For a cause: Members and delegates of India Youth for Society at a seminar in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. more-in India since beginning has been following a patriarchal form of society and this is one of the reasons why women and girls are feeling insecure and incidents of rape have been on the higher side, according to A.B.S.V. Ranga Rao, professor in the Department of Social Work, Andhra University. He was speaking at a seminar, ‘My cry for the mother and the minor’, organised by NGO India Youth for Society to discuss the growing instances of rape in the backdrop of the recent Kathua case, here on Sunday. According to Prof. Ranga Rao, the patriarchal ideology should go if women are to feel safe. “Foeticide and infanticide starts at home. Girl child are vulnerable to torture and rape at home, as they are treated as unwanted. When there is no security at home, what can be expected in the outside world,” he said. Former Vice-Chancellor of Acharya Nagarjuna University V. Balamohan Das in his address said that incidents like Kathua rape should not be politicised for minor gains. “Eight-year-old girl was abducted, gang-raped and murdered. Parties should not use it as a tool for political gains and rather they should unite to book the criminals,” he said. According to him, rape is an animal instinct that forces man to commit the act and it has been happening from time immemorial and across all nations including developed countries. “Scientists and psychologists should devise a method or treatment to eradicate this instinct,” he said. Main reasons Classifying various types of rapes, clinical psychologist from the Government Hospital for Mental Care, Pragna Mitra said that a number of factors such as degrading a women, dominance over women, deriving sadistic pleasure and proving masculinity wee some of the reasons that triggers the urge in men for committing the heinous crime. “This apart, unemployment and influence of stimulants such as alcohol and drugs play a major role,” she said. Quoting an incident of two brothers aged around 10 and 12 years raping a three-year-old girl in the neighbourhood, she said, “In some cases there are catalysts that triggers such behaviour and in this case it was pornography.” According to Dr. Pragna, free flow of pornography through Internet is also proving to be a major triggering factor for such behaviour. No safety Earlier, social worker and advocate Rahimunnisa Begum pointed out that there was no safety for women. “Girl children are not safe at home, in toilets and even in schools. There are many cases where teachers were involved in molestation and rapes. There is a need to look into the safety aspects,” she said. Rolling out statistics from National Crime Record Bureau, Appala Reddy of India Youth for Society said that in AP alone in 2016 there were 12 rape cases in which the victims were below 12 years. “In the age group between 12 and 16 years there were 142 cases and from 16 to 40 there were 261 cases.” Ch. Abhishek of IYFS and other research scholars also spoke.

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