Samir Kochhar talks to his industry pals about the Delhi gang rape case

As a Guest Editor at Tellychakkar.com, I want to talk about something that has moved and disturbed me. The gang rape that happened with a 23 year old medical student in Delhi a few days ago is one of the worst crimes that I’ve ever heard of. These criminals should get the most severe punishment. Today what we are going to do here is that I will try and come up with a solution to this issue by talking to some of my friends from the industry. For if something like spitting out a chewing gum on roads can be taken seriously in a country like Singapore, why can’t we take strict action against rapists? The first person I will talk to is my friend Gaurav Kapoor. Over to him… Gaurav tell us about your reaction to this incident as a Delhiite? “More than as a Delhiite or an Indian, I am filled with disgust as a human being. And I plead to the media to stop interviewing her family. I feel the culprits’ families need to be talked about.” Are these men mentally sick or do they do such things because they can get away with the law so easily? “Both go hand in hand. There is a lot of mental sickness in our country plus the law is disregarded. There is no fear of the law. We keep talking about respecting women and 95 percent does that while the rest five percent does not understand respect. This is where the problem arises. Certain section of the society spreads malice. This is a fabulous opportunity for the government and the cops to take a strict action. Deal with them harshly and quickly. Do it in two weeks.” We always talk about Delhi V/s Mumbai comparison. After this incident which took place do you think Mumbai is safer? “It’s been shocking to see so much of crime in Delhi in the past few months. However, it’s not like crime is not happening elsewhere but the issue with Delhi is that it’s not limited when it comes to its geographical boundaries. Mumbai is comparatively limited as its geographical boundaries don’t let it expand. Delhi has expanded too much. So, it even gets difficult for the police to reach that far or maybe they are just too busy protecting the politicians. In fact we have stayed in Delhi and trust me a couple out there is more scared of the police than anybody.” How does one save a girl in such a situation? “See if you’re all alone, do not try being an action hero think quick, call the police, raise an alarm, and collect a mob. Do what it takes to save that person.” What do you have to say about comments like women bring them upon themselves by dressing up in a particular way? “That’s a woman’s choice if she has decided to wear what she is wearing. It does not mean you jump on her. And trust me anybody who tells you that just go and slap that person.” Now, let’s talk to Archana Vijaya, one of the hottest and the most beautiful girls I’ve ever known. Getting straight to the matter … “It makes me angry to know that there is zero respect for women. As a girl gets raped in a moving bus at 9:30 pm and Sheela Dixit turns and says she shouldn’t have gone out at that time. My question to her is shouldn’t girls work? What do I do if I have a shooting post 9 pm or 10 pm? It is a clear violation of our fundamental rights to say something like this.” What do you have to say about dressing up in a particular way? “Yes, I do have to think about the clothes I wear outside because of people like this. In fact my mother has been so scared with this incident that she wants me to have 24 hour help at home as I stay all alone. “Most of us have cars but think about the ones who travel in public transport. How safe are they? One must act fast on what happened and take a decision. We cannot sit and make laws here as our country takes five years for a single law to be passed.” Well…here I would like to mention that Archana knows martial arts so she is a threat to men (wink wink). Moving on, next is Mrinalini Sharma. We have done a film called Hide and Seek together. “It’s amazing that as we are supposed to be getting sophisticated as human beings how vicious and brutal can you get and one wonders when to say enough is enough. As a girl I can’t imagine the pain she and her family are going through at this point. And all of us need to step forward as human beings and stop this.” Has any incident ever scared you as a girl? “People talk about Mumbai being a very safe place. I was once travelling in a rick at 8 pm and a biker started trying to get close to the rickshaw I was travelling in. After a point the auto driver wanted to abandon me but luckily I reached my building and the watchman handled the situation. But the next day I did not come out of the house with the fear of that man still being around.” How much do you agree with the term that women invite this? “We are in a democratic country and it’s not something in particular that we are supposed to be wearing. And, it’s not about what you wear, the way you walk or the time that you travel at can bring this upon you. These men cannot think beyond lust that is why these things happen. People should be free to move around, dress the way they want to and there are no excuses for rape.” Is it also because paid sex is not legal in our country? “Men do go and they do pay for it whether it’s legal or not. It’s basically just the regressed mentality. These people can see a beautiful kissing scene in a Hollywood movie but the same scene in a Bollywood movie can be a topic of discussion. This is heights of hypocrisy.” Well moving on to the hot Marathi mulgi Shibani Dandekar…. “I think like any other Indian right now, I am disgusted that such things happen and something has to be done about it.” You’ve lived in Australia all your life. How different is the way men look at you there and here? “It’s a big change for me. Here I think twice about what I will be wearing. I just can’t be myself. But at the same time I think it’s not ok to say that such things invite rape. This does not happen overseas so people here cannot use it as a defense mechanism. Nobody ever asks for rape. “I don’t understand why this is happening and why are people suggesting reasons of why it’s happening. I think that death penalty is just not enough for such people, they must be tortured and then left to die.” There are nude beaches abroad and nothing happens there? “The issue here is that we say we are so godly and religious and then we do such things. These people who do such things go to temples the next day, where is the fear. I don’t know if its lack of self control or education.” “What are the values we have when people feel it’s ok to gang rape a woman? How is this happening? What kinds of values we run by?, ended Shivani. So this is what my friends had to say. Your opinions also matter. So please go down to the comments section and share your thoughts.