“We GET what we ARE !!!"

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 A New Year, A New Day, A New Beginning, A New Passion.

Old scars still remain, to haunt me this year, may be in the years to come.

Call her Nirbhaya, Damini, Amanat or even Viraa, It’s not going to make any difference. The life is lost. The dreams are shattered. Parents are grieved. Brothers have lost their hero. A nation mourns. My heart goes out to her utterly devastated family. I can’t even remember, when was the last time I felt this awful & vulnerable in my life. Catastrophic episode it was.

29^th December. The day, I will never be able to overlook. It’s etched in my heart as the National SHAME day.  A part of me, a part of all of us, a part of India died. It was a multi-system failure, very articulately explained in medical terms as a multi-organ failure.

Millions took to the streets in the Capital of one of the most committed & sophisticated democracies of the world protesting against the heinous act, which is practically undreamed-of for a human being having a reasonable mind. Delhi, aptly called the “Rape capital” of the country, registers a rape case every 18 hours. God only knows, how many go unregistered. Most sex crimes in India go unreported, many offenders go unpunished. An aljazeera website informs me that "In Delhi, a woman is reportedly raped on average every 18 hours or molested every 14 hours, about 92 % of those accused of rape are known to their victims".

The number of rape cases as a percentage of criminal cases reported to the police has been steadily increasing, while the conviction rate has been progressively dropping. Capital punishment is rarely awarded. If you ask me, I am stringently against capital punishment. I mean, I don’t find any worth in punishing a person by taking away his/her life. But this time, this very “rarest of the rare” time, I really wish the convicts are brought to justice by capital punishment, probably even after a surgical castration. I really want them to experience the physical ordeal the girl had to go through & the severe emotional trauma the whole country is undergoing.

Formalism is a condition explained by Riggs, which refers to the discrepancies between the description & prescription, the actual & the form and what are being practiced & what are being preached. India belonging to his “prismatic society” concept practices the existence of formalism that ultimately leads to favoritism, nepotism & corruption.

Red-tapism is indisputably the most poisonous & contagious malady prevalent in our administrative system. The law commission’s recommendation in 2000, took almost a decade to be drafted as a bill. Vishakha case has been reduced to textbooks only.

The demand for setting up fast-track courts to handle rape & other crimes against women was duly acknowledged & implemented promptly. But I believe, courts had always been there. Law had always been there. It will still take its course.  Just speeding up the process does not ensure safety of women. What we need is to fast track the process of broadening & expanding our mindset. No police, no law, not even constitution can do anything, until & unless we start sincerely & justly respecting women.

The change has to come from within. India is facing a similar kind of problem, which the United States used to have during the late 1800s. Like the then-America, for everything that was wrong with the society, the responsibility of the failures, we traced to some of the loopholes in our constitution. When the scope of blaming the constitution was narrowed, we have now started accusing the administration. What we need to do is to have introspection.

Dynastic politics has to take a back seat. It not only demoralizes today’s youth to participate in our country’s democracy, but also rests the power to govern our country in the hands of ill-educated, unreasonable, unformed & disgraceful candidates. A prime example of this is the recent comment of a newly elected MP & the son of a highly experienced & reputed politician known for his media handling skills. The juvenile MP’s reference of the lady protestors at India gate even shocked his own sister. This proves the fact that he is in no manner ready to be a part of our law making institution. At the same time Venkatachalliah committee’s recommendation of not allowing political parties to field candidates accused of rape & other such crimes is hardly taken into consideration.

This merciless act garnered the most radical & revolutionary response from the corporate world. (I am talking about my friends’ circle). Apart from empathizing with the brave-heart girl, my friends attributed the failure in preventing the crime to the inefficient law-&-order maintenance by Police. I have some questions for them, “How many of you pay your income-taxes / sales-taxes truthfully & in-time?” “Aren’t you limiting Govt’s efforts & initiatives to bring about a welfare society by not allowing it to work at its full capacity (Financial)?” The tax imposed on you, is being used for all the welfare programs of the Govt including police reforms & better law-&-order situation. “How many of you have not bribed a traffic policeman to let you free in a traffic rule violation scenario, an authority at the RTO/Passport office for speedy processing of your application?” These are just a couple of areas I emphasized. I would urge all my friends working with the corporate sector to be honest & prompt in contributing in whatever way, they can, to the society.

I have a request to all my friends working as civil servants & all the aspirants as well to understand the requirement of the civil society, the market, and the state & to justly personify “civil servant”.

Growing intolerance among people is a welcomed initiative. It should be used in a constructive considerable manner. High time that our conscience overpowers our instincts. Let’s not RIP on her death. Let’s make her sacrifice count. Let’s allow her soul to fly free.

We may have lost the battle owing to her death, but we will win the war. Change will be there, not only legal but moral as well.