Living with fear in India's rape province

The two girls were gang-raped and murdered. (Source: Google)

Numbers never lie. In 2013, Uttar Pradesh registered 126 rape cases per week. 

And this did not ring any alarm bells with the state government or Chief Minsiter Akhilesh Yadav. 

Unfortunately, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav had declared at a public meeting in Moradabad on April 10 that “Ladke, ladke hain.

"Galti ho jati hai (Boys will be boys. They commit mistakes).” He even went a step ahead and said if SP comes to power, he will do away with the provision of death penalty for rape. 

Mulayam’s “Boy will be boys” statement, it seems, has encouraged the perpetrators of the crime. 

Consider the Badaun gang-rape and murder case which has shaken the people across the country: Two Dalit cousins, aged 14 and 16, were gang-raped and murdered. 

As if the atrocity was not enough, their bodies were then hung from a tree in a village. Two police constables are among the seven accused. 

Reports also said the local policemen had turned away the family members of the girls when they had gone to seek help. 

More shame followed, this time in Mulayam’s home district Etawah. A rape victim’s mother was brutally thrashed by the father of the man accused of raping her daughter. 

Her crime? The woman had dared to file a complaint against the accused. 

With nearly 2,000 rapes, close to 8,000 abductions and over 3,000 cases of assault on women with intent to outrage their modesty every year, it seems UP is the worst when it comes to safety of women. 

Moreover, many such cases are never reported by the victims fearing social stigma.

Shockingly, the state police has said rapes happen because women go to the fields to relieve themselves. 

But isn’t this the failure of the panchayats and the administration as providing basic amenities like potable water and toilets are their responsibilities? 

And when did stepping out of your house become a crime punishable by rape? Isn’t the state police responsible for the ever increasing number of rape cases?

© 2014 Nasreen Ghani

Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2645471/India-rape-Living-fear-Indias-rape-province.html

The right time for Didi drama

Mamata Banerjee (Source: Google)

We have all seen West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee unleash her vicious temper time and again.

But now appears to be the right time for her to lash out over the increasing number of rape cases happening in the state she governs.

She might want to start by putting a ban on kangaroo courts, which appear to have taken upon themselves to authorise every possible incident of rape in West Bengal.

One of them this week 'sanctioned' the gang-rape of an 18-year-old tribal woman after she was found to be in love with a man from another community.

Her family was first asked to pay an amount of Rs 50,000, and when they said they couldn't the village headman asked the men present to "enjoy the woman". Thirteen men took turns to rape her.

This is not the first time it has happened either.

Instead of moving ahead we are moving towards the medieval era. Unfortunately, expecting Mamata to proceed swiftly against the horrendous act and ensure speedy justice is like wishing for rain in a drought-hit terrain.

In a few days, all 13 accused will be out on bail. The girl will be threatened to take her complaint back, the matter will soon die and no one will care.

The story is the same anywhere and everywhere in India, and even having a woman chief minister known to be feisty doesn't change things.

Even death doesn't ensure you justice. The December 16 gang-rape victim died, but her parents are still fighting for the culprits to get punished. The juvenile will be out soon, as he got just three years in a corrective home. He will be free to rape and murder any girl he wishes to.

This is precisely what the court and the law have been unanimously preparing every girl for.

Why do you think people don't want girls to be born anymore?

© 2014 Nasreen Ghani

Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2546397/WHIPLASH-The-right-time-Didi-drama.html

The acid scar on our system

The attacker entering a salon with a jar full of acid.
(Source: Google)

IT wouldn't be wrong to say that India is one of those countries where women are tortured in the worst possible ways. 

They are killed in the womb, or after their birth; if they manage to survive and grow up, many of them are abducted and sexually assaulted and then tossed aside like cigarette butts on the road. 

As if this was not enough, jilted lovers and sexual predators are now increasingly hurling acid at their victims.

A bride-to-be in Ludhiana, who was getting ready for her wedding in a parlour, was scarred for life when a boy threw acid on her face on Saturday. 

The girl was 'punished' for reportedly turning down her tormentor's marriage proposal.

I wonder, from where did he, and many like him, get the courage to attack women so violently? Maybe it's because these men firmly believe in the weaknesses of the law. They probably assume they will never have to go to jail for such crimes, and in case they get caught they would be out on bail. 

The perpetrators seem to think: 'Death would be too easy for her (the victim); I'll give her a life that would be worse than hell.' 

After ruining the life of their 'targets', most culprits continue to live as usual. 

Remember what happened to those who threw acid on Sonali Mukherjee from Jharkhand? While she is still running from pillar to post for financial assistance, her attackers are free (out on bail) to attack their next victim. 

In such cases, if the girl's family doesn't desert her, they go broke financing her infinite number of surgeries and other medical requirements.

The Indian judiciary has failed time and again to ensure justice for acid attack victims and its failures are taking a toll on the defenceless women.

If a country like Bangladesh can significantly bring down the number of acid attacks by taking various measures, why can't India? It's time the law turned an iron hand on these monsters in the skin of men.

© 2013 Nasreen Ghani

Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2520432/WHIPLASH-The-acid-scar-system.html

The Indian hypocrisy festival

A girl protesting against the December 16 gang rape in Delhi. 
(Source: Google)

WHEN an article entitled "The Assam Rape Festival" turned up on an American news portal, it sparked outrage among sons of the soil who believed it was a direct assault on Mother India. 

They quickly turned on the author, who had offered up scarce evidence of this 'festival' being a real event, with obviously preposterous claims and a picture of Naga Sadhus at the Kumbh Mela alongside it. 

Turns out, the piece was an attempt at 'satire,' which most missed.

But the article is not the point. What is much more notable is the contrast in the reaction to actual incidents of violence against women, versus the response to a piece written by an anonymous writer attempting to be humourous. 

As soon as the piece got attention in India, the Assam Director General of Police Jayanto Narayan Choudhury had already ordered a probe into the publication and distribution of the article - and they did it suo moto, without anyone complaining.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, meanwhile, came out with a statement that the piece was "demonic" and showed disrespect to the "humble and unsuspecting" people of Assam. 

If only the state could react as quickly when women are actually raped maybe India might not have as much of a reputation of being a place where sexual violence is so prevalent.

Most men turn a blind eye when a girl is molested on the street. And if the girl gathers the courage to report the matter to her family or the police, society ends up turning against her - often resorting to the "she asked for it, in those short clothes" explanation. 

I wonder what happens to Mother India's honour when a girl is raped every 20 minutes in the country. A total of 24,206 rape cases were registered in 2011 alone. 

How come it was a satirical article - not this - that registered outrage among the sons of the soil?

© 2013 Nasreen Ghani

Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2501050/WHIPLASH-The-Indian-hypocrisy-festival.html