Normalisation of rape culture has gone up to a level where sexual assault has now turned into a marketable commodity with thousands of consumers exchanging it to garner monetary benefits and to satiate their voyeuristic desires. Shockingly, all of this is happening under the nose of local administrative bodies despite extensive media coverage on the issue and subsequent Supreme Court recommendations.
Also, in order to differentiate rape videos from other porn material, they use watchwords akin to a secret handshake so that they know that the customer is seeking rape videos among available porn videos. The received footage is then circulated through different Whatsapp groups and other messaging mobile applications.
On the other hand, Sanjeev Balyan, a member of parliament from BJP blamed the UP state government for failing to reduce crime against women. Amid Twitter battles and blame games on the matter, the business thrived without any disturbances.
However, she had to call it off later, suspecting the risk of further circulation of rape videos. Taking cognizance of a petition filed by Krishnan, the Supreme Court of India formed a panel of members comprising employers from different social networking websites to come up with legal and technological solutions for the existing problem. However, no feasible action has been taken so far to stop the problem.
Although there are cyber laws (like IT Act, 2000 and Indecent Representation of Women Act, 1986) which prohibit exchange of dubious content on online platforms, downloading rape videos is not really a tough task. Hence, a lot of activists and lawyers have come forward to appeal for a separate law to put a hold on both the act of filming rapes and the trade of rape videos.
A rape survivor is mistreated and subjugated at various instances after being sexually assaulted by perpetrators. The level of subjugation increases as she enters justice-providing channels. Her consent is first devalued when she is made into an object of sexual pleasure by perpetrators.
Later, she faces legal disparage when the investigation is maneuvered by local bodies to suit their personal interests. The discourse on the whole is dominated by the administrative bodies rather than the complainant.
However, with certain technical and legal reforms, the survivors can be encouraged to be vocal about the sale of rape videos, as this murky business accelerates the process of consent denial. While rape in itself is a non-consensual act, uploading rape videos and using it as an object to make money further deprives the survivor of the rights over her body.
A similar mechanism can be used to remove real rape videos, especially on websites mostly accessed by Indians. Although the central government has decided to crack down on videos of rape and child pornography by deliberating upon creation of hash banks and separate hotline portals to set-up easy means to report such cases, no technical mechanism in whatsoever form has come to the fore since.
In order to encourage survivors to disclose the identities of assaulters fearlessly, we need a robust medical support system which caters to both the physical and mental health of survivors so that they can recover and disclose the identity of the perpetrators. It is important to note here that technical, legal and medical support, in some way or the other, should attempt to hand over the reins of the narrative to survivors who are generally sidelined from the larger legal and political discourse.
However, the present picture reveals a different story. While activism is trivialised with limited support (both on online and offline platforms), the legal and administrative procedures are largely biased towards men, thereby overlooking the consent and suggestions of the survivors in the process.The fatal nexus of embedded patriarchy, rape culture, business of rape videos and flawed political systems can only be destroyed when rape survivors have a say in the process of re-establishment of justice themselves.
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In a society, where rape victims need a lot of courage to lodge a complaint, mobile phones have added a frightening dimension to this gruesome crime against women. With handy video-recording device of camera phones, criminals are able to gag the voice of their victims and perpetuate their agony. Today, many more cases of rape are going unreported because the culprits have been able to silence their victims by making videos of the rape.
As such, rape is a crime which has no closure for a victim. In most other crimes, if the guilty is adequately punished, the victim may overcome the experience with passage of time. But the trauma of rape rarely leaves a victim. Use of mobile phones to film the act of rape leaves the victim much more traumatised and vulnerable for the rest of her life.
Incidents of use of mobile phones for taking pictures and making videos of rape have increased alarmingly. In some cases, these pictures and videos have been uploaded on the web too. Last year, Bangalore Police arrested a person who had hundreds of video clips of different rape instances. Many of these cases were not even reported to police. In another case of rape video, highlighted by Hyderabad-based NGO Prajwala, the Supreme Court ordered a CBI investigation.
In this video, eight persons are seen not only raping but also mocking the victim. The video was being circulated on WhatsApp for quite some time but no one, not even the victim girl reported the matter to the police. The NGO uploaded its edited version, by hiding the identity of the victim, with an appeal to people to identify the culprits. Only after the intervention of the Supreme Court, an investigation commenced and culprits were brought to book.
In the debate on capital punishment for rapes, it is often argued that sometimes people are overpowered by basic human instincts and commit such crimes. But filming the act in a calculated way, mocking the victims and laughing at their plight is barbarous.
This only shows that the offender has no remorse or regret for his behaviour. He is rather proud to show it to the world. This adds a certain cold bloodedness to the ghastly crime of rape. As mentioned earlier, an objective of rape videos is to silence the victim. Many a time such videos are made only to ensure that the victim does not open her mouth. Thus, she is not only wronged but also forced to keep mum and thereby suffers from within perpetually. This forced and continued suffering definitely calls for further changes in laws and higher punishment for such offenders.
There has also been a debate regarding the age of juvenile rapists. The juvenile offender in the Nirbhaya case, who was reportedly most brutal among his co-accused, could walk free after a mere three years whereas others are facing the gallows for the same crime.
Naturally, there was a just demand to redefine and reduce the age of juvenile offenders from 18 to 16, especially in serious cases like rape and murder. But this debate has focused on the age of the offender only. Equally important is the age of the victim, which has not been discussed much till now. The law defines the age of the victim in two categories only. Any female below 18 years of age is a child and above that age is a woman. But can we really say that all females below the age of 18 years are the same?
Is a rape against a 17-year-old girl and a three-year-old girl child the same? Rape is one of the most heinous crimes and should be dealt with accordingly in all cases. But in view of sheer difference of mental and bodily growth, rape against a grown up girl is dissimilar to such crime against a baby girl of say three or five years of age.
We keep hearing about many cases of rapes against children as young as a few months old. A person who can be savage enough to violate such innocent children does not deserve any mercy. There is a difference of punishment in cases of rape against a minor and adult female with 18 years age being the cut off mark. But all minors of up to 18 years of age cannot be categorised as one. The law has to further discriminate between rapists in view of the different age groups of minor victims of rape.
Lastly, a disturbing part of this sad story is the presence of consumers of such rape videos in our society. Many such videos are in circulation on social media sites and messaging services such as WhatsApp. Law enforcement agencies cannot do much against the viewers and those who knowingly or mindlessly forward such videos. It is up to all of us to raise a red flag and shame such people as and when we come across such insensitive postings.
We need to place the rape videos in the socio-cultural context. This is not a rare, urban or rural phenomenon. The problem is that sexual violence is not considered sexual violence in India, but instead it is thought of as a part of sexual intimacy," says Vidya Reddy, executive director, TULIR, Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse, in Chennai.
When the intention is just to threaten a victim, the videos are circulated within the village or community of the woman, ensuring people who know her, get to see it. But when it is for money, it is sold in different states or directly on websites.
This (rape videos) is a trend of commoditization of suffering. This is part of the commodity culture, where everything has a price tag. Though it is an offence, who bothers? The prosecution price is too low compared to the profit you make," says B B Pande, retired professor of criminal law and criminology at the Delhi University.
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