16/12/12, Six men raped a girl in a moving school bus, being illicitly used for public transport. The ruthless foreplay with rod ended with post-coital blade-play. After which they threw her to die out of the moving bus with her wounded friend. Inhumane! Unmanly! I don't wanna grow circumstantial upon this. But I wanna talk upon the aftermath. The way media reacted, how people came forward, the way women broke their silence and how the things are now, in the Incredible India.
During the following days of the infamous incident, one could see whole of India coming out on roads. People were protesting the wrong deed, organizing candle marches and the outraged mob asking the Netas for reforming the laws. This wasn't one-case-crackup but a cumulative-anger-breakdown. India is a nation of political eunuchs. I feel no remorse saying this. When the victim was on ventilator and India, on fire; those politicians were resting in their lair, munching paan with their blooded teeth.
Recently, ‘Tehelka’ schemed a sting operation. An inspector of Noida was questioned, "Sir, ye rape kyun hote hai?" & to everyone's surprise (read shock) he answered, "dekhiye..ladkiya jo hai unko seemit kapdo mein rehna chahiye. Ladkiya jab kam libaas meib hoti hai toh aakarshan paida hota hai aur ye aakarshan aggressive ban kar kehta hai ki 'kar do bas'!" What can you expect from those charged with governance in a country where such 'tharki' Constables exist in the system?
Length of fabric on a girl's body is not a measure of her character. In fact it's never about lack of clothes, it's about lack of consequences. Castrate one convict and then just note the downbeat in the numbers of this contemptuous crime. The aged laws are inadequate and improper. Those gray laws need to be revamped, perhaps reformed or better reconstituted. The irony lies in the fact that the laws framed by highly educated personnel are to be passed by the houses of parliament which mostly shelters elected yet unlettered folks.
Now coming to media, media wants to cover the fury and make primetime shows. You think it’s news that you watch? News anchors sit around a round table with a bunch of seemingly associated spokespersons and scream on hyped issues that could be debated with far less emotions and infinitely more wisdom. Time passes, so does the buzz and then comes a new story, a new primetime and a new bunch of people. Damini’s chapter sooner got over for media, with the arrival of bigger and more exciting stuff. It’s all commercialized now. The issue that gets them more ratings tops the charts and becomes the so-called “breaking news”. The rest may be broadcasted in the headlines or who knows may be just pronounced in the trendy “24 ghante 24 reporter” and alike.
Of late Mumbai gang rape is in the headlines. There will be more candle marches I suppose. But is it anyway a solution? We just beat around the bush each time. And then when it’s show-time we run back home. We need a perfect permanent solution and not an echoing escape route. Remedial recourse available to us and those with powers includes constitutional amendments, drafting new stringent laws and making sure they pass through those houses and that they are indeed implemented well, without being influenced by the nexus of bureaucracy.