'We' have an equally important role to play!

It was like any typical hot and sunny day. I had just joined college and was returning home in a not-so-crowded city bus. After a couple of stops, a man boarded the bus and sat in the seat behind me. Suddenly, I felt his hands on me. I was dressed in a very simple and decent outfit and was not wearing anything revealing. I could have very well shouted or the least I could have done was move to another seat. But I did nothing like that. And mind it, I am a Karate brown belt and by no means a meek or feeble girl. I was barely 18 and was just too shocked to react.

There are many who have similar stories to share. Unfortunately, eve-teasing has been an integral part of our growing-up years and is even considered normal. But the emotional scars that it has left behind are not normal. Yes, with time and age, we have become bolder and stronger to handle such perverts, but those memories have left a bitter taste.

How emotionally or physically broken a rape victim and her family feels, is beyond me. The recent incident just brings to light that no matter how much we talk about 'Women Empowerment' or 'Equality', these concepts will continue to be just an eyewash, unless until basic safety for women is guaranteed. While initiatives such as 'She Police' are highly appreciated, that alone does not solve the problem. Extremely stringent laws and fast track justice is the need of the hour. Such criminals deserve nothing less than capital punishment. Probably they should be publicly executed so that it instills the much-needed fear in everyone.

But 'We' have an equally important role to play. Protest walks/candle marches and social media campaigns are just partial solutions to this problem. Glorifying eve-teasing in movies need to stop and we need to stop grooving to the beats of songs such as 'I want a saiya psycho' 'Ab krunga tere sath gandi baat'. Self-defense should be made a mandatory subject in all schools. We not only need to teach our children how to respect women, but also teach them that they cannot always have what they want.

And only then, we can hope for a better and a safer tomorrow for our little princesses where they will not have such similar stories to share when they grow big!