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One more Nirbhaya Day comes along on 16th December, 6 years since Jyoti Singh a.k.a Nirbhaya was brutally gangraped. Has anything changed for the women of India?
Amidst all the crimes and atrocities humanity had witnessed, one could not disagree on including the night of December 16, 2012, in the prime list of this sinful history. A young, aspiring physiotherapist traveling with her friend was brutally assaulted in a moving bus, in the capital city of our country, by a group of men who not only gang-raped her, but inserted a rusted iron rod inside her private parts to the extent that her intestines were pulled out.
“A knife cut is enough for a tear to escape, they pulled her intestines out with an iron rod.”
The incident rocked the entire nation. The media dedicated significant airtime, a number of candle walks by the citizens and in a rare instance, law machinery functioned.
The term ‘Nirbhaya’ meaning fearless was coined for the name of the victim. One of the accused hanged himself in prison, another juvenile was given imprisonment in a reform facility, and the remaining four culprits were sentenced by hanging to death. As per the general understanding, it could be concluded that Nirbhaya was served justice. Her soul could rest in peace. Following the judgment, it wasn’t wrong to expect that a certain level of fear might have been induced in the minds of offenders.
“Was the justice served? Did the havoc of lust subside? Did the soul of Nirbhaya rest in peace?”
On the contrary, the instances of rapes, acid attacks, and assaults exploded in various cities. The gang rape of a mother and daughter on the National Highway, the Uber rape case, Kathua rape case, assaults on newborns; the count of atrocities got lost in the flood of such cases.
The safety of women became a tool for politicians and was played well to put the blame on each other, with attitudes of ‘she deserved it’..
“We kept on blaming, judiciary, police, doctors and even religion. And yet the souls of Nirbhayas’ wept along, when every time a new sister joined them.”
Where have we gone wrong? Why did a landmark judgment and overall awareness fail to stop the horrors spread by the predators? Rape is a global epidemic but of all the nations, supposedly, we were ‘expected’ to guide rest of the world with the light of wisdom. A country of Goddess Lakshmi, Parvati, Saraswati, a land which is itself called Bharat ‘Mata’, a birthplace of four major religions, with sacred rivers flowing through our land identified with feminine identity, where the lap of ‘Maa’ is considered as equivalent to God; yet we have utterly failed to respect and protect her form.
“She has to give her body again for the preparation of samples even in the condition where she can die. We call that the law?” – ENDURER A Rape Story
It is a shame, despicable. If we want a future, we need to clean it up. It takes years to rebuild a system but we can always start at an individual level. No matter how many fast-track courts are set up or laws are enforced, unless we learn to unconditionally support the victims and expel the perpetrators from the society, nothing is going to improve. The age-old taboos which have plagued our society irrespective of class and demography should be given away. The only philosophy which should prevail is that no one has the reason to disrespect the physical limits of a being without their consent.
“If the size of the skirt is your reason for Rape, try leaving your beloved in full clothes with a Rapist.”
On this Nirbhaya Day, I take a pledge to be part of the revolution. I would always support and be there for the survivors of sexual assault. Would you join hands with me?
A version of this was first published here.
Image source: Flickr
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Women today don’t want to be in a partnership that complicates their lives further. They need an equal partner with whom they can figure out life as a team, playing by each other’s strengths.
We all are familiar with that one annoying aunty who is more interested in our marital status than in the dessert counter at a wedding. But these aunties have somehow become obsolete now. Now they are replaced by men we have in our lives. Friends, family, and even work colleagues. It’s the men who are worried about why we are not saying yes to one among their clans. What is wrong with us? Aren’t we scared of dying alone? Like them?
A recent interaction with a guy friend of mine turned sour when he lectured me about how I would regret not getting married at the right time. He lectured that every event in our lives needs to be completed within a certain timeframe set by society else we are doomed. I wasn’t angry. I was just disappointed to realize that annoying aunties are rapidly doubling in our society. And they don’t just appear at weddings or family functions anymore. They are everywhere. They are the real pandemic.
Let’s examine this a little closer.
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