Ananya Mariam Rajesh

BENGALURU: The protest against the Citizenship Amendment fAct (CAA) being held at Bilal Bagh that started on February 11 is the …

Indefinite protest against CAA at Bilal Bagh

Remember when you used to get back home and finish your homework just in time to watch the 5 pm show of Pokemon being aired on television or wait for the call from your friend on the landline? Those days were some good old golden days. Today, kids come back home from school and pick up their parents’ phone to search up shows on YouTube to watch.

We have entered a fast paced world where we tend to prefer things to reach us faster. Binge watch is one such concept of the fast paced world. We feel that a series or a set of movies are better finished at one go. The lockdown is seeming to provide the time for everyone to catch up on their favourite shows and binge watch the series or movies on their list. Netflix and Amazon are releasing a new update everyday about the new movies and series that are to be streamed during the quarantine.

Even the little kids today watch more of the shows online and not on television. But an entire generation has missed the thrill and rush to wait for the time when their favourite show would air. Those good old days did give some of us a different kind of happiness.

Times have changed, we all binge watch shows today like anyone else but I guess that’s what the world is learning today with the pandemic creating a different scenario, to slow down and to take time to read, watch or understand things in a relaxed manner. Probably watch one episode one day and rather not have the urge to finish it all once, to back off from being fast forward and just relax to overcome the overflow of information, perhaps.

The recent Gurgaon incident in India where a middle aged woman apparently moral policed a group of women for wearing short dresses have gone viral. The women publicly acclaimed that these girls should be raped and that the cause of rape is due to the kind of dress worn by the girls or women. This incident has set the country into debate of whether rape is invited or no. For all those, who think otherwise let’s clear it, rape is never invited.!

The debate is meaningless because the one answer we all know is that in today’s world, let alone our country – India, rape is not uncommon! From a month old baby to a eighty year old woman, all are under threat. Where do we even start.? Nirbhaya case had shocked our country completely, justice was served years later. But even after that, is there anything done to completely make our country safe for the girls and ladies?

A 3 year old was raped three days ago brutally in Kashmir almost an year later of another child rape case that happened in the same state. Now should we still debate about rape being invited? I don’t think! When the safety of a month old baby girl to a eighty year woman is equally threatened should we call ourselves as even developing and progressing? A question to seriously ponder over for us citizens.

Coming back to the topic of short dresses inviting rape, I would like to bring notice about an exhibition put up by Centre Communautaire Maritime in Brussels, Belgium. This exhibition features the clothes worn by victims who were raped. The clothes displayed show, no matter how fully dressed the woman is, a man with a creepy mentality will rape her without even thinking twice about what an animal he is being. It is easily understood that rape is never the fault of the victim but the accused.

In India, it is time that we have a lot more fast track courts to solve such cases of violence against women. The kind of punishment to such an uncivilised person who rapes a woman must be severe, it’s been conveyed through out how the citizens want stringent and harsh laws for such men who rape young little baby girls and ladies of all age groups.!

Let us stand together and fight for the justice of all such souls who have lost their life or are suffering. Let’s voice together and stand united in our fight for making our country rape-free!

This generation has found a great relief with the #Metoo movement. It’s gaining momentum all over the world and especially in India, it seems to be the only way girls and ladies could open up. Many women have come forward and have openly spoken about being sexually assaulted and abused. The number of women who have experienced such undesirable situations are in large numbers. This is really disturbing and alarming at the same time. 

But how many of them have genuinely experienced it and how many may be faking it?

It’s a question to ponder over. When women actually suffer sexual abuse on large scale eventually everyone tends to believe any women who says so is true. What about a few at least who are willing to tarnish the image of a man? Sadly there are women like them too existing in our society, who for a reason or other want to show men down. This is where the #Metoo movement maybe wrongly used. Fighting for the right cause is always correct and giving justice to women who have been through sexual assault is a must. But let’s not forget to draw the line between the truth and fake. 

#Metoo has helped a lot of women voice the injustice they survived. It’s helping a lot of women gain confidence and speak openly about how they were violated and overpowered by a few men. It’s important to bring justice to them and especially to make women understand the necessity to voice about sexual violence at the right time. But at the same time we shouldn’t do injustice to men who are innocent. Let’s not in an attempt to bring justice to women show injustice to innocent men. Let’s punish  the men responsible for such acts and women receive the justice they deserve but also let’s not punish an innocent man for women who’s sole aim is to tarnish a man.

Support the women who are right! 

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton