NEW DELHI: Indian actress Preity Zinta has spoken out at the rising number of rapes and sexual violence toward women and girls in the country, saying it is a form of “domestic terrorism.” She said, “We have this whole thing in India about reacting for a very short period of time. We have such short memories. When an incident happens, we react, create jams and protests and we forget about it all and go home and sleep.” Her comments came as hundreds took to the streets of Delhi to protest against the rape of a five-year-old girl and demand justice and an end to what officials fear is a rising amount of violence against women in the country. Zinta continued, calling rape a form of terrorism. “This (crime against women) is also terrorism, it is domestic terrorism and these culprits unleash terror on women,” she vents. She doesn't think the escalating number crimes are the responsibility of the government or the police alone. “Half the time we blame the police for lack of action. But that's not true. The awareness for stopping these crimes has to come from within each one of us. We as citizens have to wake up to the fact that we have to take action to stop this. This really bothers me a lot. And somewhere even we as women have to take responsibility for saying this is enough,” she added. BN
