In Pursuit of Holistic Justice and Human Dignity in India

In December, the world was shocked by reports of a brutal gang rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi. The young girl eventually died from her injuries, prompting massive protests, outrage and demands for justice among the Indian public. In response to the public outcry, the Indian government amended its penal code, enacting stiffer penalties for rape convictions, removing barriers to prosecuting public officials for sexual assault, and criminalizing stalking, voyeurism and sexual harassment for the first time. The six men, one of whom is a juvenile, were eventually arrested and charged with rape and murder. Authorities have promised a speedy trial for the other accused perpetrators.

Governments have a God-given responsibility to protect “the political community from those who threaten life, property, and public peace.” Punishing perpetrators and enacting legislation to protect victims and deter future crimes are critical elements of justice.

But these efforts are incomplete, as painfully illustrated by the juxtaposition of the passage of India’s new rape laws against the report of a British tourist jumping from her hotel window to escape molestation by a hotel owner and the alleged gang rape of a Swiss tourist traveling with her husband. The new Indian law failed to include marital rape and retained longstanding impunity for the Indian military against accusations of sexual assault. Not to mention the myriad ways in which women continue to be dehumanized in India, including sex selective abortion, child marriage or discrimination as widows.

Whether combatting injustice globally or internationally, we must look at issues of justice holistically, developing a long-term vision which includes aspects of criminal justice as well as the social structures that enable injustice. In India, as in the U.S., the dignity of women cannot be preserved simply by passing tougher laws, important as these are. Communities of individuals and multiple institutions must work together, each fulfilling their God-given roles, to shape cultural attitudes about women, to aid in enforcement and to protect the vulnerable.

There remains a disconnect in India between what the law demands and how the law is applied to its citizens, particularly the poor or those in more rural, less developed areas. For example, it is illegal to marry before age 18, but over 47 percent of girls in India are married before their 18th birthday, some even before puberty.

Over the last 30 years, significant, incremental improvements to India’s rape laws have been made, yet most Indian women have not reaped the benefits of these hard-fought legal changes. The Indian judiciary is too small to serve their large and growing population. Having only one-fifth as many judges per capita as we have in the U.S., the backlog of rape cases is immense. The law enforcement system is hampered by a lack of resources for modern forensic science. And local law enforcement officials, influenced by a culture that has devalued women for thousands of years, often fail to arrest accused perpetrators, or when they do, may treat victims to further indignities.

Organizations such as International Justice Mission (IJM) serve as an example of how thinking holistically and valuing the contributions of various institutions can help combat injustice and repair broken social structures. In India, IJM works to rescue women trapped in brothels, using Indian law to bring sex traffickers and brothel owners to justice. A week before India’s parliament passed the new sexual assault law, IJM announced a landmark victory in India’s courts: In Kolkata, five men were convicted of sex trafficking, one of whom was also convicted of rape. The young girls they enslaved are now being cared for. Meanwhile, their country is slowly improving the rule of law in the area of sexual violence. Because many IJM staff, lawyers and investigators are Indian, IJM is also enabling Indian Christians to make a difference in their own communities.

Why should all this matter to Christians in the U.S.?

First, although we have unique responsibilities as citizens of our own political community, Jesus made it clear that the command to love our neighbor does not stop at our border. We are obligated as followers of Christ to care about injustice both at home and abroad and should seek ways to partner with faith-based non-profits and encourage our own government to help improve the lives of people around the world.

Second, our government has a unique opportunity to work with developing countries such as India to encourage them to improve their legal system to promote human dignity. Although the means will vary from country to country, we have diplomatic and economic tools at our disposal that can—if used wisely and sensitively—make a difference. In the gang rape case, the U.S. State Department awarded the victim, along with nine other women around the world, the International Women of Courage Award. In other cases, financial aid has been conditioned on improving human rights and the rule of law.

Third, our horror at the way women are treated in India should encourage us to look at the ways our own culture is complicit in objectifying and commodifying women. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we should each ask about the ways we contribute, even unwittingly, to practices or systems that undermine the dignity of women and girls. In our own culture this can range from pornography to more subtle ways we communicate that women are valuable because of how they look or what they achieve.

Finally, as we are reminded by our celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus this weekend, in our efforts to promote human dignity and combat injustice we can move forward with great hope, knowing that we are serving the one who will one day completely restore justice to the whole earth.

—Michelle Crotwell Kirtley is the Editor of Capital Commentary, a Trustee of the Center for Public Justice and a former health and science policy advisor on Capitol Hill.

An Instrument of Justice in an Unexpected Place

On Tuesdays and Thursdays YOUR VOICE features political commentary from students and young professionals.

Each February, university students from around the world gather in Boston, Mass. to participate in the Harvard National Model United Nations, one of the most prestigious model United Nations conferences in the country. This exciting diplomatic event puts top students in fierce competition with one another to emulate the actual happenings of the United Nations, with perhaps a bit more partying. I participated for my second time this past February, and what was just a fun academic endeavor for me, I soon learned, meant so much more for many other students.

Alex and DJ were two friends I met at the conference. I was drawn to this passionate pair due to their brilliant politicking and consistent character. They were simply too good at “MUN” for me not to be involved with them in some way. Perhaps their Venezuelan nationality had something to do with this passion, but I am regretful in saying it far exceeded mine. For I, surrounded by many international students that came from far away with many diverse backgrounds, traveled just 20 miles from Gordon College with an attitude of indifference. I was even unclear as to why I was at the conference, other than the fact that I had done it before, I was decent at politicking, and I respected my professor too much to drop out. I was not thrilled to be going.

Let me fast forward to Friday night, just one night after the conference began. My partner and I went out to eat with a group of new friends from our committee. DJ and Alex were among them. We got our food, sat down, and started to small talk about things other than pharmaceutical funding, patents, non-communicable diseases, and the like. At the table were American, Venezuelan, Dutch, German, and Peruvian students. Among the conversations bouncing around the table, my ears perked toward DJ’s. He in his, at times, fast-paced and inaudible English, was recalling his home life in Venezuela. DJ and Alex were from a Catholic school in Caracas.

What I didn’t know until that night was that they understand firsthand the political oppression and injustice that we were merely debating in our committees all over the Park Plaza hotel. DJ was—and still is—among passionate students in Venezuela that protest and riot in the streets against government and police officers. Alex, a big sister to DJ in many ways, saw his fighting and rioting as petty, in a more teasing manor. But the look in both their eyes that night suggested they were both on the same page: Venezuela was a home they loved but one they feared and felt ill-represented in. DJ divulged of being the spokesman in riot groups, instilling passion in the crowd of young people, crying out for democracy and for their voices to be heard by the government of Venezuela. While he preaches in the streets, tear gas and water canons deploy against them. He simply said, “You get used to it.”

There I was, staring into the face of a passionate, persecuted individual. For a moment I felt his pain, his frustration; but, there was something else I felt that I was confused by—his hope! Unbeknownst to me, there were other reasons students attended this Model United Nations conference. He and Alex came to prepare for the desperate fight against injustice awaiting them back home. My ungrateful, casual reasons for being at the conference paled in comparison to their reasons set in reality. DJ in particular spoke of his gratefulness in being able to attend this conference, and what it meant to him. By the time dinner had ended, he said when he became President of Venezuela he would remember me. But for now he has work to do, and Harvard National Model United Nations was an important instrument in this development. For DJ, it meant empowerment to be a voice for the voiceless in a nation that has severely reduced the capabilities of its citizens.

After Friday’s dinner with DJ and Alex, I began to see the conference in a new light. I was inspired. Justice was no longer limited to a theory based in rhetoric. It became real to me that I had sisters and brothers around the world, no matter their religion, ethnicity, or age, who believed in a mandatory fight against injustice. With this in mind, the education we receive and the justice we speak of should not to be taken for granted. Nor should we let guilt and our American guise prohibit us from just action. We have the great ability to voice our concerns in many different realms under the protection of our constitution—a privilege that many others, like DJ and Alex, simply do not have. At an international level, in our federal government, at the state and local level, within the church, within our families, or even across our campuses—where we see injustice, we must not remain silent.

Remember this: you are not alone, I am not alone, DJ and Alex are not alone, and in solidarity we can accomplish what this world has yet to see. The injustice you see on your campus towards fellow minority students is not too small a cause. The injustice you see in international human trafficking is not too large a cause. Fill in the blanks—we have a mission, and a recklessly compassionate God, who loves this world. John records Jesus in the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John, saying the following: “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” Through our actions against injustice, the world will believe. Through our rhetoric, division, and ignorance, they surely will not.

DJ had a peculiar way of positively responding to things [in English]. His word of choice was “happiness.” If a waiter brought him a drink, he would respond, “Thank you! Happiness!” Whether it was in greeting, or in saying goodbye, his response was always “Happiness!” So, as DJ would say, happiness friends, and remember the DJ’s and Alex’s in our world. Keep them and their causes in your prayers, and join them where you can.

-Kendall Trey Walsh is a junior at Gordon College majoring in sociology.
Photo courtesy of Kendall Trey Walsh