[Reader-list] Fwd: Women in Bangalore and Karnataka need your help NOW

[Shilpa Phadke]

Dear Everyone,

Women in Bangalore are facing serious violence and attacks - for wearing
jeans, going out in the streets, fighting back the moral police etc.

We need to stop these attacks;

This is a letter to the police commissioner/home minister/press release
regarding the recent attacks on women in bangalore,

please either endorse the petition at-
http://www.petitiononline.com/atackwom/petition.html

or read it and send in your endorsements

name        occupation (optional)     place

do forward it widely, through mailing lists, facebook etc and either collect
the endorsements or ask people to reply to me.
please try and send in all the names by march 6th latest, so that we can use
it for the protest at the police commissioners office on march 7th in
Bangalore




Dear Sir/Madam,                                                  1 March
2009



Over the last two weeks, several women have been violently attacked in
Bangalore.

   * On 28 Feb at 10.30 pm, Sanjana got hit by two men on a bike who slowed
down, socked her on her jaw and fled away.
   * On 24 Feb, Lakshmi was attacked at around 9 pm by four men who punched
her, hit her, and abused her for wearing jeans.
   * On 17 Feb, two men chased Geetanjali’s car at 1.30 pm. One chased her
with a large stone as she ran to a friend’s house for refuge.
   * That week, Jasmine was attacked by four middle-aged men at 11.30 am
when her auto broke down. They physically assaulted and tried to disrobe her
while yelling obscenities.

More than 80 attacks and cases of moral policing have been reported from all
over Karnataka in the last six months.[1] Two women have committed suicide
after humiliation from right-wing forces. On 12 Feb, Vanita killed herself
after Bajrang Dal activists attacked her. On 11 Feb, Ashwini killed herself
after Venur Bajrang activists attacked her and her friend Salim.


The police have not taken meaningful steps to stop or prevent this violence,
to arrest the perpetrators, or to ensure the safety of all women in
Bangalore and Karnataka. On the 2nd of March when a group of concerned
citizens protested outside the Police Commission Shankar Bidari’s office,
urging him to take action to make the city safer for women he blatantly
denied the fact that these attacks have been taking place and said Bangalore
is one of the safest cities for women and that there was no law and order
problem.


These attacks are crimes against women. They are legal offences. They are
neither isolated events nor trivial incidents of ‘eve-teasing’. They are
part of a series of attacks inflicted on women in the name of ‘morality’,
attacks that are escalating as women resist and fight back.


It is the core responsibility of the state and city police to ensure that
public spaces are kept safe for all. Women across class barriers – from
powrakarmikas to garment factory workers to students and young professionals
in the corporate sector – have today become vulnerable targets on the
streets of Karnataka.


As an organization fighting for the rights of all women, we demand that the
Bangalore and Karnataka state and city police immediately:

   * Take punitive action to ensure that the attackers are punished by the
law;
   * Take preventive action to ensure that no more women are attacked in
Bangalore and Karnataka;
   * Take enabling action to ensure that streets and public spaces in
Bangalore and Karnataka are safe for all women to use and enjoy as a matter
of right.

Sincerely,