February 1st at night, in Bawana, Delhi: 35-year-old Manoj Singh went through a fate beyond understanding. Horribly gang-raped and subjected to inhuman torture, his life was taken away in an act of unadulterated brutality. More than a month has elapsed since this monstrous crime, and justice still seems far out of reach. The deafening silence over Manoj's case brings a chilling question to mind: Is his plea for justice falling on deaf ears because he was a MALE?

This outrage recalls the ghastly 2012 Delhi gang rape and killing, in which a young woman was brutally raped on a bus, triggering country-wide outrage and prompting legal change. The speedy action and unified cry for justice there are contrastingly stark against today's complacency. Is it the gender of the victim that determines our haste?

Manoj Singh was a son, brother, maybe a father—a human being whose life was brutally shortened. His family now carries the unbearable burden of loss, a burden made worse by a justice system indifferent to their suffering. This is not only a miscarriage of law enforcement; it is a miscarriage of our shared conscience.

We have to face the uncomfortable reality that social prejudices can make male victims invisible, their pain dismissed or overlooked. Justice must be gender-blind and provide comfort and closure to all victims of serious crimes. Denying Manoj justice by default perpetuates a cycle of discrimination and dehumanization.

Let us not let Manoj Singh's name be forgotten. Let us stand up, as we stood in 2012, to seek accountability, to seek action, to seek justice. For in seeking justice for Manoj, we re-commit ourselves to a society where each victim is listened to, each perpetrator is brought to book, and each life is treated as equal.

Source: NCMIndia Council For Men Affairs's

Sign this petition to protest against this injustice, to be with Manoj Singh, and to be for a world where justice is not defined by gender.