It’s a shame when the one institution you relay on the most fails you and that too at a time when you’re hurting or going through the biggest trauma of your life. That is what Nairbhaya’s parents must be going through after the mind numbing verdict by the High Court of India, the second biggest institution of justice in the country (after the Supreme Court). In a shocking turn of events, which did shake the entire nation, the juvenile or rather the main accused in the Nirbhaya Rape case is set to be freed in a day or so and to add insult to injury, the government will help reinstate him by opening him a tailoring shop. I understand that as per the law a juvenile if found guilty would be sent to serve time for three years in a correction or remand home and once that period is over, he’ll be set free. Along with that I also understand and respect the fact that law is for everyone irrespective of their age, color, cast or even sex, but what I don’t understand is that why is the government trying to help reinstate a person guilty of such a heinous crime; why can’t he be awarded the maximum punishment and why is the law making things so hard for not only the girl’s parents and many people who have daughters? So if I’ve got it correctly, in the world’s so called BIGGEST democracy, a boy (Juvenile to be precise) can without fear go on a raping spree, get arrested, spend some time in a correction home and then not only does he get to walk free, but the government helps settle him…. I too like a lot of Indians in and outside of India am unable to come to terms with this fact and don’t know whether to laugh at a system that screams out STUPIDITY or to hang my head in shame when asked by non-Indians/foreigners what does justice or law mean to the one nation that cried out aloud when it was under the British rule or when anything like the terror attacks rocked it’s very foundation.
Have we become so insensitive that the tears of a mother or the pained look on a father’s face no longer moves us. I would if I could ask this one simple question to the panel of judges, Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath, who gave this verdict; if a juvenile is not young enough to thrust himself forcefully into a girl, have the rest of his friends do the same till she no longer has the strength to fight them back, after which takes pleasure in shoving an iron rod into her vagina and pulling her intestines out before throwing her from a moving bus (naked) in the bitter Delhi cold to die; what makes the “Law Makers” believe that he is too young to be punished and when I say punished, I actually mean a Capital Punishment. If it were for most of the women of the country, he would have his “Man Things” cut off and an iron rod shoved into him to make him go through the pain that he inflicted upon a young innocent girl who happened to board that horrible bus on that fateful night. My hands shake and tears won’t stop flowing out as I continue to write helplessly since I know that once again the law has let the faith of a common man down and how my country is about to be shamed by international media. No amount of candle light vigils at the India Gate will be able to wipe the constant flow of tears of a mother who once cradled her little girl in the hopes of seeing her as a successful professional or ease the heart ache of a father who must’ve promised her a safe world but was unable to keep it and instead had to host her funeral when he should have been hosting her wedding.
One thing is for sure, my faith in the Indian Judiciary has definitely been shaken and even though I don’t live in India, I have started worrying about my family back there. It is sad but it is the truth, a truth we all need to face that in a country where Goddesses are worshipped, where every year twice, millions keep fast in the hopes of pleasing the nine Goddesses; women are treated worse than second class citizens. No respect is given to them, they are beaten if they resist the demands of men, acid attacks are not uncommon and well so are rapes. To top it all up, the convicts are released after they “successfully” serve their time in jail, or correction homes and the government helps “rehabilitate” them. So while we are all on the same page, I would want to ask the people running the country, would the same verdict have been given if it were the daughter of a high profile person like the Chief Justice of India or maybe higher say, Priyanaka Gandhi? The answer to this is very clear; NO. In fact by now all the convicts would have been awarded Capital Punishment and a Law would have been brought to act: Capital Punishment if found guilty of rape!
Before I end, I too like any other Indian living in a foreign land and still in love with my motherland, would want to appeal to the highest and the most powerful institution/person. So, Mr. Prime Minister Honorable Narendra Modi and Mr. President Honorable Pranab Mukherjee please do ensure that the juvenile is convicted and maximum punishment is rewarded to him so that the parents of Nirbhaya get a closure and people’s trust in the justice system is reinforced. Only then will the daughters of India be safe, only then will people stop killing daughters before their birth and only then will there be no other Nirbhaya.
sonalbawa 