Screenshot from YouTubeThe name ‘Nirbhaya’ (fearless one), attributed to Delhi’s gang rape victim of December 2012, whose violent death triggered off nation-wide outrage and protests, was the first instance of how the media manipulated the politics of representation.
It was through this naming that the victim was inducted into a symbolic nationalist imagery, evoking the figure of a challenged and challenging woman that suited everyone, willing to turn her example into a cause. The name was seen as a rightful vindication and representation of the woman’s image. The overwhelming success of this naming provided the first step towards inventing the deceased victim as a populist icon, easily exploited by the moralising tendency of the media and the state.
The state was thrust upon the role of a law enforcer, and stringent law was demanded from the judiciary. Activists and others gave in to the larger mood, demanding the need for further disciplining of society. A self-punitive consensus, in a nation already reeling under an alarming number of juridical encroachments in the name of ‘security’, was sought in order that it could be imposed on people’s lives.
