The December 16, 2012 gang-rape victim had a name. To honour her memory, we could start by reclaiming her identity.
Indian law does not permit the naming of rape victims. Presumably, this is because the crime of rape is so terrible that, in society’s eyes, it stains not the rapist but his victim with shame; a shame so indelible that her honour and that of her family is irretrievably lost.
And, so, even though Badrinath Singh, the father of the 23-year-old gangraped so brutally that she died of her injuries, said he had no objection to her real name being used, media christened her the fearless one.
We made her the braveheart who accepted her martyrdom. A martyr is someone who embraces death, usually for a religious cause.
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