Sorry I miss the joke. What’s so funny? Being raped or being accused of rape?

Inside this issue there’s an interview with Shiney Ahuja, taken a couple of days before he was arrested. We did toss around with it a bit, wondering if we should pull out the pages. But finally we decided to go with it. We’d like to believe Shiney is innocent until proven otherwise. Especially for his wife and child’s sake, we hope he is.

His wife Anu had kept herself away from the public eye for so many years because she wanted her kid to have a normal upbringing. It is sad that she had to be introduced to the world in such a fashion, the very normalcy she wished to protect, exploding in her face.

There are some smses floating around the place making jokes about this incident. Some newspapers even printed those jokes. I miss the mirth. What’s so funny? Being raped or being accused of rape?

We love the theory of Crime and Punishment. We love taking on the high stool and playing moral umpires. We draw strict lines between the victim and the victimiser, and also keep the right to decide with ourselves. It is not because Shiney’s a celebrity that I am hoping what’s being reported about him is untrue; every time I read or hear of rape I pray to God that it’s not true. Every time I read or hear of rape my stomach churns with unbearable sadness and dread.

Call me a fuddy-duddy, I am not yet desensitised enough to make light of it.