Smriti Irani Said The Nirbhaya Case Was The First Time Indian Men Spoke Up For Women’s Safety. Isn’t It Worrying That Our Men Are That Oblivious?

The date 16th December 2012 has been etched in history as the day Jyoti Singh aka Nirbhaya became India’s daughter. The entire case still instils fear in all our hearts. An innocent 23-year-old woman was gang-raped by six men aboard a moving bus in Delhi. She was then thrown by the side of the road, naked and bleeding. This incident will forever be remembered as one of the most monstrous and vicious acts. Nirbhaya lost her life nearly 15 days after the incident in a hospital in Singapore. Seven years later, her rapists were finally executed after a convoluted battle. Everything about this case is just so extremely sinister. Even today, all these years later, my heart breaks when I think about it. 

The only good thing that came out of this was that it opened everyone’s eyes to rape culture in our country. When this story broke, it sent shockwaves through the country. There were protests like never before demanding Jyoti get justice. Men and women marched the streets and all the conversations revolve around Nirbhaya, the safety of women and how desperately we need change. 

The reason we are trudging up this disheartening subject up again is that our women and child welfare minister, Smriti Irani just spoke out about how this incident was the first men pulled off their rose-tinted glasses and raised their voice for women’s safety. 

Nirbhaya Case 1st Instance Of Indian Men Being Vocal On Women's Safety: Smriti Irani https://t.co/5bTUSl7uTl pic.twitter.com/U23Mt4rndf

— NDTV (@ndtv) September 10, 2020

She said, “I think one of the turning points in our country where men were very expressive about how they felt about the issues with regards to women’s safety.” Further adding, “If you remember when the Nirbhaya gangrape took place, men were out at the India Gate lawns with their daughters, wives, with their sisters or their colleagues equally angry about the situation with regards to law and order. That was the first ever public demonstration of how an Indian man feels about the issues of safety for women. There was never before a public expression like this on the streets of India like in the Nirbhaya case.”  

Smriti Irani was speaking at an interactive session of CII-Indian Women Network’s (IWN) conclave, titled Power Women 2020. 

We agree with her, she has a great point. The Nirbhaya case was reality slapping us in the face and everyone, including the men, were forced to ask questions about how safe women really are in this country.  

Also Read: Smriti Irani Did Not Say There’s No Surge In Cases Of Domestic Violence. She Chose To Not Answer It At All. Why Though?

https://www.instagram.com/p/CE_XvJdKJ5d/

The messed up part is that it took such a horrifying and insanely gruesome incident or them to ask the right questions. Up until then, everyone had successfully turned a blind eye to this problem. 

 Besides, even though they did raise their voice and march alongside the women, it was only for a short amount of time. Today, men have no idea about what women go through on a daily basis. They wouldn’t recognize a sexist comment if it hit them over the head. That is the problem here. Women are fighting this huge battle and men are just sailing through life completely oblivious. Today, the streets are as unsafe for women as they were all those years ago. But you don’t see men asking questions like why that hasn’t improved. All we see is them putting more and more restrictions on their daughters, sisters and wives in the name of keeping them safe.  

So, yeah Smriti Irani is right the protests were the first time men stood with the women and spoke for women’s safety. But that hasn’t lasted and we can’t possibly wait for horror of this kind of be unleashed again  for them to realise this. 

https://thehauterfly.com/lifestyle/nirbhaya-case-update-the-four-convicts-have-finally-been-executed-and-for-every-woman-in-india-this-feels-like-justice/