We are looking at an abyss here. What happened to the city on the 16th of December was something that one can never forget but what happened today was even more bizarre. The main accused to the Delhi Rape case, Ram Singh, committed suicide today. And as I write these words I am trying to figure how to react to this. Following his death were accounts of rape and sodomy which allegedly took place inside the prison (which also, strangely, happens to be the maximum security prison of the country). Why do we bother keeping any prisons if we can bypass the entire system of justice in any case? Or why not just lynch rapists and alleged terrorists because that makes our society feel ‘safe’ somehow?
I have never understood this culture of mob-justice that makes one blind. Being strictly ‘just’ does not mean finding a victim at every point and isolating them from the societal space complete where the act of the crime has taken place. When the Delhi rape case happened, we were rushing away naming the victim a braveheart and all but where are we dealing with rape culture? Many people I heard on the radio while speaking on the BBC today (link here) went on the ‘good-riddance’ and ‘justice served’ front which obviously is not different from the ‘Braveheart’ syndrome. What we need is cold and precise analysis for better understanding of the crime and the psychology that gives birth to a crime that heinous and degenerated. We need some sense and rationality.
Priyam Goswami Choudhury