The recent incident of the rape of a 6 year old allegedly inside the school premises and by school staff has brought about all kinds of outrage in the society. And as the norm, in social networking sites too. One comment in twitter struck me as a tad insensitive.
The person wrote, " I love how all of you are crying about the rape of a 6 year old. This is only because the parents are rich enough to outrage about it. "
I do hope she meant this in a way, that many children are getting raped liked this but no one comes to know it because they belong to lower strata of society or because their parents are not willing to take it to the police. But I feel even if that was the case , shouldn't a parent behave like this ideally? Wouldn't you want your parents to be in this manner if you were that 6 year old. Aaah... I just can't think of what must be going on in that little one's mind. But this tweet reminded me of an incident that happened in my college.
She was the daughter of a scientist, from a well-to-do and affluent family. One day she arrived in college a little earlier than usual. And since it was term reopening, every one was just getting back from their hometowns. We had all just reached back and were standing at the gate of the college when she came running down the stairs with tears in her eyes. She came and hugged her bf and wouldn't stop crying. We were all a bit worried, since in Kerala, public display of affection is "not accepted". We thought she had missed her bf through the holidays and hence the tears and the hug. But soon we realised that it was not that. She was sobbing uncontrollably. Everyone was asking her what happened. But she dint say a thing. Then when she was a bit calm, she and her bf moved to a quite corner and she told him what had happened. Next we see him , teeming with anger run up the stairs. The boys followed him while the girls tried to console her. She called her dad and they came to pick her up in 10 minutes. All of us were getting really wrecked up thinking what had just happened. I went up to the classroom and spoke to the bf. He had manhandled a peon in the college office. When I asked him if he had lost his mind. He said that the peon had sexually abused her. I was dumb struck. Because the person in question was a 59 year old man, father to 3 daughters. It was unbelievable to say the least but it was true.
Later I got a chance to speak to her bf in detail and he narrated the whole incident. She was sitting in the classroom when the peon came in and started talking to her. Suddenly he started groping her and kissing her by using force. She pushed him with all her might and ran downstairs.
Her father filed a complaint in the college the same day. But the Head was not so keen on punishing the accused. So her father took it directly to the University and the Police simultaneously. These words of the father is something I will never forget, "I know that this will cause a stir and make people look at me and my daughter in a bad way. But I don't care. If I, who is supposed to be a respected person, don't do anything about this then this man will go on to abuse someone else. I will not let that happen. At least not in these premises, where you send your children to acquire an education". Many people tried to force him to hush the matter saying it is a matter of shame for everyone but he didn't change his stand. He stood his ground till the accused was punished and removed from the college. Later on, many of the girls in the senior batches recounted that they had been abused as well. But out of fear of social stigma, they hadn't uttered a word to another human being. So much is the fear.
So do you think that the father should not have used his power or wealth or whatever resources he had to get the accused the punishment he deserved. Should he have also kept quiet and continued with his life? And then make way for the accused to do more and more things like this. And believe me when small things go unpunished they just give way for bigger and bigger crimes. When people with the means fight the bad don't belittle them by saying things like this. What they are doing will only make our society a little bit more safer. Don't we want that? Don't we want our children and women to be able to walk without fear, no matter who ever takes the action for that?
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