Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had to wade past a DYFI demonstration on Wednesday
morning as he came visiting Jisha's old mother at the Perumbavoor taluk hospital. Women's
groups and other activist groups across Kerala are out on the streets expressing their
outrage. The anger also poured out on social media as many tweeted and posted with the
hashtag #JusticeforJisha.
Leader of the Opposition VS Achuthanandan, after visiting the bereaved mother, said that
such heinous crimes breed in the land when it is governed by an "ineffectual Chief Minister".
According to reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress vicepresident
Rahul
Gandhi are also likely to visit the victim's family.
CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan, at
separate public meetings, criticised the police's handling of the case.
Meanwhile, the police have arrested three persons for questioning and have also released
an artist's sketch of the man who might have committed the crime. Jisha was living in a
oneroom
shack by the side of a canal with her mother. The murder took place there on 28
April between 2 pm and 5 pm, according to police records.
A neighbour told the police that she saw a man leave the house around that time. Based on
her description and information provided by another witness, the police has prepared a
sketch of the murder suspect.
Also read#
JusticeForJisha: Kerala police register FIR for rape and murder
According to TV reports, the police have recovered some fingerprint samples and a weapon
from near the scene of the crime. They are also seeking details from mobile towers in the
vicinity to track the movement of possible suspects around the time of the crime.
The postmortem
report says that Jisha's body suffered 38 wounds. The murder was
extremely brutal, almost as if it was committed by a psychopath.
The horrific murder captured public attention 3 days after it happened. Perumbavoor is a
semiurban
place. The gruesome nature of the murder was brought out by the social media.
People are asking how such a murder was relegated to the category of an ordinary crime
and whether it had something to do with the fact that the victim was a poor Dalit.
Jisha, a 29 year old law student from Kerala was found brutally assaulted, raped and
murdered in her own house. Sorry we forgot to mention that she was a Dalit too. It is not
being highlighted here to draw your attention towards the discrimination with minorities at
state or national levels but ton how neighborhoods have been attending them or rather
ignoring them.
The news reports tells us that her intestines were pulled out, deep cuts were made across
her breasts, genitals were mutilated and head was injured with a hard object which led to her
death. The girl was assaulted before and after her death with about 20 injuries. ‘The
Nirbhaya of Kerala’ that’s how the incident has been termed now.
Living alone with her mother at Rayamangalam district in Kerala, Jisha was a law student
who wanted to work for the communities. But sadly when you are a young girl and living
without any male member in the family, you have already invited enough tensions for
yourself. Sad but true. When Jisha’s mother returned home and was banging on the door
furiously, none of the neighbors came out to even ask what the matter was. When she was
able to finally open the door, what lay in front of her was pierced body of her daughter.
Justive for Jisha
Jisha was a 29 year old student who was murdered and now invariably when her mother
Rajeshwari will return to her house from the hospital, she would have to bear with the
ignorance of the society who has conveniently placed their pride in the women’s body.
crime against women
Pic courtesy: indianexpress.com
Students of Jisha’s law college have been staging protests since the incident and
demanding justice. But the irony is that the investigators are not able to collect evidences
almost after one week has passed. Today there were alerts that two arrests have been
made and both the accused are said to be known to Jisha.
Issues that we all draw out of such incidents, a woman was raped – a Dalit woman was
raped, murdered – in her own house, in daytime – but no one cared, bystanders – mother
kept shouting but no one heard, young female law student – now dead.
Fact, a woman was tortured and raped in her house is what the issue is. And we as a society
after decades of women’s movement, protests, committees and laws are still standing at the
same place. Our law books define rape as nonconsensual penetration and assault in the
genital areas but it is so much more than that and honestly, mere eagle eyes on the streets
penetrate the same way. You just cannot define RAPE. Parallels have been drawn with the
Nirbhaya case now as Jisha was assaulted the same way. But what did we as a society
have been able to change after Nirbhaya. We have tried being pragmatic and we have tried
being aware but when that is not helping, how is justice being ensured.
To blame we have the delayed reporting, delayed response of the government and the the
civil society but has that been able to drive changes if done on time. No.
A woman is not feeling safe neither on the streets nor at home is a terrible situation and
bazillion efforts are not helping much is more terrifying. Politicization of this incident has
already been triggered and soon it will become the heated topic for the assembly elections.
A social media post very aptly quoted that we are more worried about women entering
temples rather than men entering women. Let’s get more serious about how women are
made to feel safe. And also the clear out the concept of safe cities which has sadly been
where there are less cases of harassment. A safe city is where we have cent per cent
bystander care, where women are free to express, live safely and have equal participation
opportunities in governance or in any other sphere.
#JusticeforJisha has been rolling across social media platforms. We appeal you to come
forward and raise your voice. Every voice counts and this time let’s not step back till justice
is granted.
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