{"id":3861,"date":"2014-07-22T18:56:15","date_gmt":"2014-07-22T13:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bhagwad.com\/blog\/?p=3861"},"modified":"2014-07-23T15:29:04","modified_gmt":"2014-07-23T09:59:04","slug":"can-the-police-ensure-womens-safety-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bhagwad.com\/blog\/2014\/rights-and-freedoms\/can-the-police-ensure-womens-safety-in-india.html\/","title":{"rendered":"Can the Police Ensure Women’s Safety in India?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Can
Swift punishment is more important than excessive patrolling or stricture laws.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Politicians in Uttar Pradesh repeatedly\u00a0put their\u00a0foot in their mouth with their statements on the escalating rape culture. From the CM to the Governor Aziz Qureshi, they point\u00a0out that it’s not possible to “prevent” rapes completely. Apparently, even if God himself is incarnated<\/a>, he won’t be able to ensure women’s safety in India. This has predictably pissed people off even more. It seems as if he’s just putting up his hands and saying “Screw it. Whatever will be, will be”.<\/p>\n

But does he have a point? I mean it isn’t actually<\/em>\u00a0possible to put a policeman on every street or ensure the safety of every single woman everywhere. Too much vigilance might even backfire if the government resorts\u00a0to measures like banning women from bars and other public places late in the night, or imposing a curfew on everyone outright. Police presence only works\u00a0up to a point. After that, it’s counterproductive.<\/p>\n

Women’s Safety in India – A lost Cause?<\/h3>\n

I think most people realize that it’s not possible to prevent rapes entirely by sheer police presence. As it is, India has one of the lowest police to population ratios in the world, not to mention that the men in khaki are notoriously overworked and have perverse incentives and pretty horrible living and working conditions. But this does not mean that women’s safety in India is a lost cause!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve often said that people rape because they don’t\u00a0fear swift punishment<\/a>. So many obstacles get in the way between a rape and a conviction, that it’s a reasonable assumption for the criminal to assume that he’ll go scott free. Here are some of the hurdles:<\/p>\n