Child rape is a heinous crime and shockingly our society has been unable to curb it. In light of the Asifa case, the issue has been politicized so much that we have lost sight of the core issue and failed to take any action against the perpetrators. In the midst of this blame game, I was unable to form an opinion on the right course of action until I watched this video clip that I received from a friend via WhatsApp. In this video, a 28-year-old activist took on the spokespeople of multiple political parties and had them squirming in their seats unable to answer her simple arguments sans the political brouhaha.‍

I wish that Arnab would have shut up and let the woman speak but I think that would be asking for too much

‍https://youtu.be/wb7ngYlqbgE

The woman in this video is Trisha Shetty, is the founder of SheSays, an NGO that Forbes describes as “an Indian non-profit that empowers the country's women to act against sexual violence by providing education, legal, medical as well as psychological support.”

I absolutely commend Trisha for putting forth such a bold and unrestrained argument. In her two-minute monologue, she pointed out what these seasoned politicians have been avoiding for years i.e. removing the people in your party that have been accused or are accused of sheltering & defending those that were accused of a heinous crime like child rape. As many other Indians will, I strongly resonate with her argument.

The accused people should be removed from office until proven innocent and be barred from holding positions of power if found sheltering the accused. None of them are above the law and shouldn’t be allowed to act as if they are. Any elected official that believes that his or her views on this topic are being smothered by the louder & more powerful voices in their party, should have the guts to leave that party. We did not elect our representatives to follow the orders of a few, but to speak up and defend our rights, act on and resolve our complaints and protect our right basic right to have a respectable and secure life for ourselves and our children.

44/2018