Justice Delayed is Justice Denied: Examining the Perception of Rape in India

Let me begin by bringing one word to the front of your mind: Safety. Safety must be ubiquitous. It must not be a privilege for the fortunate, a privilege for the healthy, or a privilege for the lucky. Safety is a right — an undeniable, non-negotiable right that belongs to every human being. Yet this fundamental right is torn away, day by day, from millions across the globe. This violation of safety is what stole the life of a young doctor in India — a woman who dedicated her life to healing others but was paid back by having her own life brutally cut short. She is not just another statistic; her death is a searing reminder of the fear, violence, and injustice that women face every single day. This cruel violation of safety, of basic human dignity, is what brings us together today. In pain we are finding solidarity. The suffering we feel over the death of Abhaya unites us — not just in sorrow, but in a shared demand for change. Her pain has become ours. This shared grief has propelled our determination for social revolution. Abhaya is not just another victim; she was a doctor, a woman who had fought against all odds to carve out a place for herself in a profession where women face immense barriers. She was in her workplace when this horrific crime occurred — a space where she should have been respected for her dedication and skill. Instead, this place became the site of an unspeakable violence. For a woman to rise through the ranks of this male-dominated field takes unimaginable strength and perseverance, and yet, even that was not enough to protect her from the brutality of this society – the brutality of the men who did this to her. What happened to Abhaya is not an isolated tragedy, but a disturbing symbol of everything that is broken in our society. Her brutal death is a catalyst for change, the final straw that has pushed us to the tipping point. This moment is unthreading the fabric of complacency draped over our eyes, igniting the flames of a societal revolution. It demands that we no longer turn a blind eye but rise up and confront the deep-rooted violence that threatens the safety and dignity of women across the nation – across the world. 6 days after this horrific event, India celebrated its Independence Day. Independence Day is a day meant to symbolize freedom, but we are forced to ask: what freedom are we truly celebrating? How can we speak of liberty when half the population remains oppressed under patriarchal rule. It is undoubtedly, our responsibility to shift this culture towards an egalitarian social landscape. To grasp the weight of what we’re fighting for, I turn to the words of Rabindranath Tagore. His vision for our country wasn’t just about political freedom, but a deeper, more profound kind of liberation. Let us remember the society we are meant to become, through his timeless poem: “Where the mind is without fear” Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action— Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Tagore’s vision of a world where the mind is without fear is the vision we must strive towards: a nation where safety is not a privilege, but a right for all. Thank you.”