The incident is too cruel to be true. It is like a narration imported straight from a bollywood movie where the scriptwriter tries to exaggerate the details of a rape scene only to justify a series of blood soaked revenge to be executed by the victim after the incident. A typical Indian-film hero needs an entry just at this stage to teach a lesson to the baddie. But the real fight ends with the last breath of the victim. What followed the incident needs a careful analysis.

A spontaneous cry for justice from a society that is often inappropriately applauded for moving on with their usual daily life was just humane only to prove that the world is not full of dead. A live society must react to all such incidents ranging from terrorists attack to these beast-like murders but the protest must be peaceful and sometimes may be non-compromising. The anger that ignored the unexpectedly quick response of the police in arresting the culprits was also not inappropriate since they are known for their lackluster approach that they generally exhibit after such incidents. Demand for fast track courts and death penalty for such incidents and also pressing for a better conviction rate in such cases was long overdue and the vociferousness for these demands should not have awaited such an incident.

Perverted minds however jumped into the scene to use it as justification for exposure in public life. Posters with captions like ‘If I show my legs, it does not mean that I am ready to spread it for you’ ….. ‘If you want to know that a girl is ready to have sex with you then ask, listen and respect her decision’ ….. ‘Exposure does not mean invitation’ ….. etc. I am afraid, how the caption writer is going to defend a person who goes on asking each one of us that whether I would like to have sex with him or not? To me, whether he respects my decision or not is not as important as his intention itself behind asking the question itself. Whether he asks for sex in lieu of some quick cash or in return of some emotional bonding or would like to have it just for fun makes a hell lot of difference for me. To me, if exposure does not invite rape then exposure also does not help in preventing rape. Showing legs also is not going to help our cause in any way. The two aspects are not linked and hence should never be discussed simultaneously.

To me, just as rape is an unpardonable crime on a day, unnecessary exposure is also another avoidable act that may not be a crime but undoubtedly it can never be a noble-intention inviting gesture. But, just as some rapists fail to justify their crime by taking shelter behind their self-presumed ‘rape-inviting’ exposure, other variety of rapists use these incidents to initiate and invoke a race for exposure among the fairer sex only to feed to their intentions. It is this mindset that has inexplicably made the exposure of fairer sex a measure of their liberty.

Look at films, fashion shows, and sports and you will see exposure only in females. Male tennis players do not oblige these set of rapists by exposing themselves as much as their female counterparts do. Beach volleyball female players, sprinters, swimmers, gymnasts and actresses fall prey to oblige only these rapist-mindsets. It should not be ignored that although the crime was committed after consuming liquor but this aspect was overlooked during the protests and a natural demand of ‘stop drinking’ was conspicuously missing during the show.

Demand to have death penalty for such offences should not have awaited such heinous crime to occur although we all are aware that even death penalty has not stopped murderers to commit murders. We can win this battle not only by changing our mindsets but also by preventing others who wait for these incidents to grab it as an opportunity to pollute our minds to satisfy their interests.