India’s Fight Against Rape: 20 Youth Tell Us Their Views

Every youth in the nation has an opinion about every aspect related to the Delhi rape incident. Be it the government’s reaction or the steps taken for the victim’s recovery, we have our voices and we MUST speak. Here are a few comments from Youth Ki Awaaz community members: 

On the survivor being flown to Singapore for further treatment:

Chirag Aidasani: Happy as well as sad .. Sad because our country men still depend on hospitals abroad for advance medical procedures … Shouldn’t we develop our medical technology further and stop being dependent on foreign hospitals?

On the need for central leadership in the rape protest movement: 

Saswata Chakraborty: “Please maintain sanity,assault the real goons,not the innocent.channelize the protest in right direction or it loses credibility.”

Tushar Jain: This is not any leader’s movement, this is a cause of everyone. We just need to keep the political hooligans out. Just stay together, maintain peace and keep protesting. Justice will be and has to be served.

Ankit Dhama: This is not a political movement and the people on India Gate are not hired people. They are there by their will. Any body have called them there. They go there by themselves. This movement is not for the system this against the system.

Navnee Gupta: YES!! The hooliganism that we saw yesterday has confused the youth, it has gotten blinded and muddled. We are not focusing on the larger picture and it has become a war between the citizens/ protesters and the government and the police. We set out to oust the social evil and it was a fight against the way women have been treated in the society, a demand for women to feel more secure and to have more stringent rape laws and better laws for crime against women!!! And IT WILL TAKE TIME!!! Our constitution is like that! But, all it has become is a big confusion. Rather than questioning the power granted to masculinity in our society because of the patrilineal structures, we are again down to discussing how corrupt and “dhogle” our politicians are!!! That is not what we set out to do!! WE NEED FOCUS!!! AND WE NEED UNITY AND SOLIDARITY!!! as the differences are being made use of by the government against us!!! GET TO THE ROOT AGAIN GUYS!!! DON’T LET IT FADE!!!!!

Joanna Shruti Sundharam: The protest doesn’t need central leadership, that will just take away from the actual purpose of the protest.

Yeshu Aggarwal: It reminds me of India’s 1857 War of Independence. According to the History I learned in school, India lost that war because of division across India. Only if we had a leader for a movement. And no I don’t intend it to be a political leader. Someone like Kiran Bedi for e.g. would have been suitable.

The thing I find with the people of our country and which has really hurt us is our attitude and shortsightedness  At the end of the day, we’re worried about ourselves. Compare this to the attitude of Europeans or Americans or any developed nation for that matter, there attitude is a lot different. And thus a strong leadership is essential. The executive and the legislative should come together with the people and force the judiciary to change the laws. Vote bank politics need to stop. And the constitution definitely needs to re-written.

On the attack of Delhi police on protestors: 

Charu Verma: This is a very one sided story. there were anti social elements in the mob, (read NSUI members). Plus laws are not amended in two days. we are talking about rape law which i strongly believe needs to be stricter but demanding that it should get amended in 2-3 days is not right either. You cannot hang every rapist, mind you i am nowhere on the side of rapists I am a woman i know what that girl must be going through. This was a rarest of rare case and hence those monsters should be punished hanged, no doubt on that. But amendment of rape law will take time it involves lives of both the convict and victim. Violence is no solution. I know even government is not handling the situation in a responsible way but that is true in case of public as well. I know there is anger i know there is frustration but that will lead to nowhere. What about the constable who is fighting for his life? There is just chaos.

Jeremiah Coelho: the violence was started by people who were trying to push forward their political propaganda… By nut jobs mingling with the peaceful crowd and aggravating it

On Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s address to the nation:

Sougandh Pavithran: It took him 5 days to come out and say something. And is that the only thing what he has got to say? 3 years the average cases of Delhi alone is 500 annually. And wasn’t he seeing it coming? What sort of a person is he is what many can’t understand right now. 500 Rapes annually that is Delhi’s tally.

Shruti Gupta: Every politician can only speak not work towards it…such an intolerable incidence and they are just seeking the rules feel pity on my government they can’t even handle the culprits the way the PUBLIC want and they call it DEMOCRACY. It should be included in world’s best joke book that India is democrat. Pity on them! They are RULERS of our country’s public but servants of the criminals!!!

Sougandh Pavithran: Reminds me of Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu who once said – “When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.”

Forgive me for the political in-correctness of the statement, just understand the facts as they stand by putting it into our present context where entire population is the Africans of those days and Manmohan Sing & Sonia is the Missionary. You close your eyes, then you will find nothing left. You would be completely naked, and sometimes you might have even lost your body organs. That is today’s Congress.

Navnee Gupta: Yes Sir, we can act sane all the time, that is what is expected out of us; but the govt is just acting like a bunch of cowards! The police is beating up general public and doing things I don’t need to mention here as it is all over the television, but we will surely keep our calm as we are nothing but a herd of sheep for you!! But i am sorry to say that please tell your police to be a little gentle to us as we are the citizens of this country trying to get our rights straight, and not the bloody rapists!!! 

You should not at all be sad, about how your police has behaved as apparently they did as they were directed. The police who is supposed to protect ‘us’ is protecting your ass while you sit at your home monitoring through TV, the protests, while we get brutally assaulted on the roads of your “pyaari dilli”!!! Aap meetings kariye, discussions kariye, kutton ki tarah parliament me aapsi madbhed kariye, magar hum sadkon pe halla bolenge aur is baar humein koi nahi rok sakta!!!

Aanchal Jagnani: Every politician can pay the emotional lip service. Actions tell the truth.. and there is this MMS, back with his ‘just-for-the-sake-statement’. I tell you what will happen eventually. Just like Sonia and MMS reach the victim and meet him/her personally or their family members during terrorist attacks and grant them ‘compensation’. That is what they’re going to do this time. Will announce a heavy compensation to the families of the victim. Will compensation ensure safety???? or will it reverse the mishap?? There in Delhi, the police officers are making such rubbish comments about girls wearing short clothes and exposing skin to justify a rape. What they are doing is even more shameful.
Men are raping Women, Police is raping Safety and this PM with his entourage is raping Democracy. Victim = Citizens. Shame on this government and such self-righteous hypocrites!

The anger expressed through the protest is not JUST against the recent gang-rape case in Delhi. It is a melange of no action against the previously happened rape cases and the rampant atrocities against women which have continuously been overlooked by the govt. It is a collected ire & frustration that people have because of the respective authority’s improper/no action against such cases. It is Supreme Court’s guidelines, that the Police must go by Rape Victim’s word. Instead, there the Police is passing such meaningless comments about women wearing scanty clothes JUST to justify a rape. And there, the govt was quick to respond to the protestors through inapt means in the form of lathi charge, water cannons, tear gas and what not? because THEIR privacy was being invaded. What about the modesty of the women which is disrespected and invaded in broad daylight? If the govt would have taken even half of the steps they took on the protestors, women would have been breathing in a safe India. However, unfortunately, the govt members can think beyond the ends of their noses, let alone the citizens. They are raping democracy!!!!!!!! Law takes its own course, WE ALL KNOW THAT. But mind you, this is India!!!!!!!!

Parray Mehraj: Indian people are protesting against the rape incident of a girl in Delhi and I appreciate them from the bottom of my heart but only one question I have for them. When 56 women were raped by Indian army in a single night in Kunanposhpora, Kashmir aging from 13 years to 85 years why didn’t they protest? When two women were raped and killed by Indian army men in Shopian, one of them being pregnant why didn’t they protested ? Ok keep protesting aside, but tell me one thing, when we protested against those incidents of Kunanposhpora and Kulgam and other rape incidents in Kashmir by Indian army why you labelled us terrorists and killed us in hundreds from children to old men ? Ain’t you terrorists today ? Don’t you deserve death for protesting against rape ? Don’t you deserve death for asking justice like India is giving us whenever we ask for justice ? My heart is weeping for the girl who was raped in Delhi but my heart is also weeping for your existence and your fake justice system.

Priyanka Peeramsetty: Diplomatic answer, as always. Not to hurt anyone, which makes no difference before and after his reaction

On the death of Constable Subhash Tomar: 

Chaitanya Jonker: RIP! And its not public who is responsible. Its the people in power who are making the scenario worse. Police was following their orders to lathi charge those who were protesting. People obviously in turn would react if treated this way. Though I wont appreciate this reaction, but it was quite predictable. Both, the people and police got to stand together.

Srishti Manocha: The constable had heart problem ! The police dept. Knew ! AND YET HE WAS SENT TO DEAL WITH THE MOB !!!

 On the protest against Rapes: 

 Neha Rana: If the law will be made it will be made for every case and not for this 1 only..if we talk about not all murderers being hanged we know there are various circumstances under which murders happen, probably a girl may murder a man trying to rape her…and we certainly can’t hang this girl but can there be any good reason behind a rape…no..not at all..just because these men are fearless they commit such sin..the fear of death can only stop them

Jaai Vipra: I’m sorry, but if the collective notion of the aam aadmi is “hang every rapist”, I’m not surprised the government isn’t inclined to listen. A rape happens every 22 minutes. You cannot kill off everyone. Rapists have been hanged before, rapes actually increased after that – it’s hardly a deterrent.  And most importantly, justice does not equal retribution. If killing for rape is acceptable, stone throwing for stone throwing should also be acceptable. But neither is.

Shilpy Sharan: We women have a voice… that is larger than any fucking thought of boys(no offence) , face that can set you on fire, actions that can move you , we just need to figure ourselves out and do whatever we can to protect it.. our dignity

Sadho Ram: Now, the Police will decide where to protest and where not to? Do they own the Rajpath and India Gate?