The problem is much deeper than Uber not doing a background check. It should have done those checks. But by pinning the responsibility just on to Uber, we are offloading and limiting our collective responsibility on to one brand, because we have to find that one scapegoat and keep our conscience clear.

I was having the same debate last night with my Editorial Team, when one of our Indian colleagues shared the news and was angry about Uber. The problem is with the society itself. Rapists don’t come with labels and many of the rape cases in India still go unreported.

  1. Because rape comes with a stigma.
  2. India is a hypocritical society when it comes to dealing with women. Making mention of particularly the Hindus which is a dominant religion. Hindus worship many Goddesses and consider as Goddess to be the centre of all creation. But at the same time, female foeticide is still prevalent in-spite of all laws and regulations.

For me, the change will not come from any laws and any one brand putting in safety norms or beefing up the security. The change will have to come from homes, when parents start teaching their sons and boys to behave and respect; and in the way they bring up their daughters. Daughters still are considered as “Paraya dhan”, a term used still, which means “Someone else’s wealth.

Many men and even for that matter women and some fanatics pin rape on the way women dress. But the fact is rape is not about a hormonal surge, it is about power these sick mindsets want to exert. Much of the rapes in India happen within marriages, which I am sure 99.9 per cent would go unreported.

I am often dismayed and ashamed at the same time being an Indian when the government and often politicians make irresponsible statements on rape issues. I guess, we need to send the politicians like Mulayam Singh Yadav and Arun Jaitley to their mothers and ask them to get their preliminary education right.

The bigger tragedy is that right now too the focus is just on Uber, and no one is addressing the problem at a broader level and bring about that societal change. We are building smaller cocoons only — Personal security guards, time bound office and home curfews, rules on sexual exploitation in offices. These all are fine and are just cocoons. They do not address the larger problem, which is a mindset as a society.

No one is talking about educating these men from childhood. Even so Uber or for that matter any other brand may do as many background checks, but a rapist’s mind does not come with any brand or labels. It is a sick mind that probably may get unnoticed. It is this mindset that needs to be changed and the change has to be at a societal level and not at Uber level. Let me repeat, yes, that does not absolve Uber or for that matter any brand from doing its bit.

Thoughts continued to part -2.