Afreena Rahim
afreenrahim00@gmail.com
Every few months, another daughter is buried. Another mother cries herself to sleep. Another father stands outside police stations and courtrooms carrying the unbearable weight of grief and helplessness. Another family is destroyed forever while the country watches for a few days and then moves on.
First Gool. Then Dharamkund. Now Budgam involving a minor. Before these, Kashmir had already witnessed countless stories that never received national attention. Many cases disappeared quietly into files, forgotten by authorities and ignored by society. And outside Kashmir, India has seen horrors that should have shaken humanity forever – Kathua, where an innocent child was assaulted and murdered; Delhi’s Nirbhaya case, where brutality crossed every limit imaginable; Hyderabad, Unnao, Hathras, Kolkata, and countless unnamed victims whose stories never became headlines because they were poor, powerless, or forgotten too quickly.
How many more names must we remember before this country finally changes?
What hurts the most is not only the crime itself. It is the silence afterward.
For a few days there is outrage. Politicians make speeches. Television channels scream for ratings. Hashtags trend. Candle marches are organized. Promises are made. Committees are formed. New “schemes” for women’s safety are announced. Governments print slogans about protecting daughters. Posters appear everywhere speaking about empowerment and security.
But where is that security on the ground?
Where is accountability?
Where is justice for families who spend years waiting while the accused use money, influence, and political connections to escape punishment?
Most Government schemes today seem designed more for newspaper advertisements than for actual implementation. Funds are announced, campaigns are launched, slogans are repeated – yet women still fear walking home safely. Parents still panic when daughters are late. Families still beg authorities to take complaints seriously. Victims still face humiliation instead of protection.
A country cannot call itself developed when its women live in fear.
Every rape is not just an attack on one woman. It destroys entire families. A mother spends the rest of her life asking herself if she could have protected her child. Fathers break silently under the weight of guilt and helplessness. Sisters stop feeling safe. Young girls begin understanding fear before they even understand freedom.
And society? Society watches.
That is perhaps the most frightening reality of all – our growing emotional numbness.
People have started consuming these tragedies like ordinary news. Another case appears, people react emotionally for a few days, and then everything returns to normal. Reels continue. Politics continues. Entertainment continues. Meanwhile, somewhere a family sits beside a grave wondering how the world moved on so quickly.
How do those responsible for justice sleep peacefully after failing another victim?
How do officials give speeches about women’s empowerment while parents continue living in terror?
How do criminals walk freely after destroying lives?
And how has society accepted all this as normal?
The truth is bitter: the crisis today is not only criminality; it is moral collapse. We are becoming a society where outrage is temporary, accountability is rare, and humanity is fading.
Women are constantly told to stay careful – don’t go out late, don’t trust people, don’t travel alone, don’t wear this, don’t do that. But why is the burden always on women to survive instead of on society to stop creating monsters?
No Government slogan can comfort a grieving mother.
No speech can erase the trauma of a survivor.
No compensation can return a lost daughter.
Real justice requires accountability. Real change requires fast and fearless punishment. Real safety requires a society that refuses to stay silent.
Until then, another headline will come. Another family will cry. Another candle march will happen. Another promise will be made.
And once again, the country will move on while another daughter becomes just another statistic.
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