O Stree, Raksha Karna - The Reality of Rape in India
It horrified me. When the Kolkata rape case first came to light, I was scared to my bones. I mean, they were talking about a person who had spent her life studying to treat patients, for the betterment of the world, and she hadn't been spared. My mom was a little shaken too. But our househelp wasn't. Eita toh hoteyi thaake. Kono notun kotha noye, didi. This is not new, Didi, this keeps happening. And this was when it hit me. Rape in India is so prevalent because it has been normalized. And Didi is right. It is not new . Aruna Shanbaug suffered. Bhanwari Devi suffered. Nirbhaya suffered. The little girl in Jammu , the teenage girls in Badaun , the woman in Hathras , in Unnao , the 250+ girls in Ajmer , they all suffered. In fact, Aruna Shanbaug's rapist went to jail, but not for rape, because in 1973, sodomy was not considered rape at all. He was convicted of assault and robbery. People comment that she is the one who served the lifetime sentence, because in Sohanlal's
