Jyoti Singh (India)


A Tragedy

 

In 2012, 23 year old Jyoti was raped by bus drivers and other passages during the path to home. The criminal Mukesh Singh even physically abused her and left her on the highway. She was hurt so bad and her male friend’s leg was broken as well. Unfortunately, Jyoti died after this issue.

 

Jyoti was born in an open minded family as her parents allowed her to be a doctor after graduation. Her father even sold out family lands because of the tutorial fee. After Jyoti left, her father used those money to set up a foundation named “Nirbhaya” which means not afraid. The name of Jyoti means brightness in Indian. People hope that female rights could be raised because of this issue.

 

This tragedy motivated many Indian to join protest against sexual harassment to female. The protectors went to the street day by day, even they were attacked by tear gas and water cannon. The anger from the protests reflects the necessity to have gender justice and equality. They shouted “We want Justice” to the government, but unfortunately there is no official respond. Actually, in the tradition of India court, cases of sexual harassment and rape need to take 10 to 20 years. Usually, the victims could not get back their justice. Even the police would not take it seriously as well.

 

Jyoti’s story was filmed as a documentary “India’s Daughter” by Udwin. Within two years, Udwin had interviewed Jyoti’s parents, friends, Mukesh Singh who is the guy who raped her and his lawyer. Even though the film does not have bloody scene, it still makes audiences feel terrified as the interview with criminals were totally non sense. However, the movie was forbidden to publish on 8th March. The government might afraid of the massive protest because of this movie.

 

Jyoti’s situation still lets the society to reflect of their current society. It leads to a wide discussion on how to improve gender inequality. People think that the reform should start from education, hoping that the stereotypies of gender inequality could be changed.

 

Written by Kwok Ka Lim