Exposure and Outrage

A week back, I sat on my chair to write upon caste and rape realities in India. It was a time where the case struck amongst a vast majority and erupted protests all over the nation. Today, I sit again to continue where I left off. I would provide clarification as to why I left it off. The thing is, I couldn’t fathom how one may walk on the path of rectification of this cruelty after it has taken us by its throat. Our outrage against it comes off as a squeak while the monster keeps us pinned to the wall. I’d come across call for ‘justice’ for Manisha only to sigh at the fact that we’re asking justice for her from a world that failed her.

I’ll talk about how this monster is so much bigger than us but first, let’s look into the dynamics of its coverage.

Morbidity of this alleged caste rape surfaced our timelines and yet again gave us another chance to get rid of our collective guilt by showing support that mixed so well with the public fervor. We looked at it horrified with disgust even though the disgust only penetrated through to us because this case was another trespass to our threshold of visible cruelty. You know what they say when they get to see the atrocities on the marginalized in its top-notch cruelest embodiment: ‘Enough is Enough’. I’ll call it mockery upon the fates of thousand others who didn’t cut the line of ‘enough’ as per this righteous judgement. The atrocities herein are the culmination of a social standing that leaves one prone to be devoured and disrespected at the whim one which is handed the power and legitimacy to do so. Thereby element of caste is grossly infused with the gender in such matters and any attempt to separate the two would render an incomplete view of the atrocity. It’s funny how political outrage on this issue felt no more than a march on the dead bodies of the Dalit women who have faced a similar fate. More amusing is the show of solidarity. What does this solidarity mean to you? Is it limited to cloud generated uproar for you to chime in or do you see these subtleties in your life?

I’ll come to the big question. What makes you look at it now and not the million other times a similar story has repeated itself before? For starters, most of you would look at it as long as it is fed to you through your screens. The rape of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras was another normative incident until it was not. What shifted this case out of the norm is the unlawful disposal of the victim’s dead body by UP police and its eminent broadcast over to the world. I’m sure present-day India would have similar caste-based heinous acts in its nooks and crannies very much so unnoticed. This case turned out to be an exception, not only so but also a focal point for mass outrage.

I can’t help but be critical of how the circumstances have unfolded. While I’m glad the anti-Dalit attitude of Indian Administration is now out of the shadows into public scrutiny, I’d also like to highlight a sense of hypocrisy within this outrage. 17th October had another reporting of a 17-year-old Dalit girl allegedly raped and murdered by her landlord which further turned into unlawful disposal of the victim’s dead body by Delhi police. New normal? Where’s the coverage? Where’s the outrage?

The same media houses which were brandishing the Hathras issues now seem eerily silent, at times I wonder whether the selection in putting up a story revolves around burying another. This brings forth an orchestrated triggering of our emotions in a systematic manner to get the optimal response. The response is a source of distraction from what prevails behind these headlines.

While I’m way beyond the point of asking redressal from authorities and politicians, the least I can do is to put a magnifying glass over our attitude.

I’d get the monster into the picture again.

It’s a cultural trope that grapples us when we realize it to be away and distant from us for it lives inside us. You feed it by running away from it. You condemn it by pointing your fingers towards a similar monster inside another. One example of it would be our fair share of resistance against the government of India in the matters of the brutal rape and what we got out of it. Our heartfelt resistance gave platforms to political parties to sway the public wherever they need it while the cases kept piling upon one another. One might say Nirbhaya got us procedural fluidity, but the same old question of a legal amendment bringing social change arises. What it brought to us was a much-needed change in the legal definition of rape and not a process through which we nip it in the bud. The bud in this context is our attitude towards society’s problems, one where we lay forth the onus of its eradication upon an entity which feeds off it. The same applies to caste dimensions, even more so than it does to rape for one may easily carry a casteist attitude and lead a highly respectful life in this country.

Over the time I’ve realized the ‘possibility of Change’ may only come when we look at this ‘social issue’ as a massive personal liability, there is no other way you get a bunch of idiots to understand that the item numbers they so dearly ignore are a form of perpetual and perennial indoctrination of a female body ready to be served on a platter for this rape capital to mutilate. Alas, it’s our time to introspect now of our compliance to a rigged system of caste which has made it possible for a Dalit woman to die a death you wouldn’t wish upon your enemies.

The monster merely resides in our choice to ignore the part we’re playing in these social mayhems to perpetrate. For it is easier to shout against the obviously guilty than to take a step back and open your eyes to accept your own shortcomings. Change that comes out of latter remains to be more worthwhile against the omnipotent evils of the society. Probably the only one you’re in control of.