There does not seem any sense in squeezing lemon over the wounds of someone who has been subjugated to unimaginably bestial violence. But so twisted are the ways of our world thriving on its hatred for women that a dead and vocally-impaired woman is told she should thank her stars, her rapist decided to “accept” her. More tragically, the compromise holds valid in the eyes of the law in light of the “larger interest of the parties.” And to make the matter downright catastrophic, she is neither first nor last to become the target of male territorialism. Double Whammy, indeed. We are standing days away from the 23rd year of the presumably Age of Human Rights, but as many as 20 countries still allow rapists to get a clean chit if they marry their victims. The loophole to escape criminal prosecution is (surprise, surprise) not just limited to countries of the Third World–whose ideals are heavily criticised as regressive: circumventing provisions existed in the so-called civilised states of Missouri and Florida until a few years ago. Writing closer to home, this serves as an excellent opportunity to close the embarrassing chapter and get on with life. Since repeating shambolic statistics about how a woman is raped every two hours in Pakistan does not hold any chance of improving the situation on the ground, let’s skip the numbers and tug at the underlying mentality. That the dark practice reduces a human being to mere chattel; shifting the entire burden of guilt on her shoulder while she relives the horrors every day of her life is very conveniently not up for discussion. Like everything else evil with the patriarchal societal notions, these laws, too, think of women as the vessel encompassing familial honour. We have many a time heard those from the enlightened classes offer justifications using misconstrued examples from religion or citing cultural norms. The acceptance of siding with the offenders, giving them a sympathetic ear and trying whatsoever possible to hand them a second chance at life needs to be rooted out if we wish even the remotest of welfare for our women. Simply sitting around and fishing for excuses won’t do. Pakistan is quite progressive in never entertaining the official provision in the first place but when a country like Morocco can find the determination to turn the tables around because the misery of one young woman managed to send shockwaves all around, what are we waiting for? The legislative foundation is already present. All that’s missing is the will to be the agent of change. *