Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, rape for rape!
Today I came across a Panchayat news and there couldn't have been a better example of our world, where we are headed and evidence of our increased inhumanity and sloppy judgement.
News as reported by CNN: Village elders ordered the rape of a 17-year-old girl after her brother was accused of raping another girl in Pakistan.
Here's what happened:
A man raped a 12-year-old girl while she was cutting grass.
Post contemplation, the elders declared that as vengeance, one of the sisters of the first attacker would be raped for the crime.
The second victim's 'mothers and sisters' protested this but the elders brought out their guns and threatened to kill them.
An eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth was considered amicable justice in the past but we have moved on from the conventional times to a more just age where various other factors are considered before passing such crude judgements.
Going by the proverb, the elders must have ordered rape of the culprit. (Seriously considering rape for a rape is just so barbaric.) But thankfully, they didn't. They rather 'ordered rape of the culprit's sister'.
Now would that be just on the part of the girl? Who should she look upon for a revenge and justice? Did she deserve it for whatever her brother did? Does anyone even deserve rape?
By passing a judgement that serves rape as punishment implies that the offender deserve rape.
No body deserves rape, not even the rapist.
It is not the first time a woman has been raped as a form of punishment which is far more than that. Men or women, rape is irreparable. It's the most inhumane form of cruelty that we can inflict upon each other. It damages a person physically and psychologically. Moreover our society and it's norms have made it even more difficult for victims to come out with it. They survive for the mere sake of survival.
Our society has limited our existence to the bare holiness and purity of skin, body and most importantly genitals of the victim only who also is a woman. If any of these is untouched, a woman is fit for a family, unless otherwise.
By raping a woman we destroy the honour of her family, and all those people who she belongs to. And most depressingly, women are not human beings. Women are perceived as property. To own. To sell. To destroy. To rape. To enslave.
Yet we go about happily with our life as if nothing is wrong and carry on with our misogynistic norms. We, who destroy these women, want to live a fulfilled life yet expect the women to only survive with guilt because living is only for them who haven't committed a crime of being raped.
For all that has happened, and for all that we have done, it's not them who should be ashamed, but us.
T[op image credits DVIDSHUB, used via Flickr under a Creative Commons license 2.0; Used for representational purposes only]
News as reported by CNN: Village elders ordered the rape of a 17-year-old girl after her brother was accused of raping another girl in Pakistan.
Here's what happened:
A man raped a 12-year-old girl while she was cutting grass.
Post contemplation, the elders declared that as vengeance, one of the sisters of the first attacker would be raped for the crime.
The second victim's 'mothers and sisters' protested this but the elders brought out their guns and threatened to kill them.
An eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth was considered amicable justice in the past but we have moved on from the conventional times to a more just age where various other factors are considered before passing such crude judgements.
Going by the proverb, the elders must have ordered rape of the culprit. (Seriously considering rape for a rape is just so barbaric.) But thankfully, they didn't. They rather 'ordered rape of the culprit's sister'.
Now would that be just on the part of the girl? Who should she look upon for a revenge and justice? Did she deserve it for whatever her brother did? Does anyone even deserve rape?
By passing a judgement that serves rape as punishment implies that the offender deserve rape.
No body deserves rape, not even the rapist.
It is not the first time a woman has been raped as a form of punishment which is far more than that. Men or women, rape is irreparable. It's the most inhumane form of cruelty that we can inflict upon each other. It damages a person physically and psychologically. Moreover our society and it's norms have made it even more difficult for victims to come out with it. They survive for the mere sake of survival.
Our society has limited our existence to the bare holiness and purity of skin, body and most importantly genitals of the victim only who also is a woman. If any of these is untouched, a woman is fit for a family, unless otherwise.
By raping a woman we destroy the honour of her family, and all those people who she belongs to. And most depressingly, women are not human beings. Women are perceived as property. To own. To sell. To destroy. To rape. To enslave.
Yet we go about happily with our life as if nothing is wrong and carry on with our misogynistic norms. We, who destroy these women, want to live a fulfilled life yet expect the women to only survive with guilt because living is only for them who haven't committed a crime of being raped.
For all that has happened, and for all that we have done, it's not them who should be ashamed, but us.
This post was published here as well!
