A woman in her late twenties - brutally raped and strangulated, her body mutilated in broad daylight. The news of Jisha, a law student who was murdered near Kochi has send shock waves across the State. The incident is now painted as Kerala's Nirbhaya by media and social platforms alike.
A Plethora of rape cases are reported in different parts of our country everyday, but what makes this any different?
Worse than Nirbhaya -
Yes you heard it right! She was raped brutally, her entrails removed,so disheartening is the crime, better not enunciated. What makes it worse is that, the heinous act was committed in her roadside home, in broad daylight. Police reports say at around 5 pm. Unlike Delhi, where the crime was committed midnight,in a moving bus.This very much highlights the lack of security she had received at home, which is supposed to be a safe sojourn for any woman. But did it not happen?
5 days -
Another alarming fact is that the police case was registered only 5 days after her death. That too after the post mortem report came out.The same goes to the Media. The mere fact that it took 5 days for the top end media houses to bring it to public highlights the alarming dearth of valuable news coverage. When a human being is treated so heinously, how is it possible that this happened?
Dalith -
Various media houses have put the news highlighting the 'Dalith connection' in the case. Why Dalith? The fact that she was a Dalith - what is the need to tag it here? What change would it bring any way in a rape case? When the media's only focus becomes higher ratings and profitable numbers, this does happen! Its dignity is lost.
Elections-
Elections are round the corner in the state. As one could see it coming, the political parties are on the dais and blame game has begun. The local politicians have taken leverage of the situation to gain some mileage. The CPM faithful have latched onto the case and accused the UDF govt for its inaction on the case. However, right to an extend, 5 days is way too long.
God's Own country
Recalling National Award Winner Mammooty's viewpoint on the incident - When it happened in Delhi, we sitting elsewhere thought our women are safe. Luckily it won't happen in our backyard. But what now? God's own country- how can the tag be justified, when in a state with 100% literacy, where people are aware of such acts and punishments, where social awareness, standard of living so high, that people still resort to such crimes?
Dalith is not the key here. Media should focus on the core content pertinent to the crime not on such sensitive yet lame findings. Politicians should the stop blame game and strive to apprehend the wrongdoer. Several crimes such as this takes place in our country, many of them do not even come to light. The fact that innocent soul was not just raped or murdered, but the alarming way it was committed and the Nirbhaya tagline helped the case garner so much publicity. Else it would have just passed, rusting in police records or courts. Who knows!!
The fact that the motive here was not just sexual pleasure but inconceivable hunger to inflict pain on a human, conveys the imperative need for the the law, the Government and general public to contemplate and take serious steps to thwart another Jisha from suffering in future. The only prayer for now - may the truth be brought to light, may justice prevail and may her soul rest in peace. Jai Hind!!
