No good, only bad and ugly : The Tribune India

Join Whatsapp Channel

gender

No good, only bad and ugly

The silhouette of two teen-aged girls hanging from a tree in a village of Badaun district, UP, triggered worldwide outrage.

No good, only bad and ugly

The Delhi Uber taxi rape case once again made people realise the vulnerablilty of women in India



Vandana Shukla

The silhouette of two teen-aged girls hanging from a tree in a village of Badaun district, UP, triggered worldwide outrage. The image nagged and haunted the conscience of the nation for months till the CBI silenced it. The girls had committed suicide: The central agency concluded absolving the tangled web of caste, class, patriarchy and political muscle that breeds crimes against women. But it left several questions unanswered.
Does it call for a celebration if 14-year-olds commit suicide for falling in love, if at all we assume that the younger of the Dalit cousins decided to die in solidarity! The questions, dropped out of the discourse, are repeated like a leitmotif in most cases of crimes against women. How else does one explain the murder of Jyoti, a 24-year-old Scheduled Caste woman from Bhunga village of Hoshiarpur district, whose body was found on a road in Panchkula. The accused, Ram Kumar Chaudhary, a Congress MLA of Himachal Pradesh, was acquitted with 11 other accused in the murder case. Chaudhry, a married man, allegedly had an extramarital affair with Jyoti, who was insisting on a marriage.
A 24-year-old, mother of two, was allegedly gangraped and thrown out of a moving auto-rickshaw, in South 24 Parganas district of Kolkata. As the case unfolded, the police found the woman was in a relationship with one of the five accused. More than the crime, the woman’s relationship became the rallying point of enquiry. In crimes against women, affixing motive on the victim suits the larger narrative that helps maintain the patriarchal management of society. Has the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, that was supposed to speed up the legal process and protect women against any kind of violation of their rights been of any help?
On one hand, cases like Shakti Mill gangrape, where a 22- year-old photojournalist was raped, resulted in a Mumbai sessions court convicting all five adult accused; awarding death penalty to three and life imprisonment to the other two. On the other hand, it brought to the fore the laxity of system that encourages repeated crimes. The gangrape accused had  committed rape with impunity and were emboldened further. Ditto goes for the Uber Taxi rape accused. Law alone cannot help till the society harmonises women’s space. Also, the minors accused of rape in both Nirbhaya and Shakti Mill case, continue to challenge the legal book.
If the death penalty for rape was to work as a deterrent, it has done little. In Delhi alone a15 per cent rise in crime against women was observed as against 2013. Even school-going kids are not spared. Be it in Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, the stories are repeated.
It seemed the year would end on an optimistic note for the women of India, with images of two gutsy Haryanvi women bashing up their molesters. But, this unusual tale soon got buried under layers of counter accusations that suited the more acceptable narrative of women’s subjugation in a male-dominated society. And, Modi’s election promise to women — of providing better security —  continues to be a promise.

Shock waves Manisha Mohan and her friends from Chennai created lingerie that gives electric shocks to ward-off sexual offenders                                                       

brutal act: The ‘hanging’ of two teen-aged girls in UP triggered protests across India. It raised questions on the safety of women in India                                        

high point: The Supreme Court gave the Third Gender status to the transgenders and asked the Centre to give them BC (Backward Class) status     

underpowered: The Women Armed Special Protection Squad (WASPS) in Punjab was equipped only with batons instead of the weapons promised to them                                       

strike rate: Sachin Tendulkar’s autobiography was a rare sports bestseller that sold in lakhs. Readers looked in vain for major revelations                                                            

book ban: Penguin withdrew scholar Wendy Doniger’s book, The Hindus: An Alternative History. It yielded to pressure by Hindu right-wing to ban the book                                                                                

 

Top News

High alert across Uttar Pradesh after gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's death

High alert across Uttar Pradesh after gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's death

Umar Ansari alleged that his father was subjected to slow po...

Mukhtar Ansari was subjected to slow poisoning in jail: Son

Mukhtar Ansari was subjected to slow poisoning in jail: Son

Ansari's post-mortem to be conducted in UP by panel of five ...

Enforcement Directorate wants AAP's Lok Sabha poll strategy details from Arvind Kejriwal's phone: Atishi

Enforcement Directorate wants AAP's Lok Sabha poll strategy details from Arvind Kejriwal's phone: Atishi

Says actually it is the BJP and not the ED that wants to kno...

10 killed as SUV falls into gorge in J-K’s Ramban

10 killed as SUV falls into gorge in J-K’s Ramban

The vehicle, a Tavera, was on its way from Srinagar to Jammu


Cities

View All