Maybe it is just me. But I don’t want Asifa to rest in peace yet. She deserves nothing less than to come, haunt and extract revenge from the men who did this to her. Justice for her and punishment for these men is what will allow that little girl to RIP!
If you don’t know who I am talking about, Asifa Bano is, I’m very sorry, was an 8-year-old baby girl who was raped and murdered in India. And that too, no less, in a Hindu temple!
News and stories of rape victims in India have, unfortunately, become common these days. In fact, one still remembers BBC’s documentary, ‘India’s Daughter’ that was released to the public in 2015 about the 2012 Delhi gang rape of Jyoti Singh (who came to be known as Nirbhaya which in the Indian language means fearless), a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern.
I still remember reading articles and listening to the news about Nirbhaya back in 2012. It is a fact that bad people exist in the world! This is something that has always been true across the globe. But that year, my pride for my country grew in folds. As citizens from across the country gathered to the streets, irrespective of age, gender, religion or any other factor, tied together as citizens of India, as ‘brothers and sisters’ (as the Indian pledge goes… ‘All Indians are my brothers and sisters’). My pride grew. Nirbhaya had been wronged, but my country and my fellow citizens had stood by her to give her the justice she deserved.
But answer me this now. What can ever be done to bring justice to this 8-year old girl?
Yes, India is a conservative country when women were made to stay in the kitchen a long time after the world accepted gender equality. Yes, India is a country where women would rather cover themselves up in a saree or a salwar- kameez than short skirts. But when did India become the country of gang rapes and rapes?
Parents have begun to urge female children to find education outside the country, settle down abroad, get married to an NRI (Non-Residential Indian).
Here’s what I cannot fathom. How would anyone, irrespective of who he is, how he grew up and what he has been through in his life, ever come to the conclusion that he had the right to do what he wanted to another human being?
What happened to the basic sense of empathy that makes us human? What happened to ‘Karma’ that the country so enthusiastically believes in?
When people took to the streets supporting Nirbhaya, I thought things had taken a turn. I thought people would finally realize the implication of doing something that was so fundamentally wrong. But my belief has been broken.
What can ever be the answer to all of this?
So yea, at this moment, I am not going to wish for Asifa to rest in peace YET. She deserves nothing less than to come, haunt and extract revenge from the men who did this to her. Justice for her and punishment for these men is what will allow that little girl to RIP!
A Different Take 
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