In shocking news, an 11-year-old girl with a hearing disorder was allegedly gang raped by at least 22 men in Chennai for over 7 months.
I shall take care of alllll the points of view we are going to hear. So let’s start the blame game, shall we?
The young girl, 11 year old, what was she wearing? Why didn’t she tell someone much earlier? Why did she go with these men, why did she accept the soft drinks? Didn’t she understand what’s happening? Does she pray daily? Wait, did she call them bhaiya (brother) or papa (dad) even once? Also, isn’t she hearing impaired which through some ungodly reason impairs her judgment also? Tch tch tch
The rapists, 22 of them! People we trust with our building security, with our pipeline connection or with the general maintenance in our houses, going in and out of our lifts, while admiring the freshly cut grass, mostly our everyday lives! So basically anybody around us can be a rapist. We are safe nowhere. And to inflict such a torment on anybody let alone a small girl! Such monsters! They continued it for months, had no mercy and who knows about remorse! And videotaping the act to blackmail the child! This technology has ruined everything…
What about the surrounding people? Were they ignorant? Or worse, were they insensitive? Did they know about it and not report? Did they not realize what’s happening under their noses? Tch tch tch, nobody will look out for us in times of danger it seems. And they beat them up after the case is in the court? What is this mob behavior? Will the public take justice in it’s own hands each time? Tch Tch Tch…
And this system! The law, the enforcers & the justice! All put to shame. Another case about to be dragged on for months (Here’s hoping this does not happen, but oh well). And do expect the decision of the lawyer community to not represent the case of the perpetrators in court to bring forth whole another discussion on justice and fair representation. And in the coming months (read: years) of dragging of this case with numerous marches, protests and work of NGO’s, once again we’ll forget the point-that there is no point.
All our rage combined all our effort and sensitivity taken together and all our nightmares talked of, nothing will change till we begin from the starting. Till we attack the very foundation of this ugly building of crime, our rage will burn for few minutes every day while opening the newspaper with the morning chai but eventually it will die down. Till we understand how tangled the case is but how simple the problem is, all our discomfort will persist every time we walk outside, but eventually it will be named paranoia. So what now?
Primary education and educators, caregivers and birth giving gods, law making and law enforcing institutions have to once again come together like they did thousands of years ago, treat each other like strangers and form new, uncorrupted and tender bonds to begin again. Yes, begin again. Begin the world with utmost purity and sense of morality, begin again with fear and acceptance, and begin again in the middle of all this diversity so indifference can never exist. Begin again so all people, all genders and all life is like god, because nobody really knows what god looks like. Maybe the next time, we don’t let things get this bad.
P.S. – It was most tormenting to look for pictures to go with this blog.
