Break the Wheel - Stir the Wind!

Hope—or the lack of it; That is what I feel. I feel like somebody has dimmed the light. I look at the faces of the domestic helpers, all women who live in the slums, in houses without doors and locks. I think to myself, not a wonderful life after all. I look at the little children growing up in those dark rooms. The children destined to be subject to sexual abuse and violence from the first moments of their lives. The children, witnesses of rape, sexual violence and aggression, learning that this is the norm, this is what awaits us!

I recalled a particular story of a 3-year-old orphan I met during my days as a child and adolescent mental health worker. The 3-year-old was brought to the clinic by her adoptees for expressing extreme aggression against the adopted father. At the age of 3, she took a knife to her now father's throat in the middle of the night. After months of intervention, assessments and interviews of various sorts, the reason for her extreme behaviour was crystal-sexual abuse during the early days of her life. We did the math as you must be doing now. She must have been at least 2 when the abuse must have started, if not earlier! Sexual molestation of a child in an institution that was supposed to protect and provide for her. Structured violence against the helpless and the voiceless, a well-constituted pyramid of perpetrators and enablers wearing the cloaks of guardians. Sounds Familiar?

The RG Kar murder and rape victim (9th August 2024, Kolkata, India) and my little client from once upon a time - Different victims of different ages, but the same story of structured violence against those coming from humble backgrounds or absolutely nothing! The people are shaken to the core. Why shouldn't they be? We have daughters, sisters, friends, mothers, girlfriends, wives, and colleagues we do not want to see hurt and violated. The racial, ethnic, and social differences have vanished under the onus of this macabre, unearthly event that has marred our history for good. My objective here is to emphasise that our protest is not against one single perpetrator. It is not against the likes of Sanjay Roy (the named culprit in the RG Kar case) only. It is against the Hercules body of criminals who wield their sword of violence and think they will never fall. This case has reached various corners of the world. To those who have joined hands with us in protest, to the brothers and sisters and friends from across the country and around the world, this is not the first time:

1. Aruna Shanbaug Case (Mumbai 1973): A junior nurse at King Edward Memorial Hospital Parel, Mumbai, was raped by a janitor and left in a vegetative state, in which she remained for 37 years after which the Supreme Court granted a plea of euthanasia.Violated and assaulted at her workplace. Sounds familiar?
2. Bhanwari Devi Rape and Murder Case (1992, Bhateri, Rajasthan): She was a social worker who angered men while trying to prevent child marriage. She was gang-raped and murdered for trying to do her job, for trying to do the right thing, and because she dared to stand by a little girl without a voice. She was a martyr. How many more would this society claim before we are free to live? I thought India was already a free country! Not for us women .. said Moumita, Nirbhaya, Asifa and many like her!
3. Ajmer Rape Case in 1992: Probably the biggest case of coerced sexual exploitation of hundreds of school girls, molested, assaulted, scarred for life, robbed of their youth.
4. Sister Abhaya Murder Case (1992, Kottayam): Found dead in a Convent, a place of God. Need I say more?

I could go on.

The Nirbhaya1 and 2 Cases, The Nithari Case, The Bantala Rape Case, the Kannur Kotta Rape Case, The Jalgaon Rape Case, The Kamduni Gang rape and Murder Case, Priyadarshini Matto Rape Case, Phulmoni Dasi Rape Case, Kandhamal gang rape Case, Bantala rape Case, Unnao Rape Case, Hyderabad Gang Rape and Murder Case, Hanskhali Rape Case etc..

The list goes on. All you have to do is Google search the names and the grisly details would pop up in plain sight. Google remembers. We forget. Most forgotten, erased from our memories. What use is a candle march when the candles in these homes have been extinguished forever, with not a ray of light shining from any crack? Doors bolted shut, no way in for hope or justice.

So what would Dawn connote? Suo Motu Cognizance taken by the Indian Supreme Court in The RG Kar rape and Murder Case might just be the beginning. My hopes nestle in the efforts of the bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud. The first hearing scheduled today (20th August 2024) may pave the way for justice and fear in the hearts of those capable of such a heinous crime. I wish for these men to be afraid, scared out of their wits, like the victims and their families across history. Pain pervades class, caste, gender, colour and socio-economic status. Acknowledge the pain of all those voiceless victims, children, transmen and transwomen, women on the streets, women forced into prostitution, and everybody who has ever been touched without consent, all those scarred and victimised. Now is not the time to tip-toe around these grisly happenings. The consequences of such cruelty should match the pain it inflicts. Bring about the Governor's rule, and let the Centre seize control. Or, whip those involved raw and then execute them - publicly. These are just ideas of an ignorant amateur blogger, scared for her safety, and that of her loved ones. I however know this to be true, if the law fails us, there will come a time, when people take justice into their own hands and then rivers shall run red!