* * * TRIGGER WARNING * * *
This article speaks about brutal crime and gender based violence.
Kindly discontinue reading if it triggers any emotions that you might find difficult to handle at the time of reading.
Kindly read the earlier write up that talks about the security
architecture to better understand this write-up.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/security-101-chakradhari-rowe/Please Note: While the article has been written with data about crime against women in India, the solution proposed can be a universal tactic against the said crime.
Abuse Against Women & Children - Physical, Emotional, Sexual...
In December of 2012, a brutal case shook the capital of India. Not because of its brutality alone but because the media exposed the brutality on all platforms. A girl was brutally raped, fatally injured and left on the road with a male friend who was badly beaten and had multiple fractures. While the city, was already on the radar of rising crime against women, and the subject of Women SAFETY was a recognised concern, this incident could have been leveraged to address the menace permanently. But we FAILED.........AGAIN !
We are all VICTIMS by default. We must train to learn how to emerge as survivors & warriors. It's 'THE ONLY WAY' to change what is Default.
While the entire nation was flowing with the narrative of the lack of safety for women, there was none who spoke about the facts that were relevant to understand. It was important for us to ask ourselves one very important question. A question we failed to ask back then, in 2019 (Priyanka Reddy Case, Hyderabad) and are still failing to ask ourselves...
What is it About ?
The agitations, the 'So Called Experts' on talk shows, the candle marches, the torching of public property, the painting of such crime with religious/caste color, the media campaigns, the pseudo names for victims, the new NGO's being opened on these victims pseudo names, finding new people/agencies/politicians to blame. So what are all this about ? Are all these about one particular incident or about the genre of crime. Looking at the optics after such crime, every time it feels like it's about a particular incident and not the the crime. Let me share a fact with you so you can believe this claim of mine -
Nirbhaya 2012 - One out of 24,923 Rapes in 2012.
Shakti Mills Case 2013 - One out of 33,707 Rapes in 2013.
Badaun Gang Rape Case 2014 - One out of 36,735 Rapes in 2014.
Sivagangai Rape Case 2015 - One out of 34,651 Rapes in 2015.
No Rapes were reported in 2016 out of 38,947 - Other news JNU...
11 Rape cases reported in 2017 out of 32,559 - Other news elections in 7 states.
Franco Mulakal Case 2018 - One out of 33,356 in 2018.
Priyanka Reddy Case 2019 - One out of 32,032 Rapes in 2019.
Hathras Case 2020 - One out of 28,046 Rapes in 2020. With 2,94,956 rapes in last 8 years, Women Safety is definitely a ghost, we have been chasing.
Where are we going wrong ?
According to NCRB, over 93% of the perpetrators were from the first circle of the victim. That is in 2,74,309 cases. However, more than 95% of the reported cases in the media were committed by those who fall in the 7% category (friends, neighbours, acquaintance, strangers, etc). So what is the OPTICS that is presented to the consumer of such biased news? That one must beware strangers.
From the optics it looks like the main perpetrator is a stranger. And hence the popular counter tactic of self defense classes, increasing police patrolling on streets, etc. However, these tactics don't guarantee any efficacy against crime committed by those who are within the first circle of the victim. Ones who are blindly trusted by the victim and most of the time throw their victim in a state of complete shock when they turn adversary.
We've spoken so much about women SAFETY without really understanding how to help them SECURE themselves. Hence we see over 70 rapes EVERYDAY. Day after day.
The Right Direction ?
As security professionals, we understand the concept of PRIMARY TARGET. And we also understand that for someone to be safe, they first need to be secured. Now it is very obvious that a police force that is already under-staffed (1:800) cannot protect individuals. Not in India. Not anywhere. And the private security force that is hired, is not trained to address this form of crime. To secure a primary target, one must either dedicate physical protection personnel or educate the prospective victim in the form of education that can help them (Him & Her) protect themselves.
A new, stricter LAW cannot solve this problem, especially if the legal system has loop holes a common man cannot fix. If you don't believe just look at all those states that have a Helmet Compulsory Rule and see how such a rule with heavy fines is fairing. LAW is just text on paper. What gives it teeth is the Effective ENFORCEMENT. And here, we need to transform women into individual enforcers.
DETERRENCE - The Real Solution
When the prospective victim is educated on their vulnerabilities that are exploited by the adversaries, the onus to secure and defend themselves falls on the individual. Now this can be very bad if you just make them aware of their vulnerabilities and leave them hanging. But if you teach them how they can transform their vulnerabilities into their strengths (what we do in our Counter Crime Education programs) or at least how they can make up for their vulnerabilities, it puts them a few steps ahead of their attacker. In such a case, their level of trust and their relationship with the abuser won't matter as they would have learnt to identify malicious intent before it can become an action.
Locking up a tiger in a cage to protect it, speaks a lot about the immaturity of the society and it's security appartus.
Imposing restrictions related to attire, time, place, society, association of friends, etc onto our women family members, friends, colleagues will not solve the problem. And it is definitely not anywhere near, to what one could call women empowerment. True empowerment is helping them liberate out of the FEAR of being victimised. Teaching them Counter Crime Tactics so they feel more confident to handle situations and maliciousness by themselves, THIS would be real women empowerment. And not MOTIVATIONAL TALKS for women day.
I'm sharing a small article I published that gives an insight on what the above Personal Security Tactics could mean in a particular situation. Do share the article with your women friends and colleagues if you think they make sense.
India's First - Israeli Counter Crime Education Program, #TSoC_DELTA is now live on www.tangosixoclock.in. Feel free to Enrol and learn how you can disqualify yourself as a prospective victim. Until our next article, Stay ICY (In Code Yellow) !
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