Two days ago, I read that a woman, Priyanka Reddy was gang-raped and burnt alive. I am scared of fire to the extent that I do not use a match-stick. I thought I could not read more about it. It was too horrific. I avoided thinking about it. I had no words. We don’t like to think that something like this could happen to someone. It is too inhumane and too barbaric. We like to also believe that nothing can happen to us.
Finally, once I mustered up the courage to start reading about what happened to her in detail, I was so, so furious. As I read more, I am full of anger and hatred. From having no words, I now have a lot of words. My words will not stop. My rage will not stop.
What fails us again and again.
Rape law
“To make sure something like the Nirbhaya case never happened again, the government wanted to amend the existing laws to cover ALL crimes against women and make punishments as harsh as possible. This led to the 2013 Criminal Law Amendment. Under this change, new offences such as stalking, acid attacks, and voyeurism were added into the definition of rape. Even the threat of rape is now a crime. The minimum sentence was changed from seven years to 10 years. In cases that led to the death of the victim or the victim being in a vegetative state, the minimum sentence was increased to 20 years. This was the first time the vegetative state was included since the landmark Aruna Shanbaug case.”
Source: https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2018/08/indias-anti-rape-laws-the-evolution/
Long story short:
Minimum sentence for rape – 10 years.
If rape leads to death – minimum sentence 20 years.
Is it good enough?
NO!!!
Rape = Hang the rapist.
Gang rape = Hang the rapist.
Tried to kill her = Hang the rapist.
Whether she died or not = Does not matter. Hang! Hang! Hang!
Actually, hanging seems too merciful. The punishment should be same as the crime. Insert a rod in their private part. Burn them alive. In fact, no punishment is enough for such crimes. Any punishment possible under the sun seems less.
Violence against women – Acceptable!
I am sharing the link to the verdict of Pallavi Purukayastha’s murder. Her security guard had deliberately disconnected electricity of her apartment at night. When he came inside the house he took the keys without her knowledge. He then broke into the house later at night with the intention of raping her. She resisted. He killed her. The judge, let me reiterate, female judge held that “16 times stabbing is cruelty but not extreme cruelty…” (to merit death penalty)!
I have just one question for the respected people who are entrusted the responsibility of making decisions of life and death – How much cruelty is extreme had it been your daughter?
The verdict has words like ‘not planned for days’ (only planned that night), ‘got excited seeing her in scanty clothes’. It is embarrassing. It is infuriating. The young age of the murderer was also taken into consideration. The fact that so much analysis was done to find reasons to not award capital punishment to the man when the woman is dead. Brutally snatched away from her family.
This murderer got life imprisonment because the cruelty was not extreme enough in the eyes of the judge! He jumped parole and was rearrested. Why did he deserve parole in the first place? Why should our tax money be used to feed these beasts? How had Pallavi’s parents felt during the time he jumped parole? How do they feel everyday? Even if this man would have got capital punishment their daughter would not come back. This is the LEAST that could be done.
Change the law!
Every country has its own problems. In the United States, it is their gun laws. Any crazy person owns a gun and goes on a rampage to kill people. Maybe mental illness is an issue.
In India, such people get the right to rape and kill because they know nothing bad will happen to them. They probably know their friends who boast of getting drunk and beating their wives. They may even have friends who have raped and got away with it.
People are talking about how the mindset needs to change. Just change the law and see. Castrate one rapist. Hang one rapist in public. Mindset will change automatically.
Dear not all men brigade, this is not the time to worry about your fragile egos. This is not the time for you to worry about what will happen if the colleague you slept with and dumped decides to falsely accuse you. If you see, the rapists in Jyoti Singh’s case and Priyanka Reddy’s case were caught with evidence, and they confessed. So, unless you are planning to be a rapist, you have nothing to worry about. Moreover, I would like to focus on things that have actually happened, and women who are dead. Not about your hypothetical, superficial concern about what could happen. So please do not make this about you.
Are these humans in the first place? Why do they have rights?
Dear Human Right Activists,
I know you care a lot about criminals. You cared about Kasab. You care about the not so minor ‘juvenile’ man who inserted a rod inside a girl’s vagina and pulled her intestines out. That girl died in pain you cannot imagine. Her parents and brother have to live with that memory every day. Did she have any rights?
If you care so much about rapists, and murderers please strike a deal with the government. Please keep them in your house and care for them. Work on them. Give them another chance. Let your children play with them. Please confine your sympathy to your house. Please do not let these beasts into society so that you can feel good about yourself.
Sob stories of rapist’s mother
Mothers of rapists do not have my sympathy if they are trying to give excuses for their sons. Even if they are suffering, they are suffering because of what their son did. They better not give interviews about how the monster son was the only bread earner! Get a job! We don’t need such monsters to roam freely so that their mothers can get do waqt ki roti! I think about Priyanka’s mother and their feelings are nowhere in my thoughts. No family can survive this. I do not wish strength to Priyanka’s family because no family should have such strength.
Yes. I am very angry. Anger is all we have got right now. We tried in 2012. The law did change but it was not good enough. Hold on to your anger. Cling to it. Please share link of any petitions, or protests you are aware of. We will never forget. We will never give up.