We were having lunch last week when we heard about the Shiney Ahuja rape case. "Why a maid, when he just had to bat his eyes at me", a friend joked, and we laughed in agreement. We thought it was a frame-up or the latest media grabbing breaking news. But when there appeared to be some truth to the charge, our immediate reaction echoed the sentiment that has dominated public space - what was the need to do it with a maid when he could have put one in with virtually any girl (of better social standing than a maid - but that was the part that's left unsaid).
But this post isn't about class distinctions. This post is about Shiney' loyal wife - Anupam. A wife who has been in a long distance relationship with her husband for the past several years. An educated and successful career woman who has by now mastered the art of turning the other way on reports of her husband's affairs. But a woman, who, despite being 10,000 km away in New York, can state with conviction that her husband is incapable of committing such an act and is being framed. A conviction that every perfect wife has uttered over the past zillions of years, the honorable US Secretary of State included.
I can't understand women like her. I can understand the need to stand by your partner and forgive his infidelities, but this is rape for chrissake! What, I wonder, would she have said if Shiney was accused of raping her sister? In all probability, she would have still supported her husband. When will we women break away from these misplaced shackles of loyalty and duty, and learn to stand up for the truth instead? Why couldn't Anupam say something like - I find it difficult to believe that my husband committed such a crime, but I will let the law decide. And if he is found guilty, I will publicly condone the act - for I can understand a man who cheats, but I cannot understand a man who has to force himself upon a helpless little girl to satisfy his urges.
But that is not what good wives do.
