Growing Violence Against Women:Our Responsibility as a Society

The Shraddha Walker, Nikki Yadav and Megha Torvi cases have brought limelight to the growing violence against women in Indian society. A wave of rightful indignation has again surfaced, just like in 2012 after the brutal gangrape and murder of Nirbhaya in Delhi. Ten years between them, yet, much remains the same. Between candle marches and protests, we still remain a society that does not treat its women right. 

Victim blaming is still prevalent, even if it has become more subtle and nuanced. In the Nirbhaya case, it revolved around her choice of male companionship that did not fit into a suitable time frame of 'day light'. In the recent cases, it is aimed at the choice of women to explore relationships outside traditional marital boundaries.

Being in a live-in relationship has invariably subjected the victims to moral censorship by the mostly conservative communities and social institutions in the country. Almost without fail, it is insinuated that these victims were at least partly responsible for the violence against them. However, it is important to note that intimate partner violence occurs irrespective of marital status. As of July 2022, more than 4.71 lakh cases of domestic violence are pending in the country. Live in relationships constitute a small minority of them.

It is imperative that the media take responsibility for not sensationalizing the relationship status of the victim and instead focus on the critical nuances of the case. Families also need to be more accepting of the more progressive and diverse relationship types that the youth are experimenting with nowadays. This is important so that the victims are not mentally and socially isolated and traumatized into staying in such abusive relationships.

Violence against women needs to be addressed without subjecting them to real or imaginary communal angles as well. For example, in the Shradha Walker case, the 'Love Jihad' perspective got more coverage rather than trying to understand why a modern, independent woman chose to stay in an abusive relationship that was explicitly physically threatening as well, thus trivializing the whole matter. The Nikki Yadav and Megha Torvi cases could not unearth a communal angle like this, but they confirmed that the issue needs a much deeper understanding and analysis and cannot be confined to community identities alone.

The patriarchal norms running through the threads that weave the Indian society together normalizes aggression against women in general and domestic partners in particular. Objectification of women in media and movies has led to young boys internalizing the notion of women as mere objects of sexual gratification. These boys grow up to be young men who resort to aggression if they do not perceive immediate submission of the women in matters of their choice. 

With the onset of the new era of hyper visibility on social media, women are themselves succumbing to self-objectification on such platforms. Young women are not able to identify the traits of being in a toxic and potentially life threatening situation.

Yes, the laws need to be strengthened. The parents and families also need to take the responsibility of being in tune with the times and accepting that young adults may choose to select their partners outside rigid, traditional barriers of caste and community. Media needs to take responsibility for informed coverage of issues and of sensitive portrayal of women on their respective platforms. The society needs to shed its old notion of patriarchal gender norms and teach their boys and men to perceive the opposite sex as humans with the same right to dignity. Most importantly, women need to stop perceiving their self worth merely through the age old foggy lens of the society and stand up to their decisions, choose to leave rather than fear judgments for their ‘mistakes’ and be harbingers of the change the society is in such desperate need of.

The perpetrators of such heinous crimes must be brought to justice, and the ways of preventing such crimes in the future should be identified. We, as a society, need to devise ways to bring agency back to women to stand up for themselves and say 'Enough is enough'.

By Senior Sociologist Pranay Aggarwal
The author is an eminent sociologist and public intellectual. He is India representative in UNESCO’s International Sociological Association. He has completed a course in International Women's Health and Human Rights from Stanford University (USA) and is one of India’s leading public commentators on social issues. He is the most popular teacher of sociology amongst civil services candidates, whom he mentors at IAS Gurukul