I’m A Mother Trying To Raise My Twins So One Day, We Live In A World Without Anymore Nirbhayas

The 2012 Delhi gang-rape shook the nation to its core and had mothers worrying about their daughters. Who will bring about a change, asks this mother. 

It was a cold and sombre night when a 23-year-old girl stepped out with her friend to watch a movie, never to return back. Little did she know, that wintry night would be her last.

Yes, you might have guessed that I am talking of the horrific gang rape of 16th December 2012 that shook the entire country. The one that raised questions on the thought process of the men of our country.

Mothers can’t give up on their kids, can they?

More shocking was when rapists successfully twisted the arms of law by postponing the execution dates not once, but twice. This is the justice received by the family of the victim after fighting for seven long years.

Candle marches, nationwide protests, onscreen as well as off-screen debates led to nothing. The rarest of the rare case saw no amendments in juvenile crime lawyer who not only raped but did something so heinous that I dread to think, read or even imagine.

We all slept over this case, till recently it resurfaced before us through media. Probably only one woman who did not give up her fight, was Nirbhaya’s mother. I believe, mothers never give up on their children.

I, too, woke up when I saw the heart-wrenching video of Nirbhaya’s mother on the scheduled hanging day. Her tears had dried up over the years of struggle and fight for justice but she stood there, strong as a rock to fight till her last breath.

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We are like a phoenix- rising from the ashes

Her daughter fought for nearly a fortnight as she had the will to live, maybe not for herself, but for her parents. For no fault of hers, she was lying on a bed in a vegetative state. Was it her fault that she resisted the assault and fought back every minute without the fear of being beaten up or even killed?

I believe, that’s what woman are built of. We know how to rise like phoenix from the ashes. Nature has embedded the ‘never to give-up’ attitude deep within us. We are safe neither in our homes nor in our country. Everybody talks about the incidents, abuse, domestic violence but no one talks about the change that needs to be brought about.

The Nirbhaya incident should have been the last gang rape recorded. But to everyone’s utter dismay, more cases surfaced from various parts of the country in recent past. Women of influential and highly-educated background were also not being spared.

Nirbhaya incident and many more horrific incidents have transformed me from a carefree girl to a worried mother.

I am that woman

Today, I am the woman who fears for her daughter in school. And whenever she steps out.

Today, I am that woman who fears to step out late in the night.

Today, I am also that woman who reads about atrocities on a woman daily.

I am also the woman who has to teach her 3-year-old twins, the good and bad touch.

Today I am an anxious mother if the school bus is even a minute late.

And today, I am a suspicious aunt who assures her daughter is safe even when she is playing with her cousin.

Today, have I become a mother who worries more than usual? Probably, YES.

Or is it the incidents around me taking a toll.

Today I am that woman who desperately wants a CHANGE.

To break free from the shackles of fear.

But who will bell the cat to bring the CHANGE?

Should I wait for a man to come in a shining Armour to slay all my fears?

Or be that Woman to bring change?

Here, I join the hands with the mothers of the fearless to take a pledge to bring that Change.

We were enough crushed and trampled, not only our dreams but our identities too.

Time has come for the change.

Us, mothers, take the Onus of bringing Change by raising our Sons and daughters,

EQUAL and RIGHT.

Womanhood can only be celebrated in its true spirits when we don’t give up our fight. Don’t accept being crushed but rise like a phoenix from the ashes.

Hope 3rd March 2020 brings a new Dawn in the chapter of justice and finally, Nirbhaya gets it.

Update: When the article was submitted, the rapists of the Delhi Gang-rape were still awaiting execution. They were finally executed on March 20, 2020 at 5:30 am IST.

Picture credits: Pexels

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