1.1.2013
Today is just another day. I woke up, drank tea, petted my cat, and then drowned myself in reading and writing. In the evening I walked around in cold Delhi, protests against gang-rape were still going on. I could be happy if I did not know that a 6-year-old girl was raped in Pune today. Not only that, a 7-year-old girl and a 17-year-old girl were also raped in Bangalore. Rapists gave India, that was still mourning for the Delhi rape victim, new year’s gifts: two more rape incidents. And a girl suffered 90 per cent burn injuries after being set on fire by a man. The only crime the girl committed was she resisted street harassment.
While the nation was demanding for the safety and security of Indian women, men in India continued raping women. Here are some rapes that occurred in the last four days.
14-year-old girl was gang-raped in a jungle of Sikkim.
A widow was gang raped in Poonch.
16 year old girl found hanging from a tree in Andhra Pradesh.
20 year old raped classmate in Madhya Pradesh.
Woman sexually assaulted by six people at a photo studio in Haryana.
Body of 25 year old woman with several cut marks found on her body and neck found near a pond.
Class VIII student gang-raped, murdered in Aligarh.
15 year old Dalit girl was raped and held captive for 15 days by three men.
Mentally challenged 14 year old girl raped by brother in law for 6 months.
A 45 year old woman gang raped, murdered in West Bengal.
14-year-old girl attempted suicide after being gang-raped in Gujarat.
75 year old man molested a 4 year old girl.
Dalit girl sexually assaulted even as protests rage pan-India over Delhi gang-rape.
These are just the tip of the iceberg.
Honey Singh, the Indian rapper was an unknown name to me until today. I sincerely hate one of his songs that glorifies rape and violence against women. To my surprise he is extremely popular and currently the highest paid singer in India. I feel disgusted when I read or listen to his rape song. It is about raping, hating and beating women. I am not going to agree with you if you say this song won’t encourage anyone to rape women.
A very sad day indeed.
I first started realizing how huge of a problem street harassment was when I found the site stopstreetharassment.com – it helped me realize that this is a huge problem all over the world, far more severe than I’d suspected before.
All said, it’s depressing, and given how entrenched misogyny is, I’m never sure how to proceed, but I hope the recent outrage is continued and can lead to some real change.
What about Ramcaritramanas? “dhol,ganwar,shudra,pashu,naari, sakal taadna ke adhikari”? [Drums,Idiots,Shudra,& Women, are deserving of thrashing.]
It’s depressing. I have given up. Just anyhow ‘living’. My conscience has been raped by corruption, my sensibilities have been corrupted by rapes”. India is a jungle, people are still not civilized. I wonder if Gandhi did a blunder in asking for independence before changing the mindsets of his people.
@Dr. Ranjan:
Gandhi did many things for women’s rights, but remember many of the other things he did. Over several years in the 1940s, he made various young women (including his grandniece) sleep naked in his bed.
I go to this site , called change.org,Take a Stand for the Girl Who Stood Up: Nominate Malala for the Nobel Peace Prize, and they send notices to my email. They also follow up, and report on the progress, and whether or not it has been acted upon.
Here is another one, The Government of India: Change the laws for both violent and sexual assaults.
They link to this article in the India Today news site:
A timeline of Damini’s struggle till death
They are pretty good at reporting some of these events that don’t get noticed in North America, and they have extensive coverage of the court case against Damini’s rapists/murderers.
I like to get these reports and petitions up on Facebook as well, because I think it is extremely important for as many people to know the number, and depth, of these problems, and the corruption and violence of the societies that allow this to go unpunished, or even lauded.
This is one the front page of India today, as well :
The Angry Indian
Delhi residents took on to the streets to vent their anger against brutality against women
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/delhi-residents-took-on-to-the-streets-to-vent-their-anger-against-brutality-against-women/1/239869.html
Taslima, I didn’t know anything about the extent of the gendercide, or war against women, that pervades the culture in India, or West Asia and the Middle East. Staggering, unfathomable. I think I read that one million women disappear every year from violence, and if that many die, how many more are sexually assaulted, not given education….
Thank you for the murder of women is an epidemic that spreads across many countries, all over the world, every single day. Men just cannot seem to stop hating women. Rape is not about sex or lust. It’s about power and humiliation. Women create life, and men destroy it. They seem to have been doing a damned good job after all of these years! All this violence COULD be stopped. By men. BUT-they are simply not interested in letting up. Men could change the world in this aspect-how wonderful would that be? However, I am not going to hold my breath, and wait for this to happen. As strong women, we can make a difference. I choose not to have any men in my home. I associate with them quite superficially, and keep them at bay. Yes, I am a lesbian. Not because I hate men, but because I love women. Any hatred I have of them is their fault for their horrible crimes against innocent women and girls. I wasn’t born hating men. They did this to me. I am a rape survivor, I have been assaulted, robbed, and stripped of my dignity by men. I guess I should say “oh they’re not all the same-maybe I’ll find a special one someday and live happily (crappily) ever after! Nope-my sights are set on bettering myself as a person, getting involved in women’s rights, writing poetry, loving music and art, spoiling my animals, and keeping myself healthy and sane in this insane world.