A flame or a flicker?
It’s strange to see the response a gang rape in Delhi has elicited worldwide. Suddenly, Indians everywhere are raising their voices against a heinous crime that has been a part of the country’s dark side since ages.
As publications across the globe are busy unearthing facts and figures of rape cases in the land of culture and putting every iota of India’s image to shame, I can’t help but wonder what the fuss is about?
This isn’t the first rape case in India or the world for that matter, the victim isn’t the first girl to have suffered such a brutal death... there have been worse examples of inhumanity and torture to the assumingly weaker gender. Then why has this particular incident become such a big issue in India and abroad? Just because it happened in public?
If the 23-year-old girl wasn’t thrown out of a running bus, straight on the roads, this would have probably been yet another case buried among the countless others that have had a cruel, but silent, death, just like their victims.
But learning from the past, the Delhi gang rape is just another storm that’s causing all the ripples till it passes and the next one comes by.
It’s annoying as much as it’s sad to see the vicious cycle of dramatisation of events, completely diluting the seriousness of an incident, yet again. Whether it’s the sea of stories revolving around the police harassment towards the protestors or the joke of a court case with the five accused – the latest being that they have defence lawyers, who are now being quoted everyday on how “innocent” their clients are.
The media, especially in India, excels in touching upon the sentimental side of the public through such stories. We, Indians, are a touchy lot after all. So where on one hand, there have been inspiring tales of protestors being brave hearts in continuing their revolution despite police resistance, on the other, there have been continuous tributes to the victim, now named as “nirbhaya” (fearless), “amaanat” (cherished) and so on by the countrymen. Actor Amitabh Bachchan wrote some beautifully heartbreaking words in memory of the victim too.
But amidst all the emotional manipulation, we are once again overlooking the root cause of the problem. When will this stop and what are we doing to stop a similar incident like this from happening again? It’s not enough that the accused of this particular case are hanged.
The need of the hour is to awaken our blind (pun intended) justice system and take concrete measures in controlling the psychopathic nature of criminals like these. As I write, CNN reports of another gang rape of a woman in Punjab by seven men on a bus.
And it will go on till we stop talking and start acting.
It’s strange to see the response a gang rape in Delhi has elicited worldwide. Suddenly, Indians everywhere are raising their voices against a heinous crime that has been a part of the country’s dark side since ages.
As publications across the globe are busy unearthing facts and figures of rape...
It’s strange to see the response a gang rape in Delhi has elicited worldwide. Suddenly, Indians everywhere are raising their voices against a heinous crime that has been a part of the country’s dark side since ages.
As publications across the globe are busy unearthing facts and figures of rape cases in the land of culture and putting every iota of India’s image to shame, I can’t help but wonder what the fuss is about?
This isn’t the first rape case in India or the world for that matter, the victim isn’t the first girl to have suffered such a brutal death... there have been worse examples of inhumanity and torture to the assumingly weaker gender. Then why has this particular incident become such a big issue in India and abroad? Just because it happened in public?
If the 23-year-old girl wasn’t thrown out of a running bus, straight on the roads, this would have probably been yet another case buried among the countless others that have had a cruel, but silent, death, just like their victims.
But learning from the past, the Delhi gang rape is just another storm that’s causing all the ripples till it passes and the next one comes by.
It’s annoying as much as it’s sad to see the vicious cycle of dramatisation of events, completely diluting the seriousness of an incident, yet again. Whether it’s the sea of stories revolving around the police harassment towards the protestors or the joke of a court case with the five accused – the latest being that they have defence lawyers, who are now being quoted everyday on how “innocent” their clients are.
The media, especially in India, excels in touching upon the sentimental side of the public through such stories. We, Indians, are a touchy lot after all. So where on one hand, there have been inspiring tales of protestors being brave hearts in continuing their revolution despite police resistance, on the other, there have been continuous tributes to the victim, now named as “nirbhaya” (fearless), “amaanat” (cherished) and so on by the countrymen. Actor Amitabh Bachchan wrote some beautifully heartbreaking words in memory of the victim too.
But amidst all the emotional manipulation, we are once again overlooking the root cause of the problem. When will this stop and what are we doing to stop a similar incident like this from happening again? It’s not enough that the accused of this particular case are hanged.
The need of the hour is to awaken our blind (pun intended) justice system and take concrete measures in controlling the psychopathic nature of criminals like these. As I write, CNN reports of another gang rape of a woman in Punjab by seven men on a bus.
And it will go on till we stop talking and start acting.
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