SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY

Tahirir Square replicated at India Gate. Even if the context is not the same, the visuals at the India Gate, around Raisina Hill, reminds us of the people’s protest in Egypt we have witnessed recently. Initially when the protests began in Delhi with hundreds of people, mostly young boys and girls gathering at the India Gate with candles in their hands and demanding justice for the 23-year-old girl who was brutally gang raped and assaulted in the capital of the country, it seemed it would be another phase of candle-happy-citizens’ ‘outrage’. But it proved many of us wrong. Be it because of the social media or electronic, the people were moved. They were moved to come out and demand an answer, an assurance from the government. We saw the first of its kind agitation at the India Gate over the weekend. This unique demonstration by thousands showed how young people were actually outraged, from the core of their hearts. The 23-year-old girl’s plight made us all feel ashamed of our society, our system. When the rape victim was fighting for life at the hospital, young India realized this was not the time they could sit at home! For the first time in Delhi, the youth came out on the streets without any banner, without any organized platform and without any leadership. There has been a tremendous insecurity among the women and also their parents and families over their safety in public. This spontaneous street protest gave all of them a voice. More than condemning the incident of rape, this gave all of them an opportunity to raise issues which needed concrete action from the police and administration.

Yes the anger and the ‘animal’ within us came out. Many of us wanted the rapists to be handed over to the mob or castrated in full public view and the demand for ‘hang them’ grew louder and louder. Any sensible person will shiver imagining what the 23-year-old had to go through in the bus where she was raped by the gang of men on that fateful night. This is not too abnormal to demand the strictest punishment for the culprits, even if the law and rational logic defy our emotions. Unfortunately the Indian Penal Code, Section 376, does not provide for death as punishment for rape. Since the girl is alive, the crime would not invite Section 302 of the IPC or charges of murder as yet. So technically the culprits, though they have accepted their crime, can not be hanged at the end of the trial. We are also aware of our long judicial process and the apathy of the police and administration which make us angrier. How apathetic the administration was to this case, was evident from the compliments showered on Delhi Police by the Home Secretary of India after the police arrested the culprits. The bureaucrats and the police wanted us to forget it took almost a week to arrest all of them and they could not prevent this crime. It wanted us to forget the police patrolling is not strong enough to prevent such crime in future. It wanted us to forget the police, at many places, continue to refuse the rape victims from lodging FIR or taking any action at all. They wanted us to forget the women are not yet safe in public. The administration considered it to be ‘just another rape case’ like 24,206 cases that got registered in the country in 2011 alone. But the protestors didn’t let it go.

We were witness to the capital punishment of Dhananjoy Chatterjee who spent 14 years in prison after he raped and murdered a school girl, Hetal Parekh, in Kolkata and before he could actually be hanged passing through the legal process. It was much hyped story in the media. Still it could not stop rape cases. It is an inherent problem with the society. The mindset of the patriarchal society can not be changed overnight and it can not all be left to the administration. The cudgel should be taken up by every sensible citizen. We should all stand up and protest every single case of eve teasing to start with and any kind of violence against women or men to take the fight forward. No person should feel she or he is helpless at the face of any kind of sexual assault. This unprecedented protest should initiate the social movement that should not be confined to the cities and towns but reach the grassroots in the villages, but law cannot be taken up by the citizens in their own hands.

 

This is why the protest which unfortunately turned violent later should not be undermined. The protests at India Gate has created a possibility to  shake up the police, administration and the political class. It is shameful that no politician or anyone from the government could come out and share the sentiments of the protestors in front of Rashtrapati Bhavan. It was a great opportunity for President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, to show he was people’s president. It was a great opportunity for the ‘crown prince’ Rahul Gandhi to join the movement and probably begin his campaign for 2014. It was a great opportunity for the opposition BJP to take up the matter seriously pressurizing the government to act. But none came forward. The Leader of the Opposition, Sushma Swaraj tweeted that she requested the Prime Minister to call a special session of parliament. That is all. The country seriously failed to understand, as the protestors rocked Rajpath, if there was a prime minister in the country. Instead the police baton-charged and lobbed tear gas shells on the young protestors who chanted slogans and broke barricades demanding ‘justice’.

A judicial commission, a committee and assurance of speedy trial can not really tame the anger. We are all habituated with this mechanism of diverting the attention. The people want something concrete. Concrete like amending the IPC and introducing the strictest punishment for eve teasers, molesters and rapists. This can be done by calling a special session of parliament. The amendment bill is lying with the House for almost six years. Concrete measures like setting up first track courts for cases related to violence against women, increasing police patrolling, sensitizing the police force, stressing on community policing, etc should be taken up immediately.

In fact there is a disconnect between the political-executive class and the common man. Tahirir Square marked a turning point for the history of Egypt. Let’s hope India Gate brings a new dawn for our beloved country and the ‘symbolism’ of the protests over the 23-year-old girl who is showing signs of life in the hospital bed, does not die down.