A Brush with Insecurity: The Imperative for Stricter Laws and Protection for Sexual Assault Survivors

Introduction A fleeting moment of discomfort—caused by a stranger unintentionally touching my shoulder—triggered an overwhelming sense of insecurity. Though the incident was minor, it led me to ponder a much graver reality: How must survivors of sexual assault feel, day in and day out? This experience highlights the urgent need for more stringent legal measures to protect and support survivors of sexual violence. As a banker and an ex-UPSC aspirant with limited legal training, I can still see the glaring gaps in our system. It makes me wonder—if I can see this, why can't our leaders?

The Weight of Insecurity If a single, unintended touch can cause such discomfort, imagine the lifelong trauma faced by survivors of rape and sexual assault. The impact of such violence is not just physical but deeply psychological, often leaving scars that never fully heal. The current legal framework, however, often falls short in addressing the needs of survivors, leaving them to navigate a system that can be as traumatizing as the assault itself.

The Need for Stricter Laws To create a legal environment that truly protects survivors and deters perpetrators, we must push for amendments and stricter enforcement of existing laws. Here are specific areas where change is urgently needed:

1. Clearly Define Consent (Article 375, Indian Penal Code)

   • Current Issue: The legal definition of consent is often ambiguous, leading to varied interpretations in court.
   • Proposed Amendment: Article 375 should be amended to include a more precise definition of consent, emphasizing that it must be informed, voluntary, and revocable at any time. Additionally, the clause should clarify that silence or lack of resistance does not imply consent.

2. Implement Severe Penalties (Section 376, Indian Penal Code)

   • Current Issue: Penalties for sexual violence vary significantly, with some cases resulting in relatively lenient sentences.
   • Proposed Amendment: Section 376 should be revised to mandate a minimum sentence of 10 years for rape, with life imprisonment or the death penalty in aggravated cases (e.g., gang rape, assault on minors). This clause should also include mandatory psychological evaluation and rehabilitation programs for offenders.

3. Strengthen Victim Protection and Support (Criminal Procedure Code, Section 164A)

   • Current Issue: Survivors often lack adequate protection and support during the legal process.
   • Proposed Amendment: Section 164A of the Criminal Procedure Code should be expanded to include provisions for:
     • Immediate access to medical and psychological care.
     • Confidentiality protections to prevent the identity of the survivor from being disclosed.
     • The establishment of a survivor support fund, financed through fines imposed on convicted offenders.

4. Establish Fast-Track Courts (Article 21, Constitution of India)

   • Current Issue: Delays in legal proceedings exacerbate the trauma of survivors and undermine the pursuit of justice.
   • Proposed Amendment: Article 21, which guarantees the right to a speedy trial, should be operationalized through the establishment of dedicated fast-track courts for sexual assault cases. These courts should aim to resolve cases within six months, with provisions for extending this period only in exceptional circumstances.

5. Education and Awareness (Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, 2012)

   • Current Issue: Lack of awareness about sexual consent and rights leads to the perpetuation of rape culture.
   • Proposed Amendment: The Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act should include a mandatory curriculum on sexual education in schools, covering topics such as consent, bodily autonomy, and respectful relationships. This education should be extended to community programs for adults.

Implementation of Stricter Laws To ensure that these laws are not merely symbolic but actively enforced, the following measures should be taken:

1. Training Law Enforcement (Police Act, 1861)

   • Current Issue: Law enforcement officers often lack the training to handle sexual assault cases with the necessary sensitivity and expertise.
   • Proposed Amendment: The Police Act should mandate specialized training for all officers in handling sexual violence cases, including understanding trauma, proper evidence collection, and survivor support. Annual refresher courses should also be required.

2. Judicial Reforms (Judiciary Reforms Bill, Proposed)

   • Current Issue: Judges and prosecutors may lack the specific knowledge required to adjudicate sexual assault cases effectively.
   • Proposed Amendment: A Judiciary Reforms Bill should be introduced, mandating that judges and prosecutors handling sexual assault cases undergo specialized training. The bill should also require periodic performance reviews to ensure that justice is being served efficiently and fairly.

3. Government Accountability (Right to Information Act, 2005)

   • Current Issue: There is often a lack of transparency in how sexual assault cases are handled by the government and judiciary.
   • Proposed Amendment: The Right to Information Act should be expanded to include mandatory disclosure of case progress and outcomes in sexual assault cases. Annual reports on the effectiveness of sexual assault laws should be published and made accessible to the public.

4. Public Involvement (National Legal Services Authority Act, 1987)

   • Current Issue: Public awareness and involvement in holding the legal system accountable are often limited.
   • Proposed Amendment: The National Legal Services Authority should launch a nationwide campaign to educate the public about their rights and the importance of legal accountability in sexual assault cases. Community watchdog groups should be encouraged, and social media can play a crucial role in amplifying these efforts.

Conclusion Our laws must be more than just words on paper—they must be tools of real justice, rigorously enforced to protect and support those who need it most. The time for complacency is over. We must push for these changes, not just for ourselves, but for every survivor whose voice has been silenced by fear and injustice. It’s time our leaders step up and make the changes that are so obviously needed. The security and dignity of countless lives depend on it.

Pre-Mortem - The art of deleting regrets

    PRE-MORTEM

The Domino effect may be defined as a series of simultaneous events with a similar outcome. We are often trapped in the imagination of negative outcomes followed by dependency on luck for any kind of day-to-day task.  The biggest reason for defending ourselves post outcome is that when we are under stress, we often work without rational or logical thinking and this is natural human psychology.  Very few people admit mistakes and very rare people re-iterate that they will refrain from doing the same mistake again and the rarest of rare people actually don’t perform the same mistake. The serious aspirants prefer to do a pre-mortem instead of a post-mortem.

The Pre-mortem is defined as assumptions of all negative outcomes before even starting the task and correcting potential errors even before the commencement of the project. This principle may be applied by us while dealing with any stressful situation or anxiety before commencing the actual task.

There was a guy named XYZ who was preparing for a much-awaited presentation in front of his MD and thousands of representatives. He worked so hard that there was no chance of failed attempt. This presentation was the most important presentation of his life till now. He wanted to surprise all his colleagues. When he arrived at his destination, he made himself comfortable and practiced postures for about half an hour. However, just before 5 minutes of starting the presentation, he got to know that his car keys are lost and his laptop and mobile phone is kept. His car keys were inside the car only. Unfortunately, he missed the opportunity and the rest is all history.  The summary of the above story is we often assume the only positive outcome before any task and regret after failing followed by a post-mortem of that particular event. 

The only difference between winners and losers after a certain level of preparation is emotional stability.  Hence productivity and efficiency can only be true if the quality of work is considered instead of speed.  In order to achieve a higher degree of emotional stability, one must practice pre-mortem as it clears out cloudy thinking at the time of a stressed situation. With the continuous implementation of pre-mortem, one may also lead to diverging from the heartbreak caused due to an unexpected event.  Pre-mortem also gives us a sense of reality and keeps us away from false daydreaming. It may sound negative but as suggested by Mr. Peter L Bernstein in his book, “Against The Gods” if there is a 0.00001% of probability of any outcome, the event may occur in reality. 

WILL THAT MATTER?

WILL THAT MATTER?

It was 54^th day of lock down.  COVID 19 gave us chance to think that planet is rented resort and we will have to pay rent in terms of spreading happiness among other planet mates and keep our temporary place very hygiene.

Very unfortunate on COVID-19 victims but this pandemic has come as blessing in disguise for the environment as it has spread the planet the ordeal of human activity. COVID-19 is supposed to be a warning by universe for our rented resort to resolve all conflicts  but the biggest question arises is where is the humanity if we are still plunge in frontier dissensions which is using total world’s armed force of about twenty-seven million, four hundred fourteen thousand. (World Bank report, 2017). Why can’t we fight together keeping all rivalry aside? 

This lock down gave all of us enough of time which every one of us at some point of time had spent figuring out our own existence on this rented resort. Some of us may want to travel to past and correct materialized inaccuracy but only thing we can do is regret.

“Regret is a worst choice!” Life rarely gives us second chance so go ahead and move on;

If you want to say sorry to someone, don’t wait.

If you want to forgive someone, don’t wait.

If something is bothering you, let it go.

If you are confused, close your eyes and choose one option without judging and forget.

There is very thin line between depression and frustration. We often develop our frustration into depression in very short time without trying to find the solution and simply living in grudge. We often come across such inspiring lecture which tells us pros of doing meditation / yoga but we hardly stick to mentioned practices. Reason being we have convinced our self that these things are quite useless. But honestly, if you are reading this, for the sake of your own evolution, we all must follow meditation regularly. We do receive abundant energy by exercising our soul. In the end, it’s our soul which gives us happiness and not the body. Meditation of 20 minutes will stay us away from all negativity, frustration, depression.

Whenever life puts us in question mark, add “WILL THAT MATTER” before it. Life will always be simpler and happier.

Stay Home, Stay Safe!

Stay RELAX !

India - The New West

India - The New West

It is privileged to be the part of the nation known for innovations with unity in diversity. We as a multi culture society had proven we are no more country of immature ethnic group. Competitive federalism and Co-operative federalism initiated by NITI ayog going hand in hand which is leading us in ques of developed nations.

Indians are showing strong and responsible presence in making world a better place. From achieving most of the targets of intended nationally determined contributors at UNFCCC (United Nations framework convention for climate change) and setting up high aims at UNCAS (united nations climate action summit) to inculcate mentioned objectives at domestic level through various schemes such as Ujjwal scheme, ban on single use plastic, Jal Jeevan mission, etc.

Along with taking steps regarding environmental conversations, our foreign policies and bivalent relationship with immediate neighbors can be considered as backbone of liberalization. According to IMF, global economic rate is down by 3% in 2019, reason being trade protection, tariff wars and geo-politics. 

Though Indian economy is growing at the rate of 6-6.1%, most economist are in favor of slowdown in Indian economy reason being weak financial sector and high NPA's in NBFC's. Nobel award winner Mr. Abhijit Banerjee rightly said that there is structural problem for economic slowdown. In order to resolve this issue GOI needs to put money in rural market to boost domestic consumption.   

We Indians evolved right from Socialist approach of East India Company to widely accepted democratic angle with internal Socio-Political issues.

"Its better to leave when people start asking why instead of when" mentioned Sanjay Baru.

Sometimes we all wonder why people of our country will not support to factual issues than typical political re-union. Its doleful that some of us are engrossed in deliberating political future based on incontrovertible matters. Building alliance for advocacy is always fruitful, but it should not be abide by fulfilling the commitments of unlawful activities refusing to acknowledge majority of elected alliance.  

We Indians are growing as developed nation with the world's center of attraction along with strategically resolving internal and external differences very tactfully using available resources.

Bursting Engineer !

                               

"Sometimes it is good to be dumb, you feel no botheration of expectations"

"Got placed....feeling happy...." a status on Facebook that gives official license of becoming slave.

When we are kids, most common question asked by family and teachers was "What you would like to become" and most of the time the answer was doctor or engineer. Doctor because I want to work for society and engineer because I like imagination, creativity, building bridges, designing cars, etc. But it is now very horrible even imagining breakthrough life after completing engineering, So where we are?, we are not even close to our dreams. What goes wrong? Most of engineers either struggling for job or end up working in production, quality dept. or as a system engineer in IT companies, etc which is very repetitive kind of job in common. Very few engineers got into the well versed job in engineering directly after pass out, but these are very less in numbers and off-course IITians are excluded from this common pool, The actual R&D in India contribute to only 5-10% of all manufacturing. So important question is why we chose this stream or course?

India is the country where education system encourages us to work as a slave for some one else. We generally follow very structured kind of format while making our carrier choice and needless to say we end up in frustration, First try very hard to get in 10th and 12th std merit list, then prepare for medical and engineering entrance exam, then work hard in graduation for getting good grades and eligible to get into the factory of slaves otherwise go for further education where again that rat race begins with full flow.

When it comes to MBA, one of the most happening PG course in our country is also now under depression. The most common question by interviewer is "Why MBA after engineering" and if you are more unfortunate and doing MBA in finance, it gets more stringent. I wish I could say that yes I am doing MBA after engineering because I will be paid more by you, I will easily fulfill expenses of my girlfriend, I want to take your business, etc. Sometimes I wonder why people gets frustrate because they are not getting job or people feel happy because they get a job. Its ultimately dreaming of becoming slaves and trying hard for working under empire of promising entrepreneur. 

Yes its absolutely fine of doing a job for 2-3 years and making our own empire, but thinking of permanently settling under shadow of some entrepreneur is very dangerous. We should always aim to create slaves for us who will make our dream empire their dream. So I must say to all my friends who are without any job, delay in placement gives us chance to brush up our domain knowledge, gives us courage to face impossible people, also make us strong and helps us raising our standard, Real knowledge is being stable, patient and not losing temper in frustrating situation. 

We can not change our past,

We can not change our future,

Its only the thought process that drives us,

So enjoy the life to fullest, utilize resources

Create empire....