The incident I refer to in this blog post is to do with the now, world famous gang-rape incident in India, which, eventually, lead to the loss of life of a woman, Jyoti.
I write this after having seen a documentary/ film, called "India's Daughter". The film itself is still at the time of writing, still banned and facing legal challenges in the courts of India, and here, I fail to see why.
The story is told from the beginning of this case, right the way through until it's end of production time, whereby it has to finish where the news is "awaiting supreme court decision" on the final verdict over the sentencing of some of the men involved in this incident.
I'm sure you remember it....
The scene's you see above came within 24-hours of an incident that shocked the world. A woman and her male friend boarded a bus in Delhi, India, thinking it would be taking them home, or near to. Instead the male was beaten and the woman was dragged to the back of the bus, where she was raped by up to 6 men, one of whom later pulled out her intestines, before her body was dragged out of the bus and left on the side of the road.
News of this incident was fast to spread and in what turns out to be quite a shock for India, people took to the streets to say, all in all, women deserve to be treated equally.
Now, for those readers who wish to watch the documentary, click here to see it. Now, that link will take you to the BBC's uk website. As the film still faces legal battles in India, I would presume the film will have restrictions upon it, where it can be viewed etc, I do hear through Indian news websites that the film IS available in several western countries... hello the UK.
In an update on the case though, you may be shocked to learn that the court system, well, specifically the supreme court of India, is now dragging it's heels. Unknown reasons, but still, it is causing a delay for no good reason, but here's where I have to question my own morals on this.
See, a while back, on here, I wrote about the case of Mathew Shepherd, a very famous case in the LGBT community, but, his killers were found and at first, his parents pushed for the death penalty, but, in a last minute switch around, they said no, infact, his farther is recorded saying....
However, in western culture, we are taught, well, most of us, what is right and what is wrong, so it is possible for his killers to remain alive, in prison, regretting their actions every single day they live, for the rest of their lives.
In India though, would it be possible for that to happen? By saying that I mean, women are truly seen as a 2nd class, no, even 3rd class citizens. In recent statistics a woman is raped in India every 20 minutes. Horrible little fact isn't it, but that shows how little women are thought of.
I should also point out here that while yes, I do have an Indian boyfriend, he too is no expert on this matter, he has only visited India once and was as shocked by the film as I was.
Back to the point here though, because it does make you think after watching the film, about should the death sentence be used, because if these men were allowed to live out the rest of their lives behind bars, is there any chance at all that they would regret their actions? I mean, they may regret their actions in the way that yes it took away their freedom, but would they ever regret doing it on the grounds that they KNOW that should not have happened to a woman and that to treat a woman in that way is not acceptable.
I am left sat here now wondering myself if the death sentence is the only way forward for these men, I mean, what other option is there? It is now too late for education.
Jyoti though, I don't think has died in vein. I think a message has been formed and I would like to see her name used over and over again, as women gain equality in India, and other places around the world too, but to use the incident involving her as an example of "that's how it was in the past, let us move forward today".
She is once quoted as saying "What is higher than a doctor", well, I think she found it. Her name is already written down in history, we must now use her name to move women's rights forward, to give other women the chance in life that she never had.
In closing, this film should not be banned, anywhere. Yes, it does have some scene's in it which are not suitable for children, so it's not for everybody to watch, but certainly the rest of the world should be seeing this. We should be seeing the bus driver when he basically says that it is a womans fault if she gets raped, we should see it an encourage a change of mindset in the country and around the world where women are seen as objects and not people.
It is time for equality, Jyoti's story is, I hope, the beginning of this change.
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