Let us not rest in peace
31 Dec 2012 10:55 PM GMT
The death of the 23-year-old girl who was gang raped in the capital is not simply the death of one rape victim. Her death is the final nail in the coffin of our country’s defunct political system, where rape incidents have acquired the ‘theek hai’ (it’s just another number) attitude.
While this particular incident drew the attention of the country, probably because of the brutality with which the girl was abused, or because it happened in posh south Delhi, there are hundreds of such incidences that go unreported in the hinterland. Even if they are reported, they don’t receive the kind of media and political attention that they deserve. The recent incident where a Patiala girl committed suicide after the police failed to act on her complain in itself speaks about the callous attitude of the administrators. Not only did the officials refuse to lodge her complaint, they further embarrassed the girl by the kind of scrutiny she was subjected to.
The present rape incident in the capital will hopefully see swift justice being provided to the family and the perpetrators getting maximum punishment by the state. Even after the victim has been cremated, protests against the incident and demands for justice and a safer society for women have not died down. Even after agitators return home, may the spirit of the movement continue till the objective is achieved. But the larger question that needs to be answered by the government is how to provide justice in the thousands of rape cases files on which are gathering dust in the various police stations of our country. It is not that there is an absence of laws in the country regarding crime against women, what is lacking is the will of the administrators to implement these laws. It is high time the leadership vacuum in the country is filled by citizens of the country and they lead the way, by ensuring that the government is forced to implement tougher laws for crime against women. This incident should also not remain a lone incident for the media to grab higher TRPs. It is time the media widens its horizon and gives due importance to these incidents from not only the big cities of the country but also the rural land, where the support of media is much more needed.
While this particular incident drew the attention of the country, probably because of the brutality with which the girl was abused, or because it happened in posh south Delhi, there are hundreds of such incidences that go unreported in the hinterland. Even if they are reported, they don’t receive the kind of media and political attention that they deserve. The recent incident where a Patiala girl committed suicide after the police failed to act on her complain in itself speaks about the callous attitude of the administrators. Not only did the officials refuse to lodge her complaint, they further embarrassed the girl by the kind of scrutiny she was subjected to.
The present rape incident in the capital will hopefully see swift justice being provided to the family and the perpetrators getting maximum punishment by the state. Even after the victim has been cremated, protests against the incident and demands for justice and a safer society for women have not died down. Even after agitators return home, may the spirit of the movement continue till the objective is achieved. But the larger question that needs to be answered by the government is how to provide justice in the thousands of rape cases files on which are gathering dust in the various police stations of our country. It is not that there is an absence of laws in the country regarding crime against women, what is lacking is the will of the administrators to implement these laws. It is high time the leadership vacuum in the country is filled by citizens of the country and they lead the way, by ensuring that the government is forced to implement tougher laws for crime against women. This incident should also not remain a lone incident for the media to grab higher TRPs. It is time the media widens its horizon and gives due importance to these incidents from not only the big cities of the country but also the rural land, where the support of media is much more needed.
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