The gangrape of the 23 years old medical student has caused me and many women like myself, sleepless nights. The very thought of what this young girl must have gone through that horrific night sends jitters down my spine. What kind of beasts are we living around?

As a citizen of this country and a woman living here, I feel absolutely disgusted with what has happened and the extent of anger and disgust just makes me want to go out there and tell each and every one of those men – who stare, make lewd gestures, obscene remarks or believe that they can get away even with small things like this are starting points for heinous crimes such as rape – I just want to say, loud and clear, “We are NOT going to take this anymore.”

I urge every woman who is made to feel uncomfortable in public places, public transport, in fancy malls to their own neighborhood markets or even in their very homes to give a clear message to all those men, we are going to fight back and raise our voice on everything that makes us uncomfortable and that you have all this while believed is for you a small issue. Why should we have to deal with indecency of any kind and form?  If you are indecent and have not learnt what it takes to act civilised, then please lock yourself in your homes or even better, simply be locked up!

Our culture and societal norms have often placed the men in our family and society at the top of a hierarchical structure where they are made to believe and internalise that not only are they superior but deserve everything more than women. As women we have certain legal rights granted to us and we must exercise them and speak up against any kind of violence. There are legal remedies and avenues that we must make ourselves aware of and exercise them right at the starting point of any violence.

As a woman living in South Delhi and even though I drive my car to work and for other tasks, I too have faced such harassment, sometimes obscene comments and/or lewd gestures by some indecent persons passing by.  But not a single time have I let that go and not reacted. Why should we not react? Why should we wait for something worse to happen for there to be any action taken against such beasts? Sadly, this is the mindset and we are sometimes told even by the police officials themselves, “Jaane dijiye Madam, why make a big thing out of a small issue”. This is for all those who believe that obscenity is a small issue.  It starts with something as small as a man passing a lewd comment or making an ugly obscene gesture. What needs to be said clearly and openly is, that as women, we have every right to speak up and raise our voice on anything that we believe is unacceptable. Why should I be made to feel uncomfortable because someone else has not learnt basic human decency?

All men who engage in such acts and hold such beliefs need to be told that WE ARE NOT GOING TO DEAL WITH THIS and why should we? And for all those who think we should not raise small issues, well, it’s time to tell them, WE ARE going to raise every issue that we think makes us uncomfortable and that we believe is unacceptable both as woman and as human beings. The very first step to even feeling empowered is speaking up! We have every right to do so and we will do this till we are heard and until such beasts are caught and punished to the extent that we are able to prevent any such heinous acts from being repeated in future.