Sexual predators have our support — mindsets matter

The Lok Sabha has given its approval to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013 that prescribes stringent punishment to sex offenders; however, the voices of prominent parliamentarians show how the mindsets have hardly changed.

JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav’s ‘humorous’ reminder, “Who among us have not followed girls,” may have evoked peels of laughter in the House, but there is nothing funny about it. Even while passing a law to protect women, he has indirectly supported stalking.

I am sure thousands of women across the country who are stalked do not agree with the JD(U) leader. There are frequent reports of stalkers attacking women for spurning their advances or refusing proposals of marriage. May be the likes of Sharad Yadav should see the faces of those women disfigured in acid attacks by jilted Romeos before coming up with these funny one-liners.

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav was also equally worried about the law being misused or abused to settle personal scores. He also fears that co-education will have to be abolished to protect boys from legal trouble. SP parliamentarian Shailendra Kumar expressed his worries about the provocative dressing of female actors in television serials and movies.

For all the thunder over the ‘controversial’ law, hardly one-third of the members were present in the House.

If these satraps think that the good old way of life should continue, they are also supporting institutions like khap panchayats that order physical and sexual abuse of women as modes of punishment. The recent incident of Punjab cops thrashing a woman who approached them to complain about eve-teasers speaks volumes about what is ailing our system.

Every time there is a sexual assault, cops, politicians and ‘spiritual leaders’ don’t waste time in blaming the victim. How can there be any hope for women of this country when those in charge of creating and maintaining the machinery that is supposed to protect have a mindset that approves and justifies the actions of the perpetrators of sexual violence?

In this great land (Bharat included), assault on women start from the foetal stage itself. If she survives sex determination and selective abortion centres, she enters a world where predators don’t differentiate between children and adults. Throughout her life she is forced to restrict her freedoms for fear of sexual assaults. With every incident of reported sexual violence, her movements are further restricted and this, in turn, curtails her opportunities and makes her more dependent on the patriarchal male (father/brother/husband/son).

No matter how many laws we make, unless we are willing to change our mindset about the inalienable rights of our women, they will never fulfil their objectives.

(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on March 20, 2013.)

We can’t bank on their honesty

The CobraPost expose of open money laundering done by three top private sector banks (ICICI, HDFC and Axis Bank) has caught everyone off guard. The finance minister immediately came out with a statement that two of the three bosses have ‘assured’ him that their organisations weren’t running any such operation.

May be the nation should believe him and stomach the assurances on faith. However, anyone with the most miniscule of common sense would know that so many executives won’t go on maverick missions without clearance from their bosses. The extent of knowledge and expertise that has gone into creating these ‘schemes’ for money laundering show that these aren’t overnight developments.

Years of planning and organisation have gone into it. Next time those private bank bosses flaunt their success statistics we know where the ‘critical inputs’ come from. This is a wake-up call for the government, banking sector regulators, law enforcement agencies and the nation.

Pak bad, Uddhav good for Ajmer Shrine Diwan?

As a reward to his ‘patriotic’ boycott of visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, a Shiv Sena delegation honoured Ajmer Dargah diwan Zainul Abedin Ali Khan. After receiving a sword and a shawl as token of respect, the holy man reportedly spoke to Uddhav Thackeray on phone and invited him to the Dargah.

What puzzles me is that someone who claimed moral high ground to protest a single atrocity of Pakistan has no qualms in hobnobbing with a right-wing outfit that has used hatred and violence throughout its growth. Wonder what migrants from his state who were beaten up by Shiv Sena, and later MNS, goons for hurting job prospects of Marathi manoos.

Uddhav-Diwan bonhomie brings up some disturbing examples of politics of religion.

It is an open secret that several human gods and goddesses and their ‘charitable’ business are the biggest centres of money laundering. There have been several incidents of powerful godmen, who ran their empires for decades with total impunity from laws of the land, suddenly becoming targets for criminal investigations when they fall out with their political benefactors.

People who issues fatwas at the drop of a hat and instigate mobs to burn vehicles for insult to their religion in the US maintain deafening silence of barbaric social evils prevalent in the community under the guise of personal law — abuse of women being the most prominent. However, they find friends in politicians of all hues who endorse their ‘leadership’ in return for en masse votes.

Then there are the self-proclaimed ‘super patriots’ who will drive master artists to exile for insulting gods by making their nude paintings. No... they are not aware of thousands of sculptures that have been in existence for centuries that show gods in the nude. Their splinter organisations disrupt fashion shows for denigrating women by parading them in skimpy clothes. However, when it comes to dealing with sexual violence against women, they go into denial mode. 

Oops... my bad. The RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat did say rapes occur in the country. Rapes take place in India and not in Bharat, the saffron knight said. May be the rapes that take place in villages are part of an ISI conspiracy.

Our leaders were ‘shocked and outraged’ when Yasin Malik shared dais with Hafiz Sayeed in Pakistan, but why is there no similar anger or reaction when Sikh terrorists are conferred honours and declared martyrs by top religious bodies. Beant Singh’s killers have been on the death row for ever now but we don’t see any hurried hush-hush hanging.

To conclude let’s go to, ironically, God’s Own Country. A prominent Christian denomination’s top leader couldn’t stop speaking out in support of PJ Kurien, who is in the eye of a storm over the latest revelations by the Suryanelli rape case victim. There were also media reports of the victim’s church asking the family to stop coming to the church. Kerala’s swearing-by-god Congress and swearing-by-Marx CPI(M) try to outdo each other in pleasing religious leaders to secure vote banks.

We might call ourselves secular and democratic in the Constitution’s preamble. However, the toxic cocktail of politics and religion has reduced adherence to its principles to mere lip service, and we stand failed as a nation.

(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on March 13, 2013.)

AFSPA: Sharmila’s chains shackle our conscience

What happens when the State, that is duty-bound to provide justice to its people, turns oppressor? None would know better than Manipur’s Irom Chanu Sharmila who has been on a fast for the last 12 years demanding repeal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) that provides unfettered power for the military in “disturbed areas”.

Irom Sharmila is not the first person in the country to go on an indefinite fast for a cause. While the country was outraged by a two-week fast by Anna Hazare, the silent battle of this lionheart has barely found any comparable reactions.

In addition to the virtual house arrest, crippling restrictions, intrusive monitoring and forced nasal feeding, Sharmila is forced to go through the charade of “annual booking” under IPC Section 309 — for attempting to commit suicide.

While appearing before a Delhi Court, where charges under this section have been framed against her, Sharmila said, “I do not want to commit suicide. Mine is only a non-violent protest. It is my demand to live as a human being.” Now, is that too much for an Indian citizen to ask for?

In 2004, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Centre would “sympathetically consider” arguments against AFSPA and appointed a committee headed by Justice Jeevan Reddy to submit a report on feasibility of replacing it by a “more humane Act.” The panel submitted its report in mid-2005 — one guesses that even after eight years the proposals are being ‘sympathetically considered’.

The military is vociferous in its defence of AFSPA, saying that lack of immunity from prosecution will blunt its operational edge in battling militancy. According to provisions of AFSPA, military personnel cannot be prosecuted for their actions in a disturbed area that requires implementation of AFSPA. The Central government, which takes a call on declaring an area requiring operation of AFSPA, cannot be challenged on its judgement in a court of law.

However, it is opposed by civil society organisations and human rights groups as it is allegedly abused for torture, ‘disappearances’ and fake ‘encounter’ killings. Literally every international organisation that is working in the area of human rights, including the United Nations, have criticised the AFSPA and has called for its removal.

In March 2012, UN Special Rapporteur Cristof Heyns, after a 12-day fact-finding mission in the disturbed areas, concluded that ASPA is a symbol of excessive state power and “has no role to play in a democracy”. Here, it would be noteworthy to mention that India has NOT ratified the UN Convention Against Torture and the International Convention for the Protection of All persons from Enforced Disappearance.

There is no doubting that military needs special legal provisions/concessions to act effectively against militancy/terrorism, but these should come along with safeguards that provide credible accountability.

Numerous examples in history illustrate clearly that alienation of local population never helped any military campaign. The security forces should be trained not only in tactics but also in sensitivity. Those who abuse their immunity should be severely punished via internal disciplinary procedures. Unless faith of people is restored through effective and meaningful measures, AFSPA will continue to be a fountainhead for militancy and a blot on our commitment to enforcement of universal human rights.

Irom Sharmila can be shackled, but her ideas can’t be. Let not shrill calls of jingoism drown out the screams of our own.

(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on March 6, 2013.)