A Letter

This article is yet another in what seems to me to be a long chain of articles being written about rapes. I know it must be tiresome for you readers to be reading the rants of an eighteen year old boy, but nevertheless, this is what I feel.

 

I read an article this morning about how it’s always the woman’s fault that she gets raped. Apparently, her crimes are numerous. She drinks. She smokes. She speaks her mind on matters which are important to her. She’s got a boyfriend and hangs out with a group that has both men and women in it. She gets up in the morning and dresses in jeans to go to college or to work in a skirt. These are the crimes that have one punishment. Rape. I suppose the times have changed and we must adapt to this growing trend of ours with as much haste as possible.

 

The most recent rape case, no that’s too harsh. The most recent meting out of this lawful punishment was to a five year old girl, who was later tortured. I am told the accused, her “saviour” was later arrested, but doesn’t that make him a martyr to his most noble profession? I mean come on, we must be very thankful to the rapist. After all, he could spend so much of his time getting a job or studying so he might do his parents and relatives proud. He’s truly a great man for being unable to see the women of today  become so characterless and is truly a freedom fighter, using his “manhood” as his weapon in his crusade against women.

 

Wake up my dear policeman and officers who are supposed to uphold the law. You people are there to protect us not to let these animals escape. You have the right to kill in the line of duty. You do not have the right to make a mockery out of a woman who has come to report that her honour has been looted through no fault of her own. But no, I’m incorrect. I must be, or else why would I be reading in the newspapers about how judges in courts make victims of rape recount the trauma, word for word, blow by blow. “Did he fondle you?” “Did he have an erection? He did. Would you say the shortness of your dress was the cause of this erection? Now tell the court if you please, what time it was that he was done with you.” “You say the ambulance drivers argued about whose jurisdiction it was. Can you prove without a shadow of a doubt that you were actually raped?”

Is this for real? I feel like I’m writing a horror story right now. But you know what, that’s the tragedy. This is very real, it’s very much out there and nothing is being done about it. I wish I knew what I am going to tell my daughter when she comes and asks me the meaning of rape. Am I going to tell her that it’s the modern way for society to punish her for being born a woman? A, I going to tell her that it’s a social stigma she’s inherited, by virtue of her sex? Or am I going to tell her the truth, that rape is one of the most heinous crimes that a person can commit. It is a sin worse than murder and the person who does it is not fit to be called a human being? Either way, I'm definitely teaching her to defend herself, because it is clear to me that the people my father pays taxes to protect her will not do their job. I will teach her to keep an open mind, be frank and  to wear whatever the hell she wants to. She has that right. The right to be free. And Society, that’s the fact that you need to accept, instead of this futile drive to convert Kolkata into London.

 

With warmest regards

 

Ashesh Mitra