Dear Humanity,

3 days ago, one of your daughters died after being assaulted and gravely injured. Her mother alleged that her daughter had been harassed by four men for six months, and that they had raped her. I write this out of concern about how I first reacted, and how many others did as well.

When I first found out, it just flew over my head. This happens so often – it’s awful, but what’s new? I’m worried I might have become desensitized to these horrific incidents because they just happen so often.

But things were different with this one. I switched on the television that night and all the news channels were covering it. You see, she was doubly disadvantaged – she wasn’t just a woman, she was a Dalit woman. A Dalit woman who had been assaulted by four men belonging to upper castes.

When that came to light, many lost it. Until then, people were solemn about the incident but you see, caste is a sensitive topic. Some made it all about caste, and some avoided it altogether. Some took a potshot at those belonging to upper castes, then some began defending them. Some blamed Hinduism for it, then some said caste isn’t a Hindu product. At this point, Manisha’s name was already being dragged into a mess but then, it got worse. Some made it about UP, then some said “look at Rajasthan”. Some said “down with Yogi”, then some said “down with Gehlot first”. Some said “casteist byproduct of Hinduism is awful” and then some retorted with “look at how cases with minority perpetrators hardly get any attention”.

Almost every 16 minutes, someone’s daughter is raped. Surely you must know about this but, rape is a sick way of asserting dominance. This country is huge and so the power dynamics vary from state to state, region to region, village to village, even household to household. In some places, members of a certain caste, religion or other community might be in majority while in others, it could be the exact opposite. In Manisha’s case, she was a Dalit woman living in an area where a caste-based social mindset is still prevalent. In such circumstances, I would be remiss to ignore how caste played a role in the assault. Alongside caste, we also have to talk about the other important factor – women’s safety. And we can’t have a healthy discussion about these things if we keep getting sidetracked.

It is hard to dismantle caste. I can tell you that I want to put an end to caste-based oppression, but I can’t tell you how. It’s complicated and I don’t even know where to start. At the moment though, I think we should be honest and acknowledge that it did play a factor in this case. As for your Manisha’s safety, time and time again some rape cases garner our attention. We find the perpetrators and the courts convict them but there is always another case. Within 16 minutes, to be exact. Currently, education about such offences is being ramped up in schools. It’s a step forward, but it’s not enough. Many rape cases aren’t even reported. Sometimes the victim is worried about log kya kahenge, sometimes the victim is forcibly silenced and sometimes reports are dismissed by the police themselves. We can’t possibly keep going on like this.

Thankfully, things can be done at multiple levels to overcome these issues. At a community level, we must not be bystanders to such acts, we should collectively call out eve-teasing, and other forms of sexual harassment – whether verbal or physical. We must create an environment where one cannot even fathom committing such offences. The same must be done in schools and workplaces and at a higher level, we must ensure that police officers are properly trained to converse with rape victims. Rape victims should not have to face harassment about what they were wearing or why they were at a particular place at a particular time from the very people meant to protect them. The victim isn’t on trial, the accused is. We have to remember that policemen don’t live in some separate locality – they are also byproducts of societies; their mindset often holds a mirror to a society’s mindset. The events of the past few days have also shed some light on how government compensation and response seems to greatly vary depending on the level of media attention a case gets, even in virtually identical cases. We definitely should be questioning why that is. Why are identical cases being treated differently under the same law?

At the end of the day, I am but a lone voice. I don’t know what impact my saying this will have, if any, but I do hope we return to discussing the real concerns behind this case and that we can ensure justice is delivered for Manisha and for all other rape victims. And I do wish we would learn to exercise more compassion.

Love, Ridhi