The way Rhea Chakraborty is being hounded says a lot about everything that is wrong with today's India

I have a very favourite quote by the Canadian author Justine Musk and it goes like this, "The enemy of feminism isn't men. It's patriarchy, and patriarchy is not men. It is a system, and women can support the system of patriarchy just as men can support the fight for gender equality." This post is not going to discuss who killed Sushant Singh Rajput or did he kill himself because most of our trashy Indian media is doing that well enough. We will talk about the recent situation hovering around the case and how a person is being used as a scapegoat to hide all the big and real issues that are eating up the nation. The only fault of Rhea Chakraborty is that she is a woman and the partner of the demised? 

Yes, it is absolutely fine to investigate a case if there are doubts regarding any fact. Justice needs to be served at any cause, true. But, who till now in any way could prove that Rhea is guilty of killing her own partner? Now, when increasingly information is surfacing which suggests that Sushant's family has lied on many occasions, why still blame Rhea for everything? Because she happened to be his partner and we Indians have still not really moved from our Sati mindset? A more polished and urban way has surfaced now of blaming the wife for everything that is not right in her husband's life. Previously, the wife was asked to jump in the pyre with her husband because she has no use living after her husband is dead, now the society mentally tortures and journalists also physically abuse in this case to kill a person or push the person to the brim.

There was a time when media trials worked for the right, worked for the truth. The Jessica Lal murder case was one such example where media worked relentlessly and it worked against the powerful to give justice but now when most of the media houses are sold to some political party or the other it works for them and does everything to hide truths and distract the audience from real issues. Today India is facing the worst economic crisis ever since independence and what are the news channels discussing? Rhea and Sushant. Today suicide is going up like anything given unemployment is highest ever and the migrant workers see no future, and what are the so-called journalists talking about? Rhea and Sushant. One great journalist even recently asked a speaker to shut up and not waste the 'nation's time' when he started to talk about the current economic crisis.

Further on, suddenly Sushant's family and all very urban and educated people of the nation started talking about black magic. Suddenly, just because she is Bangali all Bangali girls along with her became a witch. She was blamed for forcing Sushant to have weed and take drugs? Come on! Was he a kid? You ask someone to open your mouth and shove down weed? You ask someone to consume drugs and without his consent, you can do it? And, how can anyone prove it? Is Sushant coming up from the ashes and answering these baseless accusations? Why will a person be used as a scapegoat to hide the problems that are with the governance today? Why will the paid media houses hound a woman both traumatising her by getting dangerously close to her and not bothering about the social distance clause that are doing the rounds in this pandemic? How can you judge someone's character based on weed and drugs? And if you are judging her's then why not her partner's too? What is wrong with this country? Even people who stay high on weed every day are now slut-shaming and judging Rhea Chakraborty for consuming weed. What a time to live!

And finally, using a dead man to garner votes in upcoming elections say a lot about the real empathy that these people have for Sushant and the worst part is that most of the public thinks everything is for 'justice'. Justice by default has to be unbiased and it is clearly not the case here. It is disheartening to see people justifying the act of the reporters hounding and harassing a woman in public and all because she is a partner of a man who was found hanging in his apartment? Is it not true that you are innocent until proven guilty? Or does it only apply to influential people and those close to the government? 

I do not have much hopes but the people really need to see beyond what is shoved down our mind by the news channels, rational thinking can only take society forward and it is clearly missing in today's India. You accuse a partner of stealing money because her partner spent money on her? Wow! The level of logic needs a standing ovation. Patriarchy lives on and triumphs in today's society, only that at times it is coated and camouflaged in different ways. Jiah Khan had committed suicide but she was a girl and the prime suspect was a boy and the boy was being backed by an influential person called Salman Khan who has a great track record of escaping the law. Gauri Lankesh was killed but she was a woman and that too someone vocal against the ruling party. Rohith Vemula too supposedly killed himself but what happened to the ruling party MP and MLC against whom the case was filed? Do you think your hero Sushant will be very happy to know that you are giving rape threats to his partner? Be ashamed of your existence if you think rape threats are justified! The case currently stands at Rhea being arrested for being in a relationship with Sushant Singh Rajput. So, think. Thinking never goes waste.