You can't sweep this battle under a rug

Even if we want to we canrsquot It is not possible to sweep this monstersized guilt and humiliation under the carpet veil it behind a chador or shroud it in a sari The shame and dishonour is there for all to see Globally there is shock over the gruesome rape and then respect for how common Indians moved as a nation to find ways out of the current morass The testimony of the gang rape victim must shame us all cops who argued instead of promptly taking the bleeding girl and her battered friend to a hospital doctors and paramedics at the hospital who didnrsquoit even spare a blanket to cover up the girl and the passersby who drove by without stopping to help someone in such horrific distress Some people in the high echelons of power presumed that this anger would be restricted to only Delhi and soon fizzle out that people would go back to work at the end of the winter break and both the national and international media would move away from this story Contrary to expectation the protests have been sustained Some people in the high echelons of power had presumed that anger against the gang rape would be restricted only to Delhi and soon fizzle out But thanks to the tenacity of reporters who are covering every aspect of this news story and thanks to the committed aam admi and aurat forgetting is no longer an option From atrocities by men in uniform violence by family members gender inequality and intimidation at place of work hazards of public transportation for women to sexual innuendoes in Bollywood lyrics no topic is taboo for discussion in the media in classrooms at cafes kitty partieshellip just about everywhere Pent up humiliation is finding a release after decades Women in forties and fifties are sharing their horror stories of incestuous uncles neighbourhood louts and faceless beasts Nobody says Shhhhellip donrsquot speak about it Anymore The brave girl in her horrific death has touched hundreds of thousands of lives in ways that she never knew she would She was studying to be a healer a physiotherapist She is healing millions across the globe by spreading awareness about gender atrocities The reaction to the girlrsquos brutal rape has parallels with the debate on gun control generated in the US after the Newton school killings last month where 27 people died America was numbed with shock that lives of children aged six and seven years could be snuffed out easily simply because it is so easy to purchase assault guns in the US Sometimes it is one incident that shakes a nation to think and rethink about the inadequacies and anomalies in laws and society The right to bear arms is enshrined in the US constitution but its blatant misuse is there for all to see There are nine guns for every ten people in the US The world was baffled at Americarsquos fetish for guns and its agonised debates over guns in the hands of crazed killers It is the same bewilderment that the world expresses today when it reads about India being Rape Central of the world But India is not unique These shockers occur in every democracy The race riots of London in 2011 were an unwelcome reminder that no country however wealthy and posh has dispensed with inequality and racial discrimination It forced England to do some introspection over its social and economic policies Democracies can appear slothful and therefore frustrating to their citizens but governments which react swiftly and decisively can also do so brutally for sustained periods of time In a country like China a Delhilike protest could never have been organised by ordinary citizens through social media the internet is tightly regulated by the state and there would be no roundtheclock student protests over allegations of widespread political corruption and lack of democratic rights at Tianamen Square in June 1989 is not to establish fasttrack courts or propose amendments to laws but to send tanks and troops in the cover of darkness to massacre unarmed students No democracy is perfect and nobody claimed India to be anywhere near perfection At 65 we are still young and we still have to learn to play our parts without fear or pretence in the endeavour to make it a thriving democracy Every time apathy sets in we have to work towards making regulatory changes It isnrsquot about a one off battle it is a constant struggle and one that we will win We must Smita Prakash is Editor News at Asian News International You can follow her on twitter smitaprakashu00a0