[Reader-list] Kashmir watch

[Inder Salim]

Kashmir Watch, Sep 4
http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showexclusives.php?subaction=showfull&id=1252061684&archive=&start_from=&ucat=15&var1news=value1news

By: Mamoona Ali Kazmi

According to a recent report of National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB),
violence against women is rampant in India, with southern Indian state
of Andhra Pradesh having the worst record for crimes against women.
For the year 2007-08, NCRB recorded 24,738 cases of crimes committed
against women including 1,070 cases of rape, 1,564 cases of kidnapping
and abduction, 613 cases of dowry deaths and 11,335 cases of domestic
violence in Andhra Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh has also witnessed a
stepping of crime against women with the state recording 21,215 cases
of violence including 2,066 cases of dowry death, 1,532 cases of rape
and 3,819 cases of kidnapping. The NCRB also highlighted many
incidents of rape of minor girls committed by the police personnel.
Similarly, Haryana a small state has recorded 4,645 incidents of crime
with as many as 269 cases of dowry deaths and 488 cases of rape. Bihar
leads in cases of domestic violence with 59 percent of married women
suffering domestic violence. The NCRB recorded 7,548 cases of crime
with 1,555 rape cases, 1,172 dowry death cases and 1,260 kidnapping
and abduction cases in the state. These are the statistics of only the
reported cases whereas several cases of violence against women goes
unreported due to social stigmas attached to them and due to the fear
of reprisals and threats from the culprits.

Women in India suffer at different levels and due to different
reasons. Violence against women in India is conducted irrespective of
caste and class. Women in general and low caste women in particular
are the victims of violence.  Even the Hindu religion does not provide
any security to this creature. The Hindu Holy text sanctify the
killing of infant girls, by parents who deem themselves not capable of
shouldering the responsibility of having a girl child. The Hindu holy
book Bhagvad Gita calls women embodiment of the worst desires and
justifies the killing of women. “Killing of a woman, a shudra or an
atheist is not sinful. Woman is an embodiment of the worst desires,
hatred, deceit, jealously and bad character. Women should never be
given freedom”. Bhagvad Gita (Manu 1X. 17 and V.47, 147).The modern
democratic India follows these religious teachings of hatred and
enmity towards women. The change does come but only in the techniques
of the violence. In past, in Hindu society new born girls were buried
alive now new born baby girls are either strangled to death or aborted
during pregnancy. According to a UNICEF report released in December
2006, about 7,000 fewer girls than expected are born daily in India,
and about 10 million fewer girls than expected were born in the past
20 years due to sex discrimination.

Women in India are considered a stigma to honour and are victim of
almost all kinds of violence such as rape, domestic violence,
abduction, dowry deaths and honour killings. The women living in
insurgency infested areas are victims of duel violence. On the one
hand they are victimized by army personnel and on the other by rival
ethnic groups. Similarly, women other than Hindus particularly Muslims
and Christians are victims of hate crime.

Not all sexual harassment and rape cases are reported in India. But by
considering the reported cases it becomes evident that in India a
women is raped every 29th minute. The NCRB unearthed some extremely
disturbing trends in India. Statistics suggest that in 2005 around 50
women were raped and 480 molested and abducted every day. The gravity
of the problem is that Indian laws are not very strict for such type
of violence against women. No capital punishment is awarded in such
cases. Apart from harassment, throwing strong acids such sulphuric
acid on the face of the girls and women is rampant in India. This is
the most heinous and severe punishment deserving crime. There is no
separate law to deal with acid attackers in India. Organizations such
as the Campaign and Struggle against Acid Attacks on Women (CSAAAW)
are fighting to get acid attacks recognised as a separate crime and an
extension of other forms of gender violence. Even a small state like
Bangladesh realized the gravity of acid attacks and introduced death
penalty against the crime. The Indian government has promised a new
law to tackle increasing acid attacks, but that brings no cheer to
those who know all too well what they are fighting against a system of
hierarchies that rationalises violence. The problem is not acid but
the thinking of men that they can control and dictate terms to the
women in their lives. There is a need of a law that can restrict the
sale of acid and bring offenders to justice. Law only cannot correct
these social imbalances there is need that these laws should be
implemented in true spirit.

Dowry deaths are also frequent in India.  This is the worst crime
against the women next to rape. A married girl is burnt to death or
killed or tortured by her in-laws and husband for not providing enough
gifts or money to them by her parents. Every day 50 cases of dowry
related violence are reported and every 3rd minute a case of violence
against women is registered in India. Apart from these several women
in the tribal areas of India are killed on the pretext of practicing
witchcraft. Low casts girls especially dalits in their childhood are
made Devdasis to serve God in the temple and they have to leave their
home and stay in the temple complex. These girls grew up in the
temples and are exploited afterwards

Honour killings are widespread in India and 95 percent of victims of
such killings are women. Honour killings in India are classified
broadly into two segments, those undertaken by families to protect the
honour of individual families and those ordered by caste panchayats to
protect caste honour. History of honour killings showed that the
victims were beaten to death or pushed into a corn bin. In some cases,
the women were asked to get into a narrow tunnel which would be
covered with a slab so that they would die of suffocation. Women who
were perceived to sully family honour were either murdered or forced
to commit suicide. In some cases, unprivileged and dispossessed
families living in a feudal society murdered girls the moment they
felt they would not be able to protect them from the evil intentions
of an all-powerful local zamindar or a chieftain. Brinda Karat MP and
CPI (M) Polit Bureau member said, “I had asked a question in
parliament on the number of killings related to honour that had taken
place so far and the reply I received from the government was that
they do not recognize such a category and, therefore, there was no
separate collection of such data”. There is no legal definition of the
term honour killing or honour crime. As a result, the perpetrators of
such crimes more often than not get away with murder, torture,
assault, and violation of laws regarding atrocities committed on the
Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. And they continue to commit
them with impunity.

There is a need that Indian government should take urgent measures to
create awareness through education on the need to end such social
crimes against women and initiate comprehensive measures to curb
honour killings, acid attacking, rape and dowry deaths etc. In India,
there is no respect for women, Dalits and minorities. The government
needs to realise that acid attacks and other brutal assaults on women
are a manifestation of an ingrained inequality. These attacks are not
just about the women they target, they are also about the society that
allows such attacks, the hierarchies it has internalised and the
voices of protest it has silenced.




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