SEOUL: The gang-rape of a 19-year-old girl in India’s Hathras town of northern state Uttar Pradesh and her hurried cremation not only shook the country, but it created a flutter in South Korea too where Indian nationals staged an online protest to condemn the incident on Tuesday evening.
The incident emerged as the talk of the town among the Korean nationals also.
The people of Indian origin staying and working in South Korea as well as across the world joined the protest through video conferencing app to raise their voice against the gory incident that rekindled the memories of the notorious Nirbhaya case reported in New Delhi in 2012.
On September 14, a lower-caste girl was gang-raped in Hathras town, about 200 km from New Delhi by four upper-caste men, and later she succumbed to her grievous injuries after fighting for her life for two weeks in a Delhi hospital.
All leading media platforms in South Korea widely covered the caste brutality of the Hathras incident in India. And last week being the National Holidays because of the “Chuseok Festival”, the majority of Koreans were spending time with family and the Hathras incident was being widely discussed by the Korean community as well.
The ruling Congress party in Rajasthan state had gone to the extent of comparing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adiyanath with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over the gang-rape incident.
Madhurima Nandy, a Ph. D. student at Postech, Pohang, Korea and a native of Kolkata and also a student representative of Indians in South Korea, who organized the online protest said that the online protest in support of the Hathras daughter was organized to voice against the ongoing and growing rape culture in India.
“The discussion highlighted how the Hathras case is different from Nirbhaya and Hyderabad cases as here the victim belongs to lower strata of the society while the accused are from higher social status. This is what is causing hindrance in the prevalence of justice,” said Nandy adding that the discussion also touched upon issues like how sex education, parenting as well as duties of a citizen can help in preventing such heinous incidents of crime.
Nandy said that the proper functioning of every system like media, judiciary, government, and their role in preventing such crimes to build a safer place for women in India were other issues that surfaced during the online protest meeting.
The speakers during the online protest also carried with them the placards bearing slogans protesting the gang-rape incident which they had prepared on tier own.
M. Mandal, another Indian staying in Korea said India is the world’s largest democracy that ensures freedom of speech and expression, and therefore to demand justice should not be considered an act of defaming the country.
“Rape is the highest form of sexual abuse that could happen to any woman. In India, many rape incidents that happen especially in the interiors of the country go unreported under the pressure of the so-called influential people,” Mandal added.
Gayetri, another Indian and mother of a girl child said while participating in the online protest that harsh punishment to the criminals is not the only solution to the problem, and one should get into the root cause of the problem.
“We should also address the issues like do we have sex education in India? At least, I didn’t hear the word sex during my childhood days. And we never discussed the word sex in family and other circles. But I teach my daughter about the word consent and appropriate and inappropriate touch but that is not enough. Not all children in India get such education from parents as the word sex is a boon there. It means those who talk about sex are bad people,” said Gayetri.
The participants in the online protest said that they were shocked and saddened by several incidents of rape but attempts should be made to ensure that the victims and their families get the due justice in the time. People should stand in support for them and ensure that justice prevails and be served.
“As a human being, we should try to intervene in an ongoing crime scene of rape if our intervention can stop the crime. We need to be more responsible citizens than just being selfish. Indians in Korea want a safer India for its daughters, sisters, and mothers! May justice is given to our Hathras daughter,” said Madhurima Nandy.
