RAPE MOST HEINOUS

Reports indicate that all or most of the gang of rapists of the 23-yr old journo in Mumbai the day before yesterday are Muslims.

Wish TAHZEEB could reach out to the young girl, hug her and say, how sorry, how ashamed we are that you had to bear this. That we could not prevent this. And that you will for ever have to live with this irreversible trauma. Wish we could hold the hands of the parents and the friend of the girl who accompanied her, and tell them how we stand in solidarity, how we feel their pain.

Personally I demand nothing less than life sentences for any gang of rapists. But where the rapists are Indian Muslims and the victim a Hindu of India, I demand death. Now, I know that the law doesn’t work that way. But if Indian Muslims were given the right to kill they should unhesitatingly do away with elements such as these, given Islam’s strict punishment for rape, and given the political costs of these rascal’s crime that the hapless sections of the community will have to bear. This would be justified since the victim will have to suffer twice over if she were raped by the men of ‘the other’ community [as if rape by one’s own hurts any less].

[By the way, whenever I write my strong views against rape, I feel obliged to clarify that a lot of women’s groups label unpaid or un-thanked consented sex between adults as rape, which IMHO it is not. That way we belittle the heinousness of the crime of rape.]

This particular rape, as in the case of Delhi, was done when the girl had taken the precaution of having a male escort accompany her. And in the heart of the city. Men, ask yourself, what more caution can you possibly exercise? How and why?

How can we possibly ever cheer this brave girl, return to her her laughter, her ambitions, her self confidence and her faith in and love for men?