BEYOND SHAME !

Its once again reiterated that women in India are one of the unluckiest in the world. I wish we could call it national shame. But hell, its way beyond that. If I called it shock and a state of utter disbelief, I would be mincing words. Waking up to news of a 12 yr old being raped in the capital is hardly music to the ears. The fact that the crime was committed by a cop, our supposed guardians makes it even more intestine curling.

Having lived in India for the past 6 yrs, Ive always been fiercely proud of almost everything my country achieves a name for. It's always pleasant to hear great stuff about one's country. 'A future superpower', 'One of the fastest growing economies in the world', 'T20 champions' and almost everything else we as a country are known for in recent times. But there are a lot of things I fail to understand. A lot of things that I would love to question, seek answers for and maybe even fight against. As an NRI, there have been times in the past where inspite of loving my country so dearly, I've wondered if its really worth living here. Will I ever be able to support certain kind of ideologies that exist here?? I'm having serious doubts. Even after 61 yrs of independence, some things just dont seem to be changing.

What is the reason for such horrid crimes being committed in India with such alarming regularity?? I dont really want to discuss all atrocities committed against women. We could publish separate books on dowry deaths, female infanticide, child marriage et al. Not that we dont already have books on these topics. Delhi and rape unfortunately go hand in hand. Its definitely not the first time that such an incident has happened. Foreigners have faced their worst nightmares here. Not like the locals are better off. Can we just conclude by saying that all Delhi men are plain desperate?? Or should we tag along with what the moral brigade keeps saying. Quotes like " women should dress moderately to protect themselves" are well known. I mean, we are talking about a 12 yr old girl........How badly could she have dressed?????? I wish I was born ignorant. I would have easily bought these arguments and couldnt have cared less. Sadly I'm not.

Is it a lack of strict rules that lead to such mindless crimes being committed in our country. I'm not really very sure. I was part of a state wise college debate on whether rapists should be given the death sentence or not. We supported the motion and even managed to win the debate but it somehow how got stuck in the murky corridors of the parliament. When this topic was floored in the parliament the fortunate clowns in white who got elected due to us ignorant ones were (not very surprisingly) unable to reach a conclusion. Neither did they find a solution. Which is precisely why we wake up to news of a rape being committed day in and day out. I dont see any reason why the cop should be languishing behind bars while the victim has an entire life ahead of her still. I've faced arguments wherein they say hanging him wouldnt actually help her in anyway. From where I see, probably tomorrow we could deter a potential rapist by declaring capital punishment for the offence. He doesnt deserve to live. Not in my eyes. Period.

Statistically, this is the 150th rape being committed in Delhi. We as Indians try to bring out positives from everything. Comparisons with the US cant be left far behind. They say a rape is committed in the US every 12 mins. We're better off after all right??? At this rate we'll catch up soon just like the school gun culture is catching up. Visuals of the Delhi CM and the city police commissioner refusing comments were not encouraging either. Information coming in says that the moral brigade has asked the IPL cheerleaders to cover up. Just when I was beginning to wonder where they had disappeared??? I mean targetting a Khushboo or a MF Hussain or beating up North Indian labourers are far better ways of serving the country than reaching out to an 'isolated' case of rape. The Scarlett Keeling case was obviously beyond our control because she had a careless mom and was already into drugs which obviously gives an Indian national the right to rape her. Bitti Mohanty raped a German national, jumped parole and is still untraceable. Basically, we are just plain insensitive as a society at large. You can add helpless if you please. We'll all wake up tomorrow, forget this incident and get stunned as and when the next rape hits headlines.

Few people find it amusing that a playboy chose to write on a topic like rape. Well, I have a mother and a sister. And coming to think of it maybe that's what the damned cop dint have. Or maybe he would have done the same to them too. With all due respect 'sir', hope you burn in hell.