Gang Rape Didn’t Break Them, Our Silence Might

There was a time people could say, we didn’t know.

During the Kashmiri Pandit Exodus in the 90s, information was scarce, voices were scattered, and silence hid behind distance. Not that it justifies complacency in any means.

In 2024, there is no such excuse.

In Sandeshkhali, a woman was gang raped in front of her parents for her political identity.
She went to file a case.
As a punishment, she was gang raped again, again in front of her parents.

And still, she chose to fight.

If this still lets us sleep, then we are not just witnessing injustice, we are normalizing it.

Rekha Patra did not normalize it. She stood up after surviving sexual violence and won the elections, refusing erasure.

Rathna Prabha did not normalize it. A mother whose daughter was gang raped, who faced intimidation, still chose to fight, and won.

They did not wait for a perfect system.

They forced themselves into it.

Now the question is, will the system respond with the seriousness their courage demands?

Because this is not a routine crime.

This is not a statistic.

This is the use of gang rape as a weapon of intimidation and punishment.

And in a nation that claims to stand for justice, such crimes must be treated as what they are:

Rarest of the rare.

The law in India already provides for the death penalty in such exceptional cases under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, continuing the “rarest of rare” doctrine evolved under the Indian Penal Code.

But laws on paper are not enough.

They must be pursued. Proven. Delivered.

That means:

• Cases must be investigated without delay or interference.

• Evidence must be built so strong that it leaves no room for escape.

• Trials must not drag into irrelevance.

• And where guilt is proven in crimes of this magnitude, the harshest punishment permitted by law—including the death penalty—must be pursued without hesitation. Everyone involved starting with the tallest leaders be it an ex-CM.

Not as revenge.

But as justice.

But as accountability.

Because when such brutality is met with anything less than the strongest lawful response, it sends a message, not to us, but to perpetrators.

And that message is dangerous. They are still free and would wait for next chance.

We often say, “something must be done.”

But “something” is not enough anymore.

What is needed is sustained, legal, relentless pursuit of justice.

Tracking cases. Demanding updates. Refusing to let them fade into silence.

Because outrage without follow-through is just noise.

And silence after awareness is complicity.

We failed once when we did not know enough.

We are failing again if we know—and still do not act enough.

These women have already shown what courage looks like.

The least we can do is ensure that the system shows what justice looks like.

Fully.

Firmly.

And without fear.