Speech at the protest Against Rape of nuns
Dear Friends , I believe that it
is not an occasion for pleasantries as we
stand here with deep pain, anguish and agony today to express our solidarity because another sister of
ours is torn of her human dignity- her dreams are shattered and is
a crushed and crumbled person today. To say the least her
human rights are violated. Rape is a crime against humanity, a theft of spirit,
torture, a war against the powerless. There
are researches which
vehemently reports that the
rapist does not arise any pleasure out of
rape but
then why ? Why does rape take place? Why do they
target the nuns
irrespective of her age - for example
the rape of a 73 old
nun at Calcutta and now
the 47 year old
sister at Raipur ?
To me the rape of
nuns are mend
to terrorize and intimidate, not
only the victims
but also others who are
involved in serving
the poor, the marginalized, the voiceless of our nation . We need to remember and consciously become
aware that the paradigm of our
national thinking is changing. The vision underlying the Constitution of India is under siege. The founding mothers
and fathers of this
secular scripture of our nation envisaged our national mainstream as
rainbow of many colours, not a monolith of homogeneity. They sought to ensure equality of all citizens and that no one is discriminated.
The leaders of today
seem to have forgotten the vision of the founders. They have their own vision
and seem to be using any methodology to achieve their ends. Resulting the minorities, the women, the SC/ST and a
large army of people are excluded from the
mainstream. The minorities
are in the receiving end, their
personal as well as their institutions are attacked. More particularly the women; she is
considered to be a property to be appropriated, used, abused and raped. Nuns
are assassinated, sexually assaulted, raped. In Calcutta a 73 year old nun was
raped - No sooner another sister is raped in Raipur on 20th
June. The Nirbhaya rape had shocked the
conscience of the nation. The nation revolted violently against such
atrocities. The government of the
day brought out an ordinance
under the chairmanship of Justice J.S. Verma , (of
happy memories) former Chief Justice of India, who
was the man , who pronounced
the famous judgment in Vishaka’s case .
But did it prevent
further such incidents ? The answer is in the negative. One sees a
pattern today, we need to
realize that these incidents are well
planed , calculated and
meticulously executed Incidents
because the culprits are never brought to book . It is surprising
to note that the Government of the day dared to coin a theory known as the motive behind the rape
was `robbery / theft”.
It causes major concern
today because the government is also attacking the NGOs and the civil society movements.
They are accused of misuse of fund. A fear psychosis is being created among the
civil society movements, as well as the minorities, SC/ST. If you have any doubt you go to Jantar Mandhar or Parliament
street, the places which used to witness
number of dharma and protests day in and day out. Today these places are
empty, what has happened? And why did it happen? I invite all of us to search for answers.
Friends, what we need
to keep in mind that these are not isolated incidents but
part and parcel of a larger conspiracy of the present government led by Mr. Modi,
the Prime Minister of Inidia. But he
makes it sure that prior to all his foreign trips to make
statements to both national and international media that
he is the PM of one billion plus population, and he will safe and guard
and protect every citizen of India. Remember, this is only for the media, so
that he has a successful tour aboard, taking Adanis , Abanis, TATAs , Birla’s many more industrialists and becoming an agent to connect business for the
private cooperators.
I was a teacher in
Fatima School , Dumka at Jharkhand
, a student of mine , a minor girl was raped
when she went to the market .She
was a chirpy ,chubby lively
vibrant and lovely girl.
Sky was her limit because she
had, had a dream to become a pilot! . When I visited her immediately after the
incident she was no more the same. I
found her as a shattered being , her
dream were crumbled , she
wouldn’t look at me as she
was
totally devastated . It was
this experience that compelled me to take a U turn
in my life to give up
my teaching profession and to
become a lawyer .
Today , I read a news item
which I would like to share with you
, it reported that In a fresh move, the government
has cancelled the licenses of 2,406 Non-Governmental Organizations NGOs across the country, which includes entities
that run schools and hospitals. The Green Peace
campaigner Priya Pillai was
retained at the airport , Teesta
Setalvad, a human rights activist , who vehemently fought
for the rights of the
victims of Gujarat carnage
is targeted - she came
to the Supreme
Court for an anticipatory bail .
Now there is a fresh order from the government to the CBI to investigate
their foreign contributions. There are
several such instances I can
go on narrating but stop
here placing a few questions to us : Does
these incidents stir
our conscience? Is there
something that we as Christian
community to do? Or Do we feel that we need to do something
more? I
call upon each one us to
for a soul searching , which leads to consistent
and concerted action .
Thank you
Sr.
Mary Scaria
Advocate
Supreme
Court of India
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