How long can India shut out the truth? After a series of horrendous rapes, I ask the nation and the ruling government this: do we, as a responsible, evolving nation, have the luxury of picking and choosing what we think the public has the right to see, to know and to have access to? With a string of atrocities that now functions as a noose for the nation, can we really afford to sugar coat the ugly truth and compromise on justice for something as comparatively inconsequential as the nation’s image? Being a 19-year-old student and a girl myself, my conscience tells me that it is time for the youth – my brethren – to take a firm stand together and demand for the truth, however painful it may be, to demand for free public acesss to the documentary made on the rape case of Nirbhaya and which, in the process, gave a voice to thousands of anonymous victims of rape, molestation or sexual harassment.
How is it that the documentary is banned despite it containing no objectionable content besides the bare truth of the reality of the crime? How is it that the nation is assumed to be unable to stomach the content when the parents of the victim themselves have come out so bravely and without qualms? I would urge everyone to watch the documentary at least once and then decide for themselves if it is anywhere near as diabolical as the government claims it is.
Stand up for your Mother India – the real face of the nation – stand up for the integrity that she truly is, for her women and her girls, and for every self respecting citizen with a conscience that is part of her, so that we may progress through education and awareness for the betterment of society.
Gail Pinto, Alto Porvorim
