Crisis Management - Ranjit Sinha

     Earlier this week CBI director Ranjit Sinha made a statement in regards to legalizing betting in sports that has outraged women across the country. He was sitting on a panel discussion on “Ethics and integrity in sports – need for a law and role of CBI” when he said, “If you cannot enforce the ban on betting, it is like saying if you can’t prevent rape, you enjoy it.”

   

  The National Commission for Women said, “Ranjit Sinha has made a controversial statement. We not only condemn it, but also protest against it. How can he make comparison with a heinous offence like rape when the rape laws are changing?” Many women are even demanding his resignation.

    

 On March 21, 2013, India passed a new law that stiffens punishments of sexual violence in the aftermath of the notorious gang rape last December that left a medical student dead. The law has made stalking and voyeurism punishable for the first time and has recognized insidious forms of sexual violence against women.

The CBI, which is similar to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States, was set up to fight corruption by government employees, but also investigates other important cases including murder, rape and terrorism. Brinda Karat, leader of the Communist Party of India, said, “It is sickening that a man who is in charge of several rape investigations should use such an analogy.”

  

   Sinha has since issued an official apology saying, “I regret any hurt caused as the same was inadvertent and unintended. I reiterate my deep sense of regard and respect for women and commitment to gender issues.”  After reading about crisis management and discussing it in class, is this apology enough or does the CBI need to do more to save their reputation.  Is there anything Sinha can do to save his own?

    

 From the reading, I would say that the attribution of responsibility is moderate since the stakeholders claim Sinha is operating in an inappropriate manner. Sinha used the diminish posture by denying intent to do harm and trying to excuse and justify his mistake.

     I believe the CBI and Sinha will need to do more than a half-hearted apology to regain the trust of the women in India.  Rape has been a major problem there for years. Government statistics earlier indicated that a woman is raped every 20 minutes in India, although the country’s conviction rate for rape crimes is one of the lowest in the world. The recent media attention has led to new laws, but the overall attitude towards women and rape needs to change in order to really fix things. Top officials need to be the leaders in this attitude shift.

Here is a link to a parody video that satirizes the idea that women are to blame for rape.  It has gone viral in India and received over half a million hits in three days. The video is by a comedy group called All India Bakchods: http://youtu.be/8hC0Ng_ajpY