A stitch in time saves lives

Priyadarshini Mattoo was just a regular student at the faculty. And I know from experience that any regular girl at the faculty is stared at, whistled at, harassed, stalked and objectified in some way. And this is largely by the male students within the faculty. I have close friends and class mates who have themselves been victims of such harassment as they were stalked or their pictures were taken and they were made to feel unsafe within the premises of the faculty. Of course in Priyadarshini Mattoo’s case things went too far and she became a victim of rape and murder.

I have a few Professors who have taught Priyadarshini and remember her vividly. They mention the incident not in the usual legal context but in the social context of what often happens to students, especially women, at the faculty.

When my friend was harassed, there was no sexual harassment cell, where she could complain. As her fellow students helped her and things got a little rough, those students were suspended, and the person who stalked her came to college each day facing no sanctions.

I always felt many of the students must be a less scared about the social or legal consequences of harassing a fellow student. After all, there was precedent for how Priyadarshini Mattoo had been raped and murdered and her murderer was acquitted and was a practicing lawyer who had also managed to marry and have a place in society.

Now I breathe a little easy. Because anyone at the faculty of law will think twice before he harasses a girl and things get out of hand as in Priyadarshini’s case.

However, one though persists in my mind. If the Faculty of Law had taken stringent action against Santosh Singh in the first instance of stalking, would this have happened to Priyadarshini? And due to inaction are more Santosh Singhs in the making?