What it takes to become a ‘Daughter of India’

We should return to the story of the nine-year-old girl. She was gangraped by a crematorium priest and three other men, in Delhi, India’s national capital. Her body was then forcibly cremated. The priest called the girl’s mother, told her that her daughter had accidentally been electrocuted and that it would be best if she was cremated immediately. If they stopped the cremation, then the family would have to face huge legal and other problems. The mother was distraught and scared and by the time the family tried to stop the cremation they were left only with the girl’s feet. The crowd now confronted the priest and he admitted that he and others had raped and killed the girl.

Too gruesome already? This is after all not the first time that daughters of India have been treated like this. There was young Asifa, who was also raped by a temple priest and his six friends in Kathua, Kashmir. Asifa was eight. And the 19-year-old Dalit girl from Hathras, UP, raped and murdered by four upper caste men and her body forcibly burnt by the police.

Daughters of India indeed.

There are many, many more such daughters, oppressed, destroyed, demeaned, belittled, shackled. Many, many more than the minuscule number of Indian women who manage to climb several mountains to become a sportsperson or win a medal and then get feted. Or, if you are a lower caste woman, get mocked and abused in spite of your tremendous achievements.