Soooo...yeah. Sorry for leaving you hanging, folks. That first week after Holi was really rather stressful, looking back on it. There's a lot of energy that goes into staying strong on your own and trying to just get on with your life. It was made somewhat easier by the tsunami wave of support and encouragement from friends from all over the world, empathising with what I experienced and in some cases sharing their own stories with me. Thank you, friends. Nevertheless, I missed out on a lot of work hours that week. A lot. I just wasn't in a good headspace to produce creative work. Which means I'll be broke again next month, seeing as I get paid by the hour. Yeah. The unexpected outcomes of sexual harassment.
Anyways, so the 8 guys were arrested and have been chargesheeted, which is an Indian legal term. A chargesheet is "a formal document of accusation prepared by law-enforcement agencies in India...Once the chargesheet has been submitted to a court of law, the court decides as to who among the accused has sufficient prima facie evidence against him to be put on trial. After the court pronounces its order on framing of charges, prosecution proceedings against the accused begin in the judicial system." (Thank you Wikipedia!) I know they had a bail hearing last week, but I don't know the outcome of the hearing. I don't really care enough to call and find out.
How did we find out they were chargesheeted? Through the media. Not just one newspaper, all of them. Apparently every FIR (First Information Report) gets uploaded to the internet for anyone to access. Greeeeeat system, India! Fortunately each account differs drastically in the total inaccuracies they've decided to fabricate in order to fill in the blanks. Thank Kali* for small blessings.
Anna and I were struggling for a long time with the idea that these guys could spend years in an Indian jail (not like a German jail at all!) for what they did. It seemed disproportional, and will be on our consciences for the rest of our lives. But the way I've managed to clear my conscience is thus: it is out of my hands. It is now in the hands of the law to decide what is proportional punishment for the crime. This outlook of mine is strengthened by the fact that molestation is a non-compoundable offence -- which means it's no longer me (the complainant) against them, it's now the state against them. We wouldn't be able to drop the case even if we wanted to.
So I've made my peace with it. I'm not pushing for justice or any particular outcome. The way I see it is I go to the trial, give my testimony as best I can, and then step away. I'm not getting emotionally invested in the outcome of the trial. If the trial ever happens, that is. At this point in time, even though Anna and her boyfriend wrote to the court to tell them they'll be leaving the country soon, we've yet to receive a summons.
I'm a little afraid that they will leave the country and then the date will be set once they're gone and I'll have to go through everything all on my own. But I made a decision when I was 15 not to be afraid of anything, which is a philosophy that's served me well thus far. If that happens, it happens, and I will survive and bounce back like I usually do. No point in worrying about it now.
Oh, and the embassy eventually emailed me, after a good friend in South Africa spammed every email address available on the DIRCO website. Did I mention that I have really great friends?
So, that's the state of things. I will let everyone know if and when we eventually do receive a summons, and what happens at the trial. I hope you don't mind if, until then, I write about other, more normal aspects of life in India -- like how apparently mops are a technology that have not reached this country. Every day I see our maid (a perfectly acceptable term here!) clean the tiled floors by bending down and wiping them with a wet cloth. The whole flat. Every. day. Same goes for brooms, actually. They're short little bundles of long reed-like things tied together with no long handle. What the hell, India? Don't you care for the backs of your women? As much as I love this country, there are some things I'll never understand.
Love to you all,
M.xx
*Kali is an awesome Hindu goddess whose temple I visited in Calcutta. She is dark and fierce and angry and destroys evil, the embodiment of empowerment. She carries a sickle and wears a necklace of human heads around her neck, stepping on her husband Shiva to calm her fury. "To be a child of Kāli...is to be denied of earthly delights and pleasures. Kāli is said to refrain from giving that which is expected. To the devotee, it is perhaps her very refusal to do so that enables her devotees to reflect on dimensions of themselves and of reality that go beyond the material world." (Again, thanks Wikipedia!) I am in awe.
Anyways, so the 8 guys were arrested and have been chargesheeted, which is an Indian legal term. A chargesheet is "a formal document of accusation prepared by law-enforcement agencies in India...Once the chargesheet has been submitted to a court of law, the court decides as to who among the accused has sufficient prima facie evidence against him to be put on trial. After the court pronounces its order on framing of charges, prosecution proceedings against the accused begin in the judicial system." (Thank you Wikipedia!) I know they had a bail hearing last week, but I don't know the outcome of the hearing. I don't really care enough to call and find out.
How did we find out they were chargesheeted? Through the media. Not just one newspaper, all of them. Apparently every FIR (First Information Report) gets uploaded to the internet for anyone to access. Greeeeeat system, India! Fortunately each account differs drastically in the total inaccuracies they've decided to fabricate in order to fill in the blanks. Thank Kali* for small blessings.
Anna and I were struggling for a long time with the idea that these guys could spend years in an Indian jail (not like a German jail at all!) for what they did. It seemed disproportional, and will be on our consciences for the rest of our lives. But the way I've managed to clear my conscience is thus: it is out of my hands. It is now in the hands of the law to decide what is proportional punishment for the crime. This outlook of mine is strengthened by the fact that molestation is a non-compoundable offence -- which means it's no longer me (the complainant) against them, it's now the state against them. We wouldn't be able to drop the case even if we wanted to.
So I've made my peace with it. I'm not pushing for justice or any particular outcome. The way I see it is I go to the trial, give my testimony as best I can, and then step away. I'm not getting emotionally invested in the outcome of the trial. If the trial ever happens, that is. At this point in time, even though Anna and her boyfriend wrote to the court to tell them they'll be leaving the country soon, we've yet to receive a summons.
I'm a little afraid that they will leave the country and then the date will be set once they're gone and I'll have to go through everything all on my own. But I made a decision when I was 15 not to be afraid of anything, which is a philosophy that's served me well thus far. If that happens, it happens, and I will survive and bounce back like I usually do. No point in worrying about it now.
Oh, and the embassy eventually emailed me, after a good friend in South Africa spammed every email address available on the DIRCO website. Did I mention that I have really great friends?
So, that's the state of things. I will let everyone know if and when we eventually do receive a summons, and what happens at the trial. I hope you don't mind if, until then, I write about other, more normal aspects of life in India -- like how apparently mops are a technology that have not reached this country. Every day I see our maid (a perfectly acceptable term here!) clean the tiled floors by bending down and wiping them with a wet cloth. The whole flat. Every. day. Same goes for brooms, actually. They're short little bundles of long reed-like things tied together with no long handle. What the hell, India? Don't you care for the backs of your women? As much as I love this country, there are some things I'll never understand.
Love to you all,
M.xx
*Kali is an awesome Hindu goddess whose temple I visited in Calcutta. She is dark and fierce and angry and destroys evil, the embodiment of empowerment. She carries a sickle and wears a necklace of human heads around her neck, stepping on her husband Shiva to calm her fury. "To be a child of Kāli...is to be denied of earthly delights and pleasures. Kāli is said to refrain from giving that which is expected. To the devotee, it is perhaps her very refusal to do so that enables her devotees to reflect on dimensions of themselves and of reality that go beyond the material world." (Again, thanks Wikipedia!) I am in awe.
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