Here, it is to draw attention of the public towards the matter that nowadays in our country, the judgement is entirely dependent on which case is causing more media hype, rather than what is really the rarest of rare cases.
The nation is applauding the judgement given by the Supreme Court, that is the death sentences given to the four accused of the Nirbhaya gang rape case of 2012. The sexual assault was a burning public issue too. Keeping track with the constant media reports, the case was fast-tracked and was also followed by emotionally involved citizens.
Both the incident and the crime was the ‘rarest of rare cases’ for sure. But, there has been cases of sexual assault before and after the Nirbhaya gang rape case. But has judgements for them been done? Aren’t those sexual assaults? What is it that draws random public attention? Are we truly angry about the back-to-back cases and extent of sexual assault in India? Or, are we just responding to the ‘media hype’?
Just a day before the judgement for the Nirbhaya case, the Bombay High Court turned down the death penalty for the Bilkis Bano case – for those accused of gangraping a 19year old girl and murdering her family along with her three-year old daughter, during the Gujarat riot in 2002. Though it upheld the life sentences and reversed the acquittal of five Gujarat police officers who fudged documents and compromised investigation. But has justice been done to this case? And, why was it not done? Does gangraping a girl and murdering her entire family and not even sparing the 3year old child not fall in the category of ‘rarest of rare cases’? Are these not heinous crimes? Will these crimes not be repeated? Why does justice depend on rate of public attention? Questions like these should come up in our mind.
All victims of sexual violence have equal claims to justice. The hurdles they all face – fear of the society that encourages silence, investigative and judicial systems that mirror the misogyny of our culture, general indifference to the process of investigation and justice – these all should be removed, all at once. We all know that this is easier to say than to do. But we must make sure, that proper steps are taken to remove these hurdles. And meanwhile, as citizens of this country, it should also be our duty to widen the sympathies and reach our hand of support to all those victims and see the end of the road for ‘sexual violence’.
It is important to make this issue a public concern, so that the citizens can look forward to a true judiciary system of this country.
Written by :
Avisruti Sarkar
A concerned girl among many other girls, who being a citizen of India is looking forward to ‘real’ justice for all the victims in a rape case.