Singer Anoushka Shankar Calls India ‘No Country For Women’ And Sadly Enough, We Agree.
Just a week ago, on 28th November the partially burnt remains of a veterinary doctor, Dr. Priyanka Reddy were found under the Chatanpalli bridge in Shadnagar, Hyderabad. She was gang-raped, smothered to death and then burnt to a crisp, 25 kms away from the toll plaza where the young doctor had parked her scooter. Dr. Priyanka Reddy may be called several things – from another ‘Nirbhaya’ to India’s daughter to a symbol for change, but all she really has become is just another name to bear the kind of consequences you face when you’re born a woman in India.
Also Read : Dr. Priyanka Reddy, Played By All The Rules And Still Ended Up Getting Raped And Burnt To Death. When Will This Ever Stop?
From roads and parks to offices and schools and even the confines of our own homes, no place is completely safe for us. Our boundaries have been violated irrespective of the time and place and no matter how much we protest, there has been no end to the issue that plagues our society. Women are being hunted down, violated and then mutilated, all at the whims and desires of men who still loom at large, planning to close in on another woman. And no matter how daunting it sounds, it is the harsh reality of the present state of affairs in our country. Recently, singer Anoushka Shankar spoke up about the heinous Hyderabad rape case and called India ‘no country for women.’
Her tweet encapsulated the anger we all feel and can relate to. She wrote, “This is a global epidemic. And India in particular is no country for women. And I’m enraged. And I’m numb. And I don’t know what to keep doing. I want to scream and yet for once I feel voiceless. Because nothing fu**ing changes and women are being raped every minute every day.” And there was not a word we would contest in her statement. From 2012 to now, where we were promised things would change for the better time and again by the people and government, things have only gotten worse, to the point that it doesn’t even shock us to hear about another rape case. All it does is numb us more, reminding us that this too, is one of the many things that just happens to women in the country.
This is a global epidemic. And India in particular is no country for women. And I’m enraged. And I’m numb. And I don’t know what to keep doing. I want to scream and yet for once I feel voiceless. Because nothing fucking changes and women are being raped every minute every day
— Anoushka Shankar (@ShankarAnoushka) December 3, 2019
Furthering her views on the matter, she also wrote, “India made new laws and set up new courts and people demanded justice. And yet… Where is the change? This week it was (Hyderabad victim), gangraped and burnt and murdered. In the last year alone I’ve cried over eight year olds and twelve year olds meeting similar fates.”
She also reminded people of the horrific gang rape of Jyoti Singh hailed as ‘Nirbhaya’ and wrote, “Nearly seven years ago to the day, the world mourned together over the horrifically brutal gang rape and murder of Jyoti Singh Pandey. Just how the earth’s axis changed after the 2004 tsunami, I felt an emotional axis bend at this point in time. My own life changed with her attack. This to me was the real beginning of the women’s movements we’ve seen in recent years. I felt her attack in my own body and ended up sharing a video about my own sexual abuse. This was part of a wave of women in rage and pain demanding change.” Except, just like other things being denied to us, justice has too become one on the list.
We are a country where misogyny is accepted and in fact nurtured. And violence against women is normalized. Be it inside the home or outside. We are all responsibe, our silence and complacency makes us complicit. #NoCountryForWomen
— Alankrita Shrivastava (@alankrita601) November 30, 2019
Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar also took to twitter to write about how the Bollywood fraternity too, instead of preaching to the choir must work on correcting its own duality and keeping a check on their moral ethics. He wrote, “Bollywood pahle hum to sudhar jaye… phir gyaan de duniya ko… naitikta( morality) per gyan ya protest zaroor karein lekin sath me pahle apna filmy ethics chk karo..pahle hum apne duality ko sudhare.”
Supporting the views of Anoushka and many others, was also Alankrita Shrivastava, the filmmaker and writer who also tweeted saying, “We are a country where misogyny is accepted and in fact nurtured. And violence against women is normalized. Be it inside the home or outside. We are all responsible, our silence and complacency makes us complicit. #NoCountryForWomen.”
And even though it pains us to admit it, but we as a society, as a country have successfully failed the women of our nation and are indeed no longer a country fit for women. We don’t deserve them.
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