Every time you open the newspaper, there's a report on crime against a woman, be it sexual or physical. India is slowly regressing towards 'no country for women' and that makes us really sad. But even though you read the word rape ever so often in the Indian context, rape is a global reality and in some countries the number of rapes are as many or more than in India.

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While we blame the authorities for not keeping our surroundings secure, we do know that building a mass movement makes a larger impact than anything else, more than waiting for authorities to implement proper safety measures around the city, which have failed us miserably in the past. That's why on November 20, women protesters came out on to the streets of the city of Santiago, Chile, reciting powerful words of a poem titled 'A Rapist On Your Way'. The women wearing black were blindfolded, all of them wearing lipstick and chanting 'El violador eres tu (The rapist is you).'

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The protest was organised by Las Tesis, a women's collective in Santiago, who got thousands of women together on the streets to start a movement which has today become a global outcry, especially the words of the anthem the women were heard singing which have picked up a grave momentum and have been chanted all over the world. The videos from the protest went viral all over and because India is going through the same situation, reached the ears of our women, and rightfully so!

They say empathy during a difficult situation heals everything in time and while there's a long way to go where healing is concerned for the years of subjugation and violence women have undergone, India could heavily relate to the Chilean protest and how! After the Hyderabad rape of the vet, where her body was tormented and burnt and the Unnao rape victim's death recently after she was stabbed and set ablaze, India's outrage will never cease to exist, at least for another decade or so, or till things become better.

So, on December 7, 2019, a group of Indian women kept the anthem alive, by getting out on the streets in Delhi's Jantar Mantar, to chant their own version of the Chilean 'A Rapist In Your Way', complete with blindfolds and slogans.  

Hundreds gathered for a flash mob protest at Jantar Mantar against rapes and the complete breakdown of law to bring justice to rape victim families on a day when #Unnao rape victim, who was brutally burnt, lost her life. #ReporterDiary (@milan_reports) pic.twitter.com/aHs9EYfoiu

The Indian chapter was held at Jantar Mantar, Connaught Place at 3pm, and it built enough momentum with people pouring in as and when. Even men joined the slogan, echoing the same sentiment and it was the best form of unity we've seen, where gender roles and biases are concerned in the country. The Indian chapter was titled 'A Rapist in Your Way Intervention India Chapter In Solidarity'.

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The protest aimed to address violence of any form against women in the country and it really fell on deaf ears when everyone was chanting it together.

“And the fault wasn't mine, not where I was, not how I dressed 

And the fault wasn't mine, not where I was, not how I dressed 

And the fault wasn't mine, not where I was, not how I dressed 

And the fault wasn't mine, not where I was, not how I dressed 

The rapist is you. 

The rapist is you.

It's the cops,

The judges,

The state,

The president.

The oppressive state is a rapist.

The oppressive state is a rapist.”

While this poem may not mean anything to a few, it actually is a solid mirror that reflects our society. It's not how women dress, or carry themselves or what they do that 'provoke' the men. It's what they expect from the government and the authorities, when they're helplessly tortured and tormented. And sadly so, the authorities and the government have always failed them. The state has failed them. While 'enough is enough' has also become a popular slogan in the country, casual sexism, oppression and harassment still happen openly all over, apart from more heinous crimes like rape. We aspire to live in a country where women are free to walk, talk, dress, have ***, most importantly, breath and believe in themselves with confidence and a heightened sense of self and that will only happen if we let go of archaic norms from the society and newer ones, where women are respected and cared for, take shape.

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