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Abandoned and Rejected by Her Indian Lover
Moral policing is a typical past time for many Indians including politicians who want to dictate the way women should behave or dress up in public and even blame their dress sense for molestation or rape. They think women themselves are somehow responsible for being rape or molestation. But strangely enough these so called custodian of Hindu culture and tradition remain silent when foreign tourists face harassment like groping by unknown faces, molestation or even raped and foreigners often abandoned by their Indian boyfriends.
Take the case of this Spanish citizen who realy loved her Indian boyfriend but was abandoned by him when she got pregnant.
Change the Mindset of the Society towards Women
Text Credit: Asafeworldforwomen.org
“A man goes outside house as per his will but wife goes outside after taking permission. A man is spends money as he chooses but wife spends money as per his approval. A man is considered to be the master of the house but not wife because she cooks, washes clothes, keeps the house clean and makes all efforts to make life compfortable for her husband and children. This is the mindset which must change. The children also see the behaviour of their parents and follow the same mindset where a girl child is treated as a liability and a boy is considered as a future asset”–Chief Justice of India J.S Khehar speaking at a seminar on gender justice on the occassion of International Women’s Day.
AHRC: “Trying misogyny welcome, but how about curbing all crime against women? “
Excerps from an article by Asian Human Rights Commission:
It is fourth anniversary of 16 December 2012, the brutal gang rape and murder of a student in Delhi that shook the conscience of the nation and led to unprecedented protests against sexual violence across India. Crime against women has been common in India, as has been the support for such crime in the form of misogynist statements by those holding seats of power. The grammar of shame in cases of sexual violence has always been inscribed on the bodies of victims, avoiding most perpetrators.
It is in this context that the Supreme Court of India taking on Azam Khan, a powerful minister of Uttar Pradesh government, and making him unconditionally apologize for a brazenly misogynist statement against gang rape victims, is a welcome step.
Photo Credit: Nilanjana Roy/ Wikimedia Commons
Even more welcome is that the Court has done so while framing a few fundamental constitutional questions over such statements impeding with rule of law in general and getting redress for the victims in particular. The Court contemplated whether a person holding public office making such statements can create “distrust” in the minds of victims about a fair probe in the case and whether such a statement can be a part of freedom of speech and expression.
Having said that the Supreme Court has rarely shown similar zeal in dealing with such misogynistic statements by those in power, including many sitting Union ministers, Chief Ministers and other lawmakers. For instance, Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal has done the same time and again. She had once termed the infamous Park Street gang-rape case as “shajano ghotona”, i.e. a staged incident to destabilise her government. She had similarly termed villagers of Kamduni as Maoists for protesting the rape of a girl student!
There is no dearth of similar statements by other notables, including by Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has several terms as Union Minister and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and is chief of Samajwadi Party that is in power in Uttar Pradesh even now. Opposing death sentence for rapes, he had termed the crime a mere mistake by “boys” and went on to promise to change such rules! Om Prakash Chautala, former Chief Minister of Haryana, had similarly proposed early marriages as the way to stop rapes in 2012. To add his name to this list of dishonour, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had asked protesting nurses to not sit on hunger strike in the sun as it could ruin their marital prospects.
The worst of the lot, however, came in 2014 from Tapas Pal, a member of Lok Sabha from Trinamool Congress when he openly threatened to send party cadres to rape female family members of opposition parties. That was until the current Union government upped the ante by appointing Nihal Chand Meghwal, a gang rape accused summoned by courts, as a Union Minister. Thankfully, he was removed as Minister in the last cabinet reshuffle, though he continues to be a Member of Parliament, one amongst 186 of his parliamentary colleagues that have serious criminal charges against them, including that of murder and rape.
Photo Credit: Ramesh Lalwani/Flickr
The Supreme Court of India, which sat many-a-time over Azam Khan’s remarks and even rejected his conditional apology, did not take notice of many of these statements and appointments. It has not taken on the misogyny that legitimises institutional bias against women in society and systemises it into all its arms, official as well as social.
One might hope that the Court would summon, say, top cops to enquire about such abysmally low conviction rates and direct them to tighten up loose ends of investigation process. One might hope that it would also take on the defence lawyers who often end up converting the trial into traumatic repeat rape for the victims. Alas, all this seems a far cry today, with conviction rates even in rape cases standing at a paltry 28% in 2014. To put the figure in clearer perspective, let’s take the case of Delhi, which reported 706 rape cases in 2012, the year that shook the nation’s conscience. Only 1 of those 706 rape cases has ended up in a conviction till now!
For full article visit: http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/AHRC-ART-073-2016
Text Credit: Asian Human Rights Commission(AHRC)
Media Watch: Nagaland News
The Morung Express, Nagaland,India
Web Link: http://morungexpress.com/people-take-street-alleged-molestation/
Any help or assistance regarding personal safety tips for women
Help Desk:Women Safety:provides any help or assistance regarding personal safety tips for women while in distress and self defense measures. It is created by Calcutta based not-for-profit media organization Peacock Media Communication. Women often abused, beaten,stripped,molested,assaulted or raped in a park, in a crowded places, on public transport, or even in police custody.Remember, Personal safety has become an issue of importance for everyone,especially for women.Awareness is necessary to curb this type of violence against women.Always Use your sixth sense while traveling alone. Here, we provide useful tips/ assistance/help for women in distress.
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shanthanubh
Shanthanubh's Desk 