Can you see a relation between Mob Killing of Rape Accused in Nagaland and 'Nirbaya' documentary? If no, time to see!

As the whole of India was debating whether it is right or wrong to ban or not to ban the 'India's daughter' documentary....another girl got victimized by a sadist rapist in Nagaland.   This time, the girl came out boldly stating that she was given Rs 5000 to keep quite by the rapist.....Sadist!  Yes, this is exactly a group of student thought and took onto the streets in silent protest.

The same day,  all the prime news channels were only debating full time on the intentions and thoughts of another sadist who is the death row and two other WELL_EDUCATED lawyers who were again and again telling that it was the fault of Jyothi to be on the streets of Delhi, going out to a movie with a boy friend and spoiling our culture!?!??!???

The young peaceful protest slowly became frenzy..the thoughts of letting another rapist lager in our jails for next several years and then giving a chance to give interview to another foreigner and making him a negative-hero was not letting our youth tolerate.  The students were joined by several of the public, protesting and more than thousand people mobbed on the jail and pulled out the rapist and took the law in their hands....lynched him, made him walk naked and finally killed him.   Is justice done to the girl?  Confusion....Interstate dispute, a collector's suspension and series of arrests followed.   

The orthodox way of punishment to an accused again took to the headlines.    When hundreds of rapes happen and accused rapists continue to survive, why did the mob go frenzy this time and took justice in their hands?  Where did the tolerance and time for justice gone this time?   Was the repeate telecast of Mukesh Singh's interview and the debates triggered this reaction of the people in Nagaland

As a woman, I thought if few more such mob justice instances happen this will make the rapists definitely scared for what happened in Nagaland and keep their zips zipped up in care!   But as a sensitive citizen, I was not comfortable to the thought of the way mob took law in their hands.   This was the way accused used to be punished in several parts of India  during 'Kata Panchayat days'  ; but are we not today going by the rotten legal system...We still will dust our old legal books and wait for justice.  Somehow, both are two extremes.    

Yes, taking law in hands is not the right thing.  We should let the law deal with these rapists.  Same time, feeding them and making them comfortably stay in jails ( Notice Mukesh, and other two accused clean shaved, wearing ironed clothes and looking very healthy  - is there no jail uniforms,  and these guys fed well and sheltered for rest of their lives as their mercy petitions will wait another decade....) is not going to be giving justice to the victims.  Justice delayed is Justice denied.

It is time for us to have a balanced thinking.   It is time to make our men promise of respect, care and equality to women around them.  It is time for women to make their families take up this promise for men's enlightenment than just focus on Women Empowerment

The real happiness of celebrating women's day is only when we see the crimes on women coming down not just in India but across the world.   The real pride of being a woman is when we help the fellow women to empower, enrich and earn their self-respect and self- esteem.   What may come, we women should remain strong and focused.  Stay strong and courageous.  Stay firm to ground and reach skies in our achievements.   Stay Blessed!

Happy Women's Day

An Open Letter to India's Daughter director Leslee Udwin

Dear Leslee Udwin

First of all, let me appreciate the time you have taken to come to India and spend good 2 years to research on our problems and try to show to the world.   Glad you had both the time and money to do the same.  How I wish you packed your bags and went to any middle east country and try to do the same and then en cash on the problems by selling your research for commercial use to the world biggest Television channels. Honestly, you wouldn't have become a celebrity or would be voicing your opinion still as you do today.

Yes,  we women in India are vulnerable.   So are you.  When you said that you have hidden your sexual assault trauma over the years,  I pity that you were not able to come out in your land and fight against the molester and fight for your justice.   At least we women in India, are bold in enough to tell to the world what we feel, what we lose and what we think and act accordingly.  Nirbhaya is just another woman who suffered.  There are hundreds of Nirbhaya's all around India who silently suffer, who protest and who punish those who attack them.  Our suffering need not be your commercial venture.  Thank you for your concern.

Every day in the buses we travel, some odd guy standing next to us, pitch amidst the Saree on our hips.   Another guy tries to touch us as we sit together and watch movies in a theater.   In a classroom, students are assaulted by the teachers and in offices by the bosses.   But is it happening only in India?  Do you dare to go to any other country and try to investigate and then film it and then make money out of it?  Can you do it in UK or USA?  Then please do it and leave us alone.

Do not add salt to our injuries.  From the time immemorial,  human civilization has breathed through the male chauvinism enough.   We know how some perverted and senseless minds think.   How vulnerable they think we women are and how they think that we have to abide by their pre-defined rules of living.  We are equal human beings.  We know to fight for our rights and we don't need a foreigner to come and show case our problems to the world.   We also know to handle our men.   

Not every man in this divine land is a pervert or think like the so-called idiots you have interviewed.  This divine Mother India has seen the greats of Paramacharya,  Swami Vivekananda,  Chanukya,  Chatrapathi Sivaji and several other leaders and social-scientists.     We focus on our positives and let the law of the land take care of the law breakers.    I know we are still following age old laws in terms of punishment and it takes its own sweet time to find justice in my motherland.    Yes, we are not barbaric to jump into action and kill them on the fly.  But same time, we are not weak to let the weak-minded not to be punished.  Period.

Ms Udwin....by showcasing your documentary in my country,  it will only agitate the young minds.  It is not going to add value to us.  We are continuing our fights for justice.   We are not scared to view the contents of your videos which you promised to use for social purpose and taken it without permission to the commercial platform.   We want to stone the idiots to death.  But what are we making of us in the process.  We want to cut the prime parts of the perverts but will that bleeding stop our girls from crying?   We want to hang the criminals in open air, but will that stop the next rape.   I don't think so!

As a woman,  as a mother, as a friend, as a sister each one of us are trying to educate our young men on what is right and what is wrong.  We are teaching our girls self-defense.  We are fighting for our rights in a more peaceful way.  We will overcome this menace one day.

And that day is not too far.  The day will dawn in my country when we women will not be ashamed to be part of this world.   Till then, we request you to stay away from our problems.  We will handle them to the end and one film of yours is not going to change anything!

Regards
A thoughtful Indian Woman.


***************After watching the video****************

I watched the video today after writing the above article.  Nothing I wrote stands changed.  We knew these perverts and what they think and expecting repentance from them is like searching for a pin in a sand.   Expecting the system to change overnight with this video also is not going to happen.  

This incident is indeed barbaric and unfortunately there are more similar and more worst cases that India had witnessed.     My friends argued that this video makes us speechless and should not be banned. Agree.  Same time, the actual gruesome act, the followed media attention,  the campaigns is all what we already saw.  We know the plight of middle class parents with big dreams fighting every odd in the society to make the dreams come true.  

The documentary says is done in public interest, if so why was it not freely uploaded to you-tube and spread across all over India.  It needed a platform to bring a tragedy back to memory.  India will not forget Nirbaya.  We don't need a well thought filmmaker to bring this to the masses to create a mass hysteria again over the tragedy that already shattered us.  

We need the system to change, where our men respect us and we are fighting for it day in and  day out.   We want the crime on women to come down and legal system tightened up to punish those who do these crimes.  

Justice delayed is justice denied.   Why are we wanting to even hear the opinion of these perverts again and again when it is against the actual democratic fabric of our Nation where women are treated equally.  This is the opinion of the defense lawyers,  the orthodox community reflections in every word they uttered.  Are we not seeing honour killings day in day out?   What are we doing?  Why did media stop from even giving out her name initially?   

We need to clean our system.  We don't need one more filmmaker encashing on our weaknesses.   Not another slumdog millionaire please.   Not another Nirbaya!

Ban or No Ban!  Bottomline is this video is not going to change anything unless each one of us try to change the system where all are part of !  God bless #India's daughter.