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Salute to daughter of India

MahmudaImam
WOMEN and gender issues have increasingly become very important in Asia in recognition of the fact that improvement of the condition of the people of the country must necessarily include development strategies related to women, who make up almost half of the population.
In most of the South Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, women are still in the grip of socio-economic, cultural, political and religious profiling, and could not play an assertive role in activities beginning from family to state. Women are still treated as weaker segment of population and have been made subject to various social, domestic repressive measures.
A 23 year old physiotherapy student went to watch a film with her male friend at a mall in south Delhi on December 16,2012, around 9 pm. They took an auto- rikshaw to Munirka, a few kilometers away, and waited for a bus to Mahavir Enclave at Palam where the girl lives. At about 9.15 pm, the couple boarded a bus with tinted glasses and heavy curtains. There were six other people inside, all visibly drunk. Within minutes they started misbehaving with the girl and passing lewd remarks. When her companion objected they pounced on him and beat him up. They hit him with iron rods and punched him several times.
Meanwhile, four men pinned down the woman and took turns to rape her. They repeatedly hit her in her abdomen and made her unconscious. It was around 10 pm that the couple was thrown off the bus. They lay on the road for a few minutes, after which the boy mustered the courage to seek help. A passerby spotted them and called the police. The victims were rushed to hospital in a critical condition. While her companion was out of danger, the girl's life hung on a slender thread. She later succumbed to her injuries. The government had flown her to Singapore Mount Elizabeth Hospital for an organ transplant because her intestines were severely damaged.
Within forty-eight hours people were out in the streets holding the strategic India Gate to ransom and damning the police and government in particular.
As per the Indian government's own data a woman is raped every 20 minutes. This year, 650 rape cases happened in Delhi. The rate of rape cases is higher in Delhi than any other city in India. The government has recently introduced "Help Line" 181 for Indian women. It will be operated from the chief minister's office.
The people want long-term solutions and are using this case to ensure that the government put in place a mechanism to prevent crimes against women. They are looking for workable laws, speedy justice and greater accountability. There are enough and adequate laws in place. The problem lies in their implementation and the fact that there is tardy progress in the judicial process. The net result is that criminals go scot-free and are often out on bail. Rapists should be hanged.
Our heartfelt condolences go out to the "Daughter of India." Her sacrifice must not go in vain. We should remember December 29 as a day of resistance against repression of women, or "Damini Dibash."
In our country numerous women have died from male perversity and violence, such as Mahima, Shimi, Fahima, Runi, Trishna and many others. Their families have not received justice. Today, the whole of India stands by the rape victim's family.
The Indian government and parliament are contemplating to enact a law to give rapists exemplary punishment. They are thinking of capital punishment, and even castration of the perpetrator. There are lessons for us.
Mahmuda Imam is a women's rights activist.