Unacceptable

This news story really made my blood boil. “Incredible India”, goes the slogan to boost tourism in this country. But with a story such as this one that has made the news all over the world, their tourism department may be working overtime to maintain such a slogan! On December 16 of this year, a 23-year old medical student and her male companion were on their way home after watching a movie. A bus with tinted windows pulls over and takes them in. Apparently, this bus was being driven around by a group of males in a joyride fashion, that quickly turned into crime. Six of these men then take turns savagely raping the woman, and even sexually assaulting her with a rusting metal bar! They then throw her and her male companion off the bus, apparently stripped of all their clothes! 

The drama does not end there. She survived the assault, but had to be airlifted to Singapore due to the extent of her injuries. But alas, those injuries were just too much for her body, and her doctors to overcome. She died a little under two weeks after the crime. What makes my blood boil is not the nature of the crime, although it is as reprehensible as any can get. What incenses me is the whole Indian culture with regards to women and rape! Many are aware of the caste system that Indians still practice, and how women are generally shabbily treated in society. Apparently, gang-rapes are not uncommon in India, where many are unreported for fear of ridicule and even persecution! A fact even their top politicians cannot refute. 

India may have the world’s largest democracy, but obviously they also have the largest number of sexually depraved and deviant men in the world for them to treat their women in the manner witnessed! In another rape case where the victim reports the crime to the police, the victim is harassed by the very people tasked to protect the innocent, even asking her to accept a cash settlement for her troubles or just marry one of her assailants! My goodness! Humiliated beyond social acceptance, the victim commits suicide.  

I can understand that our cultures may vary immensely. But even in a caste society such as India, this crime cannot, should not be tolerated by any means or rationale. Rape is rape, I don’t care from what part of the world you are or from under what rock you crawl under. I really don’t know if these two rape cases that have made worldwide news will change anything in India. It is of little consolation that protests are now ongoing with regards to these crimes. That is for them and them alone to figure out. I can only pity Indian women who have to live in a society that only treat them as pieces of meat to be violated, humiliated, even murdered. 

We may not be a perfect society. In fact, we are far from being one, with our own share of heinous crimes. I can say that rape is a crime that is not tolerated, nor encouraged in a manner that seems to be culturally accepted. I don’t think the PNP, with all its faults, have encouraged a rape victim to just marry her assailant! I do hope the wave of protests and uproar over the crimes in India will have its fruits. That culture gives way to decency and social acceptance, especially for women. The Indians have to bring back the incredible to India, not the unacceptable.