Deepti Theresa
An year has passed since the horrific gang rape in Delhi on the 16th of Dec 2012. I am not going to talk much about what happened or about rape cases in our country because enough is known about her, how much she suffered, how weak our legal system is and how good our people are at making senseless comments.
I would actually talk about ‘us’, the common man and citizens of our country. What has been the reaction of ‘us’ towards this incident.
On 16th Dec 2012, a 23 year old physiotherapy intern was gang raped by 6 men in Delhi when she was returning home after watching a film with her male friend. Her friend was hit by an iron rod and fell unconscious and then she was brutally gang raped by the 6 of them. Both of them were thrown naked on the open streets of Delhi. During December, when the temperatures are close to 14 degree Celsius, both of them were thrown out without a single piece of clothing over them. Here comes the question of Humanity! Where was it when people just crossed by and looked the other way, instead of helping them.
India is country where people give a lot of importance to religion. Every religion teaches about humanity, and people donate lakhs and sometime even crores towards charity in the name of religion. When there is so much that they can do towards mankind then what difference does it make to help a person directly when they are in need.
On that cold winter night, autos, bikes and cars did stop, stare at them and went away. They didn’t even bother to give a piece of cloth to cover them while they were shivering. For over an hour they lay there naked in that biting cold. PCR vans reach after half an hour and then the police spent around two hours deciding under whose jurisdiction the case should be registered. The victim was badly injured and bleeding and nobody even bothered to send them to the hospital. Some 20 people were just standing and watching but didn’t come forward to help the victim and her friend or offer them a bed sheet to cover them. Perhaps they were afraid that a helping hand would make them witnesses. Truly, people have become so selfish that they are least bothered about lives of others. Even in this condition Nirbhaya’s friend who was had a broken leg and injured hands lifted her shattered body and put it in the PCR van.
Two and a half hours was already wasted and then instead of taking to the nearest hospital they were taken to a Government Hospital far away, wasting precious time. Our country is still not prepared to handle emergency situations. In such a critical situation, do such things even matter? Whose Jurisdiction? What case? Which hospital to take? … are these more important than the life of an individual? Our country seriously needs to improve on the emergency mechanisms. Apart from the laws being made stringent, certain special provisions must be allowed so that the victim is given immediate help.
The days after the incident were followed by protests all over the country. While one section of society comprising of activists, women’s groups, parents, youth, angry public raised their voices for justice to the victim and punishment to the criminals, the other section of society sat in comfortable chairs discussing the blame game as to whose mistake it was. For many others it wasn’t of much concern as it didn’t happen in their families or it was a common thing for them. And for those who still blame the girl for the incident, the answer is that the girl wasn’t out during the late night hours, nor was she dressed inappropriately. She did beg to leave her and she wasn’t alone but with a male friend. So there is no point blaming the victim for the way she dresses or what time of the day she is out, she should have begged and weather she had a male companion. When there is no value for a person nothing can stop the culprit from putting his thoughts into action. The problem lies with the thinking and when there isn’t any respect in the thoughts itself, the culprit would never judge his actions to be right or wrong.
Even with the pain and trauma, she didn’t lose hope and wanted to get well and was ready to face the society. Her last words were “Hang them burn them alive”. Her will power was strong enough but her body gave up and she breathed her last on the 29th of December 2012. Let us hope that her last wishes be considered and the culprits be given the maximum punishment applicable.
It’s true that this incident could have happened to anyone and it is still happening in many places. Many of them don’t get reported because there isn’t anyone who would highlight the issue as it happens in the cities. But as citizen’s of our country let us take an initiative to be more vigilant and also more human. Let us not be selfish to worry only about our problems because this is a question of making the country a safer place for everyone. Let us work towards a society which is safe for women and let us hope that the Government would make better laws securing the interest of the victim and strictest punishment to the accused.
With due respect to all those women and girls who have gone through this pain and who deserve to lead a life with complete dignity.
