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The many shocking incidents that have emerged in recent times, are testimony both to the way rape is used as a tool, and to the apathy of ordinary citizens like us.
Unnao
Kathua
Sri Reddy
The list seems to be unending
This particular picture haunts me.
How a father who died pleading for justice for his wronged daughter, comforted his child who was brutalized beyond belief and finally finds peace in the Lord’s abode.
How can one not be moved by this tragedy? Cocooned as we are in the comforts of our sterilized isolated zones!
Here there is no religion, no faith, except absolute disbelief at the degenerate levels to which a human can fall. The sheer brazenness of it all!
Those innocent eyes of an eight-year-old seem to wonder, ‘how does one go back to serving God, after committing a crime which even a devil would be frightened to be a part of’
As a mother of a young girl, I am shaken.
Sometimes I talk about my churning to the seasoned and wizened. They utter so matter of factly, “Well, these things have been happening since time immemorial! The breathless, restless 24/7 media, report these incidents ad-nausea. They too need some material to fill up air-time!”
Really? Are these heinous crimes just mere incidents, waiting to be reduced, to be read finally on scrolling ticker tapes? Are we all in sleep mode, trying to make sense of our own moribund existence?
Sri Reddy is an aspiring Telugu actress, who has stripped publicly to garner attention to her plight. Casting Couch, the eternal miasma afflicting the movie world! Some of the scathing criticism has surprisingly come from her fellow female-co-stars. Apparently, ‘Support Sisters’ is a diminishing trait. There is no #MeToo happening in Tollywood.
All three shocking incidents have two threads in common where rape has been used as a murderous weapon, for subjugation, for submission and to prove a bloody point. They also have the abject apathy of citizens in common.
Yes, life is tough, but terrible times call for like-minded people coming together.
At least to acknowledge that this isn’t kosher!
Who knows who is next?
Anupama Jain is the author of 'When Padma Bani Paula', a breezy novel about second
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