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 15^th 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 15^th 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

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