[joe1980]

I seriously doubt if this incident would have caught so much attention had there been no physical injuries to the victim. I'm happy that at least with technology, such incidents are taken seriously and heard by the policy makers.

[shankar.balan]

Do you really think there will be any takers for this disgusting, inhuman, un-enviable task, even in the name of justice?

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

all six of them should be gang raped.......

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Do you really think there will be any takers for this disgusting, inhuman, un-enviable task, even in the name of justice?

let me elaborate.. all six of them should be gang raped by a herd of elephants castrated and then shot dead in public!

[shankar.balan]

The elephant is a wise animal and will not co-operate in such things. Plus it is a sacred animal to some of us so let us not drag the poor pachyderm into this.

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

let me elaborate.. all six of them should be gang raped by a herd of elephants castrated and then shot dead in public!

[Sugeeta]

It is heartening to know there are men who condemn this unmentionable crime and have raised their voices against it.

Right now, only the most strict and most cruel punishment for the accused can instill some fear in the minds of the future predators.

However, that really does not solve the matter. The girl, if at all she makes it out of the hospital, has a very tough life ahead. I wish her a sound recovery. With medical advancements she might be able to regain a part of her life. But so far, with my limited knowledge, it may not be possible to re-construct her intestines.

Now why this happened? It simply boils down to the fact that :

- Most rape cases go unreported, or are termed ‘molestation’, or are eventually dropped
- The woman is held responsible for instigating any sexual crime against her, even by her own kith and kin
- The Indian society at large ostracises the victim terming her a woman of loose morals or other unmentionable explitives
- Many surviving victims commit suicide
- Large majority of the cases are hushed up

The rapist at the back of his mind is aware of the above and knows that he might get away after the crime. Let me share some chilling facts :

- Hold your breath men, even many educated guys, whose women colleagues work their way to the top, consider sexual ‘revenge’ as a means of getting even
- As per many men, a smartly turned out woman is dressed to attract attention
- Men with a violent bend of mind target vulnerable women as easy prey to brag in front of their friends
- Even a common man becomes a predator in a mob or a group

Gentlemen, we all have many parts to our personality, some good, some bad, some ugly, some evil. Controlling our negative urges is completely our prerogative. Murder and rape are not recreational pursuits. Agreed, we can tell this to our male family members and colleagues. The boys in the family should be taught respect and humility towards all.

But the question is, who tells this to the predator on the prowl on the roads? The odd cab driver, the car cleaner, the peon, the sweeper, the milkman? Many of the men from this strata come from households where woman are kept in extremely suppressed environments. The girl child is mistreated and killed. The emotions he feels for women outside his home are rarely healthy. And at opportune moments, he strikes.

Being a woman I still advocate safe hours for all women to reach home. And also to go with family anywhere you go. Yes, this is a practical message to all women, coming from the mother of a female lawyer!!

Thank God, this case has invited media attention, so some good provisions and laws may come into force.

If nothing moves, women are prepared to take some initiative and deliver justice their own way.

Culturally, we are not yet prepared for the onslaught of so much of media exposure of all kinds in our living rooms brought in by 24x7 internet and television. Sexual content is easily accessible but our mindsets are still orthodox. And the Indian youth is not busy enough to avoid being affected.

Beyond this, it will be tough to express anything else. Sorry, it is too disturbing.

My school friend, Ravi Dhatwalia, an ex-army man, is conducting a peace walk at India Gate at 9.00 am tomorrow morning. You can contact him on his facebook page for the event :

Save Women Save India
http://www.facebook.com/events/500788999944332/

Hope no woman has to suffer this trauma ever.

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

The elephant is a wise animal and will not co-operate in such things. Plus it is a sacred animal to some of us so let us not drag the poor pachyderm into this.

@shankar: you get my drift; let's not drag this more than is necessary

[Ramanjit]

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. How one wishes that this law is enacted in this instance and all heinous crimes that take place,but in the evolved civilization this can't be. The fact is that crime can't be stopped but the type of punishment and the speed of enacting it will definitely act as a deterrent in fact it is just for this reason(non existence of capital punishment and time it takes to implement whatever punishment is there) that we see rise in crime rates. All points very rightly brought out by Sugeeta,the fact that these type of men keep their women in very suppressive environment and look at other women as fair game contributes to the crime against women. One look around will convince anyone ,buses, trains, malls,markets on streets,schools,it is all pervading. Till the mango ppl rise to the ocassion nothing will happen.

[rohanjf]

This woman will never get any justice. Simply because no punishment is good enough to these criminals.

The maximum that the judicial system can do is to send them to hard labour for the rest of their lives. There is no provision to castrate them or physically disable them. This does no justice to the woman who dies every moment of the rest of her life.


Even if she makes peace with The Creator and the criminals are charged with 1st degree murder and sent to the gallows, their sufferings will be far less than the woman's.


I hope the criminals are sentenced to hard labour without weekly rest, and the media shows their deteriorating state every month on TV and newspapers, so that no one else dares to do such a thing again.

[vikram_d]

Fact or fiction. You decide.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/t...1/238702.html/

[aravind.anand]

Now that the crime is committed, we have hundreds of replies on how these cold blooded criminals have to be punished, how long they have to be imprisoned, how they should be executed and the like. I would like to ask something.

Take a moment, think, how can you stop something like this from happening in the first place? How do we find out if the bus moving beside us on way to office is not a bus like in this case? How do we stop something like this if it is happenning in front of our eyes?

Imagine you see such a thing happenning on way back home on a dark night, what should you do? Step out and take on those 6 men? or call for help and wait to realize it was too late? or pray for her and just go back home like a regular 'Aam Aadmi' ?

[tsk1979]

I see lot of spam on facebook and all about some online petitions, and some walks and this and that. All this nonsense is annoying.
The only way to fix this is to prevent rape. Relaxing gun laws for women is the only way. Signing on some silly web page, or getting hosed with water canons is not going to help. However, the 2 or 3 "oye chalti hai kya" majnus getting shot dead is going to be a deterrent.

However, in big cities, every time an atrocity happens, few people burn some innocent candles, some overactive hyper media wannabe screams and rants on the TV, some channel holds some debate with everybody nodding "Something must be done", and then its forgotten, till the next incident.

In India the balance of power between criminals and citizens is lop sided. Criminals have all the guns and power of a mob. Giving guns and training to women is the only way.

[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Giving guns and training to women is the only way.

I disagree. Guns are never the answer. See what happened in the US school recently. All the guns used were registered in the shooter's mothers name. I know the gun scenario is very different between India and the US, but guns are not the answer. Very strong and swift punishment is. Our judicial system should dispose of such cases within a very short period of time and not let them drag on for years on end. Also the punishment for rape needs to be equal to cold blooded murder because in my opinion this is as heinous a crime as murder and in this case it is even more heinous than murder.

The only thing that can get India back on track are very strong deterrents for breaking any laws.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by vikram_d

I disagree. Guns are never the answer. See what happened in the US school recently. All the guns used were registered in the shooter's mothers name. I know the gun scenario is very different between India and the US, but guns are not the answer. Very strong and swift punishment is. Our judicial system should dispose of such cases within a very short period of time and not let them drag on for years on end. Also the punishment for rape needs to be equal to cold blooded murder because in my opinion this is as heinous a crime as murder and in this case it is even more heinous than murder.

The only thing that can get India back on track are very strong deterrents for breaking any laws.

So strong and swift punishment to the rapist will make the victims life okay?
Speaking of guns, nobody is talking about "assault rifles", which are freely available n many regions of USA, and are mostly used for mass killings.

In India the criminals already have guns.
Its time to make the power balance between the citizens and the criminals equal.
There exists technology(low cost) which allows a gun to be fired only by the registered owners(thumbprint based).
Easy license of guns for women, coupled with mandatory use of this tech in non-army/police guns is a proper solution.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

There exists technology(low cost) which allows a gun to be fired only by the registered owners(thumbprint based).
Easy license of guns for women, coupled with mandatory use of this tech in non-army/police guns is a proper solution.

Strong laws and proper enforcement is the answer.

Proper de-politicization of the bureaucracy, police forces and law and order machinery.

Decent index linked pay packages for public servants in essential services like the Police service etc. In asking for this, all that we are asking for is that our tax money gets utilized properly!

If we end up having to go about arming normal citizens for them to look after themselves then we are admitting that our law and order situation is pathetic and regressing to vigilante law. How sure can we be in this case of vigilante law, that there wont be further chaos? In this case, how different are we from an "anarchy"?

This country is at best a loose agglomeration of different ethnicities, divided by language and with no respect to traditional cross border intermingling.

We are a Nation mostly in name because of the significant amount of parochialism and communal rubbish that we see around us. We are getting more and more insular by the day and there may come a time when various states will think it cool to "have a go" at each other - in fact it has already almost reached there with this Cauvery issue here in South India.

There is a lot right with India and so is there a great deal wrong with us too. As of this moment we badly need a reality check by looking inward and learning to care. The wrongs are far heavier than the rights as of now and we really must do something about it or we shall simply be a "sunk" "dead-beat" Asian Elephant or Tiger or whatever we style ourselves as these days...

[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

So strong and swift punishment to the rapist will make the victims life okay?
Speaking of guns, nobody is talking about "assault rifles", which are freely available n many regions of USA, and are mostly used for mass killings.

In India the criminals already have guns.
Its time to make the power balance between the citizens and the criminals equal.
There exists technology(low cost) which allows a gun to be fired only by the registered owners(thumbprint based).
Easy license of guns for women, coupled with mandatory use of this tech in non-army/police guns is a proper solution.

Don't get me wrong, nothing will ever make the victim's life ok. I didn't say punishment, I said deterrents and this deterrent should be such that nobody ever thinks of committing such a horrible act. What this deterrent is, I don't know. All I know is that guns are not the answer.

For a minute here let's forget man or woman. How many people have the presence of mind to do the right thing in an emergency scenario. Not many except for very few people who can keep their calm and think how they can get out of such a scenario.

Instead of guns we have a lot of non-lethal options also available. My vote goes for non-lethal weapons that can disable an attacker without having to take their life.

Another scenario comes to mind. Imagine a woman armed with a gun shoots an attacker and he dies. Can you imagine the guilt the woman would go through for the rest of her life? Tanveer trust me, taking a person's life irrespective of whether he is a good person or a bad person is not as easy as squeezing the trigger. It also takes a lot of courage and comes with a lot of pre-packaged guilt.