Candle-March

The gang rape and subsequent death of a woman on a bus in New Delhi has created a tremendous uproar. People across the nation are getting involved fervently, vigorously protesting and demonstrating their opinions on the matter. One of the opinions most people seem to agree on is the awarding of the death penalty to the five offenders, in addition to the fact that India is a nation where women suffer tremendously. The condition in which women are treated in India has caught the focus of the masses now, with demonstrations and protests regarding this becoming widely prevalent throughout the nation. India has thus become a place of great moral debate and question.

The first issue at hand is what to do with the 5 offenders. As previously mentioned, death is widely considered as their most suitable punishment. Frankly speaking, executing these 5 men is extremely unprecedented, and without a doubt an overreaction. At the moment, in India, the death penalty is not even considered in rape cases. The protesters thus wish to change the laws of the nation just to permit the killing of these 5 men. In all honesty, the only difference between this case and countless other gang rape cases is the level of publicity. This case has caught the eye of the people, and now the people wish to give the offenders the ultimate penalty after years of ignoring like minded people and their actions. Personally, I consider this fickle, and I feel that awarding the death penalty to these 5 men would not be appropriate in any manner. Indeed, if this case was treated as any other rape case, these men would have received 10 years to life, as opposed to meeting their end at the hands of the law.

The point about countless offenders opens up discussion on the conditions of women in general in India. A survey by the Thomas Reuters Foundation in 2012 showed that India had the worst condition for women out of the top 19 economies of the world. This study showed that issues such as infanticide, abuse, and rape have been widely prevalent throughout India for the last number of years. Despite this, the people of India have neglected all these disasters in favor of pursuing their own interests and lives. Today, when one of only an uncountable number of examples reaches the spotlight, the people are diverting a portion of their time towards it. The unfortunate truth is that a majority of the people are showing support for this cause merely because they consider it a social fad. As such, the protests and organized demonstrations they are holding, even when altruistic in nature, do little to help the situation in India today. For example, candle marches are being held throughout the country, being held in honor of the woman who died and to protest the treatment of India today. While moving in its nature, this demonstration does little in actually assisting this cause in any manner. Instead, people should be trying to fix the police system, trying to convince them to be more vigilant, and more strident in the measures they take against rape offenders. In all fairness, protests are being held in favor of speeding up death penalty trials in a judicial system which can take years to commence a trial. While this is difficult to achieve, these people do have the right idea in terms of actually assisting this cause.

These facts are in no way intentioned to diminish the tragedy that has taken place. The events that have conspired in New Delhi are extremely unfortunate, but the fact is that they are only a miniscule subsection to the actual crisis Indian women face. It is essential that people start viewing this incident in context to all the other similar incidents rather than exemplifying the horror of this one alone. We the people are the only ones who can change this system today, and thus, it is our responsibility to do anything we can to assist the troubled women that undergo torture throughout both rural and urban India today.

My name is Anirudh Hungund, and I am an 18 year old currently residing in India. I have been writing for various blogs since the age of 14, and intend to do so for a good deal longer, seeing as writing is one of my most deep rooted passions. I am Indian, and feel extremely strongly about the issues I discussed in the article above. I in no way intended to belittle India through this article; rather, I simply wish to improve it.