Dear Justice Verma

I would like to begin my email with thanking you. I dont know what the outcome of your effort will be but thank you for even making this effort. At least this time, its not all talk but some attempt at doing something definitive.

I dont think we need reforms ONLY in rape/ molestation cases but in the fundamental way our society approaches human life and crime.

For this, I recommend the following;

1) Immediate resignation of ALL politicians that have any criminal record against them in the last 8 years. Those that are criminals themselves cannot save us from crimes

2) Weightage driven voting system - 1 urban vote should have more weightage than a rural vote. The days of politicians buying out their votes by means of 1 bottle alcohol and 1 packet of biryani need to end. This will also encourage urban people to vote as currently we anyway feel that our votes will be outnumbered by bought out votes

3) Immediate suspension of any politician that makes an insensitive, ill informed statement about any issue that concerns us, our country, our interests,

4) Police to be paid better and made more accountable and sensitive. Formal monthly forums where public can meet the right people from police at a common place to understand what police has been doing over the last one month and to place any grievances they might have, in a public forum. Every city to have these forums where the distance between the police and the aam aadmi is reduced and more interaction facilitated.

I truly believe the above will go a long way for us as a country apart from the many many other suggestions that might be pouring in. If there is anything I can do, along with my friends, in my city, to see any of the suggestions be brought to life, I assure you, we are in. As a sensitive citizen of this country, I would like to do my bit.

Early morning disgust

You go to bed with a heavy heart and hope for change but you wake up to articles as these that kill your hopes. There are so many of us united right now.

Why don't we make tangible demands?

Lets demand for resignation of all those in power with criminal backgrounds. 2/3rd of our MLAs have crimes registered against them, rape being one of the highest. We cannot expect criminals to resolve issues around crime so lets ask for them to step down NOW.

Lets also ask for immediate suspension of any one in power that makes idiotic, insensitive statements, esp about women. This needs to stop! Its like providing solace to the rapists and almost justifying their acts. We want to teach the aam aadmi with rape tendencies a lesson? Start with the netas, let them lead by example. Why boycott Republic Day, our national anthem, our flag, our remanant patriotism? Boycott those that mock our pride, not pride itself.

Channelize please.....

Anger. Lots of it. Let's channelise it right. I would urge each man (and women too) to resolve the following........

We will NOT differentiate between pink and blue, between cars and dolls the moment a child opens its eyes to this world.

We will NOT allow for women to be objectified.

We will teach our immediate society to respect people for persons that they are and not because of their gender.

We will NOT let eve teasing in public pass our notice. Come on guys, use your head, the actual one....you have that too you know.

Who are these men anyway?

Of course punishment is a must. They must be taught a lesson.

But what if these rapists were a politician's sons? Would those in power have still maintained that severest of punishment will be awarded?

What if the rapists were family, which indeed is very common in our society. Would then the cry for justice have even escaped from the four walls of the victim's house?

There is an uproar that the victim could have been anyone, you, me. I would like to remind us all that the rapists also could have been anyone from amongst us. It's not some special breed of men but men from amongst all of us.

Punishment is a must but at the same time, a change in mind set, a change in how men treat women, in how society views women is needed urgently. It's not going to happen over night but it needs to start sometime. Now is a good time.

Why are we shocked really?

Why are we 'shocked' that Nirbhaya is no more? She died a long time back. She died at the hands of those 6 bas*****. She died again when insensitive idiots made statements like 'women invite rape' or 'she should not have resisted rape'. She died when our politicians used this opportunity yet again to gain political mileage. She died when rape reports kept flooding in even as she was in the hospital and the protests were on. Medically too, all that was left of her was her body with no intestines and failed organs.

Really what are we shocked about?

What we should be worried about is that time and again, we wait to incidents to happen to awaken our apparent conscience. 26/11, Jessica Lal, Nirbhaya now......and yet from tomorrow, the eve teasers will be back on the streets. The Khaps will continue to reign in their miserable power. The rapists will continue seeking their next target. Women will continue wearing burkas, in real and in symbolism too. Some women will continue to remain women's worst enemies. Personally, I don't only blame the government.

I don't only blame the police. I blame all of us. Each time there has been an eve teasing incident, why do the passers by not step up then and there? Why do I have to hang my head in shame as if somehow I am the one who has shamed society and not the other way around? Why do I have to face the momentary stigma because I was wronged? Why dont all those hundreds of people around me join hands to tell off the eve teasers so that the next time, the wrong doers are first scared of society and then the police?

So really, why are "we" shocked? Why are we not shocked when society calls women the weaker sex, even the fairer sex - the mere comparison makes one lesser than the other.

 I don't know about you, but I will try to act brave in my everyday life, not just towards myself but every injustice that I encounter. I will encourage my brother, my friends to do the same. In the hope that it's not another gruesome incident that I wil have to wait for to ignite my fighter-spirit, to make me realise that any change can not wait for political reforms or for police to be present at every nook and corner that I visit. Change will happen when we decide for it to happen.

Crimes will not stop because of FEAR of later possible punishment. No. Crimes will be curbed when people are made to understand the heinous-ness of wrong acts, when they are educated about everybody's equal right to live, when LIVE AND LET LIVE drives our society and not the greed for power.