LAST WEEK I READ THE BOOK “ARUNA” BY PINKI VIRANI AND I WROTE THIS:
In my cell, my private Hell, locked inside my head…..
31 long years she suffered. Alive yet not quite. 30 seconds of lust broke her for life yet life itself would not leave her. “Staff Nurse Aruna Shanbaug” as she is even called today remains like a broken shadow in a small room at KEM hospital where she was brutally raped and left to die by a sweeper. Life is a mockery of the good. The sweeper served a measly sentence of 7 years for attempt of murder. Rape wasn’t even mentioned. We live in a selfish world. His sentence was cut short because the hospital was too scared to accept the heinous crime and her chances of improving, bleak though they were, were cut short because her family didn’t want anything to do with her. All I want to know is, why does she have to serve a “sentence” of extreme pain for 31 long years while the actual criminal is now scott free. She lives in her world of distant memories. Laughter and crying attack her without warning. That tiny part of her brain still does not wish to let go. She didn’t deserve yet no one deserves such a life. What was achieved through this? He meant to punish and he did. They say family is the first institution that a person is a part of. Family ties are so strong nothing can break them. Then why didn’t Aruna’s family help her. Why didn’t they give a 20 rupees stamp paper with their signs to try tests on her? What worse could have happened? The problem with the Indian legal system is that it is unfortunately filled with cowards. We want to be viewed as a developing nation and capital punishment is not even the last resort. Rape is still a taboo and is hidden increasing the suffering of the victim. No one deserves to be treated with such brutality. According to police figures, a woman is raped every hour in India, although women’s rights groups claim the crime is vastly under-reported because of the stigma Indian society attaches to rape. Brittle flexed bones, rotting teeth, parched skin Aruna Shanbaug was left to die 31 long years ago by one man with a dirty mind. When will this mistreatment of women end?
