Respected Prime Minister Sir,
My name is Gayatri Mane and I am a
28-year-old IT engineer from Pune. I stay here with my family. My parents are
always there to take care of me. I work for an organization which is extremely
particular about women safety. The
people here make sure that all women travel home safely by providing guards in
our buses, providing home drop and by giving us a call once we reach home. All
my childhood I have heard everyone saying that ‘Sarkar kuchh nahi kar sakti'.
As I grew up, I made up my mind to not to think that the Government would take
any right step for its people. The day when you were honored as a Prime
Minister, the majority of the people changed their view towards Government,
including me. We do believe in our Government now and we will keep doing so until
the time you are leading our country. We have high hopes for you and we all
Indians do believe that all your steps are for the betterment of India. You are
going to give India a bright future which India has always deserved. All your
initiatives such as Swachha Bharat Abhiyan, Make in India, Pradhan Mantri Jan
Dhan Yojana, etc. are being openly accepted and appreciated by all Indians. We
must thank you for showing us hopes that India can be the superpower one
day. We must thank you for the way you
have represented India as a strong and emerging economy in the outside world.
The purpose of this letter is quite
different. Initially, I was not sure who and how should I speak with about this
concern. The first and foremost name which struck me was – Sushma Swaraj. Let
me take a moment to mention here that every Indian woman is proud of her and we
all respect her, just like we respect our mother. She is praised not only by
Indians but also by people from all other countries. Since the topic of this
letter is nowhere linked to External Affairs, I thought of sending the letter
to you instead. Somewhere around mid-2016, I was traveling home by my office
bus. I usually skip reading all negative news like robbery, accidents, murders,
rapes, etc. That day I somehow – unfortunately – read the headline of the
Bulandshahr Gangrape of the mother-daughter duo. Against my will, I scroll down
to the news feed and started reading it. The 14 years old girl and her mother
were raped for 3 hours and this was done by a wide group of 12 people. After I
finished reading and since I could relate to the pain these people must have
gone through, unknowingly I started crying on the bus. In a few minutes, I had
to control my emotions and be back to normal. I was trying to hide my tears
from all my bus-mates. I came home and had my usual routine that day. As soon
as I went to my bed, the news I read on the bus flashed in front of me. I could
not stop myself from thinking about the duo. Being a girl, I could definitely
understand what both of them had been through. I always imagine it as an event
which takes away all the self-respect from women. May be it makes them a living dead body. It
is a state which no woman ever wants to be into. The 14-year-old girl has not
even seen the world and she was made to face such a cruel scene. I am still not
able to imagine what her father must have felt. His daughter and his wife were
raped when he was there. My heart – without my knowledge –was so deeply
saddened by reading the news that it didn't let me sleep for numerous nights
after that. I was not sure what I could do to relieve the family from that
never-ending pain. I wanted to meet the girl and just hold her close to me,
without speaking a word. She has seen the brutal face of the world at such a
young age. That day onwards, I stopped skipping any news and started reading at
least the headlines of all kinds of news be it the terror attack, rape or
murder. With time I realized that every day there was at least single news of
rape. I had lost my sleep and my nights were spent thinking about the agony of
victims. I soon realized that many Indian girls like me must be aware of the
current rape accidents in India and they must be as sad as I am. I eventually
understood why my father becomes so worried when I or my sister does not reach
home on time.
I am sure that you want the ladies
in India to live life peacefully and without the terror of rape. I am certain
that you are sensible to understand my concern. I am sure there are millions of
Indian women who want this issue to be addressed. The rapists should be
punished in a way nobody dares to reiterate their actions in future. I am
writing this on behalf of all mothers, daughters, sisters in India. I am
writing to you for the sake of every other Indian woman; can we have some law
under which rapists would be offered strict retribution? Can we have a mission
to create a rape-free India? You are the one who has always started different
initiatives and people have worked on it acutely. People in India listen to you
and they admire you. I am certain that you can definitely solve this
problem. We all youngsters believe in
you. Your love for India's growth gave me the courage to write about this issue
to you. I must, again, thank you for giving us a platform for connecting with
you. Hope to hear back from you.
Yours faithfully,
An Indian woman.
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