The day has gone and nothing has happened. For those who really believed in what the Mayans had to say were disappointed to the core and for those who feared that the calamity was about to happen breathed a sigh of relief.

For those who held the rational flag flying high, called these people silly for having had such a belief. Numerous messages could be seen of fb regarding the same. No matter what happened, the suggestion that the world was coming to an end certainly created much chaos and discussion amongst the mortals of this era.

The doomsday never occured but the incident that followed and which has become the talking point of the nation (I am referring to the Delhi rape case) certainly is a warning to our society that, if such incidents keep taking place, the doomsday for our Indian society and for the value system that we all tend to be so proud of is not that far off.

An exemplary punishment is what our society is demanding in a unison. It might look creulty to some amongst us, but the fact is that in countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE etc., because of the nature of the law and the kind of punishment that is brought upon a person committing crimes such as the above, the number of cases have gone down considerably.

The reason might be that a human being is most governed by the fear factor and the kind of psychological impact such laws tend to have on us all. No matter what the reason, it indeed is an effective practical strategy which tends to give immediate results.

The question is: should India emulate what is being done in the Middle-East or should India come out with its own set of rules which might have a deterrent effect on the incidents that are happening all over India and in some cases aren’t being reported as well.

The past tells us that all the efforts of the Indian law system to curb the very incidents have not been able to prevent such incidents from taking place. It might be due to the delay in such cases when and if they are reported to and taken into the court. It might also be due to the fear of social consequences that some prefer not to report such incidents. It might be due to the inept handling of the cases by our forces which are untrained to handle the same.

Whatever might be the reason behind such incidents happening, one thing that everyone would agree to is that our laws should be able to create enough deterrent effect, so that such incidents dont take place in the future.

Some of the steps that can be taken by our government is to establish community policing, wherein the citizens can supplement the efforts made by the police of our country. Coupled with the above, an effective patrol would go a long way in preventing such incidents from happening and would certainly have a deterrent effect on persons with such kind of predatory mentality.

If you have a look at the incidents that are taking place in and around our capital city, one aspect that is starkly visible is the fact that in many incidents, the persons who actually indulged in such an act happened to be from outside New Delhi (in the present case, from Bihar) who come to Delhi in search of work and end up commiting such a crime.

Thus, it becomes important for any employer who is bringing in labour class or any other person (including domestic worker) from outside the city for work, should have a police verification done before giving him/her a job.

Another aspect that has come forth is that girls should be made capable enough to defend themselves. This in turn brings out the point that, in schools, girls should be given some kind of martial arts training which will not only make them able enough but would also prove to be a personality and personal enhancement training regime.

The guys, on their part, should be made to respect women. An effective role needs to be played by the families and schools wherein moral teachings coupled with what is right and wrong should be told to the men of our society.

Coupled with the above, the need of the hour is to have a deterrent law regime along with an effective and sensitive police force which will go a long way in curbing such incidents.

If the above is not done, then the doomsday conspiracy might indeed turn out to be true for our society, but the good thing is that it is in our hands as citizens of this country to prevent the same from occuring and we must leave no stone unturned in order to ensure that such things don’t happen in the future.

Source for Image: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/doomsday-preppers/, http://honeyimalesbian.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/date-rape/