The next time you see or hear of another innocent ‘Nirbhaya’ dying, ask yourself, has the conscience of this so-called cultured nation already perished? Can women in today’s India live freely, without fear or judgment? Are our daughters safe in their homes, their schools, their workplaces, even in police stations meant to protect them?

Look at the numbers, and remember, these are only the reported ones. In 2021, over 31,000 rapes were registered, that’s 86 women every single day, almost four every hour. In 2024, Odisha saw an eight per cent rise, and tribal Madhya Pradesh a shocking 19 per cent. And convictions? Barely 27 per cent.

Justice crawls, while predators walk free. When a survivor gathers the courage to report the crime, the first question the police ask is, “What were you wearing?” The court asks, “Why did you come so late?” And, society whispers, “Won’t she be defamed?”

In India, a rape victim dies twice, first, under the brutality of the act, and then under the suffocating silence of the world around her.

August 2024, A 31-year-old doctor in Kolkata was raped and murdered inside the hospital. Her body was found in a seminar room. Doctors across India went on strike; women took to the streets chanting, “Reclaim the Night.”

In March 2024, A Spanish tourist was gang-raped in Jharkhand, beaten, and filmed. Hathras, the name that refuses to fade. A 17-year-old Dalit girl, returning from a wedding, was gang-raped and left to die. Her ‘crime’? Her caste.

Palamu, behind the stage lights, a dancer exploited by her own troupe. In February 2025, A Dalit teenager in Kerala revealed that for five years, 60 men, neighbours, relatives, strangers, raped her repeatedly, blackmailing her with videos. Agra, the murder of a young researcher at a premier institution remains unsolved, justice forever postponed.

Each corpse of an innocent girl holds up a mirror to society’s decay. This is the same land that chants ‘Nari tu Narayani’, while the same hands, in darkness, strip her of dignity. These are not just crimes; this is the collapse of civilisation, the death rattle of humanity. Every time a girl is silenced, we become complicit.

Rape is not just an assault on the body; it is the murder of the soul. A weapon of domination, a patriarchal reminder of who controls power. Since man divided the world into predator and prey, the woman became his property, over land, labour, and body alike. That ancient mental slavery continues to poison our collective mind.

In the wars of old, conquered women were ‘spoils of victory’. From the Roman Empire to the Mongol invasions, and from ISIS to Ukraine and Syria today, the pattern remains unchanged.

A woman’s body is still treated as proof of a man’s triumph. Rape is not just about sex; it is about power. The poor labourer is exploited by his master, just as a wife may be violated by her husband. Every relationship of unequal power hides the same violent instinct. And now, even the reverse, powerful women exploiting men, springs from the same diseased mindset.

Religion, too, has played its part. Some self-proclaimed ‘holy man’ preaches that a ‘sacred bath’ will wash away sins, even as his own lust stains his robes. Leaders shed crocodile tears over one sensational case while ignoring the thousands that never make the news.

And, who speaks for the women trapped in red-light districts, victims of poverty, coercion, or simply silence? The rise of consumerism has commodified desire, turning desperation into a marketplace and human flesh into currency.

We have lit candles, marched, tweeted hashtags, made laws, but the mindset remains medieval. We teach our children science and coding, but not respect. Technology, instead of protection, has turned into a new weapon, with reels, deepfakes, revenge porn, and digital violence for a digital age.

We need to retrain our police, fast-track justice, and, above all, educate our society to end the silence. Children, both boys and girls, must be taught that respect is not a virtue; it’s a necessity.

Because rape is not just a crime, it is a mirror to our civilisation. And what we see in it today is blurred, brutal, and shameful.