[dropcap]W[/dropcap]e feel fortunate that we are living in 21st century, but in many regions of India, girl child is still treated as in 12th century. We are yet living in a male chauvinist country. There is practice of aborting female foetus. Anyhow, if she comes to this country alive then evil waits for her to grow and get raped, molested and murdered. We all reacted in horror after a video emerged showing a 22-year-old school teacher being stabbed to death on a busy street in Delhi. As the man kicks and stabs the woman in the shocking footage, several passers-by run away, with two people meekly attempting to intervene. The woman, named by police as Karuna, had apparently rejected marriage proposals from the attacker, Surender Singh (34). He said, he had been in love with the woman for more than a year.
Police said, he began to stalk her – and threatened to kill her – when she turned down his multiple marriage proposals. In the footage, Singh walks up to Karuna and stabs her. He then attacks her for several seconds, stabbing her at least 20 times as several people walk past – some scurrying away when they see what is happening. Two men do appear to approach Singh, but back off quickly, apparently after seeing the knife. Karuna had reportedly gone to police few months ago, to complaint about the Singh’s harassment and repeatedly calling her on the phone. Both Karuna and Singh were brought to the police station and advised to “compromise”. The fact that no-one intervened has caused outrage on social media in India.
According to me, here the real culprit is ‘our legal system’. This beast’s lawyers will find out some ways to grant him bail and he won’t lose anything for killing the woman except attending court hearings once or twice a year. For hearings too, he can get exemptions if he is influential. This is what is happening in all rape and molestation cases. We all lack sensitivity towards such incidences.
Here, I have examples from last year incidences which occurred in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, where women cannot afford to live with dignity. The father of one of the two girls, who were gang-raped and killed in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun district, lashed out at the government’s offer of compensation. He needs justice instead of compensation, his daughters have gone through brutality and paying for their dignity is not enough. Rapist needs to be taught a lesson. Unless and until they are not awarded stringent punishment, such incidences will not stop. His 15-year-old daughter and her 14-year-old cousin had gone missing from their home after they stepped out to relieve themselves. They could have been saved if police had acted promptly. Law and order in these states has become a big joke. They were abducted by some men from the village. Their bodies were found hanging from a tree in an orchard the next day. After too much pressure from media, police arrested five accused in the gang-rape case. All five accused who had been identified are now under arrest. Two are yet to be identified. We have fast track courts in India for namesake but speedy trials is yet another challenge. Two policemen are among the five arrested accused. They have been arrested for not acting soon enough on the complaint filed by the girls’ family. Police will also probe their alleged role in the horrific act. Even after so much of chaos, Akhilesh Yadav made just a controversial statement. Only one leader, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, visited Badaun to meet the family members of the two girls. He later told media personnel, “The family has said compensation is not enough, they need justice.” There after so many brutal cases of rape and murder occurred in UP, Delhi and Haryana.
Though it is not women’s day, nor is it gender discrimination or superiority but, just giving a high-five to all the girl friends and re-telling them the events happening in our country with a pinch of womanhood in them. Delhi’s Nirbhaya gangrape victim is yet to get justice, rape cases are on the rise but none of the case is solved or culprits ever punished. Many political leaders escaped giving reasons for why rape happens but no one understood its girl’s life and her dignity is at risk and here verbal talks are not enough. With great faith, people elected Modi and BJP government to power, but nothing has changed so far.
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