Author Description

Rape, Regret, and Retribution (R3) portrays a horrific event that involves the lives of two ordinary Indian families of different social strata. The play unfolds in a school teacher s dream when a haughty and confident young man, Jiten, protagonist of the play, leaves his permanent residence in a village in West Bengal and heads to the city of Calcutta for a better job opportunity. Jiten turns down requests to settle within the village as per tradition, by his wife, mother, and his father, an ailing Brahmin priest. He, however, promises to send a maintenance allowance regularly. Though Jiten s departure is in keeping with the trend of growing urbanisation in India, his ulterior motive is to lead a carefree life away from the eyes of his family members. This life centres primarily on drinking and visiting brothels regularly in the company of his friend Ashok. This new lifestyle makes him spend most of his earnings from working as a security guard in an apartment complex. Jiten s numerous undesirable acts of his past village life involve gullible victims, including a rape, which he confesses to his friend. These acts provide Jiten with a false sense of confidence and a belief that he could get away with anything he did. But his plans go horribly wrong when he sees an opportunity to catch the 16-year-old lively Meena, the only daughter of a sensitive and caring businessman, alone in her apartment in the complex where he works as a security guard. Jiten brutally rapes and kills Meena. He is subsequently arrested. Jiten, once a security guard, now finds himself in a high-security prison. His last-minute appeal for clemency to the President is turned down. He is sentenced to death by hanging, in accordance with the Indian Penal Code. The legacy of his horrific act leaves behind both families shattered: Meena s family leaves the city to avoid recollection of the incident and Jiten s own family continues to live in a society where the idea of being guilty by association sti