India is one of the fastest developing countries in the world. The whole world now admits that India is a rising superpower. Its economy is booming and its army with nuclear weapons is one of the best in the world. But in recent times, India itself has become the news headlines and got special attentions from both national and international media for all the wrong reasons. The media was very keen to project a general view that women were not safe in India especially in the national capital. I think that perception has not been changed yet. New Delhi came under spotlight since the infamous Delhi gang rape which took place on 16th December 2012. It was not the first time that a rape and murder happened in India but the magnitude of inhuman characteristics and the brutality shown by the 6 perpetrators to the victims, made the people of India and abroad very very shocked and furious. The perpetrators committed that heinous crime in a moving bus without any remorse and tried to make sure that the victim won’t survive to be able to bring them to justice. Victim’s male companion was also beaten severely by them with an intention to murder him. Then both of them were thrown out of the bus and left alongside the road. They were later rescued and hospitalised by the Delhi police. The male victim survived but sensing the deteriorating critical condition of that rape victim, the doctors and the govt. of India transferred her to the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. But on 28th December 2012, she lost her last fight and breathed her last. Police apprehended all the 6 perpetrators of which one was still juvenile. The main accused Ram Singh later found dead in police custody. This gang rape case is now sub judice in Indian courts.
On 21st December 2012, the young men and women of India erupted and formed a large protest around the India Gate in New Delhi. The protesters clashed with the police in large numbers as they were trying to move close to the Parliament and the residence of the President of India. The outrage never stopped there but spread all over India. We also felt the heat in Kolkata as the city also expressed solidarity and joined the protests. Earlier we have also seen this kind of large protests in India especially in New Delhi in support of the introduction of strong “Jan Lokpal Bill” led by Shri Anna Hazare. All those big protests were spontaneous in nature and occurred without any political colour or support but organised by the non political organisations and mostly by the youth of India. Without the participation of Indian youth in large numbers, this kind of non political protests and movements for social cause and justice might never happen in India. How much grievances towards our system and society were accumulated in the minds of the youth of India, the whole world came to know and got surprised to see the scale of the protests and movements which took place in India. Young generations of this era now want to change their surrounding socioeconomic structures and live without any social or religious prejudice. Although we have progressed in economy, education, health and other fields but deep inside our social structure, we almost remained the same in last thousands of years.
India is called the “Sub Continent” because of its diversity in geography, society, language and its people. India is now the home of 1.2 billion people and has become the largest democracy in the world. Being a secular country, India has given its people the right to practise different faiths and religious beliefs. But the social structure in India is too deep and complex to be changed overnight. One of the main aspects of society is that how we treat our women in India and elsewhere. Nowadays I have been watching the news that more and more physical assaults on women are being committed in India. I wonder what is more true? The number of physical assaults on women is increasing day by day in India, women are getting out of their social deprivation and getting the courage to register complaints in police stations which they were afraid to do so in the past or the media in India itself is gaining the fast momentum and sensationalising all issues or the media in India has now become the face of India. I think all are true but I don’t have any statistics to establish my view. But the point is that physical assaults on the women must be eliminated from the society of India at any cost. There are many social activists and intellectuals who are working in this regard but we the youth of India must take an oath to clean our society and everybody must take care of one another and make sure that these types of crimes never happen in India. I am sure that the govt. of India is also working on all legal and social aspects and their implementations to ensure the social security of the women in India.
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