A Sin?

A 13-year-old girl was living a joyful life with her parents and a younger brother. She loved to go to school, play with her friends, she even liked to dance. But she was unaware of the consequences of being a girl in a country like India. 

Her uncle used to bring her chocolates and gifts whenever he came to their house. She even loved those gifts. But, the price she had to pay for it was painful. 

He used to take her inside the washroom and make her sit on her lap. He kept one of his hand on her mouth so that no one could hear her voice. 

The girl used to cry and roar in pain and he used to say, "Just two minutes sweetie, you are so beautiful, just two minutes, don't tell anyone about it darling, ok?"

It used to hurt a lot, she wanted to tell this to her mother but was afraid of doing so. 

It continued to happen for months until one fine afternoon, she fainted while playing with her brother. Her mother was startled and she immediately called her neighbour and her close friend, who was a doctor by profession. 

The doctor asked if she ate something or not since morning and if she had her periods. The mother told her that she had breakfast in the morning and that she was late for her periods that month.

After thoroughly checking her up, she was of the opinion that the girl was pregnant but she wanted to be sure, so she asked her mother to get her pregnancy test done. On hearing that the mother was shocked. She could not think of anything but her daughter. She did as her friend asked her too and on seeing the results everybody was stunned.

The girl was pregnant...

2012 Nirbhaya Gangrape and Murder case, the culprits were sentenced to death after 7 years!! 

You can imagine how slow our justice system is and how easy it is to bend our system that it took 7 years for the judicial system to give their judgement. 

On January 19, Bombay High Court held that groping a 12-year-old minor’s breasts without removing her clothes wasn’t a ‘sexual assault’ as there was no skin-to-skin contact between them as, under The POSCO Act 2012, skin-to-skin contact is necessary for sexual assault. The accused was however punished for outraging a woman's modesty under IPC Section 354, but is skin-to-skin contact so important for being adjudged as sexual assault? Groping of breasts of a minor girl is not enough to be sexual assault? 

Previously people used to kill girl child because they wanted a boy, but now they would kill them because when they grow up, they would get raped!!

Any woman, walking on the street, might be assaulted when they were a child. 

You would never know who had a dark past, who is going through that dark phase, or will go through in future. 

It can be your own sister, your own friend, or your own daughter. 

Girls are considered to be the honour of our family and that it's their responsibility to safeguard the family's honour. If they report sexual abuse, they are considered to be shameless and people think that they don't care for their family's honour. They have to fight a lonely battle against the world for justice, which is too not delivered timely. 

Is this their fault that they got raped? Is being a girl in this country a sin? 

I ask why?

One of the reasons may be lack of education and awareness. The government should introduce sex education in our school's education curriculum. Such lessons can help to empower young people by highlighting women’s changing roles in society. And they can also provide a safe space to address distorted views of masculinity and create awareness of violence against women. It can also teach young people about consent and respecting each others’ personal space. Sex education should also be a space to learn about menstruation, sexual intercourse, sexually transmitted diseases and risks of pregnancy. 

Young people also need to know about the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse. This, in turn, will allow them to recognise abuse, and protect themselves.

In today's world, where women are soaring heights and giving equal competition to men, there are still some women who are afraid to live their life independently. It becomes our responsibility to make this country safer for women, respect them and treat them equal.