Forty
minutes…forty minutes is all that it took to absolutely crush a young girl’s
dreams and aspirations, forty minutes to violate her so mercilessly that five
days on, she continues to battle for her life. Forty minutes that brutally
rubbed out and rewrote her fate because the Gods on earth had decided otherwise.
The Delhi
gang rape case has created a stir in the public like none other. Spontaneous protests,
candle light vigils, protest marches, tear gas, water cannons, lathi charge- in
the past five days, the city has seen it all. The protestors, young students,
have braved it all. And what are they demanding? Not reservations, not jobs,
not money… they just want justice for the 23 year old victim. Despite all their
efforts the question remains unanswered, how will the six ruthless men be
punished? Will they be sent to the death row? Will they spend the rest of their
lives enjoying meals on the State’s expense? Or will they, like most other
cases, be left free to plunder our girls?
The girl on
the other hand faces an undeniably bleak future. In a series of surgeries, the
doctors removed her gangrenous intestines. Her WBC count has fallen to 1500
which makes her more prone to infections. The normal WBC count is 4,000 to 11,000
cells per cubic millimeter and such low counts are often an early indicator of
sepsis. Sepsis is a
potentially deadly medical condition characterized by a whole-body inflammatory
state caused by severe infection. The next 4 days are extremely critical for
her survival.
Even if she
does come back from the clutches of death…she has a not-so-normal life waiting
for her. Till now she has responded very bravely, asking if her violators have
been caught… but once the reality dawns on her… her optimism might waiver. I have
not seen much in my life, but from what I have, she will be alone that
juncture. Each day will become an unending series of misery and set-backs for
her. Rare are the women who can take so much and still laugh. I pray she is one
of them.
The outburst
of the public anger has really stunned me. And the home minister’s statement
left me asking for more. Isn’t it the most general, most standard statement the
government makes? Did it contain even a shred of solid action being taken? The secretary
who wrote it obviously had no authority to make radical public announcements. It
was what we hear every time the people take to the roads. The same old promises.
My question:
Who can take the necessary action? The people have no leader, the opposition is
mum and those in power are just making appeals to the people to go home. For that
matter why focus on just this case? The same day, other girls were also raped
in the city. And many more probably were in the country. Is rape, without this
kind of torture associated, not a heinous crime? Is it okay for a single man to
rape a woman if he doesn’t push up an iron rod inside her? Is it okay if he
doesn’t pull-off her finger nails? NO.
Living in
the capital city of India, I have come to consider vulgar comments by men as
just part of my life. Rude stares are just normal. Having to deal with uncles
in DTC buses, who insist on rubbing every part of their body on ours’ is fairly
usual. But Rape is something which cannot and should not be passed off as
something less than an assault on the victim’s psyche. It is one of those
crimes which leave the victim maimed for life- emotionally and physically. It is
not a gun-shot wound which heals with time. It is a pain so intense, an emotion
so stabbing that it kills the girl over and over again, a million times.
In the past
five days, I have devised punishments which I think will serve these men right.
But they are too drastic to be spoken of in a democracy, too cruel for the
government to handle and of course, not legalized by the Constitution. It seems
to me that the only act legal is Rape.
P.S. Maybe
we should really gift our defenders, protectors and politicians, bangles for Christmas.
At least their soft music will shame them day and night, because I am honestly
ashamed of being Indian. Just ASHAMED.
