Friday, February 8, 2013

Nirbhaya - The loud muted voice






Pic: Where the scavengers have to stay - behind bars.


The perpetrators of the unspeakable crime committed in Delhi not just scavenged but expunged an innocent life purely for their sickening carnal pleasure and now they plead not guilty?

One of them is tried in a juvenile court. Exactly what part of the atrocious act committed by this person juvenile? It is said that it was his idea to use the rusty metal rod to ‘destroy’ evidence. Now we want to try him in a juvenile court because he is few months shy of turning 18?

Our Government is hard on hoi polloi with mounting taxes and reduced benefits but they want to go soft on the offenders of the worst kind? India says that it applies the death penalty on the ‘rarest of rare’ cases. What does that mean? That RAPE in India NOT RARE enough so NO DEATH PENALTY?

I respect the fact that our government is not one of those namesake democracies that hands out death sentence easily but there are some crimes that is not tolerated, SHOULD not be tolerated in any society. Delhi case is one such incidence. In order to dissuade someone from committing such a heinous crime the verdict given to the culprits has to be severe.

Is that enough? No it is not. Ours is a patriarchal society – we have politicians making headlines with their sexist remarks, Godman accusing the victim (survivor) for the actions of drunk men, khaps making their own laws calling for a stricter dress code and banning of mobile phones for women. I don’t know if it is just me or is it beginning to sound largely like a medieval society that has its foot steeped in customs and beliefs that has no relevance whatsoever in the world we now live in. So what must we do? Stop Patriarchy and the best step towards it will be to treat the women in your family with respect and extend it to every woman you come across. Is it really that simple you ask? Yes. If we are capable of this change in our mindset, we will make international headlines that we could be proud of and not actually cringe with shame.

Government sure heard the outcry of the tens of thousands of people that took to the streets demanding justice resulting in longer sentences that ‘could’ be extended to life without parole. Hope the implementation of the same will not be a farce.

Nirbhaya set off a motion so big that could possibly save a lot of lives but she did it by losing hers. Let us never forget that.