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.)
2 comments:
The reason why birth of a daughter became a curse in last 1000 years was due to the butchers from West and Central Asia coming in name of Islamic Jihad to kill men and rape women. The entire history of last 1000 years is full of resistance against these terrorists. Thus people wanted sons who could fight these terrorists or at least not be raped by them the way they used to rape women. Birth of daughter thus became a curse because safeguarding the dignity of a daughter was a challenging task. This is why purdah system came in India.
This is why dowry system became prevalent – ensuring safety of women became a risky thing. And soon these evil practices became part of the culture. However Vedas are complete against all this and it is time we get back to Vedas.
@T Mobile Spot: It is amazing how you have found the single cause for all sick minds in the country. Women were abused, suppressed and tortured by those with the means to do it — way before anyone West and Central Asia set out in this direction.
If you read what Manu (of Manusmriti) has written about treating women (supposedly 10,000 years ago - way before Islam was born), Sharia guys would look like saints.
So 'back to vedas' won't be such a great clarion call.
And by the way, rapists are nothing but sick animals who thrive because they know the society is full of spineless people who will endorse their brutality to ensure 'male supremacy' and 'female dependence'.
First, let us get out of our cess pool.
Suggestion: Our Saffron Taliban brigade would love your theory. Please elaborate and send it to them.
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