Killed after Death

 

The summer of 2018 was hot, my morning tea was hotter and my newspaper read the hottest headline “8 year old raped in North India”. For some reason, this did not distract me as RAPE had become a common ritual in world’s largest democracy by now. Soon after the news broke out, I also saw the nation rising against this act. Like one day cricket matches, we Indians have now become expert at discussing such topics for one day and forget it until it happens again.

As my day advanced, I witnessed the same issue being discussed out in public, at my office and social media was full of likes, dislikes, comments and shares. Radio stations were running campaigns, NGOs were setting up social awareness programmes and journalists might also have been too busy in cooking the news scrolls so that they can update the world with the latest progress in the case. Facebook, Youtube and Twitter chose the usual #hash-tagging ceremony to get viral while Whatsapp chose to paint this situation as black or purple profiles. In no time, the citizens of the country chose to hit the streets with protests, banners and slogans. Celebrities and politicians ensured that they do not lose this golden attention seeking occasion to shed glycerine drops and media promoted them by showing their mockery on television. Thankful to the little girl, until this day, a large part of this crowd didn’t know if a village named Kathua existed in Indian valley. As the sun set, the highly qualified and the most literate segment of the society, who could not take up the streets during the day due to the scorching heat and skin tanning issues, appeared across the city. Dressed up in white and holding candles, they observed two minute silence and planned their next day commitments, salary appraisals and their personal priorities. The only ones who aided by this drama were the candle vendors.

The Indian press tried its best to script entire story with subtitles. Produced by news channels and directed by news readers, this short film named Asifa was trending. Was it for the victim or her family? Was it for the Government to wake up? Was it even for the rapists to remind them the happenings of the horrific act? Or was it to gain maximum TRP for their channels!! The news hour debate appeared to be like a pack of wild dogs barking over an issue as big an as elephant. The media tried all hacks to bring this crime to “light” by circulating the photographs of the victim so that it could be shared by morons via social media. Imagine a situation if our mothers, sisters, daughters, wives or friends were to face such a fate, will we be comfortable in sharing their photographs out to the world? May be we are so shameless that we don’t care to protect the fundamental right of a dead body against indecent exposure to public.

We get traumatized when we think about hopping into Mumbai local trains during peak hours, waking up in New Delhi at 5am and having bath in month of December, holding our breath while on a visit to fishermen’s colony at Kochi or even if Ambani’s Jio enters a buffering mode post 1.5GB data. Now imagine a kid abducted, drugged, sedated and raped for over 72 hours. She still survived to get her head smashed by stone and when all attempts to stop her heartbeat failed, she was suffocated to death. All these administered by 8 human faced devil who had no mercy on seeing bleeding vagina and tattered uterus of an 8 year old who did not even know the meaning of rape. As kids we all have heard the story of a wolf that disguised as a sheep and killed the shepherded. As grownups we saw the same story in reality. This issue was uproar in the Indian Parliament when the unabashed Indian Politicians, renowned to challenge colour changing chameleons and to even test the patience of lie detectors took this act as their national game, the blame game. The Saffron blamed Green and the Green passed it back to Saffron. Unfortunately, the little girl draped in White was at the heavens doorstep by then.

Ours is a country that can demonetize its currency notes in blink of an eye. It is also a country where its citizens are more concerned about bombings in Syria and shootings in Florida. If a celebrity drowns in a pool, we are more curious to discuss the probability of murder for weeks. Our law sends the high profile citizens behind the bars only to have a look at the prison and walk out free the next day. Our citizens can be flattered just by a wink and the one who winked becomes a national obsession for weeks. When it comes to safety of women, we are experts at becoming statues. India is a country where the answer to all the atrocities is a "two minute silence". This silence somewhere convinces us to believe that we support the victims. This is the same silence that gives strength to those nuts of the society who openly indulge in such coldblooded acts and walk free. I won’t be surprised if this news fades away after a couple of days. The hash-tags will disappear, the profile pictures will be changed and like the candles, the human spirit will also be burned out. We as responsible citizens must bear in mind that every act of publicity that we do on social media also affects the rape survivors mentally. As I was concluding my thoughts, I realized that my sister did not reach home from work. Just then, the doorbell rang. “Where were you?”, my concern spoke. “Why do you always shout when I am late?”, her anger replied. I smiled as she walked away.

 

Will justice be served? Even if it does, this act has paralyzed a family for rest of their lives.

Will the accused be punished? Certainly yes, only to fool us.

Was she the first Asifa Bano? No.

Was she the last Asifa Bano? Unfortunately No!!

The name, age and the circumstances of victims may change. Sadly, our approach to such cases will remain the same until RAPE is defined by law as

R Rapid

A Action to

P Prevent (unhealthy)

E Erection