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

Why blame Pakistan for all attacks on India?

Indian consulate in Herat (Source: Google)

ON Friday, heavily armed militants launched a gun attack on the Indian Consulate in Herat, a western city in Afghanistan.

Even as a gun battle raged between the Afghan Army, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the insurgents, Twitter went abuzz with many of our compatriots pointing fingers at Pakistan. 

Most users who took to the social networking site seemed to already ‘know’ that it was Pakistan attacking the Indian Consulate.

Even news channels weren’t far behind when it came to pinning the blame on Pakistan, as if they had accepted responsibility for the attack in front of world leaders and on TV channels. 

Twitter and other social networking sites give us the opportunity to share our thoughts with the world, but do they also give us the licence to blame a country for any wrongdoing that happens at Indian consulates or with Indian delegates around the world? 

Are we in a state of war with Pakistan? Certainly not! 

With both India and Pakistan being nuclear states, do we really want to take that road?

While here, our PM-elect Narendra Modi is trying to mend relations of the two nations by inviting Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to attend his oath-taking ceremony on May 26, Indians are busy throwing it all away. 

This can be judged by one of the tweets that was posted just after the attack in Afghanistan: “This is Pakistan’s answer to Modi’s invitation”. 

Every Indian has the right to freedom of speech and expression, and we should be thankful for that. 

Imagine living in a country like China with no right to speak freely. People in that country don’t even have the freedom to have as many children as they want. 

But with freedom comes responsibility, and by exploiting freedom, we are doing no favours to anyone, least of all ourselves. 

It is time we stop misusing our rights and give serious thought to what we have and how we put it to use - especially on a forum that is accessible to all.

© 2014 Nasreen Ghani

Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2638906/Pakistan-India-Why-blame-Pakistan-attacks-India.html

It's not all fun and games on social media

SOCIAL

Singer Kailash Kher (Source: Google)

media, a tool which safeguards our freedom of speech, has always seen sharp reactions when it comes to injustice. 

A forum that is associated with free speech has now spiraled out of hand giving rise to a new disturbing trend. 

Priorities have taken a new turn, more and more people now believe in targeting celebrities and anyone can have the 'honour' of being the joke of the day whether it is actor Alok Nath, Anushka Sharma, Neil Nitin Mukesh or singer Kailash Kher. 

While singer Kailash Kher was targeted over his height, Neil Nitin Mukesh was the centre of all jokes because of his name. Actor Alok Nath was taunted for his 'sansakaari' behaviour.

The latest to be shoved onto the bandwagon is actress Anushka Sharma. Ever since the chirpy, young actress made an appearance on Koffee With Karan, Twitter has been abuzz with thousands making fun of her 'pout'. 

So much that Anushka had to step in and give a clarification on Twitter. Some like Alok Nath and Neil Niktin Mukesh might choose to laugh along with the Twitterati.

But it doesn't usually go down well with most people like in the case of Kailash Kher and Anushka. And why would it? Laughing at someone's appearance is harrowing. Pointing at someone's height or lips or their figure - like it or not it - is called bullying. 

I wouldn't want someone to make fun of me even to my face, let alone on Twitter. 

Every now and then we hear that a certain person or a student committed suicide because they were tormented by fellow students over their appearance. 

In the times of social media, people feel content and happy seeing someone be the butt of all jokes. We assume it is harmless, when it isn't.

Would you like it if today Twitter went abuzz with people making fun of your appearance?

© 2014 Nasreen Ghani

Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today
http://www.filmyboxoffice.com/news/whiplash-it-s-not-all-fun-and-games-on-social-media.html

Playing politics over riots

Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh (Source: Google)

Our country is not new to communal riots. Whether it is 1947, 1984, 2002 or 2013, the same thing keeps happening. People are tortured, raped, and murdered.

Children are orphaned and rendered homeless. Refugees lose all their belongings and property and have to start from scratch, in terrible conditions.

Humans are supposed to learn from their mistakes, yet the same thing happens over and over again.

And, equally inevitable, are the opportunistic politicians who turn up in the aftermath.

Former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh played the role to perfection on his 58th birthday, lashing out at SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for his callous decision to party while the victims of the Muzaffarnagar riots were dying in the camps.

Although Singh did not accuse Mulayam of inciting the riots, the implication was obvious.

We don't say it enough, but it is a fact: most riots are incited by party leaders for political gains.

And the ones that turn up later are simply there to earn brownie points, and maybe polarise the survivors to their own benefit.

Muck is thrown around until it has covered everyone, so that you can't distinguish the polariser from the polarisee.

If it was the Britishers who sowed the seeds of communalism in India, it is our politicians who watered them for their personal gain.

In the mad rush to take advantage of the situation, the lives of the ordinary - the ones who are killed, injured, put out on the streets and generally traumatised - are ignored.

And we ordinary Indians seem to fall for it every time.

And remember, this has nothing to do with religion, no matter what those at the forefront might be saying.

What could be better proof of this than the fact that, as a girl who might find herself in the middle of a riot-hit area, I'm liable to be tortured, raped and even murdered without anyone so much as asking me what god I believe in?

© 2014 Nasreen Ghani

Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2549023/WHIPLASH-Playing-politics-riots.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