A thirteen year old girl who had gone to collect water from a well as she does everyday was forcibly dragged away one day by a man who was in the prowl for easy victims. Naturally, she was physically weak and too naive to counter such a sudden attack on her person. She was kept in confinement by the man for many days and was continuously raped and tortured.
Finally when the man didn’t need her anymore, he discarded her like a piece of unwanted clothing. But that was not the end of her misery.Worse things were
waiting for her at home.Her parents, including her mother, refused to keep the
girl with them telling that they couldn’t keep a spoilt girl at home as it is a dishonour to the family.
The police become the temporary custodians of the girl and the child welfare department was contacted. Finally the girl was handed over to an NGO and was made to stay in its home for the destitute.
If we come to think of the incident from different perspectives, so many things come to view
-That the awareness level among rural Indians, and the level of education, is very low. That is why, instead of understanding the trauma and the suffering of the physically abused girl, they dismissed her as a spoiled girl who was not fit to be their daughter anymore. It’s abysmal to see that people in rural areas still represent the feudal class with its own jungle rules sans any humane considerations. The social myopia is so blinding that it completely subjugates natural emotions like parental love. May be in an uneducated and underprivileged rural society, that has not benefited from freedom, democracy or education - the wrong kind of social pressure is still prevalent.
-That the life of an unsuspecting girl, who had a secure existence in her environment hitherto, can be blighted without any fault of hers. She has no hope for even a ordinary normal life. Her chances of getting married also are lean because of the desertion by her family and the social stigma attached to a victim of sexual abuse. Belonging to the lowest rung of the financial ladder, earlier she was deprived of education and a normal childhood. Now she has very little hope for an average life with scope for any kind of growth. May be she will face worse situations and would be further victimized as she has no real protector in the society she lives in and the legal system which is supposed to provide safety and justice often turns impotent in such cases.
Nani, is it a true story you have seen yourself??
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