By Bhagyashree Deshmankar
Delhi Gang Rape.
Delhi Gang Rape.
Talks all around...
Criminals should be punished; hanged till death!
Then I see people having their facebook profile pictures as a black spot to support the rape victim...
Wear black tomorrow to show sympathy...
Debates in parliament...
Discussions on news channels...
Reporters interviewing girls - Do you feel safe?
I don’t understand how to respond.
Should I mourn seeing all this?
Not that I don't have sympathy for the victim! I being a girl, feel even more tormented and agitated on learning about the incident. Imagining all the atrocities she suffered in those moments and just thinking about the future consequences of all this on her life, sends shiver down my spine.
But, all sympathies would vanish in seven days, profile pictures would turn to beautiful new ones in a week, news channels will get a new story to cover and politicians will have a new issue to shout on! But things will never become normal for the victim. Those memories will be etched in her memory until her last breath and would scare her to death, haunt her every single day and night. So, we really need to ask ourselves, is this seven-day-show going to change the scenario?
Its not just that one girl, who has suffered from this evil. Innumerable girls face varied degrees of harassment each day.
Some of those cases are brought to the notice of police. But still many go unreported due to the fear of denigration.
Few culprits get punished. Still many lay unscathed and rather enjoy their life after destroying one!
So what can we do?
Just blame the police?
or
Blame alcohol?
or
...wait for some other such incident to happen so that we can again get back to protests and candle marches??
Unfortunately, the situation is not going to change with protests. Be it a week long, or even for a month! Changes are always happen gradually. But the effort needs to be continuous. And changes sustain only if the evil is axed out from its roots.
Police would promise to do their job efficiently the next time...
Courts would promise some strict action...
But just think -
- if the parents of those cons would have taught them that girls and boys are equal, there is no superiority and no inferiority, that your manliness lies in treating ladies with respect and not in the mentality that girls are a weaker section of society?
- if a friend of a convict would have stopped him the very first time he talked something evil about a female?
- if for a small road side teasing, they would have been punished hugely so as to build a terror in them, that if they misbehave, they are going to suffer badly?
The scene could have been different...This all could have been avoided!No one becomes evil in a single day. Neither can alcohol turn a man into a monster, with just four-five glasses down. Only the accumulated evil over long years, results in what happened on that Sunday night.
So, the first time you hear about your son misbehaving, just hold his ears and show him the right path!
The first time you hear your brother talking bad about some girl, tell him, Bhaiya this girl could have been me.
When your friends talk vulgar, don’t wait for their mothers to educate them. Just slap them there and ask them to respect girls.
Make road side romeos see police stations before they gain enough courage to pull your stole.
and
lastly,
When you see a victim suffer, don’t just let her fight alone!
Step forward to help her fight the injustice. It is your moral duty!
It is really difficult to punish the brutality, the sunday night saw because no punishment would be sufficient enough as opposed to the horrid brutalities suffered by the victim. Severe punishment of castration or penectomy or death penalty is every one's cry. But these wounds will leave unforgettable scars on the victim's life forever.
The thing I know is – Many such future scars can be prevented. The only requirement is a change, in you and in me. Bring that change now! Don't just wait to join another such protest. Try to prevent one.
May the victim be blessed with all the strength.
And the criminals suffer pain with each breath.
Amen!
About the writer : I am Bhagyashree Deshmankar, an MBBS student from Indore.
