Nirbhaya - A Mother Gets Justice Finally! Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

Nirbhaya - our nation's daughter
will never be forgotten,
neither will that episode vanish
from the memory of millions,
as she was the daughter of our country;
her parents had educated her
her parents had cherished her as their child,
they had dreams for her of a marriage,
of a red sari embedded with golden thread
and a lot of mehendi on her palms and feet;
that dream remained a dream
but not today, not anymore;
their dream of justice had come true finally
they have dressed her with justice now.

And though she is not amidst them,
from afar she could be watching
as the waiting had been long;
her parents had waited for justice for seven years;
every year they went home without it
but finally it was today- the day of the verdict,
where was joy when they heard it?
yet they rejoiced for justice they had attained;
their minds had drowned in the sea of sorrow
as age had moved so slowly with the wheels of justice
taking its own course to reach a verdict.

And as many mothers watched the verdict,
they too rejoiced but they too will face anxiety
they too will wait for their daughters
to return home safely in the night hours
from their work places or from late night movies
as fear and worry will always prevail
as this memory of a mother's struggle for justice
will never be forgotten
unless mothers themselves prevent
their own precious daughters from venturing out
in the dark of the night where
drunken men await like vultures
to abuse and use young innocent girls who
never sense danger and they are unable to combat
a gang of men who attack to rape them
while their (rapists)own sisters sleep
in safety of their homes
and their brothers choose to rape innocent girls
who are sisters and daughters of mothers
who bring them up with care and love,
singing lullabies when they were little infants.

And when their little babies grow into girls
the news of them getting raped by lusty men
as many as six- half a dozen,
how can mothers accept such cruelty?
where is dignity and morality
where is humanity and reality
when with affection they have lived
and loved their daughters day after day?
"Is this the fate you wrote for my child? "
asks such mothers to God
and God replies -I rewarded you with life,
you rewarded her with life,
but when they caused her such harm
my heart equally wept as much as yours;
as a grief of a mother I have seen
and all I could do was allot you courage
to seek justice for your child,
the tears of a mother are like jewels so precious
which no one can conceal neither steal;
and as I saw you sorrowing,
everyday I enhanced your courage, O' mother dear! ".

And as days will turn into months and years,
every city will wake up to dawn
after every sunset, after every sunrise
but a mother will silently weep every night
before she sleeps and she will never stop to grieve
until the day when she stops to remember
that episode of life where she visualizes
the voice of her child saying aloud -
"maa, help me, rescue me, they are raping me''
and these words will keep echoing in her ears,
keeping her awake for many hours in the night
without respite to an incessant pain in a mother's heart.