Yesterday, Guwahati. Today, Mangalore. Tomorrow, where else?
The outrage over the Guwahati incident has done nothing to stem the flow of similar incidents being reported from across the country. The naming and shaming of the perpetrators of the crime, the fact that the police managed to catch them and arrest them appears to have made little difference. On the contrary, it is almost as if the repeated footage from Guwahati played on television channels has encouraged others to do the same.
We must not forget that while the media went into over-drive on the Guwahati case, in another part of Assam, a young girl who went out to collect firewood was “molested” by Army jawans. She was saved when villagers heard her cries for help. How many more such cases take place each day in other parts of the troubled Northeast?
In action again
Almost matching Guwahati was what happened in Mangalore. We should not be surprised. In 2009, the self-appointed guardians of morality, the Sri Ram Sene, set about dragging women out of a pub, pulling their hair, hitting them — and all of this in full view of television cameras. On July 28, a mob belonging to the Hindu Jagaran Vedike decided that a group of boys and girls enjoying a birthday party were attending a “rave” event. Do they know what is a “rave”? Certainly not. But definitions do not matter because these upholders of public morality decided that what was happening was “immoral”.
Armed with cameras from local television channels, the men barged into the venue of the party, dragged, hit and molested the women, punched and hit the men, including the birthday boy, and made sure every minute was captured on film. There is a pathetic shot of several girls cowering on a bed, trying to cover their faces and bodies with pillows while the cameras continue to film. Even after the police intervened, the cameras did not switch off and kept trying to literally “uncover” the women as they left.
Still in the South, at Bhoovanapadu beach, a popular tourist spot in Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh, a gang of five young men pounced on a couple seeking a private moment. The man was beaten up while the woman, a 20-year-old college girl had her clothes ripped off. According to the police, the men had pinned her to the ground, had taken off her gold ornaments and were getting ready to record what would follow on their mobile phones when the police arrived.
In all these cases, the victims are deemed “immoral” while the attackers believe they are the torchbearers of decency and morality. We keep hearing this repeatedly, even from those who should know the law, given that they are the lawmakers. Yet recently, when a man at a Kolkata railway station attacked a girl returning from tuition classes, the Trinamool MP Chiranjit Chakroborty had this to say about the crime: “Eve-teasing is a very old thing. It has been going on for ages. One of the reasons behind the increase in incidents of eve-teasing is short dresses and short skirts worn by women. This in turn instigates men.” Really? “Eve-teasing?” Has no one informed the honourable MP that there is no such word?
The horror stories do not end. In Mandya, Karnataka, a 19-year-old garment worker was thrown out of a moving train when she tried to resist a gang of men who were harassing her. She is now in a hospital with multiple injuries, having fallen 25 feet from the train onto a rocky riverbed. She said none of the other women in the compartment intervened even though they saw the men harassing her, offering her money for sex.
Not enough
Even as these attacks on women were being reported from different parts of the country, the cabinet has approved the Criminal Law Amendment Bill that suggests changes in a whole range of laws that have a direct impact on women. Space does not permit a detailed discussion on the changes contemplated. But suffice it to say that while the law must be strengthened, it will not work as a deterrent unless the law-enforcing machinery actually enforces the law.
At the same time, the law-enforcers cannot become a moral police, literally giving a license to any other group that chooses to follow suit. The example of some in the Mumbai police is a particularly bad one in this regard and the outgoing Inspector General of Police in Mumbai has rightly emphasised that “enforcement of law is meant to uphold human rights.”
A new and stronger law will also fail so long as we allow and encourage a culture of impunity, where one group of people decides that it will enforce its own version of morality. In the long term, it is the Taliban-like actions of groups like the Hindu Jagaran Vedike, and the example they set, as well as the oxygen of publicity that the media appears to be granting them, that is cause for serious concern for the future.
Email: sharma.kalpana@yahoo.com
Keywords: Guwahati molestation, sexual harassment
dear all
Eve teasing as they call it , is actually nullifying woman's right to
live and roam in a free country . It is a reflection of "corruption"
of our moral values and male dominating behavior of our society .Only
making new laws is not going to change anything , this is the high
time for all of us to stand against this evil out of our society . its
not upon the woman's only to oppose such incidents but we man should
also support them because it could also happen to any of us , to our
sisters , mothers.
These nasty things happened in the honorable court of BHISMACHARYA
itself and the ALMIGHTY has to come to the rescue of Draupadi. Now a
days because of cultural revolution has taken over the country, and
through electronic and print media, women folk tend to dress up like to
be present themselves appealing which leads to UN avoidable things. If
capital punishment is enforced for RAPE and other sexual crimes or
least discard the so called symbol of male chauvinism such crimes will
happen under the nose of enforcing authorities . Thank god TAMIL NADU
has not been taken over by this pub culture, where in CHENNAI
especially only film industry persons, politicians, IT/ MNC personal patronize them and no one heard of any unpleasant things. But in other
states all strata of society hang over their and invite troubles.Some critics were observing that when males does not dress properly nothing
happens, for kind information, men even if dressed properly their is no
takers for him unlike women
This is what we are ?
This is the society we aspired for ?
We all proudly bash around the world about our culture .
Ok we have a great culture ,but are we civilized enough
Every one is busy cleaning their own houses leaving the society in the
hands the incompetent politicians .
We are responsible for most of the things happening in our society .
If we become responsible enough our society is bound to change .
we should be responsible about our sorroundings and all the things
happening around us .
Hundreds of vehicles passed from the way where the crime happened ,no
body stopped and helped her .If it would have been some one close to
them won't they stopped it .
Our society is what we are .
The article higlights the patriarchal society in India,a typical male dominated society.The system is a rusted capitalist one, where such instances are bound to happen.By framing new laws, there would be not much of a change, like the current situation despite havinglaws and norms, the criminals walk scot free.
Alongside we have some feminist groups showing anti-men attitude which is rubbish.
All we need is a women's movement which needs equal participation from men,that would remove the patriarchal attitude.
In India the uncivilized minority is holding the civilized majority to ransom. It is pathetic to see that army jawans raping women during peaceful times! Unless civilized people become courageous to defend what is right it would be a crime! Any one witnessing such actions in public should be hauled up and punished. If any law enforcing person is found to be doing this he should be punished in public without mercy. Asking for more laws to stop these crimes is waste of time. Ban the cinemas showing such movies forever. Movies should stop showing such incidents even as a joke. Strong measures are needed and that should come from the public and not from police or politicians!
Off late I heard an old American Proverb..
"God didn’t make all men equal, Samuel Colt did".
If at all three was a scope for "self defense" will this mob dare?
We know they will not attack "Bollywood", nor the cheerleaders in IPL!!!
Who has the right to define what is my culture in a Nations which is Diverse in every sense? Is it the people who don't respect women or has no idea about our culture or history?
For the inability of Political/Judicial class to protect its people, why give statements violating fundamental right(Freedom to Express)?
For people who dare to violate my right I have the right to self defense and why should I not think the American Proverb holds true. Just think of a situation where the girl has a gun and she shoots all men, it will still make news!! well no men will dare to molest then. "Right to Bear Arms" for self defense is much needed in a Country where Police come at the end of all events and watch the mob."Gandhi's dream will come true for Equality".
The the law should be deterrent enough only then such incidents would stop.
It's the Jungle Law in India. This is really our biggest problem, namely that anyone
can abuse the law with impunity and get away with it.
In a land with so many goddesses (note that other religions have almost none),
these are the various stages of life for a woman:
0. Infanticide or abortion of the girl child,
if she survives that stage,
1. systematic discrimination - you are a girl, behave, you will anyway be married
off,
if she survives that stage,
2. "eve-teasing", harassment, molestation, rape under various pretexts, and it is
the girl who is supposed to end her life following this to save her "honour". If she
doesn't do that, the rapists are likely to kill her.
if she survives that stage,
3. demands for dowry, related harassment, maybe even murder for it, domestic
violence.
if she survives that stage,
4. her own infant girl might be aborted in the womb and there the cycle repeats
itself.
And we call ourselves a great and civilized nation! Pah! Barbarians!
Another incisive article from Kalpana, may her tribe increase. This
victim-blaming mindset actually seems to be getting worse, with
hitherto cosmopolitan melting-pots suddenly being subjected to
extremist force and Taliban-like "moral" policing. Can't find anything
remotely moral in their thought-processes or actions, though. And the
much-touted blanket "Indian traditions & culture" (how come they
attempt to define this like it was a homogeneous term) - the catchall
phrase to explain away misogynistic zealots & their actions. And all
that pathetic tosh about short skirts and women "inviting" sexual
assault - disgusting to see law-enforcers and politicians subscribing
to that line of thought; blithely ignoring the fact that fully-clothed
women of all ages (from 2 to 80+ ) are being sexually assaulted at an
alarmingly increasing frequency. As if clothes had anything to do with
it! Men aren't getting raped for being bare-chested or wearing
revealing "lungis" and shorts, are they?!
Hi Kalpana
Your article reflects on the reality of the society. Over the years though women have become more independent, the attitude of the society still remains the same.It seems more of a power game. Men want to prove their dominance atleast somewhere and they get to show that only on the hapless women. I guess the onlookers should do something more than just standing and filming these atrocities. They have to remember that tomorrow this can happen to someone in their family too.
Do you really think more laws/ strengthening the current laws would
really help ?
I was told this story some time back - a bunch of monkeys were placed
in a cage as part of an experiment. Chances of escape were provided,
with a clause. Whenever a monkey tried to escape, the other monkeys
were doused with water. After a few such cycles, the monkeys started
policing themselves - whenever a monkey tried to escape, other monkeys
would beat him up, and thus after a few such cycles, avoided getting
wet. After some time, they forgot why they were beating the escapees.
What we see here is no different. When we segregate our boys and girls
in school, college, at home, in the bus and where not, and when we
have movies after movies depicting that eve-teasing is ok if it ends
in getting the girl, then we end up creating the self-policing
monkeys. Do we not ?
It is high time these rightly called "torchbearers of decency and morality" need to be
punished. I don't understand why the authorities are hesitating to invoke the Goonda
act on these goondas. To me, the moral policing these hooligans do is a wrong term
we use. From the videos all of these incidents, it depicts the culprits were there to do
things worse than those happen in "rave parties"; the way these guys were handling
the girl victims shows their hidden carnal motives.
Excellent article, Ms. Kalpana. Please keep writing pieces like this, lest people will believe the only argument that is worth discussing publicly is the logic of culture and traditions, but not the one regarding the rights of women. Recently a Swamiji of some famous shrine in Karnataka said what happened in Mangalore was immoral on part of victims and a mistake on the part of attackers. This is the kind of religious leaders we have and the quality of political leaders and law enforcers is not worth mentioning. Its only people like you and other like-minded people who can solve this problem by changing the mindsets of the next generation atleast, as these people have already succeeded in poisoning the minds of majority of people.
Hi Kalpana,
Great article from ur side.
It is strong enough to put light on the way of culture in India which
blames girls for all the incidents of rape and molestation...why a
group of people are so desparate to make illicit commmets about girls.
We live in democracy , a democracy where a man can pee in public place
but a woman is criticised for wearing short dresses.
If its nothing to do with the nature and freedom of guys in india.,
why there are molestations in rural areas?
If living in India is on the basis of "survival of the strongest" then
why do we need Legislature,government(police,Military),judiciary etc?
If they are not potent enough to protect the citizens as per the
fundamental rights guaranteed under constitution of India, then let them
wind up their shops!
This is very shameful to STATE of India. In India, the word STATE has no meaning or lost after read the above news/article. Its unfortunate that women or gal born in India has to face worst life prevailed in public life.
Dear Kalpana,
Your articles are always intriguing. I had the following to say about
this one.
These are at least the cases where the urban media has a reach, the
victims are fairly of a class whose well-being matters.
The countryside is much worse. The biggest and worst form of
exploitation is faced by Dalit women who face insult, loss of dignity
and oppression by upper caste-upper class men.
Would love to see a keen observer of gender issues like you to
reflect on this.
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