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March 25, 1999
SPECIALS
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DEATH TO RAPISTS!
How Readers responded to Varsha Bhosle's last column
Date:
Fri, 19 Mar 1999 20:41:48 +0530 (IST)
Hats off to Rediff and Varsha Bhosle for the brutally candid article on child prostitution. It unabashedly exposed the age-old hypocritical attitude of we Indians. Over the years, we have adopted only the views of a woman -- that of a devi -- the mother, and that of the child bearing machine -- the female of the species who were meant but to breed!! I sincerely hope that such articles would drive the point home to the higher-ups in the political and judicial wings and provoke them to come up with strict punishment for such acts. Such blackguards must be whipped, castrated and hanged in public. Ravi Kiran
Date:
Thu, 18 Mar 1999 17:03:14 -0000
Oh god, whoever did not cry on reading this article has a heart of stone. One of the most gut-wrenching articles ever on Rediff. Often I have raved and ranted against rapists, and against paedophiles in particular, but raving doesn't stop someone from raping a minor, does it? And so it goes on, as you so correctly said, because there is no political capital to be made out of this. I would even go so far as to say that the reason nothing is done is because women are totally un-empowered in our country. They are treated as commodities, not human, just a convenience. Children, of course, have no voice at all. What can I say, I feel helpless. May be rapists shouldn't just get the death penalty but the most painful death. All that punishment will not erase the enormity of the crime of child-rape, but it will be some deterrent, won't it? And you're right, unless a particular hate figure/group commits a crime, the people are unconcerned. If upper caste men were systematically raping lower caste children, there would have been a furore. So why is it different if anyone else is the criminal? Why are we so obsessed with our own particular bugbears? A crime is a crime, for god's sake! And a crime against a defenceless child, that has to be the most diabolical act, and deserves the worst possible punishment. DEATH TO RAPISTS! Ruchira Raghav
Date:
Thu, 18 Mar 1999 13:55:28 -0500
You have provoked the readers to think on what you wrote. That's a heck of an achievement. Yup, you are right... you gotta be a Christian to get that goddamn attention. Why??? Ask the Sangh Parivar...
Date:
Thu, 18 Mar 1999 08:46:30 -0800
All the fire and indignation at a morally corrupt system. What is new? What is the information being conveyed? Is it something that an average informed Indians don't know? I am not sure of it. Who reads Rediff On The NeT? Mostly desis killing time all over the world, mostly out of India. What can such people do? Nothing. Zilch. Zero... why? Try talking to anyone in India about how bad the situation is in the country, and see the sarcasm. Foreign returned, eh? Smart, eh? Hmm. Ms Bhosle, even though I am aware of the bad out there, I can only influence a small circle around me. And that applies to a lot of people who read the columns. What good are the statistics? Excepts to reel out in support of a point in a debate, score a victory? I think you need to look at journalism and the objectives and goals of that. The masses read the local papers. Our words of wisdom are lost on the cacophony of the jhuggis. If the women hammer the culprits or even the guys who are in the jhuggis refuse to share the bidi with the criminals, it makes sense -- stigma then comes to the right people. Your efforts are highly limited here. Yes, there are white-collared animals too, but more careful about making news. Look at the aspects on why there is so much rape? It's multidimensional. Many sides, not a coin with a head or a tail. Good luck A
Date:
Fri, 19 Mar 1999 00:04:21 -0600
Even if most of the writings of Varsha Bhosle are meaningless, this one hits the point. Death penalty is needed for rapists and it should be implemented fast. The appeals and counter appeals should be finished fast and justice done. Well, on second thoughts, the same is needed for those murderers in the BMW.
Date:
Thu, 18 Mar 1999 16:21:34 -0500
I must say her columns are horrible and a waste of space. Please stop her column. She is not fit to be a journalist. Guller
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 11:40:09 -0500
I second your stand. What I really appreciate about you is your patience. Taking all that shit from numerous idiots isn't really one of the memorable experiences that one can cherish, but then making sense to all of 'em is also not a piece of cake. Common sense is a rare sense, you know... :-) Good Luck
Date:
Sat, 20 Mar 1999 05:49:54 PST
Thank you for highlighting this. Though this remains embedded in our subconscious permanently, this is something we refuse to acknowledge. And why do these issues remain confined to our subconscious? For a solitary reason: the average human can bring himself to get accustomed to anything, if he is exposed to it on a daily basis. And that's exactly what the media does. It goes to town with stories of child rapes every time they smell out one. NEWSFLASH!!! '6 year old raped in Delhi slum, the accused still absconding!" So how does the media solve this? Highlight one or two particular incidents and then keep playing on them forever. Go on, keep giving us victim profiles, keep hitting us with the current state of the victim, the accused, on how the judiciary is taking forever to do something to amend the issue, how politicians are ignoring it, how SOCIETY as a whole has been immunised to it... Do it the way the American media went to town with Monica Lewinsky. That issue could never be relegated to the subconscious, could it? It was always on the television, splashed over your Sunday papers, everywhere. So the media is just as guilty for the lack of action on the part of society. Sporadic outbursts, no matter how brilliant, how comprehensive, will never have the desired effect. They will sway isolated minds for a few hours, that's all. And then you have to think: what is the state of the society that we live in, what is the state of corruption and insensitivity of our minds, our own consciences, when we have to depend on a few columnists and television cameras and faceless newsreaders to fire our minds into doing something that we should be doing simply because we are outraged by it, scandalised and angered by the implications of something as terrible as child rape..? But you're cool, Varsha ... keep at it, just keep at it.
Gideon Zadok
Date:
Fri, 19 Mar 1999 15:32:27 +0530
I agree with Bhosle's feelings about the bastards who commit such crimes. The Indian male has really gone insane. In fact, men in India are worse than animals. The way Indian men go after hapless baby girls, young girls and women is pathetic. These animals should be hanged, so that other such potential sex maniacs don't dare to rape a minor of 6 months or 6 years or teenager or an old lady of 60 years. I am ashamed to be an Indian male because of the ghastly acts of a few such lunatics.
Date:
Fri, 19 Mar 1999 19:18:24 -0500
The one point that I wish to convey to Varsha is this, "Thanks a lot for this article". I wouldn't say that I wasn't aware of such atrocities before reading the article... Yet, this just places the whole situation in a different perspective. Most people, probably, would refrain from knowing the details of the situation. The question that springs to anyone reading this would be, (i e, anyone with a conscience), "What the hell can I do to help?" I don't know how often one really does get to an answer, not that there is a clear-cut one. I choose to not ask that question aloud, since I know what I can do to help. And I will. All I wish to say is, "Thanks Varsha."
Date:
Fri, 19 Mar 1999 09:26:18 -0500
Excellent article. The points are made very nicely and precisely. These men should be castrated and kept alive in society to feel the burning desire for sex but never be able to fulfil it, that's the best punishment you can give the rapist -- make him suffer emotionally as much as the victims suffer. AND THIS SHOULD BE MADE LEGAL, not only will it bring down the population of these type of people, but it will be a just punishment for such a hideous crime.
Date:
Thu, 18 Mar 1999 19:23:00 PST
She raises a lot of hue and cry in her articles just like Pritish Nandy, but never proposes practical solutions! These articles disturb my mind and make me feel more and more helpless. Need solutions.
Date:
Fri, 19 Mar 1999 10:32:42 -0500
Actually I am not very good at writing. I can only express it very short and straight. I think the punishment for crooks like them should not be a simple death penalty. That way, they would be getting away too easy. They should live and face and ask for death. They should yell out of agony that they would like to die and not live in this world. I don't know the exact term. But
they should be given the same punishment as it is done in Pakistan. Either their pleasure cells be removed or they should be castrated. Being in a place where I can only read such articles and not able to help makes me feel handicapped. I am glad I could at least put forth my feelings about this column.
Date:
Thu, 18 Mar 1999 09:08:33 -0800
It is indeed sad and I do salute you for giving a voice to the voiceless. Yes, we do have a significant problem. If the girl came from Nepal then it is okay to be in the sex trade, as if a child from Nepal is any less than a child from Mumbai! Death sentence may be too easy on these rapists. Since many of the rape victims are children less than 10 years old and most of the perpetrators are influential citizens, we will have to find out how we will point out the evil-doers and punish them without our political masters shielding them. The public that reads news articles is less than the ones that watch television, a good medium on catching criminals will be to have a program based on unearthing crimes against children on television. A format like America's most wanted will be highly welcome in India. It will help the police find the criminals who are hiding from them. Of course, our corrupt police will hide the criminal. Keep up the good work, Varsha. We do support the death penalty.
Date:
Thu, 18 Mar 1999 12:18:19 -0600
The article really made me feel miserable. I was surprised reading the cases that she pointed out about child abuse. We are all dead souls, or better still, puppets in the hands of politicians. We may feel strongly about some things and do nothing and these politicians do everything when they want to do it. Make a case disappear or make a mountain out of a mole hill. It is really tragic that a million voices raised for death penalty for rape is not going to make any change in the law of the land. It just won't get passed in Parliament (so many of the rapists have these politicians as their godfathers). So what can you and I do about this? Conduct a poll? Would it be of any use? Write to someone, minister, PM? It won't even be read! When will a Robin Hood be born in India? Tapas
Date:
Thu, 18 Mar 1999 16:39:15 PST
"If you're so goddamn secular, why don't you do something about these raped secular children?? Do the victims have to be Christian to get your goddamn attention...? Don't lay all the blame on the "biased" press. You are part of the morally corrupt system." If you write about "Madrus, Mosies, and Macks", your readers are going to write to you about the same topic. Ergo, your outrage seems sooo PHONY. Why would anyone write to *YOU* about child abuse? And just because no one writes to *YOU* about this does not mean that they are for such heinous acts or that they don't care. However, let me say something positive about your "column". Some good may come even out of your simulated, synthetic outrage. If this leads to someone following up even one of the horrific cases that you have outlined and eventually lynching/castrating the perverts who indulge in such despicable acts, you may consider yourself redeemed for the rest of the bilge you write. And, *NO* I don't think anyone would care whether the perpetrator is a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, or a Christian. Shankar Venkataraman |
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