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Since when are rape and murder considered good sanskaar? And why is something like caste a factor in releasing criminals from jail in a democratic nation like India?
TW: This deals with rape and violence against women and may be triggering for survivors.
Imagine having to flee home uprooting your family and to seek shelter elsewhere only because you don’t feel safe at home anymore.
Imagine being attacked and hated for no fault of yours, but just for belonging to a particular community.
Imagine your fellow brethren and family including children brutally killed.
Imagine being gangraped brutally admist this chaos and having your three year old child killed before you.
Feels like hell has descended upon earth?
That was what Bilkis Bano had to go through, and after a long CBI probe, the eagerly awaited justice finally came. 11 of her rapists were convicted of rape and murder and served with a life sentence. She was awarded a compensation, but would anything being offered reduce her trauma?
On August 15, 2022 as India celebrated its 75th Independence Day, hailed our female freedom fighters and our PM called for women empowerment, these 11 rapists were freed from Godhra sub jail.
The Gujarat Additional chief secretary was quoted saying that the remission was considered due to the completion of 14 years and factors such as age, behaviour in prison, nature of crime and so on. Nature of crime? What’s more heinous than rape and murder?
Not only were these criminals released from jail, but they were also given a welcome with garlands and sweets similar to that of a celebrated veteran.
Has it truly not occurred to them, the implications of this remission on Bilkis Bano and her family or on every other women out there?
While the country was still reeling from the shock of this remission, a ruling party MLA who also constituted the remission review panel justifies his stance by saying some of those convicts are “Brahmins with good sanskaar.”
Since when are rape and murder considered good sanskaar? And why is something like caste a factor in releasing criminals from jail in a democratic nation like India? In these 75 years have we truly even moved forward?
Dr. BR Ambedkar is often quoted saying that “Caste is a state of mind” and has our mindset worsened over the course of years? Are we even privileged enough to ask these questions?
I’m scared to be a girl in this country, scared for my sisters, mothers, friends, scared for every vulnerable person in this society, scared for Bilkis Bano and the horrors she might have to face due to this remission.
When we speak of the bright future, all I can see is a bleak one where people of privilege get their way, others are given get out jail free cards solely based on their castes, and the rest of us mortals are subjected to oppression.
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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