[dropcap]A[/dropcap] year ago when CBI Director Ranjit Sinha took over office he admitted that he suffered form a foot and mouth disease. And this same malaise has come to haunt him only this time Sinha has revealed that there is a darker side of him … one of being an insensitive man.
Sinha has landed himself in a massive controversy by comparing the legalizing of betting in sports to ‘enjoying rape’. India’s top investigator was at a panel discussion in Delhi on Tuesday evening, trying to argue that betting should be legalised, when he drew the bizarre analogy, “If you can’t prevent rape, enjoy it.”Mr Sinha said today that his remark “If you can’t prevent rape, you enjoy it” was taken out of context.
How could such a remark be taken out of context. Its as clear as daylight.
But should people in the country really be taken aback by this callous remark? Does this remark not reveal the hollowness of men who are so use to wielding power and throwing their weight around? It also points to a deep rooted malaise in the mindset of men who have been ‘reared’ (only a brute can make a remark of this nature) without love from their mothers, sisters and aunts and cousins and nieces and girl friends. Megalomaniacs who think no end of themselves and probably give their colleagues a hard time as well.
Is the CBI Director out if his mind to assume that a victim of rape can just accept the violation committed on her ? He deserves every sting he receives from all quarters of the ‘civilised’ society for stirring up a hornets nest with his remark.
India may be one of the oldest civilizations in the world but the CBI Director clearly does not belong here. The question now of his resignation is being raised over this remark and rightly so. Trivialising an offence such as rape by the top police cop is despicable and downright unsavoury. It reflects the sorry state of the instinctive attitude of men towards women in this country. And to think that the scurity of women should be in the hands of men who think ‘rape’ can be enjoyed speaks volumes for the increasing crimes aginst women in the country.
It is also known that a senior police officer in Uttar Pradesh looked at a woman who said she had been raped, and said, “Why would anyone rape such an elderly woman?”
For a nation still hurting from the rape of a young medical student in the streets of Delhi last year …the remark is stirring up old wounds.
He has tendered an apology which no right thinking person will easily be convinced about.
“I regret any hurt caused as the same was inadvertent and unintended. I reiterate my deep sense of regard and respect for women and commitment to gender issues,” he said in a statement today
His comment drew strong censure from activists and women politicians, many of who called for his resignation. “It is sickening that a man who is in charge of several rape investigations should use such an analogy,” said Brinda Karat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
On Twitter, he was trending for most of the day. “The CBI director has rendered himself unfit to hold this office. Such an irresponsible and insensitive comment is simply inexcusable,” tweeted Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.
“Unbelievable!” tweeted noted Bangladesh writer Taslima Nasreen.
For the Investigating Agency this can prove to be the last straw to break the camel’s back . The last thing they would want now after being tagged the Congress Bureau of Investigation is now to be termed an anti women body. This ‘description ‘ may well fit the agency if Sinha fails to come forward, not only to show remorse but to be ashamed for his remark. The only way out then, is to resign from his post.
