The outrageous scourge of rape in the spotlight

WE DIDN’T know her name, we never got to see her face or hear her voice but the young woman dubbed “India’s daughter” has become a symbol of hope for women who have become soft targets for evil, bad-intentioned rapists for far too long.

The “Bravehearts’” gangrape sparked international outrage and marks a turning point in alleviating the rape endemic which has been plaguing the lives of the weak.

The case has triggered protests and vigils across India and raised questions about the lax attitudes of police toward sexual crimes.

Protesters and politicians from across the spectrum called for a special session of Parliament to pass new laws to increase punishments for rapists – including possible chemical castration – and to set up fasttrack courts to deal with rape cases within 90 days.

Since the incident, one safety measure which has shown a positive step forward was the warning by government for the removal of all curtains and tints from all public transportation in India.

Damini (which means lightning), as she has been lovingly referred to, died in a Singapore hospital on December 28, 13 days after she was gang-raped by six men on a moving bus in Indian’s capital city on December 16.

Indian police said yesterday they would be formally charging five of the six suspects with murder – the sixth suspect is under 18 and a juvenile.

Police ordered a bone test for the sixth accused to confirm his age.

Under Indian law, a juvenile cannot be prosecuted for murder – a charge-sheet in the case will be filed in court tomorrow (Thursday).

Even the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has lent her voice to this outrageous “scourge” of rape. However, Pillay rejected the death penalty for six men facing gang rape and murder charges.

“What is needed is a new public consciousness and more effective and sensitive enforcement of the law in the interests of women.

“India has shown, through its social reform movements of the past, that it can rid itself of a scourge like rape.”

Local activist, Shabnam Palesa Mahomed, of the Standup Foundation, is livid.

She plans to work with activists from across the local spectrum to eradicate the scourge of rape on the weak once and for all.

“Damini’s struggle to survive propelled a global revolution. The sadistic psychopathic gang-rape is a crime against each and every human being.

“As activists, we fully advocate life imprisonment with no possibility of parole, or life imprisonment,” said Mahomed.

She said official figures had shown a drastic increase in rape in India over the past 40 years, from 2 487 in 1971 to 24 206 in 2011.

In New Delhi alone, 572 rapes were reported last year and more than 600 in 2012.”