Dear Rape Victims,

This is to tell you that we are sorry, as a nation, as a democracy that we failed to get you the justice you deserve. We are sorry that your families had to struggle through the judicial system, even after your culprits were there relaxing in the police custody.

It has been 7 years since one of the most brutal incidents, that mankind has ever witnessed. The Nirbhaya case, that took place in Delhi on 16th December 2012, was the first signal for all of us that the Men’s brutality, cruelty and lust have crossed all limits of humanity. While the whole nation stood for that girl, the accused are still resting in prisons. The poor judicial system has failed to hang the culprits.

Even after 7 years of such a barbaric crime, the police, we the citizens, we the humans have failed to put a full-stop on crime against women in India.

We are sorry that you and your families urge and plead before the courthouses to get the justice you deserve, while the demons roam on the streets, freely in search of a new prey every day. We are ashamed that in spite of all the cases that we hear about rape and brutality against women, we have not made any strict laws, never taken strict actions, and never moved forward to punish your culprits.

We as a nation have been a failure in punishing the one who ruined the lives of you, our sisters, daughter, and mothers. We know that you come from among us only and looking at every such news makes us feel that anyone from between us have an equal probability of falling prey to rape and murder. Yet, we sleep comfortably in our houses, every night.

Every year, more than 40,000 rape cases are registered. This means every day more than 110 women are raped and this comes from what is registered and stayed on record. Because, we know that many of you bear the pain and suffering without uttering a word, without filing a complaint, because we, the society, have given a bad perception about being raped as if it was your mistake that you got raped.

With this letter, we talk to those people too who says that a girl’s behaviour, a girl’s dress decides her character and that many times, it is the girls who provoke a man to do such a heinous crime. Will you please tell us; in what way can a 9-month-old provoke a man to rape her. Because in Indore, an infant girl, who had not even learned how to speak was raped by his uncle and then murdered. How can a society advocate criminal who ruined someone’s life for self-pleasure?

We are aware that it did not happen to you because you were short –dressed or overdressed, you were young or old, extra-ordinarily beautiful & rich or just a normal girl from a normal household, a modern girl from a metro city or a daughter of a farmer from a poor village. It happened because someone, somewhere thinks that women are their property, and they have all the rights to dominate women and can treat them the way they want.

It happened not because we liberated our girls too much but because we failed to raise our boys well. It did not happen because you did not stop it, but because you tried to stop it and you could not.

Every single one of you, from the 9-month old infant girl from India, to a young teenage girl Asifa from Kashmir, to a school-going-girl from Unnao to a Physiotherapy intern Nirbhaya from Delhi, to a 26-year-old Veterinarian Doctor Priyanka Reddy from Hyderabad. This is to tell you that you were not wrong, and you were not alone. Because while we, India, may not be there with you during the crime scene, but we are here for you, conducting candle marches, showcasing protests in front of police headquarters, running campaigns to save our females, giving long speeches in front of media houses. We are fighting for you with our morals, ethics and laws, while someone killed your very soul with their lust, anger and psychotic behaviour.

We know that in foreign nations there are the strictest and fast-tracks actions in rape cases, the victims are hanged within hours of the crime or are pelted with stones till death or are shot with bullets in the middle of the city. But Hey! We are India; we will fight with principle, morals, ethics and our culture to get you justice.

We are sorry that we, the nation which has religions based on worshipping women as goddesses and deities, a nation where respecting women is considered a religious and a fundamental duty and a pious deed and yet we are the nation with the most number of crimes against women.

We are Sorry…

Yours Shamefully

Every Single India.