Delhi went to sleep on the 16th of December
expecting to wake up to a winter morning that would send a few chills down
their spine. Little did they know that what they’d wake up to, would literally,
send their blood freezing.
A 23 year old girl and her male friend boarded a bus late at night in Saket, south Delhi, at around 9:30 PM after watching a movie. An hour and a half later, the girl and her companion were found on the street, the girl semi naked and unconscious. What happened in between is something so graphically disturbing, that giving the entire incident a thorough read actually made me nauseous. But the facts are there for everyone to see, 5 men raped a girl with such unspeakable brutality that it left her with extreme injuries to the abdomen, genitals and the brain (caused by an L shaped blunt iron rod), and then threw her off a moving bus.
Over the next few days, as people feverishly prayed and kept tabs on the condition of the girl (alias Damini/Nirbhaya), calls for radical laws and measures for safety of women and protection against rapes grew louder. Eventually, on a relatively cold winter morning of the 22nd of December, tempers reached boiling point. An enraged nation poured out into the streets to demanding that the government take violent action against the perpetrators of the ghastly crime. The government took violent action alright, but against the voices which echoed the sentiments of the entire country.
After all, that’s what the government has done in the past hasn’t it? A certain terrorist named Kasab mercilessly slaughtered people with an AK-56 assault rifle, and yet he was given protection in India’s most heavily guarded prison until “righteous” justice could be sought. What the government doesn’t realize is that when it offers a hand to these immoral and deluded lunatics, it only gives others like them more impetus for a chance to survive after they commit a heinous crime. For a crime which is so openly appalling and repulsive, it is imperative that the wrongdoers get it back in equal, if not more. What we need is a measure of fear, a system that is as ruthless as these criminals themselves. We only have to look around for what such a system can do... and what the lack of one brings.
For example, the punishment for rape in Saudi Arabia and Yemen is execution in public view. Iran, Iraq, and Nigeria on the other hand, punish rapists by publicly stoning them. Egypt and Yemen employ the use of firing squads. Although they seem cold at first, the results are there to be seen. Egypt’s rape rate per 100,000 population is a meager 0.1(2008). Yemen’s statistic stands at 0.8(2009).
A 23 year old girl and her male friend boarded a bus late at night in Saket, south Delhi, at around 9:30 PM after watching a movie. An hour and a half later, the girl and her companion were found on the street, the girl semi naked and unconscious. What happened in between is something so graphically disturbing, that giving the entire incident a thorough read actually made me nauseous. But the facts are there for everyone to see, 5 men raped a girl with such unspeakable brutality that it left her with extreme injuries to the abdomen, genitals and the brain (caused by an L shaped blunt iron rod), and then threw her off a moving bus.
Over the next few days, as people feverishly prayed and kept tabs on the condition of the girl (alias Damini/Nirbhaya), calls for radical laws and measures for safety of women and protection against rapes grew louder. Eventually, on a relatively cold winter morning of the 22nd of December, tempers reached boiling point. An enraged nation poured out into the streets to demanding that the government take violent action against the perpetrators of the ghastly crime. The government took violent action alright, but against the voices which echoed the sentiments of the entire country.
After all, that’s what the government has done in the past hasn’t it? A certain terrorist named Kasab mercilessly slaughtered people with an AK-56 assault rifle, and yet he was given protection in India’s most heavily guarded prison until “righteous” justice could be sought. What the government doesn’t realize is that when it offers a hand to these immoral and deluded lunatics, it only gives others like them more impetus for a chance to survive after they commit a heinous crime. For a crime which is so openly appalling and repulsive, it is imperative that the wrongdoers get it back in equal, if not more. What we need is a measure of fear, a system that is as ruthless as these criminals themselves. We only have to look around for what such a system can do... and what the lack of one brings.
For example, the punishment for rape in Saudi Arabia and Yemen is execution in public view. Iran, Iraq, and Nigeria on the other hand, punish rapists by publicly stoning them. Egypt and Yemen employ the use of firing squads. Although they seem cold at first, the results are there to be seen. Egypt’s rape rate per 100,000 population is a meager 0.1(2008). Yemen’s statistic stands at 0.8(2009).
And then, there’s us. India stands third in the overall rape cases reported with an astounding 22,172 official cases reported, next to South Africa and the United States of America. Do note that a majority of cases go unreported, out of fear, shame or poor investigative work, the best example being Karnataka, where only 4 people were convicted of rapes in 2011 (in a state which has seen an average of 500 rapes a year since 2006).
And that’s not all. According to official police reports, a
rape is reported every 18 hours in Delhi (average), while Karnataka reports 2
rapes a day. Yet, we stick to a relatively dormant and rigidly systematic way
of responding, often leading to a lot of staggering crimes going unpunished.
It’s high time we adapt to the fact that a little militia justice just might do
the trick, because the longer we stay quiet, the more we learn to accept living
in the midst of such pathetic crimes. The statistics need to change for the
better, and fast. Before a few other innocent Nirbhayas go through living hell.
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