-Shreeansha Bhattarai

Yet again, we have failed. We have failed to make someone feel safe within their neighborhood and their own homes. We have failed to foreshadow a heinous crime. But importantly, we have failed as individuals failing to educate and protect one another.

Even in this 21st century, where equity is voted for, inequality is fueling. While everyone’s out and about advocating for the rights that one deserves; sisters and brothers around are tormented, forced, and ridiculed. They have been driven to lose their pride, dignity and now even faces.

During the rage of horrors like this, even I cannot help but be more alert when I near a corner or approach a junction. Following such a haunting hour, what I would expect is for culprits to feel more demeaned and scared. On the contrary, seeing potential victims feel more vulnerable is saddening.

We have seen and heard stories of the survivors. We sympathize with them during the initial sinister times, but soon we forget. We know that it is not their choice, but we still associate them, the ones who survived this as monsters. We cannot look at them straight in the eye and regard those innocent souls as if they are the ones who need to hide their faces. We deem them as the ones who are at fault. When the ones who are to blame are the ones who do not understand the act of acceptance. They cannot simply acknowledge one’s feelings and move on.

However, the most disheartening aspect of this atrocious crime is that we associate it with gender. We believe that only women are defenseless against this toxicity that deforms them for the rest of their life. We believe that only men are capable of such vicious actions. This speculation proved to be correct when no one knew how a helpless soul was undergoing treatment amidst the COVID-19 crisis. The scorching liquid was thrown on his face by his very own wife; by someone whom he promised to spend the rest of his life with

Neither have I experienced this barbarity nor am I authorized to contemplate the pain one has to go through to survive this. But as much as I have heard and seen, I can say that no one deserves to go through this awful act of injustice. No one signed up for this. Is not falling in love with someone’s wrongdoing? It is a choice! Why are we not even given the option to live our life the way we want and with whom we want?

A more outrageous aspect is that the culprit is not even punished for five years when the survivor has to live with the consequence for the rest of their life. Followed by a more heart wrenching fact is that the material that has destroyed the smiles of beautiful individuals is readily available everywhere you go. Something with a price tag of fewer than five hundred rupees can dismantle one’s utopia, can crush through their dreams, and wreck the happiness that they worked so hard to build. The country does nothing about this but instead lets the perpetrator run free after just some moments of uncertainty.

Will our voices even be heard? Will our safety ever be a matter of concern? Will we ever be able to wear what we want, say what we want and go where we want with security, without fear and warmth of comfort? The society crushes you, ruins you during the process of shaping you. But we together can form an entirely new community where indulgence in acceptance will be the new motto for quality of life.

-Cover Photo by fotografierende

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You who made me who I am | Written by Shreeansha Bhattarai [Offline Thinker]

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