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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

A Year On…

Editorial:-
The Delhi gang-rape of ‘Nirbhaya’ around this time last year had left the entire nation shocked and disturbed. The incident had triggered a spontaneous protest on the streets of Delhi and expressions of support from across the country as the repressed anger of a large section of the nation’s population spilled over and expressed itself with staggering forthrightness. The anger among the protestors was genuine and the establishment’s response to the situation, both the rape and the protests, was typically nonchalant and ignorant initially. The gang-rape, disturbing and heinous as it was, provided the trigger to unleash pent-up frustrations of the people. The insecurity that Delhi as a society leaves women living there with and the disinterest with which those responsible to keep citizens safe deliver on their responsibilities, manifested in the near anarchic string of protests there this time last year. One will recall that the protests continued even after all the accused were behind bars and the victim [who unfortunately passed away later], was receiving the best medical attention possible. That was clearly because as much as the protest was about that one incident of a brutal gangrape, it was also against the society’s general ambivalence when it comes to violence against women – physical, mental and through denial of opportunities – which allows such perversions as the Delhi Shame which has the entire nation in a roil. What the thousands who stared down water cannons on the streets of Delhi wanted was not just justice for ‘Nirbhaya’, but an assurance that public spaces will be made safer for women and the law & order personnel and infrastructure so sensitized that they not only bring perpetrators of violence against women to book, but also, through quicker response and better policing, prevent such crimes from transpiring. Effective punishment for violence against women should already have been in place and by now, the State machinery should have earned the trust of the people when it comes to ensuring justice for victims. Because the State has failed on both counts, the people are left with no recourse but to take to the streets so often.
The establishment lumbers towards reforms and will hopefully come up eventually with a plan which will not only reduce the number of rapes in the country [25,000 reported to the police in 2011], but also improve the conviction rate beyond the present dismal statistic of 24%. But even as the administration and the policy makers begin prioritizing women’s issues, the women found new resolve in the wake of the Nirbhaya shocker. It goes without saying that they are now expressing their protests and disdains with more determination and less unencumbered by the inhibitions which held many of them back. Rape incidents used to occasionally bring women to the streets in solidarity earlier, but over the past year, one has noticed many more expressions of individual and organizational protests. Women in India no longer appear inclined to ignore what would have earlier been considered ‘minor’ transgressions. And when it comes to more serious offences, the clamour is even louder. And that has been one of the positive course corrections that the Nirbhaya incident triggered in the country.

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