respite for a nation violated

The spate of rapes continues to shame the nation, with the Ulta Pradesh taking the lead but others also not much far behind. The recent incidents at Bangalore made the citizens cry out in unison and our hearts bled, yet there seems to be no respite from this monstrosity.

And how can there be? The Nirbhaya incident of the 16^th of December 2012 jolted the collective conscience of the nation, yet the perpetrators have not paid for the crime that they committed. If this is the state of the case that made everyone – the citizens, the netas, the police and the bureaucrats sit up and take notice, God help us. And therefore the spate of rapes continues undeterred. The absence of swift retribution gives sufficient encouragement to the rapists and the misplaced sense of legal bias for the juvenile encourages him to take in his stride rapes and other criminal activities.

There is a need to cut the rhetoric that we are accustomed to after all such incidents. There is a need and the time for real action, not mere assurances and the new government gives hope. Yet hope shall remain only till such time despair stays away and these recurring incidents with the rapists having a gala time even after the incidents are slowly leading to despair. The situation has nose dived to such levels that some men in power outreach the rhetoric as witnessed from the response and the remarks of the chief minister of Karnataka to ghastly rape incidents in his own capital.

And the so called armchair activists have a field day. The protagonists of the now much maligned juvenile act harp on the advisability of correcting, not punishing the juvenile. I wonder if their response would continue to be the same had some of them faced the trauma of having his or her own daughter violated. What is good for the gander is apparently not good for the geese in this case.

And the response of the rich and the powerful also borders on a sheer lack of concern. After all almost all the beastly incidents are perpetrated on the lower classes, those on the darker side of the financial divide. The tragedy is that those who can make a difference to the system and the society are not affected by the happenings or the surroundings and therefore remain unconcerned. This major  malaise has inflicted the nation in its almost seventy years of independent existence.

Why don’t such incidents happen in Singapore and Dubai. The sheer fear of a deterrent and swift punishment keeps the perpetrators at bay. If small yet highly efficient nations can have a mechanism to deliver swift and sure punishments for crimes committed why cant’ India, a world within the world do so. It is the fear of a heavy and swift punishment that only will keep the rapists away despite what the juvenile supporters profess.

The nation is deeply hurt and aggrieved and would continue to be so till such time our daughters are freely and without fear able to roam on the streets of their own motherland at all times of the day. One lives with the hope that "Acche Din" are not far away.