On an average every day we have Breaking News in each district. The nature of these Breaking News can be anything in nature – Good or Bad.

Practically it is difficult to cover all these news at state level for any media house.  We are not talking about regional level. Now imagine how on earth will each news become national news and if it at all it is a serious crime, how will it become a burning issue? Add to this some biased journalist who cover news using religious magnifying glass.

After the recent barbaric Hyderabad rape case there are lot of suggestions to curb the crime. The suggestions are varied in nature. Ranging from lynching the rapist in public by an MP, to be hanged publicly, to wind up investigation in one month to one year.

If the crime against women specially rape has not shown a declining pattern from Nirbhaya till date then the existing law or new law will not change anything.

We are running in opposite direction. We are outraging but not channelizing our energies for right solution. The root cause is not lack of law to punish the culprit. But lack of law to punish each individual who obstruct the path to justice.

Let us take each function at a time. Police Control Room and their Mobile Vans/Jeep and their wireless handset should be sufficient in number along with adequate staff. If there is shortage a SOS should be raised by concerned Police Commissioner. It would be great if Hon Home Minister asks for this MIS from Pan India.

Second most important point lack of knowledge on ZERO FIR amongst the Police Officers and the citizens. After Nirbhaya Ministry of Home Affairs had sent a letter to all state and union territories across India. The instruction was simple. Inform all police officers about Zero FIR and also repercussion if they are found harassing a citizen in need. Paragraph 3 of that letter clearly states “….. failure to comply with the instruction of registering an FIR on receipt of information about the cognizable offence will invite prosecution of the police officer u/s 166A of the IPC for an offence specified u/s 166A or departmental action or both”.

Look around and ask Police Officers or even citizens, how many are aware of ZERO FIR?

Let us accept that a lot of Police officers have changed for good over the years but a lot is yet to be done. Class room training with real life case study etc should be given to all level depending on their function. For eg. The Officer attending  an emergency call on wireless / phone call will need different kind of training from the officer who is meeting the victim in Police Station in person. Same for Police officer who visits the crime scene has to be quick and ensure all evidence are collected. In case anything is missing/stolen then record the same. Timely support to investigating officers from forensic lab to make inroads for further investigation.

 Judiciary too has to play an important role here. Giving anticipatory bail can hamper the investigation. Or giving bail without proper police  investigation can also spoil the investigation.  There should be a maximum limit and time frame that a person could enjoy anticipatory bail, furlough, etc.

Next is MSM, many in media have their agenda along with Urban Naxals and celebrities. There should be strict guidelines from Ministry of Home Affairs that media should not approach family of victim. In case the victim family wishes to connect with media then a protocol can be given by the government. 

Politicians, celebrity and social worker too should be discouraged from meeting the family. Most of the people are in the business of Tragedy Tourism, they check the caste and write headlines or look other way.

So what is the solution?

Yes we need to hang the rapist. But that would just settle the score for the crime to some extent. If we are looking at eliminating the crime then we also need to hang the police officer who waste precious time, ones who do shoddy investigation, ones who humiliate the victim family, ones who share important information with media or anyone that helps the victim to find narrow escape, ones who give undue benefit by giving bail and anticipatory bail wasting precious time of investigation, ones who go for candle march as it suits their political aspirations but go and hide in a rat hole on other day, ones who run selective placard campaign should be the first ones to be hanged as they misuse their stardom to influence biased narrative, ones who run Prime Time debates and announce judgement in the ten minutes show with an attitude that their pen is blessed by Mata Saraswati, ones who speak anything they wish as they are law makers…. none should be spared.

Post rape investigation, court hearing, debates and news coverage should be monitored and all involved in hampering speedy trial or trying to prove a rapist as minor should be hanged. Kathua investigation is a case study. All four pillars of democracy backed up by urban Naxals and people from show business are responsible. The start of punishing rapist and their over ground and under ground supporters should be done from this case. Make this Kathua case an exemplary one for all.

Central government has database of all aadhar card, mobile and email. They should send information on Zero FIR in English, Hindi and all regional languages to all mobile and emails. Run an aggressive campaign on all possible media options. This campaign should be as strong as #GiveUpSubsidy and #JanDhanAccount

Central government should make an APP for state governments to be used. Police force from all across India should be asked to use the App, The login using their employee code and OTP can be sent on their mobile number. They read ZERO FIR and they need to confirm “READ, UNDERSTOOD and ACCEPTED” at the end of it.  A deadline should be given to all police station and Chowki to place information about ZERO FIR prominently at the entrance. They should ensure that the notice board is maintained and visible at all times.

If done this will certainly help in eliminating the crime rate, government should also look at initiating Police Reforms in a time bound manner.

Time has come to put consistent pressure on police, judiciary, media and law makers to remove loopholes. As law abiding citizens we should ensure that in each rape/ cruelty case, Culprit should not be the only one to be hanged, anyone who cause deliberate delay or an attempt to dilute should also be hanged.  

Feature Pic Credit: Sebastian Sorensen

Screenshots Credit: Twitter (Ritu Rathaur, India Today, Imtiyaaz Hussain, Hindustan)

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