Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi/Guwahati: Shocking visuals of a teenage girl molested in full public view in Guwahati has left India outraged with questions being asked on the state of our society.
What has added to the sense of dejection and insecurity is the apparent failure of the Assam Police to arrest all the accused. Of the 11 molesters only four have been arrested so far.
The group molested and stripped the teenage girl after she came out with her friends from the restaurant-cum-bar Club Mint on the busy GS Road on Monday night. Although she cried for help, no one initially came forward to help.
Much later, senior journalist Mukul Kalita, who happened to pass by, stopped the youths and rescued her with the help of police who by then had arrived on the location.
The clip of the girl being molested was also caught on camera and went viral on the net.
Undoubtedly, the incident has put a question mark on the well being of our society. Three pertinent questions need answers.
1. A group of young men humiliates a girl while being aware that their act is being caught on camera, don’t they fear law?
2. None of the bystanders had the courage to raise his/her voice against the brutality. As a news channel put it: are we a nation of bystanders? What if one of their own is subjected to such dishonour?
3. Can’t women party out alone? Are they not equal citizens in the republic called India?
Netizens have come out against the horrific incident on zeenews.com.
While some have backed the National Commission for Women (NCW) in demanding that molesters be given life term, other have demanded death sentence for the accused.
The majority of those who have raised their voice have expressed grave apprehensions on the state of affairs with regards to security of women on the streets of our country.
In Guwahati, outraged activists put up hoardings across the city with photographs of the 11 culprits and asked people to inform the police about their whereabouts.
"We have put up hoardings in some prominent places and at all the bus stops in the city. The basic objective of putting the photographs of the culprits is to help police to bring the culprits to the book and to create an awareness so that such things do not occur in future," said Avijit Sarma of the NGO Assam Public Works (APW).
The government has promised strict action; it’s time we as a nation see some action on the ground.
First Published: Friday, July 13, 2012, 14:30