By Shobha Diwakar

Rapes and candle march seem to have become synonymous terms. Who are the gallant young men who organize these dramatic rallies and profess to shed unshed tears for those innocent babes who lose their life and struggle to survive amidst propaganda? Young schoolchildren who probably do not even register the obnoxious act and the dirty implication are dragged in street protests to march with lighted candles. What if these kids are burned with the melting wax while protesting? Who then will take responsibility if this happens? Will the senior protesters come forward and accept their ‘whim’ or will they wash their hands off the whole affair? What is the responsibility of parents and the school towards their wards under such circumstances?

In this fast developing world of easy virtues crimes are rising all around the world. Children too are not as innocent as they were before; blame it on easy access to porn sites and TV serials, movies and cheap ads that display everything under the sun from condoms to IUD: things that were behind the curtain are now easily available everywhere and there is no restriction about who buys what. Whether college girls’ or boys’… the pregnancy kits are out there for use.

Coming back to the question about rapes…sex maniacs exist in every society. Unlike ‘seasonal’ animals that spare the young, sickly men driven by their excessive libido, pounce like leopards upon the young unsuspecting child whose trust is betrayed in man. What one fails to understand is as to why when such corrupt men are caught the law takes a long, long time to convict the accused? Even as the child and her family suffers the stigma some sort of compensation is awarded as a ‘reward’ to the suffering family while the culprit, if a so- called juvenile is treated as a distracter of youth, the innocent immature child or babe suffers brutal bruises that will never ever leave her mentally cured as she grows older. How very inhuman of the media and other meds who claim ‘she is a child and will gradually forget the ordeal,’ talk such nonsense?

Protests are definitely a way to draw public attention and claim justice for the raped child yet is it the only manner in which someone’s voice is heard? All that it does is create jam on the streets and withhold traffic. The media, instead of raising a curt public opinion and demanding the worst possible punishment for the culprits simply reports ‘a candle march was organized and taken out… and the rest is filled out with the ‘brave’ names of those ‘gallant men’ who led… the ‘show piece’. It would be much better if these very ‘honest,’ ‘virtuous,’ contractors of humanity looked within their hollow souls and searched their inner being as to how many that paraded in this candle march were serious towards defending the young and the innocent. Where does their moral responsibility wither away when girls are ragged and used by boys for ulterior means?

Candle marches do not solve any problem for miscreants in society. There has to be some serious ponderings over the issue. What one cannot understand is in the eyes of the law, which is a rare case. Is seducing, molesting and raping a baby 3/4/5/ 6 months old or even a young budding girl by beastly men aged 15/ 16/ 17/ 18 up to 56 and 70 year old hyenas of society not to be considered as rare? Has society given the right to men to decide with whom he must bed for his nasty sexual urges? Every day the media reports these heinous crimes against babies, girls, and women and yet there is no stop to this menace only because justice comes too late and the case drags on and on as in the case of the NIRBHAYA murder.

Rapes should and must be treated as cunningly planned inhuman murders of the sufferer and so the rapist must be charged accordingly and meted out the gravest punishment, not less than public hanging to teach the ill minded, sickly men a lesson… only then will others realize the seriousness of the offence. Then may be this ‘raping’ for pleasure game will be put to an end. Right now, these bloodhounds are aware that some ‘cool’ lawyer will come to his rescue and some ‘gangster’ friends will give a perfect alibi or a false statement to save the leech. By the time the lab reports come the game is played. Until then, the family will have enough time to ‘thank’ the media, the political visitors, the candle marchers and the sympathizers, not forgetting the ridicule of the ‘compensation’ paid into the bank account of the family with lucrative offers of free treatment in hospitals, topped with free education at all levels and job guarantee…Rewards for being raped!

So, the message given is get raped, no harm done … there are ample benefits attached to this degrading and dreadful ‘animal abuse.’ What does a Candle March offer except publicity?

Ponder awhile has Candle Marches ever solved such problems?

About the Author: Dr. Shobha Diwakar lives in Jabalpur, India and retired as the head of English department at C.P. Mahila Mahavidhyalaya, Jabalpur. She has published many research papers, stories, poems and essays in national, international and online journals. She contributes regularly to writerslifeline and Indian Periodical. Dr Diwakar  servers on the Advisory Board of www.writerslifeline.ca.