S M Fasiullah for BeyondHeadlines
Rape has rocked the nation in a way never seen before. Everyone who reads newspaper or watches television is talking about it in a rather fierce manner. One of my female colleagues started the topic on our breakfast table in the office. She lost her cool in next few minutes, as any other working women touched by the recent incident could have done.
Losing her temper she yelled, “men should change their attitude”. It caught the attention of many in the cafeteria. I said to her, “please calm down, I can understand what’s you are feeling right now but shouting won’t help in fighting this social evil (rape).”
I have tried to pacify her by saying: there are many issues we as human beings have been facing for decades, including predominant evils such as rape and eve-teasing. It’s happening not only in India. Laws are in place to check these evil practices and punish the culprits.
For me, punishing the culprit who commits this heinous act would surely end the specific case, but not the problem. In order to bury this evil, we need series of measures. Today, Andhra Pradesh home minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy has proposed to train all girl students from seventh standard onwards in self-defense. However, this move alone won’t uproot the social evil.
Leonardo DiCaprio said in his sci-fi movie ‘Inception’ (2010) that an idea is the most dangerous thing. In order to curb or avoid the bad idea(s), good ideas and thoughts must be planted in mind. Quran says: “The good deed and the evil deed are not alike. Repel the evil deed with one which is better…” [41:33].
Men and women can play an equally important role in this regard – teaching their children what’s good and bad. Especially, mothers can play a larger role. It’s an established fact that children listen to their mother more than the father. Hence, mother could capitalize this crucial opportunity to nurture their children to make them good human beings. Jai Mata Ki!
