Another of India’s daughter has been sacrificed at the altar. She was just an eight-year-old girl, a tender age to have been martyred .. yes, she is a martyr!
That day, just like any other day, the young girl took off to the meadows to graze her horses, carefree and unaware of the predators lurking in the shadows. How was she to know that this would be the last time she will set out from her home and never come back to grow up as a young woman? Her life would be brutally cut short by a bunch of devil incarnates who had laid out the snare for her. That little flower was wilted and crushed in a manner that remains unprecedented. I won’t reiterate the gory details of the inhumane crime, it just leaves me shattered every time I think of her ordeal. What must be going in her mind? She was a strong girl undoubtedly, as she endured this heinous act for 8 long days. At last, she gave up.
Three months after this gruesome act, the chargesheet spilling out the details of the crime, saw the light of the day. Pressure started mounting from all ends, except for a section of our so-called secular society, that blinded by religious fanaticism protested, disturbingly, for the accused to be released. Presenting ‘Nationalism’ as the new bait, wielding the national flag, chanting the name of the lord, they mocked at the idea of humanity and religion. In the process, they demeaned the whole system and took it to a new low, from which it seems hard to recover. The people in power chose to maintain an eerie silence on this issue which needed their attention the most.
The civil society at large is still divided on the issue though many influential people have voiced their outrage. The nation is shocked and there is a growing clamour for the culprits to be brought to the book. But, my question is will this be justice served right for Asifa? Can anything bring her back to life or better still, erase the grave memories that her parents have to live with their whole life? Most importantly, will this ensure that there will be no more Delhi, Unnao, Kathua in future? And will Asifa make us wake up to the grim reality of a dangerously polarised society which is tarnishing the dream of our founding fathers, who laid their lives for a democratic nation? This is not the India we took pride in, this is not the India of our dreams.