Chautala echoes Haryana khap panchayat demand; rape not a black-and-white law and order issue, says Renuka Chowdhury
Even as the former Haryana Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala, backed demands for new laws that will allow marriage of teenagers saying it would help end the surge in sexual crimes reported from across the State in recent weeks, a senior Congress leader has said that the State’s rape crisis was not a “black-and-white law and order issue”.
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury defended Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda against charges that he had failed to act against the wave of attacks, in many of which the victims were dalit women and the perpetrators, upper-caste men. “Crime against women has risen. Not only in our country but all over the world. This is an issue that challenges all intelligent people,” Ms. Chowdhury said.
Ms. Chowdhury said the State government was working “discreetly to reassure the families that they will be safe and they will not have to worry about the social support they need. It is not a very simple black-and-white law and order issue only.”
Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP Brinda Karat criticised Ms. Chowdhury’s argument, noting that “in several of these cases the perpetrators videotaped and circulated their crime, while in others the victim had been murdered”.
“Whereas the protection of the victim’s identity is a very important concern, this should not become a pretext not to condemn the State government for its failure to act against the perpetrators,” Ms. Karat said.
Pinky Anand, a New-Delhi-based Supreme Court lawyer, also attacked Ms. Chowdhury’s remarks, describing them as bizarre: “So, murder is a law and order issue. And so is robbery. But not rape? There are these terrible crimes taking place in Haryana, and the State government is doing nothing about them — that is the problem here.”
Ms. Chowdhury was responding to questions on comments made earlier on Wednesday by Mr. Chautala, after he met with Governor Jagan Nath Pahadia to present a memorandum on the rape crisis. Mr. Chautala gave his support to Khap panchayat proposals for lowering the age of marriage, saying it would “help [curb] such crimes against women”.
Sube Singh, a prominent Khap representative, recently said “boys and girls should be married by the time they turn 16, so that they do not stray”.
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, however, appeared to be more critical of the State government, saying he was “constantly monitoring” the situation. “We are discussing [strict measures]. My people have spoken to the Director-General of Police and I will also speak to the Chief Minister,” Mr. Shinde said.
Both Mr. Shinde and Ms. Chowdhury condemned Mr. Chautala's remarks. “In India, we have to abide by Indian law. Fifteen rape cases have been reported in Haryana in last one month — at least two of them on Tuesday — even as Congress president Sonia Gandhi visited the State to meet with the family of a 15-year-old Dalit girl who committed suicide by immolating herself after she was gang-raped on October 6 at Sacha Khera village in Jind district.
The wave of sexual assaults began on September 9 when a Dalit girl was gang-raped in Hisar town. Multimedia clips of the assault were circulated by the accused on mobile phones. The incident came to light on September 18 when the father of the girl committed suicide on learning about them.
Following this, a newly-married 19-year-old woman was abducted and raped by four men in Gohana town near Sonepat; a 30-year-old married woman from a backward community was gang-raped at gunpoint by three men in Jind district while her family members were held hostage and the crime was videotaped; and a teenaged girl was gang-raped in a moving car by three young men in Bhiwani. Both major parties in Haryana have been reluctant to challenge the Khap panchayats frontally on the rape issue, fearing losing electoral capital.
(With inputs from Smita Gupta)
I feel Rape is worse than a murder and a gang rape is unquestionably to be given death penalty, because who ever doing it cannot be even treated as animals. If we analyse the incidents its nothing to do with Marriage or age, culprits didnt do it on a flash, they had enough time to plan and video tape it, but we are still talking about workaround. Only in India this can happen, shame on us.
Very harsh punishment and a good portion of the asset of the rapist or if he has a job good portion of the wages should be garnished and be given to the victim.The neighbourhood watch consisting of good people and children should be formed and they should be compensated for reporting any suspicious activity. Only through harsh measures a civil society can be maintained.If the society take it lightly there will be rampant increase of this type of crimes.The victims should be rehabilitated and all the costs should be recovered.
Of four cases mentioned in the report above, two were married women. So how does marriage act as a deterrent to this crime?
The only solution is severe,relentless punishment for this crime,which includes the forfeiture of the good portion of the assets of the criminals and be awarded to the victims as victim impact.,in addition to other punishments certain kind of crimes need no leniency. lowering the marriage age to infancy itself is not only criminal act but very much neanderthal.
Thank God I was not born in Haryana but alas birth place was India: worst place among the G20 Nations as surveyed by Thomson Reuters Foundation survey.
This statement by former CM Om Prakash Chautala exemplifies male boorishness
mixed with patriarchal arrogance. The whole basis of such a stupid statement arises
from a deeply held false conviction, that Dalit women are common property to be
disposed of at will by the higher castes. Mr. Chautala seems to embody this cruel
vision and is a disgrace to India. It is loutish statements like these that still makes us
a laughing stock all over the world.
What a Foolish this khap panchayat is can be well understood by the
solution it proposed to reduce the crime.
Means instead of protecting the girls from the henious crime,they want
to throw them even prior to the maturity age also for it.
We all are aware of the domestic rape as well but sorry to say theses
khap people are still unaware of it or in todays world also they want
the women to be under the feet of women.
India is becoming pioneer in finding out solutions to problems. Question: How to stop a crime? Answer:amend the act, make it legal.Fantastic. I wonder what the family members of these people will be thinking when the male members of their family make such obnoxious statement in public.
Most rapes are done by known people. These people are whayt is called as predators. For them it is about power. These people have raped children who are 1-2 years old so do we get them married. Rapists have also raped grandmothers who are 92 years old do we get them married? They have raped married women pregnent women. Rape of young boys is very common so do we say let us get 12 year old boys married. If these gereactiric prehistorical creatures who make these kinds of nonsensical statments looked and learnt a bit in life they would know rape is a behaviour of control and power it is not about sex. So it is high time we got rid of such Khap pachayts etc who are not part of the legal system. These people should be punished with death in public if not then it should be death by hanging so that rest of the public will know this is the automatic punishment. there should be no other negotiation.
Is it not the State's responsibility to protect its citizens? The Chief Minister's statement seems to imply that the victims are somehow responsible for the crime rather than the perpetrators. Strange things happen in India
Mr. Chautala supports the proposal for reducing the age of marriage below 16 years. That could mean any age- even one year or 6 months. What about the pregnant women and children who are being raped everyday all over the country. It is quite apparent that the government and the leaders of Chautalas ilk and the Khap Panchayats want the existing situation to continue until all the Indian women are raped.Rape knows no bounds irrespective of the fact whether it is a child, dalit, badly dressed, provocatively dressed or pregnant This should be resisted with all the force by the members of the civil society. The laws should be made strict, implementation stricter, to deal with such cases. Then only will the malady disappear.
Why not send the girls and women out of state..so there will be no rape of girls..these Politicians are pathetic..Khap should be disbanded..and all these criminals should be severely punished. We are living in one of the worst era.
Serious crimes such as above should have not less than Life imprisonment or capital punishment. I strongly feel that women need to be trained in lethal martial arts in this land of hooligans.
its really pathetic,govt need to take some hardcore steps towards the security of our society and make the rules as much as drastic against the perpetrators !!
This is clear example that shows that incompetent leadership of Haryana government. Instead of taking stringent actions against the perpetrators they are saying that this rape should be made LEGAL by allowing child marriage.
OK lets make a deal marriage at 16 and lets dissolve all the police stations in the state as no more crimes will happen....
If it is done, there would be many more problems and moreover it can not be a solution for stopping rapes.
Harsh punishments have to be given to such offenders. Just few years in jail does not suffice. Physical punishments should make them feel the same pain and humiliation they bring on the girl's family. The family of the offenders should also undergo punishment, so that they teach their boys to respect women. I think Women activist organizations should start a concentrated campaign against such inhuman exploitation on women. There are many a people who want to help make the change and punish offenders and provide support to the victims family, but clueless on how to do it. If media and women activist organization can start a campaign for protection of women and seek support , there will be lots of us who will come forward to support and join in with ideas. We cannot rely on law to protect the helpless.
The problem of Sexual crimes has a demographic dimension. The sex ratio in the states of Haryana, Punjab and NCT are very low. Both the socio-cultural and advancement in medical technology to detect the foetus are the prime reason for the reduced sex ratio in various parts of the country. Also,Child marriage is directly proportional to increase in maternal mortality rate. This will further aggravate the problem of Sex ratio leading to increase in Sexual crimes. Get Well soon 'Khap Panchayats'
One way of dealing with problem is to teach girls the martial arts like
Karate and Judo from primary school level itself. This will improve
their confidence level and they will be able to defend themselves when
attacked.
Suggestion of early marriage is not the solution when there were cases of such crime happened to 30yr old. Making law more effective could resolve this menace to some extent. However, widespread unemployment could be the major root cause for this crime. Govt should generate employment in rural and urban sectors, by engaging the youth in some activities depending on their skill set. This requires huge investment, power and excellent execution of well thought of plans, so that the program sustains.
It is very bizarre that our politicians find a good solution to rape,
marry girls at teenage. In a country even infants are being raped, I
am afraid, if they say female babies should be married off as they are
born.For some it is not a crime at all. May be a parent committing
female foeticide has a good justification for his/her crime, that
he/she doesn't want his/her daughter to be seen gang raped or
murdered.Government is keen on economic reform, but it is high time it
should concentrate on social reforms.
The only way to stop and finally eradicate this sort of warp in the mind of men in society is for the courts bring in such a strong judgement against a perpetrator that it will act as a strong deterrent to anyone who contemplates rape in India. The media needs to work with civil society to publicise such judgements so that it reaches the remotest corners of the country in every possible Indian language. The reason this horrible crime against women continues to happen is that the culprits know they are at little or no risk of punishment - after all, what clout does a young girl's family in rural India have? Even the law does not support a woman who has been raped.
THe Indian society cannot protect an unmarried lady from Rapists??
The sad reality about such crimes in India is that they do not catch the attention of the people until someone ends up killing themselves.. In my opinion these things happen only because the accused know that in most cases they can get away with it.. Looking at the nerve of the people and the fact that they not only rape women at gunpoint but also record and circulate the video I think stringent measures have to be taken asap or else there will remain no difference between men and animals and women will stop believing in justice and the essence of a democracy where people can ask for their rights will be lost!!
The rate with which crime against women has increased in Haryana is a serious issue and state government cannot be reluctant to address the same. It is pathetic that ministers considers that child marriage is a solution for rape and it shows their ignorance and thinking on the subject. Married girls are also raped in Haryana and considering the fact that 15 cases in just a month shows serious law and order flaws in the state. Also, Haryana is known for its low child sex ration and has the lowest sex ratio in the state where records suggests that new bills for crime against women has to be passed so that no criminal dare to harass any women in the state. The article itself reveals that girls are not safe in Haryana.
Are these people implying that once a person is married, he/she is not is not likely to rape/be raped? So, I guess there is no case of a married man raping or a married woman getting raped in Haryana? And since there are such cases, this points out that they do not even know clearly about the rapes going on in Haryana. Or is it alright to these people, that a person who was likely to rape gets married early and takes out his whim and evil on a single woman he is married to? So, if rape cases do get reduced by such measures(which of course they wont), these people are not concerned about harassment of women in their own married homes. Since clearly they are not, it does raise a point of how well secured are women in their own homes in Haryana? Its concerning that these people are misleading the issue by not curbing the real problem and trying to get around the issue spreading unnecessary pile of prejudiced and irresponsible views.
cases of such beastly crimes against women shouuld be disposed off in a fast track special courts to be set up in all states and once the perpetration of crime is incontrovertably proved, the culprits must be sentence3d to death and the sentence should be carried out within ten days of pronouncement,with no leagl scope for appeal and mercy petitions. If a dozen cases are dealt with in this manner in different states,there will not be a single case of rape anywhere in India. Will the Government muster the political and legal will to bring this most urgently needed law in India? To make the law effective, the victims and their families should come forward to lodge FIRs and they should be given the best available security till the culprits are executed. The society at large should not stigmatise such victims and should everything to reassure them with a dignified life.
What Aamir was indicating in "SMJ" is turning out to be true.
Haryana has worst girls to boys ratio in India (or in world).
What else do you expect from our insensitive population.
"Allow child marriage as a panacea to prevent rape incidents" Instead of made our country equipped to meet the challenges 21st century, they are trying to take it back to 19th century. From this we can ascertain that the backwardness of our country is not because of the lack of resources but it is because of the ideological bankruptcy of our politicians. The rape crime, like any other crime is recurring due to the inefficiency of police, who often fail to nab the culprits and get them before the court of law. If it happen, they never get exemplary punishment due to lack of evidence most often because of the non co-operation of the victims. They fear their future life might be spoiled and they might be meted out mortification when the news of rape got publicity in both print and visual media.We need a good law and order system, free from the clutches of politicians, behaving fairly towards the victims honouring their privacy to overcome this obstacle.
Teen marriage only leads to legalized rape of the same person. If someone thinks a teenage girl can say no to her older husband, it would be day dream. Mr. Mohideen is wrong in his assessment and his view may be applicable to society which a woman is a second class citizen. A woman is not object to use when a man wants to. Sex education and respect of woman education is most glaringly missing piece. Also the society looking down upon such rape victims is one other thing which should be removed or banned. They are victims and not bad people. Blaming movies, what women wear, etc.. are mere excuses provided by deviant thinkers.
It is not the age to be discussed for the rapes. Even children of 5 or
6 year girls are targetted. Old ladies in 50s and 60s too are the
victims of the crime. The perpetrators are to be severely punished to
which-ever class or caste they may belong without any delay in FIRs and
the investigations. At every step the people in power (money power or
muscle power or people in authority) will hamper the justice.
Lowering the age of marriage is certainly not a good option. what lacks in society now a days is lacunae of moral values. Parents should tell kids from beginning that these are heinous crimes. A stringent method to punish the guilty would act as a barrier for repeating such a heinous crime and not lowering age will do it.
As long as illiteracy remains rampant, this will continue. But what does one do, when supposedly educated people turn a blind eye to such crimes, in the name of votes? We talk about being a superpower, yet we lack the basic infrastructure and in the name of power, allow such crimes to flourish, for fear of losing capital...
Shocked to see such a remedy from a chief minister. Let God save our country...
We are not only a feudal country; we have gone about it berserk!
Marriage at 16. Ridiculous! I don't remember where and when I saw/read but it was about psychology of rapists. A relatively large percentage of convicted rapists in India were interviewed by a team of renowned psychologists. The conclusion was that the rapists do not randomly pick their victim but they device a plan and execute their plan fully aware of the crime. They don't care about whether the victim was married or not. Education, according to me, holds the key to several problems that India faces - including corruption, infanticide, foeticide, rapes, terrorism, casteism, etc. It is high time that people start giving importance to education. They should also give a serious thought about our current leaders, their ways of thinking. If chief ministers start supporting marriage before 16 - an age when youth are making their career choices, India is sure going to go the wrong way!
It is unfortunate to see that a former CM is speaking such things. This shows how much these people are actually concerned.
Why don't they have stricter and quicker ruler for giving justice to the victims. The criminals are sons of one of these khap members, so instead of punishing them they want to ruin the life of females. Everyone has right to live his life but not on cost of others'. Why are they not killing the rapist when they go on freely killing and hanging the lovers in the name of honor killing; instead of this they want to make the life of girls miserable. It will only show the picture where men are treated well and women are not given any value.
The issue is not simply about "protecting" women against rape; it is about supporting women in their struggle against any kind of violence -- sexual, physical or psychological. Marrying someone off at 16 (or 32 for that matter) is hardly a guarantee against violence. Have the distinguished men of Haryana not heard about bride burning and torture arising from dowry disputes?
It is shocking that a seasoned politician should advocate child
marriage to prevent incidents of rape. A pervert, in his lust, does
not make a difference between his sister, mother, daughter or wife. He
does not care if the victim is married or unmarried, young or old. It
is a psychological condition, unfortunately prevalent in a large scale
in Haryana. Some serious measures to study the malady and find
appropriate remedial measures are urgently needed. In stead, making
such suggestions to the effect that children be robbed of their
childhood, smacks of unintelligent brainwaves.
The move by the Khap panchayats assumes too much and is very short-sighted. Do they think that no married adults have rape crimes to their name in India? And moreover, marriage of children in their teens effectively shuts down their hopes of having proper higher education. No social upheaval is possible without proper education, and good career opportunities. In the end, we are left with a generation that is anti-progressive. To curb rapes, we need a refined educated society, not antiquated customs.
I am unsure if this is something that will resolve the problem. The former chief says it will mitigate the problem but there are others that will creep up owing to the immaturity of the people getting married. Marriage is life together and involves responsibility which cannot be handled that well at a younger age. Divorce rates will rise since people know lesser about adjustments and sacrifices needed for a good marriage. The underdog women sex will face further issues including lack of power, lack of opportunities and lack of freedom. Parenting at that age are definitely an issue. Population growth rate will go higher and add to the scalability problems India already has. With all this said, the one who argued is the chief minister of Haryana. How will he miss such basic points? How are we stopping the crime by getting a woman married? Enough said, this guy is definitely thinking from his rear.
Why do we always question the fundamentals of any civilization. We have
to agree on these and move on to innovate in other areas. The age for
marriage has already been fixed by constitution. spending time
discussing to change it is not worth for the nation. Instead people and
parties should look at how to lead the people of country towards
innovation and growth that would build a stronger nation
Early marriage is not the solution rather there should be strong punishments for the culprits say death penalty. The only help early marriages will provide is increase in population.
Rather than cracking down on the rapists/violators and/or empower
women of their rights and/or improve the law/order situation and/or
improve on infrastructure [road lights etc.] - it is appalling that
such high-profile politicians want to further encroach on women's
freedom of choosing when to get married. Do the rapists discriminate
between married 16 yr olds and unmarried women to commit their heinous
acts ?
What a revolutionary idea. The vision of a country should go forward by saying we will punish the offenders strictly and we make sure men behave properly with women and treat them with respect and not see them as sex toys. But, ours politicians are inexplicable they want our girls to be married at 16! Wow, here is an idea, if girls have to be married at 16 why don't we bring back sati practises.
Ha ha hahahahha............. !!!!! What a solution.. !! LOL !!!! I just cannot stop laughing.... !!
Why 16? Why not make it 9? Then they will have a longer time to learn how to set up
house! This shows the absurdity of "modern" India!
I think this guy wants to go 100 years back. Go alone if want to.
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