Can we learn?

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This article has been submitted by Subhra Tripathy for the CLATGyan Blog Post Writing Competition. If you think this article is a good read, ‘Like’ this article on Facebook (the button is at the bottom of this piece) or post a comment using the ‘comments’ section below.

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She was raped.

Was she wearing a mini-skirt? Perhaps hot-pants? At the least, she must have been wearing a sexy, skin-tight, cleavage-revealing top (that makes wolves out of men). No?

Was she drunk? Did she frequent pubs? Is she one of those ‘modern’ women who stagger out of pubs black-out drunk, have sex with random men and then cry rape? No?

Maybe she was behaving in an obscene manner. Was she kissing a boy? Hugging him? Holding hands? It must have been that. These young kids holding hands everywhere! Corrupt souls! No? Are you sure?

Was she flirtatious? Was she a smoker? Was she a party girl? Did she enjoy dirty dancing? Had she ever been to a dance club with a boy? Surely, she must have been pole dancing on the bus and made those men horny. Right? No!?

This I am sure of – She must have been really into all those deviant sexual activities! She must have fantasized about a rape scenario and now, she is just complaining because she didn’t like it! No? Really? Come on man!

Was she a loose woman? Did she engage in a lot of sex? How many men has she done it with? Psst… Was she a virgin or not? ‘Cause you know she wasn’t married and anyone who has sex before that should simply keep their mouth shut. Immoral, character-less women! No? You’re not kidding are you? How is that possible?

She wasn’t an atheist right? Perhaps God was punishing her for not believing. She must have sinned. She didn’t call those men her brothers! If she would have produced a yellow thread out of thin air and tied it on their hands none of this would have happened! That’s why I tell everyone to carry rakhis everywhere; much more effective than those pepper spray thingies.

Oh, wait! Those men must have eaten chowmein. All this fast food makes your hormones berserk! How can you control then? I am telling you – If you ban chowmein everything would be solved. McDonalds, KFC and what not, lives ruined! No?

So, why would she get raped? How could she get raped? She must have done something, said something, to bring this upon herself! Right!?

Right?

Wrong.

She was 23. She was a physiotherapy intern. Her father sold his land to educate her.She was vulnerable that one night. She was raped.

She is dead.

Jagruti, Amanat, Nirbhaya or Damini – whatever you choose to call her – was not ‘that kind of woman’ and yet she was brutally gang-raped by six men. So, could it be that, it isn’t the woman’s fault? Maybe, just maybe, we have been blaming the wrong side? Can we admit our fault? And can we, as a nation, mend our ways now? Can we give women the freedom to live their life as they choose to live it? Wear what they want, go where they want, whenever they want and feel safe?

Can we learn?

6 COMMENTS

  1. Awesomely written! Loved it! 🙂
    And yeah, the society needs to learn. People need to stop blaming women as if they are the one bringing atrocity upon themselves!!

  2. I loved the writing style and the implied mockery to convey the message. The ending paragraph with “that kind of woman” (in quotes) answered all my questions as to if being that way gave one the license to rape. Really well-written. Keep it up 🙂

  3. It was simply amazing,have never read such kind of an article on this topic..
    Just loved the way you have written it and briefly conveyed a lot and a lot.
    🙂

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