Table Of Contents

X
Table Of Contents

Victim

I wasn't wearing a miniskirt. I was wearing a sarong over jeans that were ripped off me. But the police wouldn't have thought of that. Such surmising requires great powers of observation and deduction: blood, bruises and dirt on my legs and thighs might have suggested a forced entry; a bleeding hand might have suggested foul play; no shoes on my feet might not have been a sign I was a lady of the night (prostitutes don't wear shoes?) but a victim of some nasty crime before being discarded on the roadside. Anyone with a basic education and TV-cop show understanding of crime scene investigation would know all that. But not these police officers.
Inspectors, maybe. But not the first-rung johnnies reserved for the general public. Some of them are no better than the brutes they're meant to be protecting the public from. And even the majority (let's be positive) who aren't breaking the law aren't always above protecting those who do, or having a total disregard for a victim's ordeal.
Sorry, I know I'm cribbing. I've lost a lot of blood and more dignity than I ever knew I had. And if I sound bitter, well, I was just raped by three men - sorry, two men and one "boy" of 17 years of age - who pulled me into their car and drove me around Delhi (heard that one before?) while they took turns violating me, to put it nicely. Then when the cops finally came to my rescue they nudge my disregarded body with their dirty lathi and deduce, wise Sherlocks, that I am a whore and therefore not deserving to be rescued.
Then again, just because I wasn't originally dressed like a whore doesn't mean I wasn't. Maybe I am a whore.
04

JAW DROPPING ENLIGHTENMENT

Some of India's less progressive minds tackle
the problem of rape

"It is sometimes right and sometimes wrong." -
Babulal Gaur, Home Minister Madhya Pradesh
"Boys will be boys, they make mistakes... Will you hang them for rape?" -
Mulayam Singh Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief
"Just because India achieved freedom at midnight does not mean that women can venture out after dark." -
Botsa Satyanarayan, INC legislature from state assembly of Andhra Pradesh
"Rapes take place also because of a woman's clothes, her behavior and her presence at inappropriate places." -
Asha Mirje, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and a member of the Maharashtra Women's Commission
"I have not seen a single incident or example of rape with a respected lady." -
Manohar Lal Sharma, defense lawyer in Delhi Dec 16, 2012 gang rape case

For more read:

Short skirts, bad stars and chow mein: why India's women get raped - Reuters

Political potshots: Why me, asks modern woman - Times of India

Shut up, please! - Newslaundry.com

X
For a better view, please switch to a PC/Tablet.