Who exactly is standing for the cause of the victim of the beastly gang rape that took place inside a moving bus in south Delhi late Sunday evening? Is it only the young victim in hospital, battling for a life scarred, and/or impaired?

Except for the frenzy on social media and slogan-shouting by the political class, there is no sustained effort at finding concrete steps to ensure such crimes do not recur.

If ‘crime against women’ is not on the aam aadmi’s agenda, whose agenda is it on anyway? The political class has already shown its commitment on empowerment of women by its collectively handling of the women’s reservations bill.

Less than 60 hours since the incident, the Delhi chief minister already sounds satisfied, after issuing a media release that she has terminated the license of the bus. Delhi's women and child development minister, Kiran Walia, in a statement said she feels “helpless”.  

Was it then the first time that the city has been a witness to a rape incident? History shows Delhi is, and has been, an unsafe city for women. Statistics (which only confirm reported cases, mind you, not the thousands that are never reported) say 507 rape cases were reported in the national capital in 2010, the highest among 35 major Indian cities; the number rose to 568 rape cases in 2011.

It is also to be kept in mind that a rape victim undergoes two crises, one of undergoing the trauma of rape and the subsequent trial to book the guilty beyond reasonable doubt. While the first seriously wounds her dignity, curbs her individual, destroys her sense of security and may often ruin her physically, the second is no less potent of mischief, inasmuch as it not only forces her to relive through the traumatic experience, but also does so in the glare of publicity in a totally alien atmosphere, with the whole apparatus and paraphernalia of the criminal justice system focused upon her.

There are lots of fallacies in the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), which makes it difficult in proving an incident of rape and sexual assault. Under IPC, a man is said to commit “rape” who has had sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent. Incidentally “sexual assault” has not been defined in IPC separately. However, in view of increasing number of sexual crimes, the government had few months back sought to replace rape with sexual assault in the Indian Penal Code and widen the scope of the offence in the Criminal Law Bill, 2012.

Further, cases of “rape” are difficult to prove beyond reasonable doubt. The Supreme Court in one such cases noted that the broad principle that the prosecution has to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt applies equally to a case of rape and there can be no presumption that a prosecutrix would always tell the entire story truthfully," the apex court said in an order. “Proving the case beyond reasonable doubt” always remains the biggest challenge that the rape victim faces. Hence in many such cases the accused is left scot-free and commits another such offence with similar modus operandi.

Another and the larger challenge is that the judicial system of our country is slow and already overburdened. Therefore judgment in a rape case comes very late.

Sometimes it comes so late that either of the parties die. Hence the challenge is to expedite the hearings of such cases, which wait for its turn for adjudication for years amid “more important cases”. Demand from various nook and corner across the country for fast track courts/designated courts, which could book the guilty in a time bound manner could also be a practical solution.

Be that as it may, it is indeed also concerning to notice the absence of the likes of notable civil society leaders claiming to be working for and with the aam aadmi for the ‘aam aadmi issues’ and why then has the ‘Aam Aaadmi Party’ been silent on such grave issue.

Would the Civil Society clap and cheer the police for its commendable investigation so far focus only on movements that give instant and requisite publicity among the class less known for its concerns on empowerment of women or crime against women?

Is there hope for taking concrete measures to prevent recurrence of a similar crime in future?

If yes, on whose agenda is it?