Enough is Enough!

This is going to be a year and still the brutal scenario of how a 26-year-old veterinary doctor Priyanka Reddy was gang raped and murdered on the night of 27th November, 2019 disturbs the mind of every concerned citizen and the social fabric of a civilized society. Since then a lot of such inhumane cases have been in the news but the fact is still today we couldn't provide safety, justice and security to the women of India and even in foreign nations.

On the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women , below written article is based on the pain and tears that persist among women in our society after a dreadful incident of Hyderabad in 2019.

So here continues a voice of concern by a concerned citizen and Chief Technical Officer of EDSTAR, Namrata Kaur...

The last year had been a wake up call if ever we needed one when it comes to safety of women. A young woman was brutally gang raped, murdered and burnt in Hyderabad. Her cries for help went unheeded. And then there who were accused encountered suddenly between 03:00-04:00 hrs on 6th Dec, 2019. And then celebration broke out in Hyderabad as instant justice delivery instead of shedding tears for getting justice.

It's a subject that deserves a greater debate with national importance but at the heart of it is how do we ensure women feel much safer across the county.

Is it the same India today which we got with the sacrifice of lives and blood?

Is it the same country where India is called the motherland and on contrast few inhuman fellows rape and brutally kill girls just for their sexual contentment?

Is this the same country where we have Raksha Bandhan to protect every sister but it's their adversity that there are also brothers to rape them and kill them?

Why today the ruling party, opposition speak to get votes by winning sentiments of voters but never speak for a woman to protect her from rapists?

Basically, today what I am writing here is the real voice of every concerned and responsible citizen of India upon whose shoulders the destiny of nation relies on.

We became independent in 1947 and our regulatory constitution came into act in 1950. In 2022, we are going to celebrate platinum jubilee of independence but the bittersweet is that our motherland got freedom with the sacrifice of freedom fighters, on contrast there is no one to fight for same mother's rights and security. Today we are on the perimeter of 2019 and since 1971 the number of crimes against women, sexual assaults, rape victims and many more that have ruined the life of girls in a society are on hike and are still counting. There are plenty of cases pending in respective jurisdiction or in trial rooms of Supreme court.

It's really melancholic to say above facts in the era of success, fame, development which the country is going through. Simultaneously, it's the ignominy for every citizen of India as India is among top countries with high crime rates and growing crimes against women. This supports the fact that India ranks No.5 among top 10 worst countries for gender equality and it's our India only which is the world's most dangerous country for women and crimes against them. Was this the vision of late Dr. Kalam or Swami Vivekananda? This is today the doleful scenario of India where politics has ruined the integrity of the nation. On one side, we have deadliest army to safeguard country and other side we have few cannibals in society for which their daughters, sisters and mothers are not safe in society. There is no so called political leaders to protect these daughters and raise voice for woman's rights and justice. Guys, it's shame on muckraking politics going through the wind of the nation and it's deplorable to think of leading the world in upcoming years.

Fire growing within every citizen with every RAPE

By 2017, 32,559 rape cases are reported that even includes 298 rape victims of below 06 years age. Many mothers are crying since 7 years, 8 years for justice of their daughters' and there is nobody to wipe off the tears of the mothers rather accused rapists are roaming on bail or even many cases not taken to court's trial room. In respect to Nirbhaya rape case in Delhi, Unnao rape case in UP, Priyanka Reddy in HYB; on Dec.6, 2019 HYB police encountered 4 rapists as a part of retaliation when they were taken for recreation of priyanka reddy rape case. Every father, brother, sister and mother is admiring HYB police for instant justice of encounter and personally I'm extremely glad to say that shooting of rapists was perfect, so i applaud too. Here in comes the biggest question on society, law and justice that

Has the law making body ceased to make laws for crimes against women?

Where are the leaders who can change CM's post overnight and speak for months on Hindu-Muslim but can't take step to reform existing laws and enact strict regulations for growing rape cases since 1971?

Is encounter the answer to instant justice delivery for rapists?

Deep down the soul, everyone was blaming the same police system in Hyderabad as according to victim's sister statement they didn't file the case initially and denied to file giving excuse that the case was not in theirs jurisdiction. Later on, when the same police team encountered the rapists the public was showering flowers upon police commissioner and the team and touching their feet with honor and gratitude. I am no one to say that encounter done was wrong on that specific night, but verity is our society, the public is really pissed off with barely administered country having poor hearing process, dates shifting policy on hearing of accused and too much tolerance attitude of the government like "चलता है , वक्त आने पे देख लेंगे।“. This is the result of why public is admiring the HYB police as they have got relief from being tired of slow justice delivery system in which many victims and their families have even died in the hope of getting justice. Now with the high rise of rape cases since last decade, the public is going through a trauma where we are like a mob outraged at the constitution and law making body.

Why we are writing this content being crestfallen?

I am living in an era where Kulbhusan Yadav hasn't yet got justice, Ajmal Kasab was being served biryani in jail after death sentence, fighter Abhinandan brought back to India, Muslim women got relief from "Triple Talaq", demonetization took place, Fadnavis was CM just for 3 days but there are hardly two to three cases where rape convicted were sentenced death, even in few cases hearing is just passed to another dates and majority of cases haven't been produced with proper and complete investigation. There are also few politicians who became "great ! leader" in their constituency but had background directly or indirectly linked with sexual assaults and violence against women. My question to every political party, the supreme court and even few anti-national leaders that where is your secularism, human rights, promises to public? Why a girl or her parents are equally concerned of travelling at night?

It's true that to certain extent patriarchy in the society is one of the major reason for no reform and eradication of rape and likewise other heinous crimes. On the day of encounter of rapists when I woke up and scrolled up through Facebook, I found that rapists were being encountered. My reaction to the post was simply like "Are you kidding me ?". Like me everyone must be astonished to know the fact and the reason is simple that people have seen many years of injustice to the rape victims as no strict laws or policies have been made to hang accused to death on account of sexual assaults, rape, brutal murders. Due to lack of magistrates, marginal operation of fast track courts, transfer of judges, rare women cops, rare women leaders in a commanding position of Govt. there are heap of pending rape cases and crimes against women within trial rooms from where many families just return daily with tears on eyes.

Why there is no one to articulate laws for protecting the girl in the society?

It's shaming political parties who just stirrer-up other parties after rape cases and make a fish market for victims where no one cares for the shock the family is going through. They create a bog of unusual disputes against each other to gain people's attention and trending in twitter.

Why India is unable to protect it's daughters and sisters?

While writing this article, myself and every Indian is also responsible for the misdemeanor of rapists as during every election, leaders use to have promises for bringing reforms in society by providing biryani and booze before election, but later on same dirty politics keep on going. We have "Beti bachao Beti padhao" yojna for education of women but we don't have single law to be implemented for immediate justice to rape victims. We need to choose our politicians on the basis of work ethics, track record and services he or she could deliver. Why don't we ever ask for the accountability of politicians? Today girl's security and safety is such a great concern that rarely we find women cops during night at police station, but we can speak and share about bold actress in social media. The time has come to realize the fact that if today we don't protect every daughter tomorrow we won't see any hot or bold actress or Miss universe or Miss world in India.

On 6th Dec, 2019 we had news of rapists being encountered in morning and also came to know that Unnao rape case victim who was set ablaze died at Safdarjung hospital, Delhi at night. During the treatment of Unnao rape victim, she was telling her brother to save her and she didn't want to die. She wanted to see the rapists getting death sentence and hanged in public. Now, a girl who was struggling for life had courage to survive but the lethargic law, political class and police system didn't have enough courage and judiciary system to provide security to the girl who was on her way to the court regarding the case. With her death the entire nation was shocked & outraged. The opposition parties trained the gun at the state government for failing to enforce law and order in the state. But the miserable truth is that the voice raised against government by Priyanka Gandhi or strike by Akhilesh Yadav now couldn't bring back the lost daughter of the family. Instead of having a fashion of candle march for rape victims we should together knock the doors of the government to cure the social fracture by rapists. While writing this article it's very sad to realize the fact that who has taught us to follow the trend of candle march for rape victims in India where once in history we had Ramayana and Mahabharata to protect women. A common man or victim's family members can only feel the value of tears of a mother who has lost her daughter. If her daughter couldn't survive, why the hell, human rights commission is there for rapists? Unless the judiciary system won't be fixed with immediate summon of rapists and and call of death sentence along with having women as front line leaders in constituency and law-making body; we are going to see increase in rape cases. We need to have women in social responsible posts like police, commissioned ranks, political parties, etc. where reforms could be made in better and precise way to sound out the voice of women struggling in society.

It's not only the story of UP or Telangana rape cases. It's about the concern over rape cases growing throughout the country and rapists in every corner of the nation. I'm quite pensive to say that there are also few politicians who just use rape cases as political weapon. People need to go above politics & think women safety as a critical issue. Now a question arises, if justice system in the country is very slow then law and forces be tempted to short circuit the legal process?

I believe we had enough of patience for justice and at some point of time you wait and wait, 7 years go and another Nirbhaya. What you will do? Can you wait another seven years where we know that our judicial system has failed to punish convicts sentenced to death by hanging? We speak of fast track courts, funds, but we have failed as a system. I'm sorry to say that today like me there are many others who have lost faith in legal system. When we are talking about legal system, constitution comes to the mind. Yes, I respect the constitution which was written years ago, but the system also need to revamp the laws keeping in view of the crime rates in India. If someone says that we have laws but again the question is do they have the teeth? Be it any political party, where are we heading for? Today 30% of fast track courts take 3-10 years for settling of rape cases. There is no salvation for the rape victims and for survivors of the family. It's really stupor that there can't be justice without a trial? We can't create moments of violence to answer a violence. As the rape victims went on, in that atmosphere which made us cry and silenced everyone but we want trial, fast justice delivery. We don't want police to take on in their hands. Even the legal services authority act, 1987 gives the provision that every citizen has right for defense. No one is allowed to kill accused before trial. I don't believe in this security system of society and the police station all over the country where in maximum cases when a woman goes to complain they insult the woman and insist her to go back, everything will be fine instead of filing her case. How could a citizen, especially a girl would have trust upon them? I don't want monarchy rule or military rule or say, "जंगलराज" in the country rather with due respect to the constitution, I want rigid laws and abrasive punishments for the rapists which need to be implemented and swift. Today we have reached that stage where 50% of public have lost faith on judiciary regarding crimes against women and unless we repair the law and order system this 50% is going to be around 80% in upcoming years. Is the problem really with the political, police and judiciary leadership and they are simply passing the bucked now? I would say that five fingers aren't same. Not all the rape, violence, murder cases are same but many of them goes on till 4-5 years. Just look at the family of the victims who have lost not only a daughter but to some the source of livelihood also. If overnight laws can be made for demonetization, "triple talaq", Shiv Sena - NCP congress combine could file case in SC for illegal revoking of president's rule, why can't we have trials for rapists after few days of incident? and if convicted why there is so called mercy petition or human rights for wicked crimes?

Last year itself, President Ram Nath Kovind said that rape convicts under POCSO Act, 2012 shouldn't have right to file mercy petition. It's the pathetic scenario of the country that the news of rape cases and rape victims run 24/7 on every news channel till months but it take years for the rape conviction and even if it's done, it's execution is another question mark put by opposition parties, human rights commission and few politicians. Why there can't be desolation of few rapists to save thousands of daughters? Just think of a day if police and guard security would be taken off for one day from a politician's home or a high profile person's home and by god forbid something unusual or unexpected crime happens with the family, the mother or the sister or the daughter; then mark my words whole administration, judiciary system would bear every pain to arrest the accused, then overnight court's trial room would declare death sentence or life imprisonment for the convicted and on morning you will see the headline that following minister's sister or daughter was given justice as demanded. If this much assiduity could be possible because of a minister's family or so called big people's family or also great person of politics and the family, then why couldn't be this same alacrity for a common man's family members? Are not the masses paying taxes to the government? If the constitution is not made for common people? If the rights of the general public is different from the rights of the political class or high class society? It's very sad but truth is that if the accused is poor or from marginalized community either he gets killed by someone or life imprisonment or gets underground but if the same accused is from a rich society, he gets simply bail or even the case is just not considered due to lack of evidence. Similarly, when a rape victim (the girl) is from a poor or middle class society, her case goes on for years without a legitimate statement of justice but when the girl belongs to any high profile class, definitely she is going to get justice within months whether it's complete or partial justice may be. Now with the rise of crime cases against women, daughters, our sisters if this biased law and justice policy won't be stopped toady who knows the next target could be any CM's own daughter and then only possible good sense could come as well as from that day the system will start to realize to fix the growing crimes against women.

It has become our utmost responsibility to protect every girl in her professional life and social life and make a safe place for women and there by reducing crimes in India. In order to prevent rape cases certain things we need to do or raise the voice for the following:-

• In the era of digital India, courts judiciary policy and hearing regulation should be digital to make transparent and quick proceedings.

• Rapists should be punished before public gatherings and instead of killing them they should be punished so brutally that they would agonize throughout the life till death.

• We need to rescue women and children from unsafe or violent environment.

• We need to provide legal advice to help victims of sexual or physical violence understand her rights & initiate judicial process to attain justice. This is the main reason why many victims and family members commit suicide for being slandered in the society.

• We need to start fight and speak out for our daughters and sisters to have a better governed society.

After this only every woman could say that she has a brother for raksha bandhan and also a brother who will protect her at night. It's my request to the government and supreme court to punish the rapists in public after legal trial and treat every rapists so brutal that they would dither throughout the life and then only a fear among rapists would come when next time they would be thinking to put hands on woman's self-respect.

As a closure to the topic I would like to infer few words of 47th Chief justice of India, Sharad Arvind Bobde , "I must say that justice can never be instant, justice can never take the form of revenge. I believe justice loses it's character of justice if it becomes a revenge ". The political people, activists, social workers and every citizen need to fight and opine for every woman's justice after which the vision of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Swami Vivekananda could be in action of leading the world and making India the best place for livelihood.