The Anniversary

December 16, 2012
Does this date reminds you of something? I’m sure it does. There’s not a single soul in this country who can afford to forget that brutal and fateful night. It was this very date, a year before when a young girl was mauled by six beasts and was left to die on the streets of Delhi.
This incident shook the whole nation deeply. The outburst of the citizens was sudden and huge and triggered something totally unprecedented. Thousands of people came out on the streets to protest, which went on for days and paralysed the capital. All this jolted the judicial system and forced a rethink. And the fact that things have changed a lot in the last year cannot be denied. The law has been amended to change the definition of rape and the provision for punishment has been made extremely stringent. A tough new law now holds the cops directly accountable, with refusal to lodge a case inviting a two-year jail sentence. This in turn has led to the reporting and registration of more and more cases. All these are very welcome steps but I ask is that all? Is that all we need to do to ensure the safety of women in the largest democracy of the world?

I don’t think so. Making a law in itself is not enough; it is its implementation that matters. The rape cases have seen a jump of 125% and Molestation cases are up by 417%. Now tell me, has anything changed? There’s still a lot that needs to be done. Women are still being ogled at, they are still seen as objects in this male dominated society, they are still being raped and still being molested. More fast-track courts are needed to deal swiftly with sex crimes; the police force needs to become more vigilant and empathetic towards complaints from women victims. A lot needs to be done for the care and rehabilitation of rape victims to help them combat the social stigma that they have to face in most of the cases. The trauma of a rape victim doesn’t end with the crime, they need counselling to move on in life. These are some of the steps which still need to be put into force to ensure a positive change. And most of all it is the predominant patriarchal mindset of the society that needs to be changed.
On this first anniversary of the heinous crime that took place that December night, let us all pledge to do our bit to bring about a change, a revolution and ensure that no other Nirbhaya or Damini will have to go through something like this, ever again.

Modus Operandi

A verdict of Ahmedabad court and a statement by BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi followed by it made a buzz in recent political scenario. Mr. Modi published a blog post invites vocal uproars. It was after 11 years became vocal prior to the victims. These eleven years in sot a short time, and 2002 massacre is not dissolved into history. for the last eleven years it was alive and it got new dimensions when BJP announced Modi as their Prime Ministerial Candidate for 2014 elections. Recently Mr Modi has been acquitted by Ahmedabad court from the charges of a massacre held in Gujarat during 2002.

Prima facie Modi was suspected in this case. But the investigating agencies were ‘failed’ to produce evidences against him in court. It might be legally correct. But there is a larger implication of Social correctness. Many former bureaucrats and high level official who worked under Modi like Sanjiv Bhatt and Sharma are still vocal bout Modi’s involvement in the riot. According to Sanjiv Bhatt, ‘the SIT has done as much harm to this country’s ethos as those lying politicians and those blood-thirsty mobs which ran riot in those dark days. What misfortune that we had to expect anything half-way good to emerge out of their investigations. It’s a grave, dastardly fraud perpetuated upon us by the same inhuman system that failed to deliver justice during the ’84 riots, the 92-93 riots and the terrible Bhopal Gas tragedy!’

A mere confession like statement is not at all a closure to the issue until the justice delivered. Though I am not a linguistic, the tongue that Modi used in his statement is not appropriate for a confession which suppose to address the survivors and nation. Literately the statement did not serve anything to justice. But it reflects an eye towards Delhi. By this strategy BJP can pull a minority in Muslim community into chaos and can make them not to vote against him. But it will not happen in a larger level.

There can be no closure to 2002 without Justice and Reparation; and there can be no Justice and Reparation without Truth and Genuine Remorse.