The Fight Against a Relentless Virus
When the first COVID case was reported, the patient was quarantined and placed under medical surveillance. This protocol was followed for all other cases as well, with people being quarantined. Unfortunately, there were deaths. The world was shaken by the impact of this deadly virus, especially for certain groups such as the elderly and individuals with underlying health conditions.
Despite top-tier countries running out of oxygen, respective governments made efforts to import oxygen. Some countries also exported tablets and medicines to help control fever in other countries.
Scientists extensively explored the virus, conducted research, and found different vaccines. They performed preclinical testing and, after many iterations, successfully developed a vaccine that could prevent the spread of COVID by building a defense in our immune system.
Instead of this, imagine quarantining people who are infected by COVID and killing them. Imagine government ordering to shoot people who have the virus so that we could prevent it from spreading. Well, not only would we have lost double the number of people, but we would also still be in a complete lockdown.
Also The Fight Against a Relentless Virus
Now let's talk about sexual offenders and perpetrators of sexual assault. I was trying to get a number on this and it is challenging to provide an exact number of people who are sexually harassed per minute worldwide because sexual harassment is often underreported due to social stigma.
1 in 3 women globally experience violence. Every 68 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted. And every 9 minutes, that victim is a child. Meanwhile, only 25 out of every 1,000 perpetrators will end up in prison.
If one person experiences sexual harassment every 68 seconds in America, imagine the scale of the issue worldwide. Sexual harassment has unfortunately become as common as a fever. One incident that stands out is the case in Chennai - Marakkuma Nenjam , where reports of sexual harassment and molestation surfaced. It was shocking to think that such incidents could occur even in a concert setting. Social media X was flooded with posts expressing not only disappointment, but also sharing stories of women who had experienced sexual molestation.
What vaccine do we have?
We have, especially in India we have severe punishment. (1) Whoever, except in the cases provided for in sub-section (2), commits rape, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment of either description for a term which 1 [shall not be less than ten years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine].
rigorous imprisonment - imprisonment with hard labour.
It all sounds the same. It's like the government ordering to shoot people who have the virus in order to prevent its spread.
Some individuals spend more than 10 years in prison, and in some cases, they spend the rest of their lives incarcerated. In certain instances, they may even provide a dying declaration.
In India, there are counseling and rehabilitation programs available for individuals in prison, including those incarcerated for rape cases. They say they have Psychological Counseling, Legal Assistance, De-addiction Programs and Rehabilitation Programs. All these programs promote to something called cure rather than prevention.
Exploring the Shadows of the Unknown
I always wonder how we, as humans, have successfully found preventive vaccinations for several viruses. This achievement comes after years of studying their behavior, patterns, and mutability of a virus. Why couldn't we study humans, our own kind? Why do people rape? Why do they sexually harass women? What is the pattern here? What kind of trauma leads someone to commit these kinds of offenses? Even after so many years, should we not have figured out the pattern by now and started implementing preventive measures? Or is it the other way around? Have we identified the pattern, behavior, and triggers that lead to rape/harassment but failed to take action?
I don’t know….
As we grapple with these profound questions about the root causes of such heinous acts, we must acknowledge that the complexity of human behavior and societal issues cannot be reduced to simple patterns or triggers. The quest to understand and prevent sexual harassment and rape remains a multifaceted challenge.
I believe that 'I don't know' transforms into 'We are making progress’.
