A Culture of Protest: Is taking to the streets the only way of getting justice for rape victims?
On October 30 in Vaishali district, Bihar, a girl was allegedly raped and then set on fire. She died an agonising death, but after she identified her rapists. Was it the public outcry that spurred the police into arresting them?
Kargil Chowk in Patna, Bihar, witnessed two protests in this month: on November 23, several women’s organizations in Bihar gathered to demand justice for the bereaved family of a 20-year-old deceased rape victim; on November 15, the family of the victim brought her body to this very spot and demanded arrest of the accused.
“It is ironic that the women of our country continue to be victims of heinous crimes, and the administration does not wake up until the public takes to the street. Only then is there any hope for justice, if at all,” Rampari Devi, Patna-based vice president of the All India Democratic Women’s Association, and one of the protestors, told Gaon Connection. She said there was always such inordinate delay in reaching justice to the victims and their families.
On 30 October, the 20-year-old from a village about 21 kms away from Vaishali district headquarters in Bihar was raped, doused with kerosene and set alight by some village youths. She hung between life and death at the hospital and finally succumbed on November 15.
Her family and women’s organisations vociferously protested at the dharna. The accused, cousins Chandan Rai and Satish Rai, have since been arrested by the police and were declared as being 17 years of age.
“Both of them are from our neighbourhood and we know that both of them are in their twenties,” the distraught mother of the victim told Gaon Connection. “My child could only identify two of them, but we know there were a couple more of them,” she said.
“My daughter survived for 15-16 days after the rape before she died, and the police were unable to nab anyone. On the day my daughter died, we took her body and sat at Kargil Chowk,” said the victim’s mother. “It was only a couple of days after her death, that they (the accused) were arrested. Had my daughter not died and had we not sat on a dharna, they would still be roaming free,” she said.
When Gaon Connection contacted the Vaishali district superintendent of police, Manish Kumar, to ask about developments on the case, he declined to comment except to say, “Whatever was the case, we have already briefed the media. I cannot talk any further on this issue. “
This is not the first time it has taken massive public protests and dharnas and vigils to spur the police into action. The Nirbhaya case, Kathua case and the Hathras gang rape came into prominence only when public outrage had spilled over from social media to the streets. “Unless people come out into the streets to protest, no one pays any attention,” said Rampari. “Even in the Nirbhaya case that sparked a massive public outrage, it took almost a decade for justice to be delivered,” she pointed out.