Bring out the change, bring out YOUR epiphany

I was studying in 10th grade when I read the Malayalam story ‘Moovanthi’ which means the ‘Dusk’ written by P Padmarajan, an eminent Malayalam writer. It was a great shock for me to imagine the content of the story where a blind daughter is getting raped by her own father. But now, after 5 years I am not surprised by the news reports published about the rapes and assaults happening towards infants to old aged people. Because this has been normalised like anything.

Few days back, every news houses covered a report about a 75-year old woman’s rape and assault by three persons in God’s own country, Kerala. No one was shocked because this incident is one among those which is happening around us every day. The increasing number of sexual abuses and assaults in the country is being neglected by everyone which is now leading to a very dangerous situation. The crime is so brutal both to the mental and vital condition of a person but still it prevails. We should ask to ourselves why this is happening. The mentality of the people towards others has changed drastically and they can’t even recognise their own blood or a lady with the age of their mother. 

The question is not only about the crime but also about the ‘punishments’ giving to the culprits involved in the crime. The judicial system of the country disappoints with its loopholes every time when these types of cases appear in the court. The judicial procedure itself takes years to give the final judgement and the common people should think how many times the judgement gave the satisfaction. We should seriously think about the 2011 Soumya murder case, where she was brutally raped, assaulted and killed by Govindhachami and nothing happened to him. Who saved Govindhachami and many others like him every time?

There are people who still believe that the time, attire and attitude of women is the reason behind such crimes. But how will they justify a 4-month-old baby raped and killed in Lucknow, the rape case of boys and a woman of 75-years getting raped. The problem is not with the time or attire but the mentality of the current society. The situation now tells everyone to be careful even with your own family members. During my teenage, my mother was scared about me travelling alone and asked to keep distance from unknown people. Now I wonder about the advices that a mother probably give to her child. At what age of her child will she start to give advices to be careful? And to keep distance from whom?

If you are not paying attention towards these type of crimes it is just because you believe that your loved ones are safe from all these. But you are terribly mistaken. The current situation of our society guarantees no safety to anyone. It is better to be careful and take care of the people around you. There is darkness behind every warm light you see.

Gargi R Prasannan is an Under Graduate student of Journalism and Mass Communication in Nitte Institute of Communication, Derlakatte, Mangaluru.