The National Alliance of Journalists (NAJ), Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ), the Kerala Union of Working Journalists(KUWJ), and the Press Club of India, held a protest meeting following the death by suicide of senior UNI photojournalist T. Kumar. The media association also raised the issue of increasing attacks on journalists’ rights and dignity. The Central government’s new accreditation policy was also discussed once again as many journalists have called it out as “being totally biased to end independent journalism and ensure a new era of government controlled journalism.” 

The DUJ at its Executive meeting also demanded that the UNI management pay compensation to Kumar’s family and also pay all his dues immediately, including his provident fund and salary backlog. They noted, “Persistent mismanagement by newspaper barons, who own UNI and continue to fight over its assets including extremely valuable land in the heart of New Delhi and several other places. Side by side government policies had ruined the finances of the news agency, by favouring other news agencies.” According to the union, the government “seemed to favour ANI, and some others and totally discriminate against UNI in particular and also PTI” . Even in Delhi, many journalists and press workers who had been associated with UNI are still awaiting dues.

An extended Executive meeting of the Delhi union of journalists, had also passed a a resolution on the death by suicide of UNI photo journalist T. Kumar. The DUJ Members wore black badges in protest and also expressed concern at the “loss of several jobs in various news establishments” enacted by managements of media houses “using Covid as an excuse for anti labour practises, forced retrenchments of journalists and press workers.” The protest meeting coordinated by veteran journalist and NAJ –DUJ president S.K.Pande was addressed by senior journalists including the Press Club of India President Umakant Lakhera, PCI General Secretary Vinay Kumar, DUJ General Secretary Sujata Madhok, former PCI general secretary Anant Bagaitkar, DUJ Vice President Pius Kumar Bajpai, former UNI Urdu chief Sheik Manzoor, PK Manikandhan KUWJ Delhi and others. 

The unions have demanded “a phased opening of the news offices with due Covid precautions and fast track courts to ensure due implementation of the Majithia Wage Board Award for journalists and press workers.” The NAJ and the DUJ, castigated the “non-withdrawal of the anti labour codes of the Central government, increasingly being used as a threat to end the working journalist Act and various labour laws connected with journalists and press workers besides being a dark chapter to replace labour laws with pro corporate laws”. The unions also called for “wider mobilisation and solidarity with the Central Trade Unions protest against the Labour Codes on March 28-29 throughout the country.”

The media associations also expressed grave concern “against the continued imprisonment of Journalist Siddique Kappan, the arbitrary ban on MediaOne TV channel, and the increasing harassment of Journalists in Kashmir,” as well as targeting of scribes in Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.

Related

Photojournalist T Kumar’s death by sucide exposes the state of affairs at UNI
New press accreditation rules can be misused to punish journalists
Unique 5-day Satyagrah by UNI employees ends in the hope that dues will be paid

The post New Delhi: Journalists unions protest targeting, harassment appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Mahar community members and civil society groups will gather outside KEM hospital in Mumbai on January 18, 2022 to condemn the harassment and ragging of a student hailing from a Scheduled Caste (SC) who is facing caste-based atrocities at the hostel since 2019.

The youth was a student of the Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas (GS) Medical College. He reported that 16 persons, including 12 medical students living in the KEM hostel and two doctors working at the hospital have constantly attacked him since 2019. After seeking the help of Jaati Ant Sangharsh Samiti leader Subodh More, he managed to lodge a complaint with the police that charged the accused under various clauses of section 3 of the SC and ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act, 1989, section 4 of the Maharashtra Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1999 and other IPC sections such as intentionally insulting a person to provoke and criminal intimidation.

According to his complaint, the youth’s roommates persistently verbally abused him by using castesist slurs and forced him to do odd jobs for them like cleaning utensils and washing clothes. The individual sent a letter to the hospital dean and other authorities many times through the years. However, he claimed his complaints were dismissed. In the FIR, the youth spoke about how even the warden participated in the harassment. The authority figure kept him from using the same amenities as the other students such as the clothesline and told the youth to maintain a distance while talking. He also threatened the 24-year-old not to come near his house while others in the hostel were invited to his place.

However, members of the community were disheartened to see the Bhoiwada police’s continued inaction, even a month after the 24-year-old medical student complained of torturous treatment in the hostel.

According to The Free Press Journal and the Hindustan Times, two Deans between 2019 and 2022 told the media that an anti-ragging committee was started twice to investigate the accusations. On both counts, the committees found nothing.

However, More, who was a part of the committee meetings said that the committees failed to record his concerns and views during the talks. He further stated that as per anti-ragging laws, a committee should have already been functioning when the youth started living in the hostel. However, the committee was formed late. He also criticised the college authorities because as per UGC guidelines and anti-ragging law, the allegations should have been reported to the police within 24 hours.

The youth finally approached the State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as a third-year post-graduate student around December 21, 2021. His first complaint was filed on April 10, 2019. A month after approaching the state-level body, the police filed an FIR against the accused but to little avail.

“Even four days after reporting the incident, police did not question any of the accused. This could’ve been another Payal Tadvi case,” said More.

He referred to the death of Dr. Payal Tadvi, who hailed from a Scheduled Tribe (ST), who worked as a resident doctor at BYL Nair hospital but died after severe harassment due to her community origins. Her institutional murder was widely condemned across Maharashtra.

For this reason, More has called for a silent protest outside the hospital on Tuesday. He called upon all students, civil society groups, Ambedkarite movement, activists and journalists to join the protest while following Covid norms.

Related:

HRW World Report 2022 showcases India’s worsening Human Rights situation
Dalit man forced to enter and clean sewer in Gujarat
Dalits and Adivasis suffered violence and discrimination even in 2021
Two young Dalit girls attacked, where is the outrage?

The post KEM Hospital accused of atrocities against SC students appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Front Line Defenders (FLD), an organization working with the aim of protecting human rights defenders, said, has expressed serious concerns about the ongoing harassment and intimidation of Zafarul Islam Khan. According to a statmend issued by the FLD, it believes that allegations of “funding terrorism” are baseless and have been construed to intimidate those working on human rights and advocating against religious extremism in Kashmir. The recent National Investigation Agency (NIA) raids on Zafarul Islam Khan it stated, “appear to be aimed at silencing and punishing” him and other human rights defenders for “speaking out on human rights and minority issues in India.”

Khan, a well known journalist, Islamic scholar, and former chairperson of the Delhi Minorities Commission was raided on October 29, by the NIA. The NIA conducted the raid on his residence, which is also his home-office and the office of the social organisation ‘Charity Alliance’ headed by him. The raid was the a part of a series of raids carried out by the NIA on October 28 and 29, at homes and offices of several human rights defenders, journalists, academics, and aid organisations related to alleged funding of terrorism in Kashmir.

The FLD recalled that Zafarul Islam Khan as the current Chairperson of the Charity Alliance, an organisation that provides education, relief, development and welfare programmes for minorities in India, has always worked extensively on defending minority rights, including those of Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and Parsis. “The 72-year-old human rights defender is a respected scholar and intellectual and has been vocal against all forms of extremism, including in his own community,” stated the FLD. Khan has always been among the first to speak out against right wing extremism and violence against minorities in India. It added that the “report produced by the DMC on the Delhi riots, clearly implicates far right wing elements, and state collusion in the violence that took place in February 2020. His work, especially as former-Chairperson of the DMC, has made him a direct target for the State and extremist groups.”

The statement recalled how, at around 7 AM on October 29, 2020, “NIA officers scaled the exterior wall of Zafarul Islam Khan’s compound and entered his residence in Dehli. No physical search order or warrant was produced, although the defender was shown what officers purported to be a search order on an NIA officer’s mobile phone. The order stated that the office premises of Charity Alliance was to be searched, having been linked to terrorist militants in Kashmir. The officers ordered the defender and his family members to hand over their mobile phones, and searched the bedrooms and residence on the first floor of the building. Around two hours later, the office of Charity Alliance, located on the ground floor was also searched. Items seized from the residence and the office include documents, laptops, hard drives of desktop computers, cash from the residence, and mobile devices.” After the raid ended at around 11 AM, Khan’s  son was asked to “accompany the officers to Shaheen Bagh police station to fill out a seizure memo, where he remained until 7 PM.”

This is not the first time that Khan has been “targeted by Indian authorities for his work,” stated FLD, recalling how on May 6 2020, “Delhi police entered his home and attempted to arrest him in relation to a post he had made to social media, which the police claimed was seditious. The 72-year-old defender was granted anticipatory bail in this case by the Delhi High Court in July 2020, considering his age, risks posed by COVID-19 to prisoners, and because police had completed their inquiries into his case.”

The Front Line Defenders have urged the authorities to: “Immediately cease all further intimidation and harassment of Zafarul Islam Khan, and return the items seized from him, as it believes that the raid was carried out to intimidate him for his legitimate work in defence of human rights.”

That FLD has asked that the authorities “guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in India are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free from all restrictions.”

Related

NIA Raids Day 2: Fresh searches conducted in Srinagar and Delhi today
Delhi HC grants Dr. Zafarul granted protection from coercive action until next 
Dr Zafar ul Islam Khan must be protected from all harassment and intimidation
In targeting Dr Zafarul Islam Khan, Modi-Shah throw a challenge to civil society, minorities

The post Stop raids against, police harassment of Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan: Front Line Defenders appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Delhi’s Karkardooma court has directed the Tihar Jail authorities to change the staff who student activist Gulfisha Fatima had accused of harassing her. Gulfisha, an under-trial lodged in Tihar Jail after being arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, has complained to the court that she was being subjected to communal slurs and mental harassment by the prison staff. 

According to news reports, additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat noted that this seemed to be the case of an argument between the jail staff and Gulfisha and “it is a version of the applicant (Gulfisha) Vs version of the jail staff” and that the Jail Superintendent has conducted an inquiry, he was quoted by a report in the Outlook. The judge ordered: “In the facts of the case, I deem it fit, without getting into the allegations/denial of allegations, to instruct the Jail Superintendent to ensure that if need be, to change the ward of the applicant or change the staff on duty or other steps that he deems fit to avoid any confrontation.”

The court added that if Gulfisha had grievances about any offence being committed against her, she may file a complaint before the jurisdictional magistrate. She had, through her counsel advocate Mehmood Pracha, alleged that she was being subjected to abusive and communal slurs by the jail staff, which caused her mental and emotional harassment.

Pracha had sought action against the official. “I have a problem in jail. Ever since I was brought here I have been constantly facing discrimination by the jail staff. They called me a ‘educated terrorist’ and are hurling communal slurs at me. I am facing mental harassment here. If I hurt myself, only jail authorities will be responsible for it,” she had alleged in her earlier complaint. 

According to news reports, Tihar Jail Superintendent had earlier told the court that Gulfisha was allegedly being  “aggressive” and had “misbehaved with the prison staff” on several occasions. The jail authorities had stated she had been given correctional punishments for that, adding that to prevent any further unpleasantness, the duty of the staff, against whom allegations were raised, were changed from the ward.

Gulfisha Fatima, who has been in custody since February 2020 in the Delhi riots case made these submissions before Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat when she was produced through video conferencing during the hearing of the case last month. In the chargesheet, which discusses the conspiracy behind the Delhi riots, the police has claimed that “on January 8, Tahir Hussain had met Umar Khalid and Khalid Sai at Shaheen Bagh sit-in protest. Meetings subsequently also took place in the PFI office in Jamia nagar where Khalid Sai instigated Tahir.”

“WhatsApp groups were used by conspirators for violence in Seelampur Jafrabad area. There were 25 protest sites. 25 WhatsApp groups were especially created for each. The impression was given that they were anti-CAA protest groups but through these sites conspirators were being guided,” said the police.

The Jail authorities had told the court that, as on October 15, 48 Muslim women inmates were lodged in Central Jail number 6, where Gulfisha was lodged, and none of them made any such complaints, adding that an inquiry, revealed that both Gulfisha as well as the staff complained against each other. They stated that all those involved were heard and counselled to follow the jail rules and maintain discipline inside the jail. 

Related:

Delhi Court dismisses plea of Gulfisha Fatima and 2 others booked under UAPA seeking statutory bail 
If I hurt myself, only jail authorities will be responsible: Gulfisha Fatima
More activists named in riots case: Delhi Police getting desperate?
100 days and counting, free Gulfisha Fatima: Activists
Delhi Violence case: Court reprimands police for failure to get video footage

The post Gulfisha Fatima alleges harassment, court asks jail to change staff if needed appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Accusing an officer from the forest department of allegedly subjecting a tribal to harassment in regards to a seizure case, villagers in Dhana area of Sagar district, Madhya Pradesh, staged a road blockade and place the body of the deceased tribal on the road, the Hindustan Times reported.

Sequence of events

Gond’s younger brother Mukesh told HT that the forest officers had seized his tractor trolley on accusations of encroachment of forest land and promoting encroachment. Mukesh said that Maniram had requested the forest officer to not take away his equipment as it was the time to sow seeds as per his contract of farming 5 acres of land. However, the officer didn’t listen to him and later allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs. 1 lakh.

Gond’s wife, Ashok Rani, who is also the Sarpanch of the Belai Mafi Panchayat said that Gond had gone to get back his tractor on Saturday evening. He had arranged Rs. 30,000 to free the same, but Gautam demanded nothing less than Rs. 1 lakh. Allegedly, the officer scolded at him and Gond suffered a cardiac arrest on his way back due to which he passed away.

HT reported Ashok Rani as saying, “My husband was mentally disturbed and couldn’t bear the trauma.”

Gopal Bhargava, the PWD minister who supported the blockade said that he had spoken to CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the matter and promised monetary compensation to Gond’s family said that he himself had intervened in the matter and asked the forest officer to leave the tractor but to no avail, HT reported. Bhargava also said that he had spoken to the District Forest Officer (DFO) in the matter too but no heed was paid. HT reported Bhargava as saying, “Being a minister when they are not listening to me, I can understand how they are harassing tribals. That’s why I joined the protest against the officer of forest department. Suspension is not enough, we want FIR against him.”

However, MS Uika, the DFO Sagar south range was said that while he was aware of the matter and had spoken to minister Gopal Bhargava, he wasn’t aware of the fact that Devesh Gautam had demanded a bribe.

As per HT, the police said that the villagers accused a forest range officer Devesh Gautam of harassing the deceased tribal, Maniram Gond and allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs. 1 lakh to free his seized tractor trolley. Gopal Bhargava had also threatened to call over 10,000 people if the matter wasn’t investigated promptly. A police complaint was also registered at the Dhana police outpost 15 days ago when Gond’s tractor was seized.

आज मेरे विधानसभा क्षेत्र की ग्राम पंचायत बेलईमाफी के सरपंच पति श्री मनीराम गौंड उम्र 40 वर्ष के दुखद निधन की सूचना 9 बजे प्राप्त हुई। सूचना मिलते ही मैं तत्काल घटना स्थल पर पहुँचा। ग्राम के सभी लोग ढाना के मुख्यमार्ग पर धरना देकर बैठे थे। pic.twitter.com/0yHXI4nN0W

— Gopal Bhargava (@bhargav_gopal) July 19, 2020

It was also reported by HT that Sagar district collector Deepak Singh had ordered a magisterial inquiry into the matter and that the Chief Conservation of Forests (CCF), Amit Dubey had suspended Devesh Gautam for not handling the case adequately.

Related:

Dalit couple attempt suicide after forceful eviction, police brutality
MP Forest Department allegedly burns down tribal family’s home  

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Reservations have been continued and extended by democratically elected governments. Citizens have a right to criticize any government policy or law. However, no one has a right to humiliate and abuse anyone, and any effort to show these as ‘reactions’ to state policy is pure hypocrisy. These are acts of aggression and violence against people who are vulnerable due to their deprived backgrounds.  
 
Dr Payal Tadvi, an Adivasi Muslim from one of the most backward tribes of India committed suicide on 22 May in her hostel room in a Mumbai hospital. She was a post-graduate resident doctor in the hospital. Before her suicide, her mother and husband gave many written representations to the hospital authorities about the harassment she had been facing from three of her seniors. According to these complaints, her harassers were using casteist abuses and publicly humiliating her. However, the hospital took no administrative actions. After her death the hospital’s anti-ragging committee has reportedly found evidence of harassment, and according to some newspaper reports, the police have found evidence of derogatory casteist remarks.
 
Dr Payal Tadvi’s suicide immediately brings to mind the suicide by Rohith Vemula in 2015, a PhD scholar at the Hyderabad Central University. Rohith was a student activist. His organisation had been protesting against the HCU administration for months before his suicide. Even ministers of the BJP central government had enquired if his organisation had been adequately punished by the university administration after it was involved in a physical brawl with activists of the ABVP, the student organisation allied with the ruling party. If the context of Rohith’s suicide was institutional victimisation of radical Dalit youth, Payal’s suicide throws open a window to the intimate cruelties suffered by the people of deprived backgrounds every day.
 
According to her mother when Payal moved into the hospital hostel, the only cot in the room was already taken by one of her alleged harassers. Her roommate, also a doctor would wipe her feet on the mattress on which Payal slept. Payal was a trained doctor. She had worked in a primary health centre for a year. Yet her modern professional status could not shield her from what she had to go through. She narrated incidences of her humiliation only to her immediate family members. They complained to authorities when they felt she was under serious stress. She died alone, without leaving any suicide note.
 
Even seventy years after independence and a constitution that promises a life of dignity to every citizen, Dalits, Adivasis and minorities in India continue to suffer multiple humiliations in their everyday lives. Appropriate legal provisions are in place. Institutional motivation to implement these provisions is woefully lacking, as shown in Payal’s case. However, even if institutional mechanisms were in place, these can play a role only after a Dalit or an Adivasi has been humiliated, or suffered an assault. Indians need to identify and root out the conditions which make many of them abusers and haters of people from deprived backgrounds.
 
Indian society remains a deeply hierarchical and divided society. Its public sphere, in which people are supposed to be able to interact with each other without distinctions, is also stamped with hierarchy so that there is little respect for a human being for just being a person. The normalcy of this public is dominated by people from privileged backgrounds.
 
People from deprived backgrounds always feel marked in this sphere. Numerous writings by Dalit and Adivasi authors bring it out in painful detail. In educational institutions and work environments, they are permanently stamped with the ‘reservation’ category tag. Most of them are first generation learners from poor families. They get to join these institutions and places of work after numerous hurdles, but their individual talents are little recognised. Increasingly, Muslims in our country are also being made to feel the same way.
 
Institutions of higher learning and government offices reek of a nefarious discourse on ‘merit’ of the ‘general’ category. This ‘merit’ is supposed to be measured by marks in entrance exams. But how does one compare the abilities of a young Dalit woman from a rural landless family, who spent half her time on family chores, went to a dilapidated village school, and still got admission to an institution of higher learning, with another person whose upper-middle-class urban parents gave him/her education in expensive private schools, provided a comfortable learning environment at home, and paid for extra tuitions and coaching? Why should only one of them be considered ‘meritorious’? Why cannot they interact freely in an environment of mutual respect?
 
The policy of reservation in jobs and educational institutions is often cited as the chief culprit, as if without this policy these places will be republics of merit. The drafting committee of India’s constitution under the leadership of Dr Ambedkar adopted reservations as a policy of affirmative action after serious debate. Reservations have been continued and extended by democratically elected governments. Citizens have a right to criticize any government policy or law. However, no one has a right to humiliate and abuse anyone, and any effort to show these as ‘reactions’ to state policy is pure hypocrisy. These are acts of aggression and violence against people who are vulnerable due to their deprived backgrounds.
 
People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) calls upon the people of India to seriously question why so many of them are haters and abusers of people from deprived backgrounds. Why do people who abuse and commit hate crimes think they can get away with it? It is evident that the anti-caste movements have only partially succeeded in democratising India. The main reason is that the task of making India a democratic society has never been undertaken by the overwhelming majority of Indians. Until this happens India will continue to humiliate and harass people from deprived backgrounds, and destroy bright and sensitive men and women like Rohith and Payal.  
 
Battini Rao is the Convenor of PADS.
 

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In yet another kind of institutionalised murder, Dr. Payal Tadvi, a 26 year old Post Graduate Student  at Mumbai’s famed BYL Nair Hospital in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Government run Topiwala National Medical College was driven to suicide after facing  discrimination and harassment at the hands of three of her senior colleagues, Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Mehar and Ankita Khandelwal.

According to AISHE’s (All India Survey of Higher Education)  2018  data there are a  total of 130 female students and 107 male students pursuing M.D (Doctor of Medicine) belonging to the  Scheduled Tribes (ST) category in Maharashtra, which is a total of 3.08% of total students in the state of Maharashtra –  low compared to the reservation mandate.

Overall, within, Maharashtra medical colleges there are no mechanism available to address such issues like caste-based harassment. Educational bodies like the UGC (University  Grants Commision) do have guidelines for creation and maintenance SC/ST Cells and Equal Opportunity cells in colleges. But medical colleges come under the MCI(Medical Council Of India) which does not have any guidelines for cases related to caste based discrimination.

Jalgaon based activist Mr. Moulana Mujaheed Tadvi, President of Adivasi Yuva Kranti Dal and Adivasi Bhil Tadvi Bahuddheshiye Sanstha, said, “ It is the first time that an issue related to a tribal person is been taken seriously and has gained momentum, otherwise many such atrocities against tribals take place everyday but they go unnoticed. We are planning a zilla and tehsil level protest regarding this case. We are also planning a protest March in Mumbai very soon”.

Dr.Payal Tadvi, hailed from Jalgaon district in the North of Maharashtra. Tadvi, belonged to the Bhil Tadvi Community, part of the population of which is Muslim. Dr. Tadvi  was a practising Muslim and had kept her Roza  for  month of Ramadan. The Bhil Muslim Tribal Community and are classified under Scheduled Tribes in states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.According to the 2010 census the Tadvi Bhil population in Maharashtra is 1,818,792.

Regarding the Bhil Tadvi community he further added “The Adivasis like Tadvis have been facing discrimination and atrocities since long time, I have personally toured areas of Bhil, Akola, Amravati, Buldana and the conditions of communities like Bhil and Gonds is pathetic. There is no of employment, many of the tribals have forced out of the forests and hence have lost their livelihood, many of them engage in small time labour work in fields. The education levels are also dismail, the condition especially of the women is very bad”.

Dr. Rewat Kaninde, Ex-President Dr.Ambedkar Medicos Association, currently working in JJ Hospital, Mumbai said that  “ Even during my UG days I too have witnessed verbal discrimination in terms of taunts, even if the students from the reserved category are at the top the class, they are still subjected to taunts from the students and teachers”.

He further added that a mechanism should be put in place to help the students. “We demand that all the medical colleges should compulsory counsel students since many of them come from rural areas, not only the SC/ST, and OBC students but even general students should be counselled. Already in a country like India the doctor patient ratio is one of the lowest in the world. She would have treated lakhs of patients and now she is no more, this is a very serious thing. Every single doctor is important in a country like India and doctor being driven to suicide like this is not acceptable. This a very serious issue. We demand that cells like SC/ST Cells and Equal Opportunity Cells to be set up in Medical Colleges with immediate effect”.

Speaking to TCN a third year female MBBS student from tribal community on condition of anonymity fearing  being targeted  said, “ Many of the tribal students come from areas like Gadchiroli and Nandurbar regions of Maharashtra, for them to cope with the environment of higher education in Mumbai becomes very difficult.  Many of the students come from very backward areas and are from working class  backgrounds. I personally faced lot of problems in my first year, it was very difficult to talk and adapt to the environment. Things are easier for students who come from well-off families. Students from the reserved categories are left to fend for themselves as there is  no emotional support available, I feel giving students the emotional support they require is very important”.

A call for protest was given by the family of Dr.Tadvi. A protest march was held on 28th May in front of BYL Nair Hospital in Mumbai. The three accused under section 306 (abetment for suicide) of the Indian penal code (IPC), sections of the SC/ST Atrocities Act, Anti-Ragging Act and Information Technology Act, 2000. Dr. Tadvi’s body was taken to JJ Hospital for post mortem and was later taken to her hometown of Jalgoan District in Maharashtra. According the recent developments, Dr. Tadvi’s husband has alleged foul play in the suicide case.

Courtesy: Two Circle

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That was proved on April 3, 2019 when a brave woman  Nirmalakka travelled from Sukma to Kunta for two hours with around twenty journalists after her release from jail in Chhattisgarh. After 12 years in jail, she was finally acquitted from all cases. (“Framed in 157 cases, woman gets acquitted in all, released after 12 years from Chhattisgarh prison”, by Shams Ur Rehman Alavi, newsbits.in). Her family members reached Jagdalpur central jail along with court orders accompanied by lawyers.

Life of struggle

In 1989, at the age of 22, Venkatalakshmi alias Nirmala  began to work among the people leaving her native place in Andhra Pradesh. In 1994, before moving to forest area of Chhattisgarh, she learned about the lives of tribals besides, she learned languages like Tamil, Hindi, Marathi , Kannada and tribal languages Gondi and Halbi and formed a political base for future movements.

She started to acquaint with socio-economic and cultural situation of the adivasis and how they are being exploited by the corporates who are occupying forests for their wealth and mining purposes. She stood by them and helped them by treating their wounds sustained in gunfire.
Despite the ruthless oppression of state and ‘salwa judum’ atrocities and her failing health, she continued to provide staunch and effective leadership for the poor women with her speaking firepower.

Imprisonment 

On July 5, 2007, she was imprisoned along with her husband and others. She was even subjected to torture in front of the villagers and threatened them with dire consequences if they dare to follow her.

Trial and release 

She was not allowed to appear for trials in the first few years. Even in the court warrant, nothing was mentioned except her name till she protested the procedure. She used to prepare her arguments and had her lawyers argue on the notes prepared by her for ten years. She had to struggle all these years to defend herself.

At last, she was not proved guilty in any one of the cases. There was no evidence to prove her links or involvement in any terrorist or extremist violence. She was incarcerated for her ideological beliefs.

Nirmalakka is free of all charges now.

Truth has won!

Courtesy: Counter View
 

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We’ve long become accustomed to the notion that reading allows us to connect with others and find support during times of crisis. In a recent Guardian interview, #MeToo founder Tarana Burke recalled how, as a child, she turned to literature as a survivor of sexual assault:

One of the original plates illustrating the novel Pamela, by Samuel Richardson. Etched by L. Truchy and A. Benoist after paintings by J. Highmore – Houghton Library
 

I read a lot when I was young. Those were the things that helped change the trajectory of my life. And the first glimpses of healing, and understanding what had been happening to me as a child, came from the literature that I read.

If Burke had been reading 18th-century English literature, she would have discovered some remarkable examples, in fiction and non-fiction sources, of writers willing to break the cultural silence on harassed and abused women, particularly working women.

In 18th-century Britain, working women mostly laboured as domestic servants, a profession that muddied the boundaries between the professional and the personal. Women servants lived with their employers and were often beset by sexual pressure on all sides – from their male masters to their servant peers. They were frequently raped. Some concealed their resulting pregnancies and gave birth alone in their garret rooms (outcomes for the babies were poor, which often resulted in charges of infanticide). And yet their stories circulated via the era’s new ways of writing.

Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded was first published in 1740. Wikimedia Commons via Olaf Simons and Ottava Rima

Instances of sexual assaults against female servants were detailed in the 1700s via innovative fiction and nonfiction prose. One of the century’s leading novelists (sometimes considered a founder of the form) was Samuel Richardson, and his 1740 bestseller, Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded, gives us a copybook story of relentless workplace harassment.

The 15-year-old Pamela repeatedly fends off her employer. His frequent groping, attempts at rape, and kidnapping recall many of the modern day abuses documented by #MeToo. Pamela is slow to see the full extent of Mr B’s nefarious intentions: how could a man so charming, intelligent and impressive subject her to such suffering? Pamela evades the worst of her master’s plans and successfully reforms him into her husband.

Richardson’s novel may not square with modern ideas of romance, but, in its time, it told an astonishing story of how a working teenager could protect herself against a man who held every form of power (age, money, class, masculinity) over her.

Eliza Haywood

Richardson was the not the first novelist to defend women against male sexual transgression. In 1725, the popular writer Eliza Haywood published Fantomina, Or Love in a Maze, a short novel in which the heroine is sexually coerced by a promiscuous rake. Fantomina transforms her rake into a constant lover by taking on four different disguises (including that of a servant), her lover none the wiser.

Frontispiece to The Female Spectator, London: 1746. Harvard University

In the concluding pages of her 1743 self-help guide for female servants Haywood shared strategies for evading male come ons, including those from masters (both married and unmarried), masters’ sons, and gentleman lodgers. She advocated modesty at all times – but also encouraged servants to speak about their rights to virtue (taking a page from Pamela) and to seek a new position if necessary. Haywood cautions especially about avoiding men “in liquor” and against the master’s son, explaining how to spot his false flattery and promises. Follow these strategies, Haywood assures her servant audience, as you, too, deserve “valuable and happy” lives.
 

Forced ‘seduction’

If #MeToo has brought today’s hidden stories to light, the past reminds us that just as women have always worked, they have always been harassed in the workplace. In my research into labouring women in Georgian Britain, I’ve encountered hundreds of grim tales of “seduction” (a frequent code word for coercion or assault).

Some of the most heartbreaking stories were documented by printed trials from the Old Bailey starting in 1674. By 1729, trial accounts grew longer and more narrative in response to the public’s appetite for true tales of suffering. They were one of the few print outlets in which women servants could speak for themselves (albeit through the courts).

Despite the innovative spotlight that these new forms of narrative shone on the struggles of working women, new forms of media in Georgian Britain laid the groundwork for many of the fissures that continue to haunt feminist movements today. “Deserving” women (especially those who dressed modestly) were more likely to merit attention. Stories overwhelmingly focused on white women at a time when Britain was vastly expanding its role in the global slave trade.

There was no Time’s Up movement to establish a legal fund for those abused domestic servants – but these stories managed to draw attention to the plight of working women. In 1739, Thomas Coram established the Foundling Hospital for the children of impoverished mothers, even illegitimate ones.
Neither the Foundling Hospital nor other Georgian charities were enough to protect the countless women who suffered abuse in the workplace, but the literary marketplace created new print platforms for these women to be seen and heard. Rather than being spoken for by a third-party author, today’s new media has importantly enabled women to share their own stories via Twitter, Facebook and live courtroom testimony. Perhaps it will support those who have not yet dared to speak or have been left out of the conversation for all too long.
 

Chloe Wigston Smith, Lecturer in 18th-century Literature, University of York

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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