I know. I know. Some of you might frown and say “not another article on this, no not again!” however I shall say that now is the perfect time to write about this.
Tell me. The Delhi Braveheart died. From being a successful future doctor, in ten days her world ended. Its over for her. The game has ended. And what about her rapists? Oh they shall rot in some jail of the country for a decade or more enjoying all three meals a day, the correct number of hours outdoors for their health (for its crucial to maintain good standards in a good prison) while their court case goes on and on..and on. For god knows how many years.
A sweet little five year old left home to play hopscotch and ended up with a candle in her vagina. Can any one of us even fathom how inexplicably horrifying that is? She lay, wounded, in a pool of her own blood, for two whole days without food or water while the great Indian police tried paying a bribe of … (drum-roll) … Rs.2000 to her father to drop it. I buy boots for Rs.2000. We have a sunday trip to the mall at Rs.2000. Weekly groceries, and vegetables (thanks to inflation) cost Rs.2000. And the police valued her life, the grotesque agony and violence done to her at Rs.2000.
What about the man (and I understand there was a companion too) who left her to her own slow death and fled? What about the man who came as a tenant to that residential complex one week before kidnapping her? (I wouldn’t put it beyond him to have taken his time studying her movements, to have carefully plotted. These are psychopaths, yes they are)
What about him?
I am sorry. I don’t know. Because my national news-provider has found better things to keep me updated about. Ministers getting sacked. Some celebrity spending quality time with his daughter. Bla bla blah.
Because as a country, shamelessly, we have moved on.
Do you see that several other cases that surfaced didn’t even create such an outcry? Do you see that several cases aren’t surfacing at all? Because the very people who are supposed to protect us are hardly bothered. (A woman cop, whose name shall remain undisclosed, refused to lodge an FIR and told the victim that her face didn’t “look” like she had been raped.)
Because people who are in power are more interested in pointing the finger at the girl for dressing wrong. For not doing this or doing that. And NOT at the man. Not at the guy who couldn’t keep himself in check. They need to target an attitude change among men. But hell, how would that happen when we grow up listening to great bollywood numbers like ‘Munni badnaam hui, darling tere liye’ or ‘choli ke piche kya hai’?
I read on facebook: Even if I am walking nude on the street, you have no business to even touch me. You have no right to objectify me. You can’t rape me.
I don’t think we lack laws. I don’t think we lack awareness. Every man knows its wrong to rape. He wouldn’t want it happening to his sister or his wife. But when he sees a vulnerable girl in the bus?
How do the big-shots of this country, who are responsible for running it on our behalf but have unfortunately failed badly on this front and have even suggested that a girl get married at 16 to prevent rapes, expect me to walk fearlessly with my head held high when I know I could have been that Amanat. Because I go out to watch movies too! I mean, who doesn’t!
I feel hopeless and helpless. As a girl in this country, I do.
And pray will someone tell me what to do about it?
Tell me. The Delhi Braveheart died. From being a successful future doctor, in ten days her world ended. Its over for her. The game has ended. And what about her rapists? Oh they shall rot in some jail of the country for a decade or more enjoying all three meals a day, the correct number of hours outdoors for their health (for its crucial to maintain good standards in a good prison) while their court case goes on and on..and on. For god knows how many years.
A sweet little five year old left home to play hopscotch and ended up with a candle in her vagina. Can any one of us even fathom how inexplicably horrifying that is? She lay, wounded, in a pool of her own blood, for two whole days without food or water while the great Indian police tried paying a bribe of … (drum-roll) … Rs.2000 to her father to drop it. I buy boots for Rs.2000. We have a sunday trip to the mall at Rs.2000. Weekly groceries, and vegetables (thanks to inflation) cost Rs.2000. And the police valued her life, the grotesque agony and violence done to her at Rs.2000.
What about the man (and I understand there was a companion too) who left her to her own slow death and fled? What about the man who came as a tenant to that residential complex one week before kidnapping her? (I wouldn’t put it beyond him to have taken his time studying her movements, to have carefully plotted. These are psychopaths, yes they are)
What about him?
I am sorry. I don’t know. Because my national news-provider has found better things to keep me updated about. Ministers getting sacked. Some celebrity spending quality time with his daughter. Bla bla blah.
Because as a country, shamelessly, we have moved on.
Do you see that several other cases that surfaced didn’t even create such an outcry? Do you see that several cases aren’t surfacing at all? Because the very people who are supposed to protect us are hardly bothered. (A woman cop, whose name shall remain undisclosed, refused to lodge an FIR and told the victim that her face didn’t “look” like she had been raped.)
Because people who are in power are more interested in pointing the finger at the girl for dressing wrong. For not doing this or doing that. And NOT at the man. Not at the guy who couldn’t keep himself in check. They need to target an attitude change among men. But hell, how would that happen when we grow up listening to great bollywood numbers like ‘Munni badnaam hui, darling tere liye’ or ‘choli ke piche kya hai’?
I read on facebook: Even if I am walking nude on the street, you have no business to even touch me. You have no right to objectify me. You can’t rape me.
I don’t think we lack laws. I don’t think we lack awareness. Every man knows its wrong to rape. He wouldn’t want it happening to his sister or his wife. But when he sees a vulnerable girl in the bus?
How do the big-shots of this country, who are responsible for running it on our behalf but have unfortunately failed badly on this front and have even suggested that a girl get married at 16 to prevent rapes, expect me to walk fearlessly with my head held high when I know I could have been that Amanat. Because I go out to watch movies too! I mean, who doesn’t!
I feel hopeless and helpless. As a girl in this country, I do.
And pray will someone tell me what to do about it?
4 Comments:
The sheer thought that somebody else is responsible for anyone's protection makes one weak. The world out is not an ideal world. No governance or any set of laws can guarantee of a rape proof, theft proof society.
You are the one responsible for yourself.So,instead of feeling hopeless and helpless,Train hard & Kick ass.
As a possible suggestion, making martial arts a compulsory course in elementary school can really set the right tone.
True!
One must do what they can to ensure their safety. But what can be done at an individual level is limited.
There is a need for strategies over and above this. I can have pepper spray or learn martial arts. But that is not tackling the core problem: women are getting objectified and treated without respect. Men cannot entertain vile violent thoughts. The problem is about tackling this callous mentality among men.
Its true that now a days we have forgotten the virtue of empathy. Today no one really discusses or talks about "The Delhi Gangrape". We have very short memories our mind easily got engaged in IPL matches, Modimania, scams, and load of other stuffs some trivial and some not so trivial. We as Indians are very tolerant and I can't say whether its a virtue or not.
I have seen your blog its very nice, well design and very informatics
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