BYE-BYE, MY BRAVE SISTER...
*Geetika Jaswal
She was brave, she fought with all her might, but she is gone today…may be for a better world where she can finally rest in peace! With her death has again started a circus of obligatory condolence messages, blame games, clarifications, fake promises, political mileage,!
But Frankly…I DON’T GIVE A DAMN!
It is personal tragedy for me…it’s a day of mourning for me because I have lost a braveheart sister today. A sister whose name I don’t know! Call her Damini..or Amaanat..or Nirbhaya..the truth is that the name doesn’t matter because it could have been anyone in her place…it could have been ME! Actually hasn’t it already happened to all of us? Right from our school/college days to workplace and for that matter any public place where we were ogled at, teased, pinched, pushed, groped, chased, stalked…the list is endless! And it was traumatic! What everyone needs to realise is that it is NOT an isolated incident! We all have been putting up with such crimes…rarely being able to fight against it, may be in fear of even more traumatic and scary repercussions!
It took the sheer brutality of this case to finally shake the conscience of the nation. But how long will this anger..this rage simmer? Or will this girl become just another number in the nation’s RAPE STATISTICS? Let us promise ourselves to not let that happen! In her struggle to survive those grievous injuries and multiple organ failures, she has taught us one thing – DON’T GIVE UP…FIGHT TILL YOUR LAST BREATH!
Let us take a stand and SPEAK UP! Let’s wake the Government out of its apathetic slumber … Let’s demand legal reforms to ensure the certainty of conviction and harshness of punishments in such cases! Let’s ask for Police reforms..so that no girl is ever scared to report any crime against her and feels secure even while walking through dark alleys! But above all we need to bring that change in us.
Finally the time has come when all of us bring about the much needed change in our thoughts…our mentality…our actions! Let us all bring that change in our language… the blessings like ‘may u be mother of 100 sons’, stop laughing on those sexist jokes and comments ( ‘dented and painted’- really?) …stop dancing to all the item songs that only objectify women- yes—enough of munni, sheela and their halkat jawani!
Let every girl promise herself that she will never tolerate any act of violence against her...be it physical, mental, social! Let every boy promise himself that he will never indulge in any such act. Let the parents promise themselves that they will teach their sons to respect the other sex and their daughters to not consider themselves the weaker sex! Let the society promise itself that if such crimes ever take place against a girl then rather than linking it to her honour and making it an issue of shame, it will extend a sensitive hand of support! Let’s develop a collective intolerance to anything that makes a girl beg – ‘agle janam mohe bitiya na kijo’
Is that too much to ask? Can we all come together to make it happen? That will probably be our biggest tribute to THE VALIANT GIRL WHO HAS MANAGED TO WAKE THE NATION AS SHE DESCENDS INTO AN ETERNAL SLEEP…!
*Geetika has been engaging with social issues since her student days. Her focus area is child development and protection of child rights. She has worked in the voluntary sector.
