To,
Dr Manmohan Singh
The Honorable Prime Minister of
India and the hope of 1.22 billion Indians
Respected Sir,
This petition is addressed to you
not only because you are our Prime Minister but also because you as an
individual {apart from the political tag} are a highly acclaimed scholar,
thinker and most importantly a father of 3 daughters.
We understand that managing a
nation of 1 billion people and assuring their justice, equality, liberty and
fraternity must be a time consuming and highly challenging job. Hence we will
try to keep this short.
What brought us to you?
The depressing and tormenting
state of Indian women has brought us here. We do not think that we need to
support this reason with references because everyday newspaper is a mirror to
see the state of women. More precisely, the recent rape incidents which has
shaken the soul of the nation has brought us to an impasse and we stand
together to say “ENOUGH”.
Why on 15th August 2013?
We believe that this date was the
most important date for the history of our nation. We got back our freedom, our
respect and our rights. Apparently, only half the nation got independence.
Indian women are still living under the tyrannies and brutalities of not
foreign, but their own men. On this historical date, we demand, plead, request
and fight for our freedom, our SPARKLE! This term has taken birth from the
SPARKLE Revolution.
S status of respect
P power of speech
A access to freedom
R right to happiness
K knowledge and education
L love not lust
E existence as an equal
More about SPARKLE in the book
attached.
How can you give us freedom and SPARKLE?
1.
Death penalty or Capital Punishment for rape
crime
The most usual
response against capital punishment for rape is “it is too big” or “it is
against religion to take a life”. We would like to press the fact that, rape
itself is big and so should be its punishment. The price of a woman’s life is
balanced for some compensation and few years of imprisonment at the most. These
are both unacceptable. If we want our women to breathe free in this nation, we
need harsh lessons for those who do not follow. If politicians are afraid that
this punishment could be used wrongfully, that means they doubt the accuracy
and expertise of the police and our crime investigators. This does not mean
capital punishment should be banned. Gandhi Ji once said “India would be truly free
only when a woman was able to walk freely and without fear, from Kashmir to
Kanyakumari at midnight.”
On this 15th
of August, 2013 we the people of India want India to be truly free and this can
only be made possible by the support of such straight forward law.
2.
A crisis committee to repair India’s state
of women
Rape is not the
only barbarity faced by Indian women. Domestic violence, sexual exploitation,
genocide, dowry related crimes and various other acts are some vigilant
examples. Just like when a member of our family is on the verge of death, we
arrange for a special crisis committee of doctors to save our beloved, India,
very urgently needs one such committee. We propose this committee to be a
completely non political and independent body of people from different walks of
life from lawyers and doctors to students and rural workers. This committee of
at least 15 people cans needs to sit down and create an action plan for a 5
year term in order to abolish cultural discrimination based on genders and
revive the extinguishing life of Indian women. More on the committee is
attached in a separate document.
As a father of 3 lovely daughters, we hope you care for the
more than 3 million daughters of India as well and create for us a safe, free
and Independent nation. We shall then celebrate our Independence Day. I urge
you to move forward on these issues and to help us “change the phase of Indian
women: one by one”.
We look forward to your kind response.
With Respect and Aspiration
Shahla Khan
On behalf of the
citizens of India