As If a

As if a girl’s scream fell on the deaf ears of gods, hills and trees
As if a rape was not a rape, but just sticking pins into an inert doll
As if a gypsy girl was not a girl, but a plaything of aspiring ascetics
As if a temple was not an abode of God, but a rapist’s sanctorum
As if a girl was not a girl, but a body to crush, smash and mutilate
As if a hole sprouted between her legs for the sport of macho men
As if a law was not a law but a shredded page of history
As if a policeman was not a law protector, but a law breaker
As if a lawyer was not a lawman, but a law bender
As if a legislator was not a law maker but a law ender
As if a rape was an innocent act like plucking a flower
As if a land named Kashmir was not a heaven under the stars
As if a heaven named Kashmir was a hell open to rape
As if
As if
As if a girl named Asifa does not exist, didn’t exist, will not exist
As if Asifa was never raped, never tortured, never ravaged
As if Asifa is a myth, a fantasy, a lie, a fading photo
As if we are we were we will be ……

Note: An 8 year old nomadic Gujjar Muslim girl was abducted and confined in a temple in Jammu for more than a week and continuously raped by a gang of men before being killed. It took 4 months for a charge sheet to be filed. Lawyers are protesting against the arrest of the culprits.

Ra Sh is a poet from Kerala