"As another one of our sisters fights for her life, it's clear from the investigation that this was blatant misogynist intimidation of the highest and most gruesome kind from one failed businessman against his younger, more successful lady competitor!" said the ageing female politician, whose voice became louder and more shrill with each adjective as she spoke to a national TV anchor inside a brightly lit studio. "He set his dogs on her to rape her and make it look like a pathetic robbery, it's at the very least criminal conspiracy! We're calling on the courts to try the mastermind behind this disgusting brutality on rape charges too!"
"But, madam, this man did not rape the girl, the woman. The CCTV footage shows 8 minutes after his goons grabbed her he left the said vehicle and from a very public place. How can he be tried as a rapist?"
"Listen, you and your viewers should know the facts! It was because of him she was raped! His goons abducted her off the street with the sole intent of getting her to sign over her business to him. The police have found pieces of torn-up contract proving this, the stupid fools!" What began as finger wagging by the mid-ranking opposition politician evolved into a swishing motion with her whole hand as if she were knocking her sentences off a shelf in front of her. "And when she refuses to sign it - heroically, but tragically, sticking to her principles - he turns her to his wolves. It is beyond intimidation! It is rape even if he did not do the penetrating himself! Is a man who hires an assassin not done for murder? Is Hitler not guilty of killing a million Jews even if he did not operate the gas chamber? So why is this hideous man not being tried for the rape he instigated?"
"OK, OK, well as you and our viewers know, our braveheart's condition has taken a turn for the worst. If she dies, and god willing she will not, but if she does he might then be tried for murder."
"Fine! Let us cross that bridge when we come to it. But for now, why is the law not punishing the men who think it's fine to violate a woman - in this case just because she has short hair, runs a business and is successful - by using rape against her and not try him for that crime he instigates? Why? And don't even get me started on one of them being an underage rapist and so allowed to be free in just three years ! Never mind that rapists aren't given the death penalty, unless, sir, you would like to have that debate again?"
"Madam, with all due respect, though you are an opposition MP, you have sat on many committees for women's rights in this country over the years and very little has come out of any of those. Do you think the problem goes deeper than the bails and verdicts and sentencing passed down to the perpetrators of these heinous crimes against women? Isn't there a lack of political will to really address the fundamental issues affecting women in India?"
