“Am I less of a Victim than Nirbhaya?” asks Rekha Nerade
Dear friends, The Delhi bus-rape event clearly aroused our nation’s collective conscience, and “Nirbhaya” or “Patient-X” or “Jagruti”, who died yesterday in Singapore, became an icon representing all the victims of violence in India. But, going into 2013, let us ask whether our conscience has really awakened, or whether this is just a year-end orgy of self-righteousness. Let us take a look at another woman who is fighting for her life in a Mumbai hospital. Let us see if our collective conscience even blinks, let alone shed a tear. Meet Rekha Nerade of Nizamabad, Andhra Pradesh. She is 27 years old, attractive and single. Her eyes are asking you, “Am I any less of a victim than Nirbhaya, for whom you have shed copious tears, and continue to light candles all over the country? Doctors are worried that Rekha may not even survive to salute the flag on Republic Day 2013. But, unaware of the full gravity of her situation, Rekha and her elder brother Krishna are worried about how...