Getting Over It
"She was brave, had no fear and was full of life. She studied day and night. We would not even know when she slept and woke up.
"I remember asking her once, 'Who are your friends?' She replied, 'Dad, it's only my books I am friends with.' She always wanted to be a doctor and was sure about it."
Father, Delhi gang rape victim
The 23-year-old medical student did not come from a privileged background. She made sacrifices and dedicated herself to her vision of obtaining a higher education and a degree in medicine. In the end, five men decided to 'teach her a lesson'. In India, one of the world's most misogynistic societies along with Pakistan and Afghanistan, women who display themselves in public, who attend university are considered by the underclass to be loose women, devoid of morals.
When she boarded a private bus late at night in the company of her male companion, she was an instant victim. The men on the bus were intent on hatefully avenging themselves on a woman, someone whose trajectory in life was out of synchronization with the role that patriarchal society traditionally felt women should take; subdued, modest, at the behest of males, completely dependent, oppressed.
They used a rusted iron rod to further punish her after gang-raping her for an hour, by inserting it into her body and destroying her organs. They had stripped her and her boyfriend, thrust them from the moving bus and attempted to run over her body. Her boyfriend pulled her to safety, but her injuries were too atrociously severe for her to survive despite surgeries
Six state legislators in India face rape prosecutions. Two national parliamentarians face charges of crimes against women just short of rape. In the past five years parties across India nominated 260 candidates who were awaiting trial on charges of crimes against women. Six candidates ran for national parliamentary elections with such charges pending against them.
"We need to decriminalize politics and surely a serious effort has to be made to stop people who have serious charges of sexual assault against them from contesting elections", political analyst Zoya Hasan ventured. Thousands of Indian women silently marched holding up placards demanding "Respect" and "Justice".
Hard to conceive of either in a society where rape is second nature from bus drivers to 17-year-old accomplices, to aspirants to political office, knowing that the commission of rape will not necessarily be a barrier to achieving their goals.
India is a land of social conservatism and religious and social taboos. Women represent objects of reproduction to be used and often abused. Women and girls are unsafe; molestation is endemic in society. Young girls are commonly raped by family members and they are not encouraged to complain; they are urged to get over it.
Labels: Crime, Crisis Politics, India, Security, Sexism, Social Failures
posted by Pieface @ Friday, January 04, 2013
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