I was 13
when I read the article about Jessica Lal in The Times of India. What caught my
eye were the words “No One Killed Jessica”. My mum explained to me briefly what
happened but an online search left me appalled. 300 witnesses and no one
came forward. 20 people turned hostile. It was bizarre,
outright stupid that the accused were still at large. That was the first time I
realized that our Indian judiciary system was inept; justice a mere two
syllable word in our dictionaries.
Cutting
clips of the articles that were published in TOI after that, I kept a close eye on unending case trials and soon, I
lost faith. Years later when the accused were actually convicted, I felt nothing.
It didn’t matter now - it was too little, too late. One of them had actually murdered another man while the case dragged on.
I was 20
when Keenan and Reuben died. Arnab Goswami demanded justice. People protested
and supporters organized candle marches. I fervently hoped that their sacrifice
would be inspirational to others, that their lives and death would mean
something to the apathetic spectators, that justice will prevail this time. It
still hasn’t. Reading the account of the girl they saved that night, I was
reminded of Jessica Lal and the feelings it had stirred inside me. I won’t be
surprised if this case would go on for years and finally the perpetrators would
be freed due to “lack of evidence” or given life sentence because it wasn’t “rarest
of rare” enough for death penalty. 10 years down the line, Keenan and Reuben
would be two young men who lost their lives because of “some women” and should
have known better than to go out at night for dinner. The girls would be called
shameless for hanging out with boys and life as we know it will go on. But what
will never change is the hope Keenan and Reuben gave me. No, it doesn’t mean
that I go on the street expecting someone will save me from prospective rapists
but I know for sure that someone somewhere is fighting for what’s right, that
not everyone in this world is a coward. And no, not all men are cut from the
same cloth.
 |
| Keenan and Reuben |
We need more
Keenan and Reuben to save the likes of Keenan and Reuben. Had those 50
spectators jumped in to help, the headlines would have been different: “52
against 17, aam aadmi saves the day!”
“Men protect honour of women” “More saviours than rapists”. But they were
immovable and unmoved as onlookers always are.
Jessica Lal
deserved more; Keenan and Reuben deserved more and in a better world, they
would have survived, heroes that they were. They didn’t and we have to live
with it. We did this.
Funny thing
is that nothing has changed. A year after Keenan and Reuben’s tragic ending, a
guy harassed a woman at that exact same spot where the duo were attacked as two
policemen gawked mutely. Keenan’s father intervened and the cops threatened him
instead. Not really funny, is it? I didn’t think so either.
Read their stories here:
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