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Mr Naidu, think twice before clicking trophy pictures with minor rape victims

  • Chandrababu Naidu reveals the name of a 13-year old rape victim and clicks picture with her and family while awarding compensation.
  • Having violated the POCSO Act, he draws public ire.
  • He has removed the picture and the Tweet from his account.
chandrababu naidu andhra pradesh photo minor rape victim india

Showcasing your sympathy for a rape victim is one thing, but damaging her self-confidence in that process is another. There is no doubt that Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu was true to his intent when he Tweeted the name and posted the pictures of a minor rape victim on Twitter, but just imagine the set up where he did the blunder.

India may have become progressive manifold or at least pretends to be so, but our social set up is still backward. We still see victims of rape with a different eye, with a perspective which violates all human rights regulations. Irrespective of their age, they are said to be the harbinger of their own plights. "They called for it", we still say. Rape victims are still treated as outcasts in their own families and in the society.

Forget the POCSO act, but imagine the ordeal that girl would have gone through while that picture was being taken. In a set up like our's she would have felt exposed and a thing to display. Even if we go by the POCSO Act, revealing the identity of a child victim in any form is a crime and attracts legal action.

We do not know whether Mr Naidu would be booked, but we surely know that the girl concerned is already facing the repurcussions. Mr Naidu may be given a leeway, given the purpose of his Tweet, and his crime would be forgotten soon. But the girl? 

Some argue that women should come out in the open and narrate their ordeals so that they become role models for people who shun from media glare and their criminals roam free. But what did the Park Street victim face? If the reader's remember, her character and identity was assassinated time and again. Why? because she was a single mother and was a free spirit? Because she relied on people with her safety and was violated instead? She was called names "slut" "whore" "prostitute" when she needed the support of the media and the people around her. If that is the cost of coming out in the open and narrating an ordeal, sorry to say, the victims be better indoors. 

In India, victims of rape become heroes only when they are dead. Nirbhaya's actual name was never mentioned in the media, but her mother still named her posthomously and also revealed her picture because she knew that her daughter is not alive to face further character assassination in the hands of the media and the society. She was called a 'hero'.

But there are victims who live and who face the society. According to a survey by Suicide.org, 33% of the rape victims have suicidal thoughts and 13% of them actual attempt suicide, unless given proper counselling, love and care. 

Mr Naidu, consider this. You not only violated a child right's act, but also dug a grave for the girl unknowingly. Your financial compensation and empathy will not come to help her then. She lost her confidence in the ordeal, now who have given her a badge of being a rape victim that she will have to carry through her life. Because the society she resides in is still ignorant of the plight of a rapist.

The picture that you clicked with the victim could be a testimonial of your achievement in women's cause, but my question is, in a country where a juvenile rapist is hidden from the world for fear of his life, how difficult is it to protect the dignity of a rape victim? The rapist may get a second chance, but a rape victim can never stand upright again. What an irony!
 

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