Why is this collective silence?

Very disturbing news of gang rape and murder of two sisters after almost one and half years of Damini incident has made me realize that nothing has changed so far. I wrote a post after Damini's case (Nirbhaya, these are not her real names to protect her identity). Now, I am writing another post after this incident. I am as disturbed as I was after reading the news about the brutal rape and murder of Nirbhaya. Yes, the first incident was in Delhi this is in some small village of UP, the chief ministers of both states are different, and they belong to different political parties; in the center also that time there was the government of UPA now it is NDA but apart from that nothing has changed. Then also a few fanatic men brutally raped and killed a girl this time two innocent girls were brutally raped and killed. WHY? What was their mistake? Why does our administration consistently fail to protect its citizens and act swiftly when any such crime happens? There was a huge uproar and widespread protests to support Nirbhaya and her fight for justice, why there is collective silence about this case?

Now as this news is reported in the media, few arrests will be made, few policemen will be suspended for lack of swift action, the blame game will start, the center govt will blame the state govt, the state will blame the police, and political parties will criticize each other to take political mileage from this heinous incident. A usual circus will be performed. This circus will go on for a few days like a ritual which they do after every such incident. Then people, government, and political parties will forget about this incident as if it never happened. Administration and government will become complacent until the next incident when this circus will happen once again. During Nirbhaya's case, there was widespread protest all over the country, and this forced the administration to take some steps not only to solve that case but also to reduce the suffering and humiliation of rape victims. Amir Khan's TV show Satyamev Jayate telecasted one episode related to this issue which offered many good suggestions to deal with this issue. How many of those suggestions were implemented or even seriously discussed? What is the reason for this collective silence? Is the frequent occurrence of such incidents numbed our sensitivities so much that now any such news doesn't surprise or shock us anymore? Have we become immune to such incidents? Many questions like this come to my mind when I see the insensitivity of current and past administrations toward such incidents. 

I can understand that there is a new government at the center and for the past few days there was celebration time for BJP and its allies for their impressive victory in general elections. Because of all this media has many more things to report. They are trying to report each and every step the new government is taking, which is good, people should be informed about the actions and plans of their government but was this news not important enough? Doesn't such incidents indicate the ugly reality of our society that needs urgent attention? How many more boys and girls need to die like this until this issue becomes as important as Article 370 or reservations or educational qualification of some minister? I don't know what will it take to make sexual violence a major national issue? Does the place of incident matter in such cases? Whether it's Delhi or Badaun the seriousness and cruelty of crime are the same, so they should get the same response and same treatment from administration and people. 

Incidents like this are not only about rape or murder, they are about caste, the attitude of the administration towards their citizens, efficiency, and accountability of the administration, and society's views towards such crimes. These issues involve many such aspects and at each level, we have some serious problems, that is the reason these incidents happen so frequently. The major problem is society's attitude towards women. Men who feel they are superior to women as well as women who think they are inferior to men need to realize basic faults in their thinking, they both need to understand the concept of gender equality. I hope talk of equality and women empowerment doesn't only remain on paper or in discussion forums, political parties and ruling governments show will and courage to implement policies that can make this happen in reality. We must raise our voices from whatever forum we can, blogs, FB, Twitter, protests, or whatever. Make the government realize that we are serious about such crimes and need very swift and appropriate action from the government. Criminals need to get punishment at least to show that no one can get away from crimes like these. Legal action will be the first step in this direction and then we also need many social and political reforms to remove gender bias which still exists in our society. I hope that I don't have to write another post on any such incident again. It's not easy to read about these things. Silence is not an option. Let's not wait for another Nirbhaya to die or another Badaun to happen, let's raise our voices against any such incident no matter where it happens and who is the victim.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Links:

1. Sisters Killed After Alleged Gang-Rape In UP

2. Outrage over gang rape, murder of cousins in U.P. village

3. Yes, We all are guilty..