‘Not Rape, It Was Murder’: Germaine Greer on Nirbhaya Case

Germaine Greer said in crimes of violence, what was important was the violence, not the “sexual” part.

By Manik Gupta

Jaipur, Jan 24 (PTI) Nirbhaya was a victim of "brutal murder" and not "rape", firebrand feminist Germaine Greer claimed on Thursday.

Greer, one of world's most influential feminist voices, said in "crimes of violence", what was important was the "violence" and not the "sexual" part.

"Do not sexualise crime of violence. Rape was the reason. The case was the brutality in which she was killed. It was not a rape case, but murder," she said.

Greer, who was speaking at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival, explained that while rape was "non-consensual sex", it didn't have to "draw blood".

"It (rape) can be done by a man you love the most in the world and it is probably the worst for you," said the famed author of 1970s best-seller "The Female Eunuch".

Nirbhaya or the fearless, was the name given to 23-year-old Jyoti Pandey, a paramedic student, who was gangraped on the intervening night of December 16-17 in 2012 inside a moving bus in South Delhi by five men and a juvenile.

She was severely assaulted before being thrown out on the road. Pandey succumbed to injuries on December 29 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

Taking a jibe at the English people for calling India the "rape capital of the world" in the aftermath of the incident, the controversial author said it was ironic that the British media never talked about the "systematic abuse" against women in their own country.

"England for years now, you have cases where hundreds of young women were systematically abused, broken into the use of drugs and alcohol and prostituted... the British media has completely forgotten it, whereas in India what happened to Nirbhaya is remembered every day," she said.

In her latest book "On Rape", she advocates for reducing the sentence for rape. She goes on to suggest "200 hours of community service" or tattooing an "R" on the hand, arm or cheek of the accused as punishment.

Unfazed by the flak she has received for her unabashed statements, even from those who, for the longest time, saw her as their icon, the 79-year-old said that was part of her job as a teacher.

"I am a teacher. My job is to be criticised. I don't want you to agree with me. I want to you to consider what I am saying. If you want to reject it, reject it," she said.