Delhi rape case : Judgement Day Friday the 13th, 2013
- Sangai Express Editorial :: September 13, 2013 -

Found guilty of rape and murder. The country now waits. Waits for the quantum of punishment.

Death penalty or life imprisonment. The final story of Nirbhaya is yet to be scripted.

The atrocity of the crime is well documented. Gang raped inside a moving bus, with foreign objects inserted inside her vagina causing immense internal damages, and then thrown off the moving bus, naked, the young para-medic passed away at a Singapore Hospital after days of battling for her life last year in December.

In between she had the time to narrate her ordeals to her near and dear ones. What followed later, before and after she passed away, is there for all to see and remember.

Perhaps, it was for the first time that the country took a united stand and poured out their angst and frustration against a system which has always seemed to portray rape victims as the ‘villain’.

A point amply demonstrated by the insensitive remarks that have come forth from the mouth of supposedly responsible people, the politicians and police officials.

Even as the country awaits the sentence or quantum of punishment for the four rapists and murderers, the question that continues to dog the conscience of every sensible people is, whether India or the Indian male has moved forward or not.

The answer would most probably lie nearer to a big NO.

In between the trial and verdict of the Court, the country witnessed numerous other gang rape cases, Manipur included, a sure indicator that despite the strong protests and the demand that the death penalty be awarded to the four convicts, the fundamentals have not yet been addressed to.

It is not that the Government just slept over the matter.

The appointment of the Justice Verma Committee and the manner in which the Government embraced the recommendations of the Committee, at least conveyed the idea that the Government is concerned about the safety of women in the country.

That this concern has not percolated down to the common Indian male is there for all to see and register.

And this is what is worrying and this is why the country needs to look beyond the sentence which is set to be handed down by the Court today on Friday the 13th, 2013.

Intrinsic in the strong demand raised for the death penalty to be awarded to the four convicts, is the bottled up rage of the people not only against the increasing crime against women, but also against a system which has more often failed to deliver than take things to its logical conclusion.

Can the death penalty serve as the deterrent to such crimes against women ?

Or for that matter can capital punishment serve as the deterrent against all such horrendous crimes across the world ?

Should the State be empowered to take away something which it cannot give back, which is human lives ?

Also take note that more and more countries across the world have scrapped the death penalty.

Significant questions and while there will be different and opposing takes on these posers, it is important for the country and her people to move beyond the quantum of punishment that is to be handed over to the four convicts and get down to the business of addressing certain fundamental points.

The position of women in society.

Women empowerment should not only be a political slogan raised by political leaders and sundry organisations, but should extend to the realm of the everyday existence of all womenfolk across the country.

It remains to be seen whether the four convicts would be awarded the death penalty or life imprisonment, but the need is to move beyond the quantum of punishment and look at the positions of women in the social and political spheres in the country.

In punishing the four convicts, the core, no the most important point, would be to convey the message that India would not tolerate any such barbaric acts and that it would be a country where its women will and should feel free to move around without fear of being groped and molested or raped and killed.

The tragedy that is Nirbhaya should be translated into safety for women.