Violence against Women has to be end
By Zaheerul Hassan
Sajjad Akbar
The violence is an act of aggression of a person against someone or by a group of persons against opponent cluster of persons. Sometimes, an individual perform the act of violence against oneself and reaches at that stage of antagonism where ultimately either lose senses or go for suicide. Beating, killing, teasing, assaulting and raping are common forms of violence in the society. The reasons of occurrences of such type of violence are countless but psychological problems, religious extremists, mental sickness, poverty, mediocrity, illiteracy, violence promoting movies, regression in criminal justice, insufficient legal protection and unawareness to rules and regulations. Anyhow, honour killing, sexual abuses, harassment against housed or on job women are more widespread in South Asia.
In Pakistan act of women rights violation is being done in conservative, feudal, religious extremist and uneducated societies. Case of Mukhtaran Bibi was one of the examples of cruelty of feudal system. Similarly, violence against women in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh is also multiplying due to increasing western influence in youth and poverty.
In February 2013 Human Rights Watch has released a report covering violations of women rights. India as usual secured leading position in the list of 90 countries, which continues its intensification of sexual harassment and rape cases. According to Thomson, Reuters Foundation report, human rights in India took a turn for the worse in 2012. It indicated that rape, dowry deaths, molestation, sexual harassment and other crimes against women in India rose by 6.4 percent from the previous year, with the highest number of rapes recorded in the capital city New Delhi. Statistics of National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB) showed that 244,270 crimes against women were reported to the police in 2012 compared with 228,650 in 2011.
Parenthetically, in a number of criminal cases the young Indian lot is impressed from vulgar movies and commits the crimes like rape, kidnappings, sexual harassment, trafficking, and molestation. Apart from routine criminality there are cases, where cruelty against women has been done by their husbands and relatives. In many cases the women were forced to attempt suicides, as a result of demands for a dowry from her husband or in-laws.
The NCRB further stated in their report that West Bengal, bordering Bangladesh, recorded the highest number of gender crimes, i-e., 30,942. It makes 12.7 percent of India’s total recorded crimes against women. Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director at Human Rights Watch confirmed in an interview that India experienced continued incidents of violence against women, failed to provide protection for freedom of speech and its major reason is the gap between noble intentions and action. In another report “India’s War on Its Women” published in “TIME”, Jan. 14, 2013, Suketu Mehta narrated the sad incident of 23 years old student “Nirbhaya (Fearless)” who would have been a paragon of the progressive Indian women. She was studying to be a physiotherapist and was the only person supporting her rural family. She was going to marry a software engineer in February but cremated by fellow students in a bus in Delhi.
Mehta stated that almost every one of her female friends who visited or lived in New Delhi has faced an offensive attitude from men there. Regarding another incident she reveals that Christine an anthropologist by profession from Paris was walking in Connaught Place, the heart of the city, with her mother. She said that a man came up to them and thrust his hand between Christine’s legs, grabbing her crotch. He laughed and sauntered off. “My mother had to watch this, Christine said, weeping.
The report truly mentioned that Indian capital is the only city where bad things happen to women, where political corruption had been transformed into moral corruption and the skewed sex ratio — 866 females for every 1,000 males, because many girls are killed at birth by parents, since they prefer son over daughter. Moreover, Parliamentarians and Government officials are extensively found involved in violence against women. Statistics in report expressed that six sitting members of state legislatures have been charged with rape; two members of Parliament and 36 state legislators have been charged with crimes against women. In the 2009 national elections, political parties fielded more than 40 candidates who were charged with rape or other crimes against women.
In Indian occupied Kashmir, soldiers of Armed forces involved in molestation of the locals in the name of search. They have the legal umbrella of entering in the houses under the shelter of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). Similar kinds of aggression are also being done in conflict-torn areas in the northeastern states and villages of Maoist freedom fighters. Few months back Indian authorities arrested two young women from Mumbai, exposing Indian state terrorism in Kashmir on twitter and Facebook.
Delhi gang rape and murder case of medical student was one of the most mercilessness examples of crime against women in the world. But there are many more cases which have damaged reputation of democratic Indian in regional and international community. Bollywood (Mumabi) and IT Hub Banglore are two biggest cities where more than 445 women including employee have been either raped or sexually harassed just in the last six months till 22 June 2013.
Unfortunately, despite condemnation of raping the student domestically and international, on 8th June 2013 another case of raping and murdering 11years old Muslim girl’s unveiled in Nalgona. Ms. Ismath Unnisa (11 Years) daughter of Mohammed Sadiq Ali Chand and Amena Begum, resident of Mapanam Chalka in Nalgonda District was gang raped on 28th April 2013 and her dead body was thrown in a nearby Nala but no one paid any attention to this incident. In fact the authorities in collaboration with Indian media initially tried to hide the rape of the Muslim girl. However, due to the communal pressure the case appeared on news papers but still local police is showing reluctance in taking actions against influential criminals. The parents of the girl have alleged that investigating agencies are protecting real culprits and Indian police.
Anyhow, increasing rape cases forced Dr. Manmohan Singh to constitute a special commission for knowing the reasons, investigating and punishing the culprits in such cases. It is also mentionable here that many lady tourists have stopped vising India and considering it as insecure place due to unabated sexual violence against women. On January 5, 2013 BBC published an article “The rapes That Forget India” which reveals that India is such a country where a rape is reported every 21 minutes.
Notably, in January 2013 a South Korean student was drugged and raped by the son of the owner of the hotel where she was staying. In February 2013 a Chinese woman working in Gurgaon, a town bordering the Indian capital, was also raped by an Indian acquaintance. Again, in March 2013 a 38 year old Swiss woman was gang-raped in a forest near Datia town by six Indians. She was on her way to Agra from Orchha on a bicycle tour with her companion, when she was molested by six men belonging to Indian native town. The Swiss national and her companion were camping in the open near a forest area when armed men gang raped her, manhandled her companion and also looted their valuables.
A British holidaymaker in the northern city of Agra, (home to the Taj Mahal), suffered a leg injury when she jumped out of the hotel window to save her honour as two men entered her hotel room with the intent to molest her.
In a notorious case five years ago, 15-year old British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling was raped and left to die on a beach in the tourist resort of Goa. On 31 May 2013 a young Irish woman was raped by a man in a house in Kalighat area. The 21 years old young girl came into acquaintance with an Indian native named Sujay Mitra in the city of Kolkata where she was celebrating her birthday. Later Mirtra took her to his home and raped her.
A US national was ganged raped by three men in a truck in Manali, (a resort town) on 3rd June 2013. She accepted lift in their truck and they drove her to a selected spot where they ganged raped her. She had arrived in Manali a day before and had been on a visit to Vashisth, a nearby tourist resort popular with sightseers.
Most of the western countries including UK and Swiss have already issued instructions to women tourists to refrain from going to India due to growing risks of insecurity and insensitivity of Indian officials, who openly plead that there was no need to panic as foreigners are victims of such acts of crime all over the world and that India was no exception.
In any case, rape against women is a wickedly atrocious, shockingly dreadful and shameless act of immorality in which anti-social elements driven by their animal instinct demonstrate male chauvinism to molest women. It cause psychological impact with deep seated scars of disgrace, fear and signs of incapacitation for the victim while creating sense of insecurity and frightening humiliation among other women. Therefore, it is suggested that UN should force her member states to devise laws, cultural rules and state legislations explicitly provide protection to women against such social abuses. In this context, on 4 June 2013 the Security Council has sent a strong signal to perpetrators of sexual violence in conflict that their crimes will not be tolerated, adopting a new resolution to strengthen efforts to end impunity for a scourge that affects not only large numbers of women and girls but also men and boys. While addressing a conference on the issue, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked relevant United Nations entities to speed up the monitoring, analysis and reporting arrangements on conflict-related sexual violence. He stated that sexual violence, whenever and wherever it occurs, is a vile crime. It must be exposed and met with the anger and action that it deserves,” Mr. Ban said at the outset of the meeting, stressing that those who hold power and influence have a special duty to step forward and be part of a global coalition of champions determined to break this “evil.”
Anyhow the violence against women can be decreased while creating awareness of rules and regulations, educating the women and punishing the culprits immediately. Moreover, South Asian countries have to rectify the reasons and causes of rapes mentioned in this article.
The writers can be approached through zameer36@gmail.com
