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Mumbai Police Takes A Bold Stand For 17 YO Zaira, Condemns Victim Shaming In A Powerful Post

byStorypickers
18th December 2017
3 minute read

I don’t remember the last time I opened the newspapers or my social media and did not see at least one case of a woman/girl speaking up about her experience with sexual assault. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, in fact, it is really great to see all these women gathering up all their courage to tell their story fearlessly.

However, the society we live in is a double-edged sword – if you speak up, you’re questioned: “Why now?” and if you don’t speak up, you’re labelled a coward, a slut or “easy”. And I speak about society as a whole, not just in India.

Recently, 17-year-old Dangal actress, Zaira Wasim, claimed to have been sexually assaulted on her flight from Delhi to Mumbai.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BajPflzFpAu/?taken-by=zairawasim_

When she narrated the incident and broke down about it on her Instagram Live story, B-town strongly stood up for her and the accused was also arrested. However, now she’s under the scrutiny of the society as to why she did not complain instead of putting up a social media story.

Even Mumbai Police decided to teach the trolls a lesson, with their impactful yet classy touch, of course. They tweeted saying:

Respect The Rights Of A Victim (Minor) Of Alleged Sexual Assault

We have observed in the last few days, that much has been written and spoken about the case of alleged molestation of a 17-year-old girl on a Delhi-Mumbai Flight on the night of 9th December, 2017. Most of the conclusions drawn seem to be without appropriate knowledge of the facts of the case and based on hearsay.

You must be aware that, since the girl is a minor, the case has attracted provisions under the POCSO Act, which imposes certain restrictions on all of us in our discussions on an open platform. Besides, we should also be sensitive enough in our discussions keeping in mind the agony, the minor victim must be going through.

Our action against the accused is backed by sufficient evidence against him and it has been under the scrutiny by the court of law. It is our request to all citizens and netizens, to exercise restraint while writing or speaking about the case of sexual assault on a minor without proper knowledge of the case.

 

While many people have expressed their outrage believing that Zaira Wasim is crying wolf by accusing an innocent man of molestation, no verdict has been announced yet. However, as clearly mentioned by the police, because of her being a minor, they are not allowed to discuss details of the case openly. 

What I believe matters here, is that they took an effort to stop our regressive society from judging anyone who’s a victim of sexual assault. Not just me, many others think so too.

Farhan Akhtar, for example.

And others who thought like him.

Even Faye D’Souza agrees.

And the ones who are willing to hear both sides.

Again, there were people who had some really negative opinions too. And that’s fine since they’re claiming it is their “Freedom of Speech”.

But I assume the point that the Mumbai Police officials were trying to make is that we cannot jump to conclusions based on half-knowledge about the case. Since the police are not at liberty to discuss the case details, we might just have to wait until the courts announce a verdict.

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