Something is actually being done about rape? No way!
Yes my friends today in New Delhi protest are continuing to rage in wake of a
23 year old raped student. For those who don’t keep up with the news on December
16 a 23 year old student was gang-raped and beaten with an iron rod, before
being thrown from a moving bus. The police immediately arrested several
suspects, who are now awaiting trial. What does this have to do with protests? In
the last couple of weeks protesters have been gathering, demanding a speedy
trial with death penalty. The rape victim at this point in time is still in
extremely critical condition and as of today has been airlifted to Singapore
for a specialist hospital.
According to Dr. Kelvin Loh, chief executive
officer of the Singapore
hospital had this to say,
"Prior to her arrival, she has already undergone three abdominal surgeries, and experienced a cardiac arrest in India. A multi-disciplinary team of specialists is taking care of her and doing everything possible to stabilize her condition."
To understand the point of the protest you need to
know a little background. Satarupa Bhattacharjya reports
that.
“New Delhi has the highest number of sex attacks among India's major cities, with a rape reported on average every 18 hours, according to the National Crimes Records Bureau.
Most rapes and other sex crimes go unreported and offenders are rarely punished, but the brutality of the assault on the medical student in New Delhi triggered public outrage, demands for both better policing and harsher punishment for rapists.”
Though I agree those statistics sound pretty harsh,
I’m not sure the death penalty is the way to go. I am, however, astonished at
the amount of support, hope and healing these protestors are offering for this
victim, unfortunately though some of protests have gotten to out of hand. Subhash Chand Tomar, a 47-year-old Delhi police
constable, died from injuries received during the protest.
“The outcry and spasm of violent protests over the case caught Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government off guard and set off a blame game between politicians and the police.Singh digressed in a speech on economic planning on Thursday to stress that the safety and security of women was a priority issue for his government, and said there would be a review of the laws and levels of punishment for aggravated sexual assault.
But within an hour of that meeting, his Congress party was plunged into embarrassment over comments made by one of its lawmakers, Abhijit Mukherjee, son of the country's president.
Mukherjee described the anti-rape demonstrations as a "pink revolution" by women wearing heavy make-up who think it is fashionable to protest.” Reported Bhattacharjya.
Though there will always be people who view rape as “not
a big deal” I am extremely encouraged by both the police efforts and response
from the people. It gives me hope that rape will no longer be swept under the
rug, but face and dealt with openly. I wonder how the victim will feel once she
recovers and finds out a whole city supporting her and demanding justice for
her? Let us hope that such healing can spread to others parts of the world that
continue to suffer from the ignorance of rape.
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