decided, according to me, on a case by case basis. Like in the first case, when the culprit had to go abroad for a job and a police complaint would have put paid to his prospects, the girl pardoned them. In the second case, however, there was no such condition and therefore the culprit needed to be brought to book. Truly, strange are the ways of society, where survivors of sexual harassment, assault, violence, and worse are expected to-and some even feel they need to-pardon the perpetrators of the crime. Truly, strange are the ways of society, where culprits are protected and even pardoned of the most heinous crimes in the name of compassion, understanding, consideration, and concern.
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