The above
news item currently is the most important event in India as of December 2012. On 16th December, 2012, a middle class girl after watching a movie in prominent Shopping mall was
returning home with a male friend for which they took a private bus. The Bus
was not a regular mass transit bus but it is common in Delhi’s unregulated
roads for such private buses to ferry passengers. Facts known now say
that the Bus was being driven with a premeditated intent of picking up a girl
for “Rape”. The Bus was occupied by 6 people including the Driver and
Conductor and these six people brutally raped the girl . The violence committed
on her is unimaginable and too horrific to write. Both the girls and her
male friend who was also beaten brutally, were tossed out in the road after the
event.
Delhi particularly is known to be a very aggressive city, Fights happen,
turn violent and lead to deaths. Delhi is also particularly unsafe for women
and in the recent past there have been incidents of women being picked up even
as early as 9 PM and raped in moving vehicles.
The horrific nature
of the above rape incident outraged the sensibilities of the youth and from 18th
December onwards protests starting building up with increasing momentum. Most
of these protests took place in the Central Delhi in India Gate and on Vijay
Chowk, less than a km from the Parliament and the President’s house. The
ferocity of these protests can be gauged from the fact, given the security
climate in India, it is near impossible for protestors to gather in this
central area but the protestors broke security cordon and protested in this
high security area.
The Government in
retaliation used force on the protestors ( lathi charge – hitting the
protestors with sticks, and water canons) . Many people likened these protests
to Tahrir Square. The Government shut down Rajpath – the central road
connecting the President’s house and India Gate and 7 Metro Stations to stop
the Protestors from gathering in the Central Area.
Today early morning
hours , the girl has succumbed to her injuries in a Singapore hospital. Most
people are feeling a sense of personal loss as if a family member has died. 14
of my 250 connections on Facebook have posted condolence messages . There is an
expectation that this death will prompt the Government to act tough against
sexual offenders.
The Government
anticipating protests has once shut down 10 Metro Stations. Security has been
beefed up in the central area around the President’s house and India Gate.
Section 144, which bars assembly of more than 5 people in a place, has been
clamped in the central area of Delhi.
The incident has
also brought out the fact that the current Government is out of touch with the
public sentiment.
