On one side, we are celebrating
India winning 6 Olympic medals
for the 1st time in history. On the same front page of the newspaper, is the horrifying
story of a woman (Pallavi
Purakayastha, Mumbai, August
10th), murdered inside
her own house because she resisted rape
by the watchman.
I'd taken advantage of the 3 day long weekend starting
with Janmashtami and was out of touch with all news. It was only this morning that I managed to read all the news of the past few days.
Yes, I am happy for Sushil Kumar and wholeheartedly agree that he would have won the gold had he not been physically
unwell. But after reading the story on the brutal
murder of Pallavi,
the joy in my heart at Sushil's
win has been snuffed out.
True, both are unrelated.
But is the loss of a life in its prime, not to be treated as a matter
of national importance?
What will happen
to this story?
The newspapers covered
it for a day or two; the watchman has confessed; a trial will commence and drag along for a few years.
There will no doubt be a lawyer
for the watchman
who will try and prove that Pallavi
was solely to blame; maybe she wore clothes which incited the watchman to "lust" for her. Or maybe not. Since the watchman is not the son of a politician
or is not an actor,
he may be handed over a lifetime
imprisonment sentence in a couple
of years. The end.
That is really the end? That is all we can do to a rapist?
I cannot
but think of Pallavi's parents;
what must they be going through now? When a child is conceived, when a mother
feels her child kick inside
her womb for the first time, when the child is born and the parents hold their child for the first time, and then the child slowly sits up...the first baby steps...the
first sentences … school .....
graduation ….. job .... and then…..?
Parents have to live through
this too? Attempted
rape and murder
of that child,
whose each moment
of life they rejoiced and celebrated?
No, this cannot be the answer.
Our country has to have an answer.
I do not care if this gruesome
act happens in other countries
too; we want a solution
here. In a country where majority of the population
worships Maa Durga in various
forms throughout the year.
There has to be fear in the mind of every person who even contemplates
this gruesome act. I am not suggesting
capital punishment, though
in this case, a public
hanging would be in order.
But an immediate
punishment is sorely
required. I would advocate
1) Surgical / chemical castration
2) Within
3 days of the act
3) No trial
Is anyone
listening?
I doubt.
It is only the immediate
family of the victim who are truly affected. I do not know if Pallavi had any siblings;
if not, the parents would most likely
be feeling why could they not have died in Pallavi’s place?
Or what had
they done to
deserve this fate?
What will it take for a law like this to come into force in our country?
The country came together and fought for Jessica Lall. Can the country come together and fight for the RIGHT to LIVE, of every woman in this country,
WITHOUT THE FEAR
OF RAPE?
Or is
it too much
to ask for?
Lalita
"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high.......
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake"
