A young
girl of 23 years old was gang raped and brutalized in a moving bus in the
capital of the country we today label, very proudly, as the upcoming superpower
and with much gusto tell each other and others how we are finally leaving
behind the ‘developing’ and the ‘third world country’ tags.
Are we?
A country
where there is no fear of law, there is no purview of our own perversions,
where victims are punished instead of the perpetrators of crime – are we a
developed or even a developing country? In fact can we even be called a
society?
I don’t think
so.
As a woman,
as a human, as an identity I don’t think so.
The woman
who is fighting for her life in Safdurjung Hospital today has sustained
injuries the doctors don’t even want to share, injuries which they have just
described as horrific even by what all they see, that woman was not out alone.
She was with a male companion and yet…
Which makes
me rethink all the guidelines the good people of this society we ‘live’ in mete
out to woman for their own safety or so they magnanimously declare –
A. Don’t go out alone at night, or day
time for that matter.
B. Don’t wear revealing clothes.
C. Don’t take public transport when
alone.
D. Don’t use private transport when
alone late at night.
E. Don’t stand up for yourself when
treated with perversion as it may escalate the anger of the perverts.
F. Don’t get angry.
G. Etc etc etc
I have a
suggestion…lets add “Don’t live” in the list and solve the problem for once and
for all.
Because that’s
what we are suggesting through all these amazing helpful words.
Today I
would like to ask why are the victims being asked to keep a check on their
INNOCENT actions?! Why are they being treated with iron gloves?! Why are they
being asked to change their INNOCENT ways because it may INVITE the wrath of
the sick assholes this society cant do shit about?!
Why shouldn’t
the guidelines be for men? Why shouldn’t they be asked to stay at home? Why shouldn’t
they be asked to clean their thoughts? Why shouldn’t they be asked to discard
public transport? Why shouldn’t they be made to vacate roads at night? Why shouldn’t
they be asked to feel ashamed when they do perverted actions and use perverted
words?
The day we
are able to answer this question, the day we are able to punish the criminals instead
of the victims, maybe then we can call ourselves humans.
The day the
“intellectuals”, the “beacons of hopes and leadership”, "the fighters for 'equality'", of this country decide to
ask and entertain these questions, maybe we will actually have a light of hope
because right now they are too busy either monitoring girls and their behavior (the
good old restriction on timings of girls hostel for their own safety of course
while the boys who hamper this safety can participate in the night life of this
city for all its worth as there wont be any breasts or vaginas to tempt them)
or being “politically correct” (“Arrey isko isliye pakda aur usko nahin kyonki
yeh toh iss jaat ka hai aur woh uss jaat ka!” or “He is getting punished
because he is poor! What about those rich perpetrators of such heinous crimes
who live in mansions?!”).
For ONCE, think as humans and not as statues of screwed up righteousness and skewed morality. Just once. Or just add “Girls shouldn’t exist” to the good list you give us and put an end to the charade.
A disturbed
21 year old girl who cannot travel from her University to her house alone
without being extremely aware of the fact that she is alone.
