Cradle Rape

Cradle Rape
Originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1

A few years back , I was invited by my friend Fahad Pathan to shoot the body piercers or Rafaees near the Mahim Dargah of the Holy Saint Makhdoom Shah Baba Mahimi and this was the first time that I was shooting this Sufi sequence..
The needles were and sharp rusty were rubbed against the ground to make them more sharp ,and were being pushed into the faces of two devotees. one was a mute and he kept signaling me with his eyes to shoot him, the other much older in his 20s was reticent and there was something scary about him, a calm before a storm kind of feeling in the viewfinder and my guts..
I was part of this procession and Fahad Pathan is a celebrity figure , his late father was the Peshimam of the Mosque at the Dargah.
I completed my shoot all on negatives, and the following morning there was an article in the newspaper about a 6 month girl child that was raped by a boy.. I had a strange intuition I knew it was the older boy who might have committed this act as the incident happened in Mahim close to the Dargah , I called Fahad and he was astonished as it was the same person I had shot the night before.
This alleged rapist the Rafaee, who on seeing the neighbors child crying had taken it from the mother to calm the baby and had committed this heinous act of sheer unspeakable brutality….in a lane..
I have no imagination to even picturise what must have taken place.. between the older boy and a six month defenseless child ..

I had blown up the prints of the procession including the boy Rafaees for salon participation, I immediately removed the rapists pictures.. till date they have filled me with sheer hate and disgust.
Last when I discussed this matter with Fahad he told me the lawyers were planning an insanity plea as he is a bit disoriented lad, and with judicious defence he is out on bail and the case is going on , I don’t know what happened to the six month old child.. she must be about 5 years or older now…
Rape is crime that is unforgivable and brutalizes not only the persons body but the entire future life and her consciousness.. rape is also a fashion statement.in bollywood movies. rape has different connotation for different people but RAPE is a blunt weapon that destroys everything in a woman.. and a rapist should hang.. no mercy no bargain plea…
And defence lawyers who twist facts to get their clients out on benefit of doubt and other technical savviness too should hang along with their clients..

I saw him
The Rafaee
At Mahim Dargah
his eyes dangerously
sheltering
his inner chaos
his inner lies
each needle that pricked his face
his face , his lips his ears , his eyebrows
did it really the evil in him chastise..
silence more silence as replies..
the same guy takes the neighbours
six month child .. to calm her innocent cries
in an alley rapes her brutalize
heinously leaves her bleeding ..
she lives ...but does she
a part of mankind dies..
he is scott free out on bail,,
insanity plea..society sucks
what a compromise
man a monster in disguise
another case that will gather dust
to tell you how time flies
all you need is a maverick
story telling defense lawyer
the rape case to stylize
deviously devilishly devise
justice blindfolded
hung by lawyer s neckties
and the honourable judge
bangs the gavel
case dismissed
shuts his eyes.