Following rules is passé now! We don’t want discipline, we don’t take instructions, and we don’t like advice. Am I right? We love to venture into the dark, grapple with the evil demons out there, hang around the wrong places with the wrong crowd and then make a hue and cry when the devil pounces on us. What else do you call a mob which tosses a helpless, young girl like a piece of rag, if not devils? Are you there? On the Guwahati case, in which a teenaged girl was publicly grabbed and molested by a group of over 20 persons, a plethora of articles have been written. Rather than repeating the sordid episode and pointing fingers, we have got to tell society, especially women:
•how to avoid such horror.
•and how such culprits should be punished.
Having said that, should we also not look into the aspects of our being ‘open’ to evil?
I am not writing something new, though Madhya Pradesh Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya has already said women should dress in a dignified manner to avoid such incidents, and there has been scathing attacks on him. I’m not defending him, true he might be. The lack of law and order and delayed police action have all been discussed much; however, what happened in Guwahati is no isolated incident.
Such ‘horror’ happens everywhere but only a few have been publicised like this one because a journalist caught it on camera and loads of people uploaded it on the Youtube. How could the journalist take an angle-to-angle shot of the horrendous, unspeakable incident? This is something that has also been talked of and condemned. Nothing can be gorier.
The eerie attack on the teenager on July 9 could have been avoided had:
•she not ventured into a pub in the night;
•and had she also worn appropriate clothes for a birthday party.
I know I would be pelted with stones and an avalanche of harsh criticism would follow for blaming the girl now and not reprimanding the unruly mob. Hey, please understand that these kinds of ‘demons’ molesting women are everywhere; it is women’s wisdom not to venture anywhere near their evil domain. I know there would be vociferous voices that “we need freedom for women!”
Freedom for what? Freedom to roam the streets at night and visit pubs? I am the mother of a teenaged daughter with tremendous pain in my heart. Come on friends, would the Guwahati girl’s parents have gladly sent her to the pub that night? Youngsters rebel and defy the elders because they feel, ‘elders are out to find fault.’
Never! Caution is always better. Flee from evil! Don’t wag your tail and get close to evil in the name of freedom: there are tons of other things you can do to showcase your spirit of liberty. Youngsters have failed to draw a line between adventure and stupidity. Are you listening, young people? Don’t come charging at me with your gun as yet; I have more to talk. I am in no mood to blame the government, police or the girl……much of finger-pointing has been done already; but all I want to say is be cautious henceforth.
There is a sinister, sadistic, salacious desire in the heart of the wicked society to watch such sexual assaults and gratify its lustful cravings. Thanks to the hot movies produced today with spicy item numbers that have infused toxic content in the minds of people.
Therefore, stop venturing into the domain of the devil.
(The writer is the principal of a free school run for abandoned children and can be reached on balasamson1@yahoo.com)
Keywords: Indian culture, Indian society, women abuse, molestation, social issues
This article reflects everything that is wrong with India. What is
appropriate clothing? Women in sarees are molested too. What is a safe
place? As an earlier comment states, women are raped in temples and in
their own homes. Would you rather women wear burkhas to prevent their
being assaulted?
Yes, freedom to visit pubs. Yes, freedom to visit unsavory places. You
and nobody has the right to blame women when they are molested. The
fact that you, as a woman, are expressing these views, is in itself
horrendous. I suggest you move to Saudi Arabia or some other
misogynistic place, where you can moralize about how rape victims had
it coming. You make me sick, and quite frankly, it scares me that you
are given the right to vote when you are obviously incapable of
thinking.
Yes,
I agree...
be cautious of pubs in the night..
be cautious in the night..
be cautious and know where to wear a skirt or salwar or a sari...
be cautious you don't arouse men by what you wear and don't wear...
be cautious don't show your gorgeous finger nails(!!) in the open ...
oh your beautiful hair.. be cautious!
and yes.. be cautious.. the world is full of wicked minds.. don't go
out of the house!
I think the author has clearly not thought about what she is writing
and has also never been a victim of an act of sexual violence.
As a victim I would like to inform her that the time i was subjected
to it I was clad in traditional Indian wear and was even wearing a
jacket on top of it. Nothing about my attire was remotely provocative.
Also the location of the said act happened to be a train compartment.
Now given the circumstances I clearly did not violate any of the rules
suggested by the author but I still had to go through that trauma. How
does she plan to justify what happened with me? My Poor Luck is it? or
maybe she'll next suggest that women have no right to even travel
alone!
It is important for our society to understand that how women dress and
where they go is in no way a factor to the acts of sexual violence
they may be subjected to.
Can we please start teaching our sons not to rape instead of telling
our daughters not to get raped!
Sir,
The author is not asking women not to venture out.She is only asking
them to be responsible for their safety by not taking too many risks in
the false belief that they have the right to go wherever they want at whatever time they like or wear any kind of dress.Prudence and caution
cannot be thrown to the winds in the name of freedom.
Upon reading this article in newspaper I opened e-news to find the views
and reviews of others.
YES, I SUPPORT THE WRITER. I am 25 and have seen cities small, middle-
tier cities to metros. I really feel sorry to find ourselves delved into
over-enjoyment. We call all stupid actions as style and standard and
everyone wants to maintain the status. The writer has nicely raised the definition of FREEDOM, has anyone got a perfect meaning or the lining to
limit this word.
Vivekanad said "We must always bear in mind that we are not going to be
free, but are free already. Every idea that we are bound is a delusion".
at once, Some sensible talking from the heart.
Hats Off to you ma'm.... for taking writing this article.... yes in some
way the dressing of some women and young girls is triggering incidents of
assault on women.... They may keep arguing but skimpily clad or tight
clothes is drawing unnecessary attention ..... there is nothing wrong in
being alert and careful..... Not being able to wear revealing clothes is
not a big loss as compared to what happens after wearing it and going to
pubs and other places at odd hours...
I totally agree with your view. I am not against the girl, She has all the rights to come out in the night. But had she thought about the rules about the age limit for entering pubs she could have averted the tragedy. Current day youth believe that its not bad to drink in the name of birthday parties and other treats. My question is that if they decide to throw a party why do they choose such places, they do not invite the parents, the ultimate motto is to do something unethical in the name of fun and freedom.
Even in the Guwahati incident , what happened to her friends, a friends should have safe guarded her, if they run away in a situation like this , it shows their real character. Trusting friends like them and roaming late in the nights is sheer stupidity.
AS rightly said by you this world is full of sex thirsty animals , they behave bad. We have to be careful on our part, as we cannot expect police to escort you every time. We got to behave with moral to avoid such incident.
I am surprised by the opinion of the author! I am also surprised how
Hindu, such a responsible Newspaper, can publish this article! My
questions to the author are: Why such Devil's den should exist in the
cities at the first place? Isn't it the responsibility of the
Government to stop such menaces and ensure civilian safety? If we
ignore the presence of such Devil's den and curb other's freedom for
the sake of such dens - these entities will ultimately reach our
bedrooms. We will promote Talibanization of our society where women
are not safe at any place - neither home nor outside. Slowly slowly we
will stop women from going to the market,cinema halls,offices,schools
colleges- everywhere, as all of them are Devil's dens.Then we will
promote the killing of girl child - as this will be the best possible
option to get rid of such incidents! Dear author, this Devil's den
argument can really really go far!
You are absolutely right, the line has to be drawn from our side, we can't control the steps of others, but can surely ours. We want liberty for all wrong reasons, when the same fact is put forward in front of my pals i am faced with criticism of being born in medieval period, but whatever it might be, lets take a simple example: we cross roads in heavy traffic zone looking at both sides of the road and just not strolling, if we keep this simple fact in mind the problem gets resolved, but unfortunately we don't.
And by way the I'm a youngster,I don't think younger generation have
failed to draw a line between advture and stupidity,actually older
generation have failed to open up their minds with the changing
times....
Wow,
what do you mean by "Stop venturing into the domain of the devil"??
first thing, pubs are not the domains of devil. Secondly, the girl had not done anything wrong by visiting the pub at ight.
The girl has every right to wear the cloths she wants to wear and visit the pub at any time. Who are you to decide the moral lines? Whatever fault is there, it lies in the eyes of people like you who sees every girl through colored glasses of Bhartiy Sanskriti.The kind of thinking that the girls should wear certain way and
should not visit the places like pubs is exactly what the justification molester has in his mind when he does such horrendous act. For the molester, who thinks exactly the way writer thinks, a girl visiting pub at night and wearing western cloths is not a "good girl" and it's all right to molest her.
Ah yes, blame the victim. Typical barbaric response to a barbaric crime. Let the boys and men rape and molest with impunity, since in India it seems to be their birthright. I suppose we should continue to pay dowry, submit to arranged/forced marriages and engage in caste violence as well? All in the name of "preserving Indian culture" of course. A reputable publication such as The Hindu should not waste paper and ink on Bala Samson's medieval rubbish.
I completely agree with your opinion what you expressed is right. really youngsters have failed to draw a line between adventure and stupidity. Being a teacher and a father of a teenaged boy I have nothing more than that.
Harassment of women happens everywhere (even in temples), and to women in all kinds of clothes. This is why we, as mature people, should stop putting the burden on women and start telling men how to behave.
And contrary to this writer's view, more women everywhere, at all times of night can only make soceity safer for women.
There is a pinch of truth in what Bala Samson says.visiting pubs in the
night in company of male friends and celebrating orgy like party is not
welcome for women in our society,Freedom is to be exercised with worldly
wisdom.As for the heinous act of the journalist it is shameful that he
photographed the gory incident for commercial purpose instead of going
for their help or informing police.This tenedency is increasing in the
country as in all road accidents people rush with their mobile and take
snaps instead of helping the victim
Dear writer, thanks for your nice article! Even in security issues, it is said that it is always better to be 'safe' than 'sorry'. Therefore, your advice not to venture into the domain of devil is very relevant&timely. We all exercise such caution in our life like when it is raining heavily, we stop going out, when it is scorching heat outside, we try to reschedule our activities, when it is dark& night, we stop venturing out not as a certainity that something ominous would happen, but as an abundant precaution! We all know about this. Freedom of choice should not be at somebody's own peril! Unbridled freedom is dangerous as we have all witnessed in the Guwahati case as freedom always comes with a high sense of responsibility. Hence, we can say that freedom without responsibility is dangerous whereas responsibility without freedom is awful! Having said that,the perpertrators of the horrendous crime should be punished severely and police be ever vigilant to prevent such shameful acts
When Women move out from the homes and start working in different
places there should be sufficient women who are also trained in self
defence-martial arts-.The numbers who are trained -rigorously in all
schools and colleges will make a difference in perception and the
eveteasing and molestations will automatically reduce and die
down.Nothing can be achieved without hard work.Some of the more able
females should take it up and when sufficient numbers are there
things will change.
Please Email the Editor