I am a Girl. I am at Fault. And so is every other girl…
India is known as an incredible tourist destination and words aren’t enough to define the diversity of this country. Diverse, we are and different as well. We are different when it comes to decision making. Vegetarians decide what meat non-vegetarians should eat, bachelors decide the number of kids women should conceive, people define rules for homosexuals, actors comment on medical ethics while modern-day doctors comment on Ayurveda, politicians decide what should be released on Fridays, clerics, and pujaris debate on how much science is okay for schools, middle-aged men facing mid-life crisis decide how long a teenage girl’s skirt should measure while our authorities are concerned with what AIB (All India Bakchod) are saying and are least bothered about people who are suffering from poverty and unemployment. To top it all, they make the most audacious comments and leave no stone unturned when it comes to offending a girl’s morality. Yes, I am talking about Nirbhaya’s rape case, one of the most controversial cases of our time.
THE SUMMARY OF NIRBHAYA CASE:
This case has not only given a voice to the victims of rape but also to the rights of a girl. Jyoti Singh (revered by the mass as Nirbhaya), a 23-year-old Delhi girl, was brutally raped and beaten while traveling in a private bus with a male friend. There were six others in the bus, including the driver, all of whom raped the woman and beat her friend. She was not only raped but was brutally beaten, an iron rod was insanely penetrated into her vagina and the rapist even took out her entrails. The woman died from her injuries thirteen days later while undergoing emergency treatment in Singapore.
The accused were arrested. One among them, Ram Singh, died in police custody in Tihar Jail. Delhi court gave the verdict “capital punishment” for the rest of the accused. BBC came up with a documentary titled “India’s Daughter” based on the case. The filmmaker interviewed one of the rapists in the jail and the news soon spread like a forest fire. As a result, as expected, the Indian government banned its broadcast in India. However, the BBC went on to share the transmission in the UK. The film was also uploaded on Youtube and soon went viral with various shares on almost all social media. The Indian government did not waste any time in directing YouTube to block the video in India
Yes, the BBC spoke up. The voice was suppressed in India. We know the reason—every girl here is at fault irrespective of who or what they are.
Fault 1: As per our society, it’s way too late for a girl to go out of the house after dark because it is not a ‘BharatiyaNari’ thing.
Fault 2: Girl going out with a guy. A girl can be friends with another girl but it is a matter of shame for a girl to be friends with a guy.
Fault 3: Girls are meant for taking care of household work. A girl enjoying her life on her own terms is a big “NO!” as per Indian society. Of course, every Indian girl is born to learn household work and to practice it and also to birth and nourish children. But still, their aspirations are limited to the norms of society.
Fault 4: Girl struggling to rescue herself while being raped is of course her fault. It is her fault to instigate the rapist by demonstrating her strength, making him feel less of a man.
Fault 5: Considering herself as a modern and independent individual is of course her fault because a girl is “like a flower and she needs thorns to protect her”. She should not talk to any other guy except her father, brother, or grandfather. So the girl is judged based on her circle of friends.
Which century are we living in? Does our law say that girls should not go out of the house after 8 o’clock? Or, is it a curfew declared only to girls for safety? I completely agree with Sir. Javed Akhtar’s words when he says that the BBC documentary shows many Indians have the same thinking as that of the rapist.
Well, who gets to decide the limit of a woman’s dream other than herself.
PS: The time I started working for this article my family members asked me not to publish it because I could end up getting arrested. I am going ahead and need all of you to speak up as well. We are entitled to the right to free speech. If we do not do so, we are allowing the bigots of society to speak their minds, which should be rightly banned.
Note: This is an article by Betsy T from Campazine, currently featured on Simple Insights.
