I'm an Indian girl (for the unnamed girl)

I live in a country which is known for its cultural heritage. I love my country, I do and that is exactly why I write this. Because I'm not just an Indian but an Indian girl. 

There are many people in my country who stopped reading newspapers because it is filled with murder, burglary and rape. I was one among them, I chose to read news online to avoid such news because it pained to read them and now I feel ashamed to be one among them.

This is real India and like it or not, painful or not, ashamed or not - we need to face it, I need to because I'm a girl, a lucky one indeed because I didn't choose the wrong bus, wrong friend, wrong cab, wrong vacation  wrong house, wrong office, wrong area. But there are many other girls - my sisters who did and who are doing it and that is why there is one rape happening in my country in every 30 minutes.

I know I can't board a bus after 10.00 PM . I can't take the local train after 9.00 PM (velachery route train after 7.00 PM). I know I can't walk back home from college after 8.00 PM. I know and so I followed it and so did millions of other girls. But my question then and now is why should I follow such unwritten rules just because of those animals who are happily let loose in my country? I should not be the one who should be afraid but those who do the mistake. But will this male chauvinistic society understand what I say? I seriously doubt it because this society didn't arrest an individual for rape till 1970s. This society said 'women don't dress properly and that is the reason for rapes'. This society calls those victims as 'socially not acceptable' and create a social stigma. 

But women are fed up with those unwritten rules, so called false statements said in the name of culture and society and that is why the growth in reported cases of rape is 873% in 2012. At-least 1 in 69 rapes are being reported now. And all this is just about the rape cases. What about the sexual harassment? Those filthy words, gestures, songs, videos, pictures and actions? We live in a country where victim of rape itself is not being given a proper justice then what is the point in even talking about other sexual assaults? 

I live in a safer state and a safer city according to the statistics but it may also be true that I live in a state/city which emphasizes more on the social stigma and the reporting of the rape is too less. But whatever maybe the case it is clear that my country has people who comment amount the 'lipstick and powder', the 'painted and dented', 'dress of women', 'call for female chauvinism' etc. I don't care about these people but I do care about the fact that my country stands 3rd in the world when it comes to sex offences. 

I do care about the 16 year old tribal girl Mathura who was raped by 2 policemen but was not given justice in the court because she was 'habituated to sexual intercourse'. (Desai Kanj police station Chandrapur, Maharashta) when the supreme court has described that even if a woman is habituated to sexual intercourse should not be called as a person of lose character and should be given justice.

I do care about that 7 year old girl who was raped and had her hymen ruptured and bite marks on her body but was not given justice because the guy's organ didn't have blood marks.

I do care about Bhanwari devi who was not given justice because she was a Dalit and the guy was from a upper class and it was not possible for a upper class guy to rape a girl from lower class.

I do care about Sakira (16 years old) who was kidnapped and raped for 18 long months but was not given justice because it was 'improbable for a person who was ready to pay to go for a reluctant girl'.

I do care about the Bangladeshi girl who was raped in the Howrah bridge, the Poolan devi case (who turned as the Bandit queen to take revenge on those who gang raped her), the Kunan Poshpora incident (1991 Indian army rape around 53 women), the Shopian rape and murder case (2009, Kashmir), the Suryanalli case (40 days by 42 men,1996), Aruna Shanbung case (assault by ward boy 1973 and as a vegetable ever since), Jalgoan rape case (300-500 minor girls, 1994), Thulasa thappa case (12 year old Nepali girl kidnapped to Mumbai and repeatedly raped),Thanjam Manorama case (raped by 17 Assam rifles, Manipur), Anjana Mishra case (Orissa, 1999), Imrana case (Sexual assault by her father in law, 2005), Vachathi case (search for smuggled sandelwood and raped 18 women, 1992), The park street case, The German girl rape case (14 year old, 2008), The Bandra rape case (Spanish girl) and so on.

If the issue is on the way how girls dress up then why is 3 year, 5 year kids are raped? I live in a country where there is no law to save marital rapes, Child rapes by objects and fingers. I live in a country where the attempt to rape has punishments half of that to a rape. I live in a country where politicians are discussing on whether to have a special parliamentary session to discuss on the rape laws which gives just 7-10 years of imprisonment and offender cannot be hanged (except certain cases) when a 23 year old girl is raped by 6 people in the capital state in a moving bus. A girl who had 6 internal organs removed and struggling for her life (who if end up alive would never be able to eat or lead a normal life) was questioned twice. The girl who was so strong and who still wanted to live left us all and ended up in heaven. 

I live in the country where the president accepted the mercy plea of 7 convicted of rape and mass murder. But I also live in a country where people both men and women stand in queues with black cloth tied around their mouth silently gathering in public places asking for justice with candle in their hands. 'the candle is mightier than the log of wood'. Hope the light from the candle and fire in our hearts never die till the justice is reached. Let this not be a first page news for few months and disappears  Let us not have the usual selective amnesia and short term memory loss as we usually have.

 I'm an Indian girl and I'm waiting for the day to feel proud of it and not afraid.