This news item is about a teenager girl who was raped by 3 unidentified people at Kalyan station, Mumbai at 2:30 AM in front of her boyfriend. What was she doing at the platform at such a time? She had visited Pune to meet another boy she knew through cyber space and was returning home. She had called her boyfriend to give her company at such odd hours. Let me also tell you that she had not told her parents about this adventure of hers to Pune. Some of us who read this news item, rather than sympathizing with the girl, considered it to be an apt punishment for what she had done.
I am not at all ready to take this act as a punishment of any sort. It is a criminal act and cannot be anything else. My first question - had some other girl been visiting Mumbai commuting by train in same situation, had the act not happened? Second question - why should we consider it as an apt punishment, when the 3 criminals had no idea about what she had been up to to carry out the "punishment"? She did not do anything which can be tagged criminal, then why victimize her. These were just perverts who would have done the same thing to anyone in that situation. She is a citizen of India where democracy prevails and so she has all the right to do whatever she want and go wherever she wants and at any time she wants. It is people like those 3 criminals who force such unsaid "restrictions" of time, place and so many other in a society. And also, people like many others who dismiss the incident completely because they consider someone's acts as improper due to those unsaid restrictions. The result is that we get a society which is tolerant to such heinous acts and on top of it we justify them. We always tell our brothers, sisters and children to have a proper conduct in society so that they do not attract such crimes on them and stop them from availing the rights that the country has given them. Many other questions like where was the railway police when this act happened how did those 3 criminals got weapon (knife) inside a station are conveniently ignored. In my equation that girl fits nowhere but still i will warn my loved ones like all of us do to avoid such hours and such adventures because what is correct and should be done in an ideal society is very far from what we have today. But i will not JUSTIFY or ignore the incident.
With changing India there are many challenges in front of us and everyone has to keep pace with the pace of change. Our children live in many worlds where they learn many things. World has become smaller and countries are closer. But with different cultures and different governance standards it can be really difficult to avoid mishaps. We have a job to keep our children informed and thoughtful but we also have a job to move towards a better society as soon as possible. We have to keep pace with the changes. Ignoring such incidents is not the way. In fact, creating examples out the criminals and pressurizing governments for better security and governance is the need of the hour.
I am not at all ready to take this act as a punishment of any sort. It is a criminal act and cannot be anything else. My first question - had some other girl been visiting Mumbai commuting by train in same situation, had the act not happened? Second question - why should we consider it as an apt punishment, when the 3 criminals had no idea about what she had been up to to carry out the "punishment"? She did not do anything which can be tagged criminal, then why victimize her. These were just perverts who would have done the same thing to anyone in that situation. She is a citizen of India where democracy prevails and so she has all the right to do whatever she want and go wherever she wants and at any time she wants. It is people like those 3 criminals who force such unsaid "restrictions" of time, place and so many other in a society. And also, people like many others who dismiss the incident completely because they consider someone's acts as improper due to those unsaid restrictions. The result is that we get a society which is tolerant to such heinous acts and on top of it we justify them. We always tell our brothers, sisters and children to have a proper conduct in society so that they do not attract such crimes on them and stop them from availing the rights that the country has given them. Many other questions like where was the railway police when this act happened how did those 3 criminals got weapon (knife) inside a station are conveniently ignored. In my equation that girl fits nowhere but still i will warn my loved ones like all of us do to avoid such hours and such adventures because what is correct and should be done in an ideal society is very far from what we have today. But i will not JUSTIFY or ignore the incident.
With changing India there are many challenges in front of us and everyone has to keep pace with the pace of change. Our children live in many worlds where they learn many things. World has become smaller and countries are closer. But with different cultures and different governance standards it can be really difficult to avoid mishaps. We have a job to keep our children informed and thoughtful but we also have a job to move towards a better society as soon as possible. We have to keep pace with the changes. Ignoring such incidents is not the way. In fact, creating examples out the criminals and pressurizing governments for better security and governance is the need of the hour.
