My 2 Cents
Last year, a married friend of mine was stalked on social media for months. She used to get abusive messages on both facebook & whatsapp. To get rid of that nonsense she obviously had to deactivate facebook, change mobile number & take some other preventive measures to protect herself.
The worst part is
1. She couldn't discuss this with her family because they might not understand what is actually going on and will blame her straight away
2. Did she file a cyber complaint? No. Because we are brought up in a society where talking about police,law and lawyer is a taboo
This is the major problem half the women & even few men are facing. Whatever maybe the issue first trust your friends or family members completely. Dont jump into conclusions. People are suffering abuse in workplace, in their schools & colleges and unfortunately they don't have anyone else to understand the real problem. Instead they are being named & shamed for no reason. Nobody is ready to hear them out. This makes them to take drastic decisions in their lives just like how this Vinupriya did. The word "SOCIETY" is no more alive. Lets not live a life around it.
The so-called SOCIETY stood like a statue in Nungambakkam station & watched the death of Swathi. Still the police haven't arrested that beast.
The fact that nobody came forward to help her is ofcourse shocking but some of the tweets & fb status messages about this 24-yr old victim is even more appalling.
If you can't do anything against the crime atleast don't hide behind some fake names/accounts and tarnish that poor soul's character. This fake life could satisfy your inner demon but in reality you are just a FAILURE.
When I was in school, "Sarikasha" issue was the most talked incident. Eve teasing lead to a cruel murder but do you think the evil eveteasing stopped after that? The answer is NO
In 2010 a 10 year old girl Muskaan was raped & murdered along with her little brother in coimbatore. A taxi driver was the reason behind this. Did child abduction, abuse & rape stop after that incident? Again the answer is a big NO
We have to be ashamed of living in a generation where incidents like Nirbhaya, Jisha, Swathi, Vinupriya keeps happening in regular intervals. And then there are countless domestic violence against women all over India which are not brought to daylight. Imagine how vulnerable a women in village would be without proper food, money, respect or self dignity.
I used to think that increasing literacy rate could actually solve problems. Our former president late Shri APJ Abdul Kalam had a vision about our Indian youth and how India will grow as a country in 2020. But unfortunately half the present younger generation is glued to Technology for all wrong reasons and wasting time creating funny memes, indulging in a war of words in youtube comments section & in other forms of Social Media. What is the solution for all those? We are slowly failing as a democratic nation..
All we can do is be an "INTERNET REBEL" & post some status on facebook or tweet about it or write a lengthy note (like what i am doing right now 😏😏) and move on. Exactly a year and half ago I wrote this post ( http://sambarsaadham.tumblr.com/post/112783326616/indias-daughter) when people were protesting against the release of BBC documentary "India's Daughter". From then to till now nothing has changed in terms of law or people.
We are somewhere far far away from living in reality. All we care about is a silly recognition,a single heroic moment,crying for attention. Be it the number of likes,followers or number of retweets. Trying to believe that life can only be successful and forgetting the fact there maybe failures too. There maybe heartbreaks, there maybe rejection too.
People's mindset has changed totally and it is not just about upbringing a male child properly or teaching self defence to your girl kids. It is definitely more than that. Each and everyday we are being influenced by external factors. They maybe good or bad but we are easily attracted to the bad ones. Fear of law is not there. Safety is another big concern. A country of over a billion people it is difficult to appoint a policemen to each of us to safeguard. Afterall he is a human being. We have to think in broader perspective as "Why such crimes are happening"? "What is the actual reason behind it"?
There are few things which we can atleast try to make our India a better place to live without fear : 1. Definitely we need strict laws & punishments for crimes especially against women. Also cyber crimes should not be taken lightly. Lets say if death sentence is given to Swathi's murderer then there will be definitely a group of people who will support him like how they did for that juvinelle in Nirbhaya's case. This dilutes fear in criminals. They take this as an advantage 2. Police department should definitely become people friendly. Infact a deadline should be given to solve murders & other crimes.Stop ill treating innocents. In the same way people should respect their profession and co-operate with them. Instead of calling policemen with nicknames & abuse them try to consider them as human beings who are working for us. 3.Dear media instead of discussing priyanka chopra's Armpit & beep song focus your attention on something useful. Instead of writing articles about 10 top wardrobe malfunctions in bollywood, give coverage to the issues that are really important. 4.There is no rule that man should only be a macho & women should only be softspoken. There maybe imperfections in every gender but dont do stupid things just to prove a point or impress others. You aren't gaining anything by being fake. Just be you! 5.Stop glorifying murders, stalkers in movies. Even in the name of comedy stop body shaming men and women, & stop making fun of skin tone. This will definitely create an inferiority complex among them. 6.Be it any relationship whether you are dating or whether you are married trust your partners. If there are any issues first talk to each other openly, if not visit a doctor to sort out issues. If you still think you are not compatible for each other then better to move on, split legally 7.Respect your parents and atleast make sure that they are aware of exactly what is happening in your personal life. If you are a teen don't shy away from discussing your hormone related issues, if you are a grownup its ok to discuss about you love affair too if its genuine. Dear parents things have changed now, dont run behind caste & religion and take horrific decisions 8.To women if there is a colleague or boss or friend behaving inappropriately, torturing you or abusing you don't stop without taking action. Every small negligence could cost you big. Choose your friends circle carefully. Always be cautious about what information you share online. 9.To all men first respect the female members in your family. Be it your mom, sister, wife or daughter. Then you can proudly share your status messages on wall. We are no longer a male dominated society. If you cant accept or digest the fact then it is not a woman's fault. So stop controlling her life and instead let her to lead a life safely by holding her hands & by supporting her on her growth. Terrorism doesnt mean killing people by suicide bombattacks or firing a riffle. Hurting a fellow human by emotions like Jealousy/ Hatred/Anger/Rage/Violence is also an act of terrorism. They have the power to destroy a life very easily. We cant stop wars but as an individual we can atleast try to not let these emotions rule us. Instead of regretting for our actions, lets think before we do something stupid. Be a Human, Live and let Live!!
