A Saving Face for All

She finally succumbed to injuries in Singapore. The woman who was gang raped in Delhi and hogged the national media's attention the entire last week just couldn’t step back to dear life she clinged so hopefully for. We thought she would make it and be an icon of resistance and will power, but it was not to be.

But this outcome is the least troublesome for the time being for all concerned. The government and agitators who held the national capital in an orgy of protests can now save breath for the while. Ever since the girl’s condition grew worse, the government was determined not to take the blame of death on its shoulders. Not a moment later when it was clear that she is going to die, the administration flew her to Singapore ostensibly to seek better medical care, but in fact, with hindsight, it becomes clear that it was a desperate attempt to escape the fingers of accusation on the medical establishment which failed to rescue the girl from the pitiable condition she was in.

The protesters also need to feel vindicated now. The courts can prescribe capital punishment for the accused now, as the victim has died. The demands of death warrant for rape was simply outrageous which no society could accept at face value. If the assaulter knew that he would be punished with the gallows, will any of them let go of their victims alive? When the country has started the debate on whether to scrap the death penalty itself, setting it down afresh for another crime is simply blowing the issue out of all proportion.

At the end of the day, the episode should serve as a lesson for the whole country. Even after 65 years of independence and millenia of cultural heritage later, we are still unable to guarantee freedom of movement to half of the population at night. We accept the notion as taken for granted that it is not safe for women to venture out after dark, when the powers of evil are exalted (as in Baskervilles!). However, this is not an issue that will be addressed by legislation alone – however, draconian you can make them out. The society need to allow greater freedom to a new generation which is more than they are willing to grant them at present. And also, the old generation need to move out of the theatre in its entirety. So, for at least three more decades, nothing fundamental is going to change, even if the seeds of change are sown today.

So, for the time being, let’s pay heed to what the Andhra transport minister advised women. The country obtained its freedom from the British at midnight, but it doesn’t mean that its okay to roam around at midnight in skimpy cloths.