Promise to Protect and Pledge to Heal: An Analysis of Dina Mehta’s Getting Away with Murder.

Abstract

Dina Mehta offers on stage through a rare kind of a play “Getting Away with Murder”, the predicament of a victim of child sexual abuse. She examines the deleterious impact of the abuse on victims which is sometimes life-long.  The protagonist Sonali exhibits the typical symptoms of victimhood at the time of her pregnancy. She undergoes a gamut of emotions like guilt, fear, anxiety, nervousness, anger and depression. Noticing her hysterical outburst and infantile regression, her understanding husband Anil, her loving brother Gopal and her supportive friends take her through the process of healing that she emerges from being a victim to victor. Dina Mehta excels in unraveling slowly and steadily, the sensitive mind of the victim. She emphasizes the need to address this issue, to implement child-focused policies and to provide a safe environment for the children to grow up as healthy adults.