Hathras ki beti-one we could not protect

 

Yess..!! What did you say? Sorry,  I can’t hear you!! What did you celebrate-last Sunday ? Ohh yes “ daughter’s day”. Yes, why not? Your princess deserves the accolades and celebration. You toiled hard, you made her stand on her own feet; you helped her take those baby steps; you gave her the best education. So!! Celebration of those moments for the apple of your eyes...yeh to banta hai..

But she was not a princess. Had she been one she would not have been allowed to accompany her mother in the fields covered with tall grasses to cut. She was an unknown beti of Hathras, a district formed in 1997 in Uttar Pradesh. Noo. She was not the princess! She was hardly 19. Oblivious of the imminent danger, oblivious of the two-footed sharks that followed her stealthily, she got into the fields cutting the grass. She was supposed to do it na!! The sharks did what they could do best. No . I am not going to narrate the “incident” for it is all over the media.  With their heinous acts complete the sharks left her there in the field-her spine broken, her tongue slashed and modesty outraged. The  hapless girl lay there with blood oozing out of wounds; paralysed waist down for her spine was broken, screaming for help that would not arrive soon.

The incident happened on 14 th September. The Police did their act. They made “enquiries” about “ how and what” while the poor girl lay near unconscious gasping for breath. From the district headquarters to Aligarh and to New Delhi’s Safdurjung hospital-the plight and agony continued and so the pains. The girl was alive-fighting for her life for she wanted the culprits to be brought to justice. Unable to speak clear she mustered all her courage as she succeeded in narrating her tale identifying the culprits. While the nation celebrated its daughters last Sunday the ‘Hathras ki beti’ continued her fight in hospital . The end came yesterday. Calm was written on her brow at last. 

What is more than sheer apalling is that the Dec 2012 Nirbhaya incident failed to teach a lesson. The gruesome incident and the sinister designs attached to it had brought the nation’s conscience to shame so much so that the incident led to amendment of laws-stricter than those prevailing then. But nothing to avail. We did not learn a lesson. Sorry Nirbhaya-we as a nation have failed to protect our daughters.

Yes.. the incident will soon be in realm of judiciary. The investigation will follow-thousands of pages of charge sheet will be filed; the case will be fast-tracked; the culprits will be given death; and, then from Sessions court to High court to the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the cry for justice will continue to bang its its head for years. Suddenly, the “forgiveness is the greatest virtue” brigade will get something to showcase its talent; petitions one after another will follow...it may take a decade for justice to be met. While the matter will be relegated to almost nothingness in days or months the poor family will continue to suffer.

The Hathras incident and prior to the that happened to Priyanka in Hyderabad  have shamed the nation once again. At a time when the Government’s *’beti bachao’* initiative has taken momentum, incidence such as this again puts a spoke in the endeavour. It is a matter of concern that despite stricter laws being enforced post Nirbhaya incidence some mentally deranged rouges still   roam around with impunity and compel us to think that our daughters are far from being safe.

A country which cannot protect the the dignity or ensure safety of its daughters , is doomed for sure. The incidence should waken up the administration and society at large from slumber before it is too late. A country where Goddess Durga is worshipped as Mother is testimony to the fact that its daughters are not safe. What an irony!! Let us all raise our inner voice. The nation cannot continue to witness its daughters as sacrificial lambs before some mentally deranged rouges . The Mysogyni that exists deep within us and our societal fabric manifested once again in it's most brutal, crude  and inhuman form.

Nirbhaya , Priyanka and now ‘Hathras ki beti’- my heart cries for you as it is broken thousand times when i think about you. Only if we could teach our sons!  It is often said that life in itself calls for celebration. Well it surely does while the ‘Hathras ki beti’ does it by embracing an untimely death!