Saturday, December 29, 2012

The battle that never ends

Okay everyone! I now join thousands of people across the internet who have poured out their anger and grief over the brutal,inhuman gangrape of the 23-year-old girl from Delhi which sent shockwaves across the nation.

At the outset,I would pray for the girl's soul,and hope she has moved on to a better place.A brave,spirited daughter.Why brave? Because instead of screaming "Ma,mujhe marr jaane do! Meri zindagi barbaad ho gayee hai! (Oh mother let me die! My life is finished!)"  like the rape victims in movies and tele-serials,she whispered "I want to live".And live she does,in the heart of millions who have been closely watching the case and been praying for her.

If the previous cases of rape and molestation(such as that of the Guwahati girl) had a stricter and swifter punishment,this girl would've been alive today, because then the men wouldn't have dared to do those horrid things they did to her.But they did.

And why? Because they thought they can get away with it.Even if the girl weren't beaten up like this,and she struggled to lodge an FIR,they may just say that they were "provoked",and the Court may have "observed" that the victim was wrong by taking the wrong bus at the wrong time,and her character would've come into question.

This is the glaring truth of India.A girl is raped and the policemen ask her the details of the act.In fact,policemen act like part-time priests when they suggest the victim marry her rapist.Why? So that he and his friends will continue to rape her,but this time,she won't lodge a complaint against her own husband.Because,according to the police and the Court,marital rape doesn't exist(In fact,they don't know the meaning of the term marital rape).

Rape is hardly ever a sexual act.Its an act of a physically strong but mentally weak guy, showing how superior he is on a woman who is not able to fight back (that explains the rape of 8-year-olds to 40-year-olds).How else can you explain 6 guys forcing themselves on a woman just to "teach her a lesson" because she fought back? Or have you wondered how a man can rape a small girl of around 7 years of age (or less)?They're sick,scared and inferiority-complex-suffering people who display their misplaced sense of masculinity.

So you see? Women and their clothes don't really instigate men to rape.Then what about the street harassment that women face everyday? That happens the same even if we wear mini-skirts or saree or salwar.

The point is,in this male dominated society of our country,women have been blamed and shamed into silence.This of course makes the younger (and impressionable) minds to think that whatever they do,"sab chalta hai" (all is fair).

NOT,if the government enforces a strict law against rapists and sexual offenders.That would make the men realise that women are human beings with feelings,who feel bad when some men obscenely comment about her butt,without even caring to lower their voices;who think any woman waiting for a bus at night wants to be laid for money;who judge a woman not by the work she does but the clothes she wears.

But what would make the government to take this step when the people who constitute the governing body think a woman would like to be raped just to get compensation from the government?And also when one minister insults another Chief Minister's character openly without thinking twice?That means,the problem lies with the attitude of people in general.

Its about time that parents teach their sons about respect and consent.But the rot runs too deep to be cleaned in a generation or two.Till then,we don't know how many such 23-year-olds will get raped and killed,how many 18-year-olds will commit suicide,and how many 8-year-olds will go on battling for justice.

Till then,we keep up the fight.And hope the sacrifice of this 23-year-old--a sacrifice she made so that the people of our great country stop turning a blind eye to something as drastic as rape--doesn't go in vain.

P.S:
Yes,I am feeling helpless.But what can I do? Is anyone listening?