Justice is not Blind

[First published in Women’s Web]

Trigger Warning: Descriptions of a real life violent crime

When Nirbhaya was gang raped on a bus in a cold December winter night, I reacted as a woman. When Disha was gangraped and murdered while returning home from work, I reacted as a woman. What happened to them could have happened to any woman who was going about her business in public. Both incidents exposed exactly how vulnerable women were in public. I demanded justice for them. I demanded greater safety for women.

In case of Bilkis Bano, it was different. She was chosen as a victim because of her religion. The rapists were not unknown to her- they were people from her neighbourhood, people she knew, people who chose to assault and rape her because of who she was.

However, unlike in the case of Nirbhaya and Disha, in case of Bilkis Bano, I did not react as a woman. Because what happened to Bilkis Bano was not something that could happen to any woman. What happened to Bilkis Bano was something that could only happen to a woman from a minority community.

Rape is not about sex; it is about power. But when a woman is raped during communal (or casteist or linguistic) violence, it is not just to assert power over a woman, but to tell an entire community that they are powerless to protect their women. Bilkis Bano was raped not because she was a woman, but because she was a Muslim woman.

When on the 75th Anniversary of our Independence, the 11 men who were serving a life sentence for raping Bilkis Bano were released, the overwhelming emotion I felt was revulsion and anger. Here were 11 men who were convicted of committing a most gruesome crime, being released for ‘good behaviour’.

These were men who gangraped a pregnant woman, smashed her 3 year old daughter’s head in with a stone, and killed 14 members of the family. These are men who would have killed Bilkis Bano too, and only spared her, because they presumed she was dead. These are men who were convicted after a long fight for justice. Men who knew exactly what they were doing, and did so any way.

By releasing these men on grounds of “good behaviour”, the message being sent out was clear- Justice is the preserve only of Upper Class Hindus, and anyone else should not aspire to seek Justice.

As Indians, we have been brought up to believe that as citizens of India, our life is governed by the principles of Justice, Equality, Liberty and Fraternity. As Dr. Ambedkar said, “..(the Preamble to the Constitution is).. a way of life, which recognizes liberty, equality, and fraternity as the principles of life and which cannot be divorced from each other.”

Each of us who loves the Constitution, naturally, feels betrayed by the act of releasing the 11 convicts, because it tells us that Justice is reserved only for certain communities, that all citizens cannot take equality, liberty or fraternity for granted.

I reacted as a woman to Nirbhaya and Disha. I react as an Indian to Bilkis Bano.