The mandate of the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 was to establish an autonomous, statutory body which would have a host of powers and duties. It was intended that the aforementioned commission would act as a think tank, support women’s emancipation across the country, and monitor injustices against women. However, it is impossible to overlook the depths to which the commission has descended under the guidance of chairperson Rekha Sharma and the current ruling party, especially when one considers the authority’s generally negative—or absent—role in seeking justice for women in incidences of violence.

NCW is the legally ordained protector of women and their right and its main function is to protect women from abuse, exploitation, threat and force. And yet, in the past one year itself, NCW, had indulged in more issues of politics than sought justice for crimes being committed against women. Has the statutory authority now just donned the robe of a being a political mouthpiece? A brief look at the major incidents of the past one year depicts so. 

The deafening silence: Karnataka

The most recent example of the same is the Prajwal Revanna sexual violence scandal. On April 21, 2024, ahead of the April 26 Hassan parliament poll, electronic devices like pen drives and CDs had emerged in the public domain containing videos depicting the constituency’s current MP Prajwal Revanna allegedly sexually assaulting women. The news had spread like wildfire across the country with the videos also starting to circulate on social media. It is to be noted that as many as 2,900 files with videos and images of the sexual encounters of the MP were found in the pen drives that were leaked. As per multiple media reports, more than 300 women were victims of sexual violence while only three women have come forward to file cases against him. A day after this news had emerged, the sitting MP Revanna had left from India to go all the way to Germany. Even after a month has passed since the incident, Revanna stays absconding. A special court in Bengaluru for MPs and MLAs has issued an arrest warrant against him.

Shockingly, even as details of this sexual violence scandal started coming out, the NCW maintained a deafening silence over this issue. Many alleged that the reason behind this silence was the political alliance between Janata Dal (Secular), of which Revanna is a member of, and the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is pertinent to highlight here that the central authority took no action over the leaked videos of survivors, which had put the survivors/victims of sexual violence at risk. Instead, almost 20 days after the incident came to light, NCW came out with strange statement, declaring that the women are being forced to file false cases against Revanna. The central authority allegedly based their statement on the version provided by one of the women involved in the case.

As per a report in the Livemint, the NCW stated that “One woman complainant came to the commission to register a complaint against three individuals dressed in civil uniform, allegedly introducing themselves as Karnataka Police officials and forcing her to give a false complaint in this case.”

The Commission further claimed that “She (the woman) stated that she is being called by random phone numbers threatening her to complain. It has come to light that this complainant was forced by a group of individuals to file a complaint, under the threat of potential harassment and false implications. The victim has sought protection for her family’s welfare, underscoring the seriousness of the situation.”

This statement was the only statement made by the central women’s commission on the incident that shook India. It is essential to note that the approach taken by this Commission is in stark contradiction to the action it took in the state of West Bengal, wherein within a month of the emergence of sexual violence allegations against a member of the opposition party, the authority had recommended imposition of President’s rule based on their fact-finding team. No such team has, till date, been sent to investigate the allegations being levied on the JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna. 

Seeing things that do not exist: West Bengal

A political storm stirred the state of West Bengal in the month of February 2024. Since the beginning of the month, Sandeshkhali, a village in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, had been witnessing protests over allegations of sexual abuse of women by a local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader. These protests had come up after several local women accused the local Trinamool Congress strongman Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters of land-grab and sexually assaulting them under coercion. The issue of alleged sexual violence once again took a political turn as the BJP party politicised the issue and a blame game between the political parties began.

Since the issue of sexual violence concerned an opposition party, the NCW and its team took much interest into it. In addition to Chairperson Rekha Sharma taking up to social media to express her distress over the issue and raising allegation against the TMC leader, the central authority also sent a fact-finding party to the state to investigate the matter. The said fact-finding NCW team, which reached the region on February 12, had visited Sandeshkhali to assess the actions taken by local authorities in response to reports of violence and intimidation against women in the region by local TMC leaders.

On May 5, through the 24-paged fact-finding report submitted to the President Draupadi Murmu by NCW chairperson Ms. Rekha Sharma, it was recommended by the NCW that President’s rule be imposed in West Bengal in view of the allegations that have been raised by women in Sandeshkhali as well as the violence that had ensued.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal state police had maintained that it has received only four complaints from people in Sandeshkhali but none of them mentioned rape or sexual harassment.

In the month of May, a video of a “sting operation” surfaced that showed a person, purportedly a BJP Mandal (booth) president named Gangadhar Koyal, saying that Sandeshkhali women were not sexually assaulted and were projected as ‘rape’ victims at the behest of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.

Only four days pursuant to this, a few videos shared by TMC went viral on social media, which showed one of the women complainants in the Sandeshkhali sexual violence case alleging that she was coerced, through threats of violence by NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma and BJP leader Piyali Das, to sign a blank paper without knowing its purpose. With this, the woman also retracted her complaint.

As the complaints suggesting sexual violence started getting retracted, the TMC also filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India against National Commission for Women (NCW) chief Rekha Sharma and BJP leaders including Piyali Das.

In the complaint filed, the TMC had alleged that Sharma and Das “coerced [women in Sandeshkhali] through threats of violence” to sign a blank paper without knowing its purpose. The party alleged the signature on blank paper was used to file “false rape complaints” without women’s consent. The complaint further read that there have been many revelations that point to a deep-rooted conspiracy involving the NCW Chairperson and the BJP leaders.

Responding to the complaint filed by also filed by the NCW with the ECI, seeking a probe into the matter by claiming that women are being “compelled” to withdraw their complaints by TMC workers in view of the ongoing General election of 2024.

There have been no further revelations in the matter till date. While the issue is being investigated upon by the authorities, the allegations that have been made against the NCW chairperson, especially coercing the women to make false allegations against the members of the West Bengal government to serve a political agenda, casts a suspicion on the independence of the statutory authority. One must not forget that the same authority had not once recommended imposition of President’s rule in Manipur, a state that saw the most gruesome examples of violence against women.

Turning a blind eye: Manipur

On May 19, 2023, anger and chaos took over India when a video of three women being paraded naked, sexually assaulted and gang-raped by a mob in Manipur surfaced on social media. The incident, which had actually taken place on May 4, 2023, had shown the ugliest side of violence that had engulfed the state of Manipur since May of 2023. One should not that the state is yet to see any semblance of peace, and that the ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities continue to spiral into a civil war.

As courts were taking note of the incident and asking the government to take action, on July 20, it was reported that the NCW had been sent a complaint on the matter on June 12, but the complainants never received a response or an acknowledgement. It was provided two Manipuri women and a Manipur tribal association headquartered abroad had filed two complaints with the commission on the said issue. Reportedly, the complainants had spoken to the survivors and then emailed NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma. As per multiple media reports, the complaint sent to the NCW had alleged that a 15-year-old girl had been kidnapped and a medical examination report “confirmed assault and rape”.

Notably, it was only after the video of the heinous crime had gone viral and invited outrage from across the country that the NCW had tweeted stating that it is taking suo-moto cognizance of the matter and had urged the DGP Manipur to promptly take appropriate action.

When people had questioned the inaction of the NCW in this gruesome incident, Rekha Sharma had defended the same by provided that the Commission had approached the Manipur government thrice after receiving the complaint on June 12.

“There were many complaints and that too from people outside India and outside Manipur,” NCW chief Rekha Sharma said. She had further said: “Firstly, it had to be clarified whether whatever was written is true. Manipur government must clarify and if it is true then they must work on it. So, accordingly, we wrote to them. We reached out to authorities but no response was received from them but then we took suo moto cognizance when the video (of women being paraded naked) went viral.”

Upon the lack of action and the dereliction shown by the Commission, a joint letter had been sent by the National women’s organisation on July 22 to highlight the gross negligence shown by the NCW. The letter, signed by All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA), All India Coordination of POW PMS IJM, All India Mahila Sanskritik Sanghatan and All India Agragami Mahila Samitan, had condemned the inaction of the commission and urged them to urgently assess the disproportionate victimization of women through brutal and inhumane acts of sexual violence. 

The emergence of damning patterns over the years

The aforementioned three incidents are just a few examples that underscore the political biases that are now controlling the action that a statutory authority takes when it comes it protecting the women of this democratic country. These three incidents, all of which have a political history, have necessitated for the involvement of Constitutional courts to ensure that the allegations raised are without any ulterior motives and the rights of those involved, especially the survivors/victims, are protected. It is crucial to emphasise upon the enormous powers of investigations that statutory institutions like the NCW and State Women Commissions have under the law, which grants them the powers of a civil court. And yet, the NCW has failed the women of India- by failing to protect them as well as by intertwining political ideologies with maintenance of justice.

In addition to this, Section 10 of the NCW Act provides a rather exhaustive list of functions the Commission shall perform. Section 10(1)(f) of the Act categorically provides the Commission the power to look into complaints, take suo-moto notice of matters relating to deprivation of women’s rights and take up issues arising out of such matters with appropriate authorities. However, these powers and functions yet printed on the textbook, with the statutory authority unwilling to take any action.

Below are some other instances of selective outrage and victim shaming that NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma herself indulged into throughout in this year itself:

Victim-shaming:

In the month of March of 2024, a horrifying incident unfolded when a foreign biker woman was gang-raped by seven men in Jharkhand’s Dumka district. On March 1, a woman tourist from Spain, who was camping with her husband, was allegedly gang raped Jharkhand while travelling to Nepal from West Bengal. As per the details provided by the couple themselves, the incident had occurred as the couple rested in a makeshift tent in a deserted area at Kurmahat village. The eight accused were arrested by the Jharkhand police within a few days of the incident, and were charged with looting the couple, assaulting the husband and raping the woman.

The said incident had a chilling effect on people within and outside of India. Many took to social media to express their anger over the incident as well as the overall unsafe environment that persists in India for women. A journalist, namely David Josef Volodzko, took to ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) to share his take on the issue of women safety and stated that sexual crimes against women are “a real problem in Indian society that warrants more attention”. He had also mentioned an incident of sexual violence that had taken place with a female friend of his in the said post.

The complete post can be viewed here:

The level of sexual aggression I witnessed while living in India for several years was unlike anywhere else I have ever been. Once a total stranger, a British woman, asked to sleep in my bed and pretend to be my girlfriend on a train ride because a man walking by in the hall had… https://t.co/ZssX0Eq9aJ

— David Josef Volodzko (@davidvolodzko) March 2, 2024

Even with the background of such a particularly gruesome incident and to the sexual violence incidents that are anyway reported on a daily basis in India, chairperson Rekha Sharma had taken offense to the above provided post by the journalists and asked him if he had reported the incident mentioned in the post to authorities, “Did you ever report the incident to Police?”

Instead of making any statement on the worsening situation of women safety in India, Sharma had attacked the journalist itself by saying that if the incident had not been reported to the authorities, the journalists is a “totally an irresponsible person.”

Asking the United States based journalist to remove his post, she had alleged that the post unnecessarily vilified a country by stating “Writing only on social media and defaming whole country is not good choice.”

The post can be found here:

To vilify an entire country with a tweet is not only in poor taste but also unacceptable, as data speaks otherwise. As much as this incident needs to be condemned and perpetrators brought to justice, let me share a few statistical indicators and request you to remove this tweet.… https://t.co/RGzyw6d74b

— Rekha Sharma (@sharmarekha) March 4, 2024

With this, the chairperson had found itself indulging in its deplorable habit of blaming women” instead of holding the accused accountable. It is essential to highlight here that in August of 2023, when Parliamentary Committee on Empowerment of Women’s report on ‘Working of NCW and state commissions for women’ was tabled in the Lok Sabha, it was revealed that nearly 75 per cent of complaints received by the NRI (Non-Resident India) Cell of NCW from 2019 to 2022 are yet to be resolved. The NCW’s Statistical Overview of Complaints showed a 30 percent increase in the total number of complaints registered from 23,700 cases in 2021. After 2014, when it received 33,906 complaints, the NCW has received the highest number of complaints in 2022.

Half of these complaints – 16,872 cases, which is 54.5 percent – were from the country’s most populated state Uttar Pradesh (UP), followed by Delhi with 3,004 complaints (10 percent), Maharashtra with 1,381 complaints (5 percent), Bihar with 1,368 complaints (4.4 percent), Haryana with 1,362 complaints (4.4 percent), Madhya Pradesh with 1,141 complaints (3.7 percent), Rajasthan with 1,030 (3.3 percent), Tamil Nadu with 668 (2.2 percent), West Bengal with 621 (2 percent), Karnataka with 554 (1.8 percent) and the remaining states with 2,955 complaints (9.5 percent). 

Selective outrage:

In the month of March 2024, as India was gearing up for its biggest Lok Sabha elections, new political controversies were interrupting on a daily basis. Forming a part of this was the derogatory words that were said by Congress leader Suprita Shrinate while attacking BJP candidate from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh and Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut. After Ranaut’s candidature was announced, Suprita Shrinate shared an objectionable post against the BJP candidate on Instagram which had stated “Can someone tell what is the current rate in Mandi (market)?”. The anti-woman post was removed from the social media within a few hours of its posting and a statement of apology was also issued by Shrinate, who alleged that the said post was put out by a team member of her who handles her social media without her knowledge.

Even then, the wordings and the derogatory sentiment behind the posts led to many condemning the incident. Chairperson Rekha Sharma also took up this opportunity to call out Shrinate by stating that “NCW is appalled by the disgraceful conduct of Ms. Supriya Shrinate and Mr HS Ahir. Such behaviour is intolerable and goes against the dignity of women. (NCW chief) Rekha Sharma has sent a letter to ECI demanding immediate and strict against them. Let’s uphold respect and dignity for all women.”

The NCW had also approached the ECI against the statement and a show cause notice was also issued to Shrinate. While the action taken by the statutory authority was a welcome move, as no public figure should be allowed to use denigrating words against women, the outrage was also selective as the same authority had kept mum when such words had been uttered by Ranaut herself in the past, for instance, when Ranaut had called another Bollywood actress as a soft porn star. Even if one keeps the past instances of inaction on derogatory statements made against women aside, there was no other instance during the present Lok Sabha elections when the NCW took any action on anti-women statements. Only on May 16 did a BJP candidate for Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency, namely Abhijit Gangopadhyay, made a sexist statement against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a public rally. In his speech, Gangopadhyay said “‘Mamata Banerjee, how much are you being sold for? Your rate is 10 lakhs, why? Because you’re getting your make-up done by Keya Seth? Mamata Banerjee, is she even a woman? I keep wondering sometimes.”

No statement condemning the usage of said derogatory words by the BJP candidate against a much revered and sitting CM of a state was issued by the NCW. 

What remains of thee?

The ideology with which the NCW is working had come to the forefront when, in 2018, chairperson Rekha Sharma had, in response to a Thomson Reuters survey that had found India to be most dangerous country in the world for the women followed by Afghanistan and Syria, said about 30 per cent of rape cases examined by the NCW were found to be fake. She has also said that women make such complaints for claiming compensation or settling property disputes.

While one the past one year has been discussed in the current piece, one cannot deny that the NCW’s performance in the previous few years has been lacklustre. The conscious studied silence that the Commission has maintained on major cases of rape and sexual violence of women also illustrates a glaring failure on the part of the NCW in taking prompt action and ensuring justice.  One such example is of the heinous Hathras Rape case (2020), wherein the NCW had maintained a tight lip regarding the role that the Uttar Pradesh police had played in covering up the crime.

On September 14, a Dalit girl was reported to have been gang-raped and physically tortured by four dominant caste men in a village in Hathras district of western Uttar Pradesh. In a few days post the incident, the victim had succumbed to her injuries. The victim was cremated on the night at about 2:30 am on 29 September 2020 by Uttar Pradesh Police without the consent or knowledge of the victim’s family. The incident had caused a massive outrage across the country but it was much after the Uttar Pradesh Police had cremated the body of Hathras gang-rape victim and once all was done and dusted that the NCW had condemned the manner in which the victim was cremated. On October 1, the Commission had written to the DGP of Uttar Pradesh and even sought an explanation from the UP Police.

Even when the Kathua rape case (January 2018) and the Unnao rape case (June 2017) had taken place, the NCW had maintained a silence by stating that since the incidents involved minor girls, the NCW could not concern itself with it. Notably, the Kathua rape case involved the abduction, gang rape, and murder of an 8-year-old Muslim girl, namely Asifa Bano, by seven Hindu males, six men and a juvenile, in January 2018 in the Rasana village near Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, India. On the other hand, the infamous Unnao rape case refers to the brutal gangrape of a 17-year-old girl by Kuldeep Singh Senger, a former BJP leader, and four-time MLA from Bangermau in the Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh. His brother Atul Singh, relative Shashi Singh, 3 policemen and 4 other men including an Awdesh Tiwari and Brajesh Yadav, were also charged for the heinous crime that was committed on June 4, 2017.

In an ideal world, the selection of the chairperson and members would have been through a process that is transparent and democratic, reducing the chances of the ruling political parties from appointing those with ulterior motives.

It seems the current NCW neither has the will nor the capability to fight for women’s causes and is just acting as a political tool of the current ruling government. The growing distrust along with the pervasive unsafe environment for women paints a pitiful picture for women who aim to seek justice for the violence endured by them. The NCW had failed us on several historical occasions, some of which are highlighted above. How long will the statutory authority continue along the same path?

Related:

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The post National Commission for Women: An instrument of social justice or a mere political mouthpiece? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On December 13, during the ongoing winter parliamentary session, Ram Nath Thakur raised questions regarding the vacancies in the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) and its subordinate organizations. Thakur is the leader of Janata Dal and represents Bihar in the Rajya Sabha. These questions were presented to Smriti Irani, who is currently serving as the Minister of Women and Child Development as well as the Minister of Minority Affairs.

The details regarding the total number of vacancies and the vacancies that had been filled up in the Ministry of Women and Child Development were asked by Thakur, for which the following data tables were provided.

As per the tables provided above, it can be observed that under the Ministry (Main Secretariat) Groups A and B, their respective vacancies have been filled efficiently. Out of 14 vacant positions in Group A, 13 have been filled up. In group B, out of the 34 vacant positions, 33 have been filled up. On the other hand, Group C’s vacant positions have not been filled up adequately as out of the 46 vacant positions, only 6 have been filled up.

Apart from this, Thakur has also enquired about the details regarding the total number of vacancies for the SC, ST and OBC, and the seats that had been filled up by them in the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

As per the data attached above, it can be noted that the vacancies of the Ministry (Main Secretariat) have not been filled up for either of the three categories: SC, ST and OBC. In the case of NIPCCD (National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development), it can be observed that out of the 5 positions vacant for the SC community, 15 positions have been filled up. Out of the 3 positions vacant in case of ST, 2 have been filled up. Out of the 24 positions vacant belonging to OBCs, 12 positions have been filled up.

It is also essential to note here that as per the data, there have been no generation of vacancies in CARA (Central Adoption Resource Authority) and NCPCR (National Commission for Protection of Child Rights) for the marginalised communities. The response further provides that the posts of NCW (National Commission for Women) are filled on Foreign Deputation basis and hence reservation is not applicable for them.

The Ministry’s main secretariat displays a significant gap in filling Group C vacancies, indicating an urgent need for attention and recruitment in this segment. Furthermore, the data reflects mixed progress in filling vacancies for SC, ST, and OBC categories across subordinate organizations. While there can be seen a positive trend in filling positions in NIPCCD for the SC, ST, and OBC categories, certain government bodies like CARA and NCPCR show no vacancies reserved for the marginalised communities, signalling a different employment scenario. The absence of filled vacancies for SC, ST, and OBC categories in the Ministry’s main secretariat calls for scrutiny and necessary actions to ensure equitable representation. However, the unique staffing criteria for NCW positions on foreign deputation exempts them from reservation policies, portraying a distinct operational model.

The complete answer can be accessed here:

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The post No vacancies for SC/ST/OBC in CARA and NCPCR, reservation policies not applicable to NCW: WCD Ministry appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The incident took place on May 4, 2023, and involved women being paraded naked, sexually assaulted and gang-raped by a mob in Manipur. The video of this incident surfaced on social media on May 19. 

On July 20, it was reported that the NCW had been sent a complaint on the matter on June 12, but the complainants never received a response or an acknowledgement. As per media reports, the complaint had been filed by two Manipuri women and a Manipur tribal association headquartered abroad. Reportedly, the complainants had spoken to the survivors and then emailed NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma.

Notably, after the video of the heinous crime had gone viral and invited outrage from across the country, the NCW had tweeted stating that it is taking suo moto cognizance of the matter and that the DGP Manipur has been asked to promptly take appropriate action.

What did the letter entail?

The letter made an urgent appeal to the NCW to “urgently assess the disproportionate victimization of Kuki-Zomi indigenous tribal women through brutal and inhumane acts of sexual violence, including rape, kidnapping, public lynching, immolation and murder”. 

“Witness accounts reveal the most harrowing and distressing details, including the incrimination of Meitei women vigilantes as enablers and perpetrators of gender-based violence. Victims and survivors allege that Meitei women vigilantes have actively participated in the attacks and assaults on Kuki-Zomi women and children,” the complaint alleged.

“Several Kuki-Zomi women have been forced to flee for their lives during advanced stages of pregnancy or while recuperating from C-section surgeries. Some have given birth in ad hoc refugee camps…” it added.

Newslaundry reported that the complaint alleged that a 15-year-old girl had been kidnapped and a medical examination report “confirmed assault and rape”.

The complaint said these examples underlined the “serious gravity of gender-based violence, appalling levels of women’s’ rights violations, and continued threats to the physical safety and psychological well-being of Kuki-Zomi women”.

Response of the NCW to the reports

Defending the ‘inaction’ of the NCW, Rekha Sharma said that it had approached the Manipur government thrice after receiving the complaint on June 12.

“There were many complaints and that too from people outside India and outside Manipur,” NCW chief Rekha Sharma said. She further said: “Firstly, it had to be clarified whether whatever was written is true. Manipur government must clarify and if it is true then they must work on it. So, accordingly, we wrote to them. We reached out to authorities but no response was received from them but then we took suo moto cognizance when the video (of women being paraded naked) went viral.” 

The joint letter is as follows:

JOINT LETTER TO NCW BY NATIONAL WOMEN’S ORGANISATIONS

                                                                                                                                                                                            Date: 22 July 2023

To

Ms. Rekha Sharma,

Chairperson,

National Commission for Women

Dear Ms. Rekha Sharma,

We, the undersigned women’s organizations, are deeply shocked and appalled to learn that a complaint had been made to the NCW on 12 June 2023, regarding the heinous incident in Manipur of three women being publicly stripped and raped by a mob and that the NCW far from responding to the call of distress and taking immediate action, wrote letters to the Manipur government and kept waiting for a response. Hence, the NCW remained entirely inactive for more than a month. It is reported that there are other cases of sexual violence in Manipur. Only a couple of days back when a video clip of the brutal torture became public and there was widespread outrage all over the country, did the NCW wake from its sleep and take ‘suo moto cognizance’ of the crime. 

It is disturbing that no action was taken, except for the filing of a more a mere zero FIR in the incident that had happened on May 4, right after the ethnic violence began on 3 May 2023. This made the police apathy with the victims and collusion with the perpetrators of the crime abundantly clear. 

And the deafening silence of the CM and PM was highly condemnable. You are aware that the incidents of violence against women in the country have been on the rise. Did you not realize that women have become the direct victims of the ongoing ethnic violence in the state? 

We are strongly of the opinion that the NCW has betrayed its mandate and deliberately sought to cover up this incident. At the very least this is evidence of gross negligence on the part of a respected public institution like NCW which has the obligatory duty of protecting women in the country and upholding their rights irrespective of class, caste, religion, language, or ethnic origin. 

Our organizations have given leadership in the struggle to bring into existence a National Commission for Women which would maintain its autonomy and dignity in serving its high purpose and not act as an arm of the ruling party. We have often raised our voices to ensure that NCW does not falter from its lofty objective. NCW has a history of proactive interventions in the myriad issues concerning women. But under your stewardship, we have seen this institution degenerating into partisanship with the ruling dispensation. Your claims of having communicated to the officials in Manipur are too little too late.  Never have we seen the institution so shamefully undermining its own mandate. We feel the NCW – in deliberately ignoring and suppressing this atrocious attack upon two tribal women – has misused its office, besmirched its own position, and betrayed the trust the women’s movement in the country had reposed upon it. As chairperson of NCW, we hold you responsible for this shameful situation and we demand that you should forthwith submit your resignation from the post which you have proved yourself unworthy of.

ALL INDIA DEMOCRATIC WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION (AIDWA)–Mariam Dhawale 

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDIAN WOMEN (NFIW) – Annie Raja 

ALL INDIA PROGRESSIVE WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION (AIPWA) – Meena Tiwari 

ALL INDIA COORDINATION OF POW PMS IJM – G. Jhansi, Poonam Kaushik 

ALL INDIA MAHILA SANSKRITIK SANGHATAN (AIMSS) – Chhabi Mohanty 

ALL INDIA AGRAGAMI MAHILA SAMITI (AIAMS) – Fatima Khatoon 

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The post National women’s organisation sends joint letter to the NCW condemning their inaction over sexual violence complaint appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, UP’s Dasna Temple priest, has now defended his misogynistic and communal comments made in a video he uploaded on his social media accounts a few days ago. 

In that video, he had made deplorable statements like most prostitutes are Hindu women. He had said that they are the ones who fall in love with ‘Jihadi Musalman’ who approach them pretending to be plumbers and carpenters and then blackmail the women into taking up sex work using pictures of private moments.

National Commission for Women (NCW) Chairperson Rekha Sharma had taken action against this video. But, in an interview to Vishal News, Narsinghanand has now questioned Sharma’s action against him and defended his statements. He has also used extremely offensive language against Sharma.

In the interview, he says, “Ye Rekha Sharma kya ye gobar khakar paida hui hai.. Inme buddhi hai ya nahi hai?” (Translation: Was Rekha Sharma born after eating cow dung? Does she have any sense?) 

He then goes on to tell the interviewer to put these statements as is, (without editing). This shows the brazenness of this hate monger who wants to be seen insulting the NCW Chief publicly. Interestingly, he says he is fighting for women’s honour.

The video may be viewed here: 

This is what he has to say about Chairperson Rekha Sharma, National Commission for Women. He also says, ‘don’t cut the part, play this as it is’.
The confidence is because he know there will never be any action against him. pic.twitter.com/47pjIRcYaB

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) August 30, 2021

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The post Hate Watch: Now Yati Narsinghanand targets NCW Chief, brazenly justifies misogynistic comments appeared first on SabrangIndia.

When she was appointed the National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson in 2018, Rekha Sharma, was one in a long list of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers and politicians to bag important posts in such commissions. A little before her appointment Sharma was embroiled in a controversy after she recommended abolishing the religious “confessions” in churches. According to an NDTV report, Sharma believed that  as it can lead to blackmailing of women, after such a case came to light in Kerala. She was then a member of the Commission and held the additional charge of chairperson after Lalitha Kumaramangalam demitted office in September 2017.

Sharma who hails from Haryana had been appointed to the National Commission for Women (NCW) in August 2015, and before that was an active BJP politician, who had been awarded with the post of  district secretary and BJP media in-charge in Haryana. She was also a Member of the District Consumer & Redressal Forum in the Government of Haryana. The consistent party work paid off and she bagged the NCW appointment soon after the first Narendra Modi government took over.

However, after that first major controversy, that exposed her ‘working style’ to the public at large, the BJP-led union government had reportedly distanced itself over her proposal to “abolish confessions in churches”. Union minister Alphons Kannanthanam, had then said  that the Centre had “no connection with the stand taken by Sharma”. Sharma is now the NCW chairman, and as irony will have it, KJ Alphons is no longer a minister. 

While Sharma has never hidden her admiration bordering on devotion for the Prime Minister, and has claimed she has  worked ‘closely’ with Narendra Modi between 1996 and 1998 and that she had learnt a lot from him the PM has not publicly acknowledged that. 

A day ago, Sharma was in full form again, talking about the bogey of “love Jihad’ a communal term used by trolls who attack Hindu-Muslim couple, esecially where the male partner is a Muslim. Haryana, in fact has local, usually, all male community juries called ‘khap panchayat’ who often announce punishments for such couples. However the NCW is a body that is mandated to protect the rights of women in India, and that its chairperson even used this term, and shared it officially on social media needs to be investigated.

The fact that she ‘discussed’ it with BS Koshiyari, the governor of Maharashtra adds to the concerns raised by civil society. Sharma was on a three-day visit to Mumbai to review the implementation of schemes meant for women, but instead decided to discuss “the rise in love jihad” cases in Maharashtra with governor Koshyari. According to a news report in The Times of India, Sharma made “a distinction between consensual inter-faith marriages and love jihad, Sharma said the latter required attention. She, however, did not provide any data to show the rise in love jihad complaints in the state.” She then retweeted the NCW handles post about the meeting and said that they “discussed issues related to women safety in the state, including defunct onestop centres, molestation and rape of women patients at Covid care centres and the rise in love jihad cases”. 

Our Chairperson @sharmarekha met with Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari, His Excellency, Governor of Maharashtra & discussed issues related to #womensafety in the state including defunct One Stop Centres, molestation & rape of women patients at #COVID centres & rise in love jihad cases pic.twitter.com/JBiFT477IU

— NCW (@NCWIndia) October 20, 2020

One of the first to call her out was CPIML polit bureau member Kavita Krishnan who challenged her “How dare you remain in your chair as @NCWIndia chief & use a term that a) treats women as property of communities b) hates Muslims? You bring shame to NCW”

Hey @sharmarekha – what on earth is a “love jehad” case? Any case in which a Muslim man and Hindu woman are in love? How dare you remain in your chair as @NCWIndia chief & use a term that a) treats women as property of communities b) hates Muslims? You bring shame to NCW. https://t.co/MYmSSTPN59

— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) October 20, 2020

After NCW chief refused to take down her claims of a ‘rise in love jihad’ in Maharashtra, more social media users questioned her, corrected her and asked for facts. Soon many began showing her the past communal views she had proudly shared on social media. Rekha Sharma, quickly locked her profile and “protected” her tweets, and later claimed that some “unauthorised” tweets had been made from her account. “I have protected my tweets since last evening after receiving a message from Twitter that suspicious activity was detected on my account. My profile was also blocked… I have reached out to the platform to investigate some unauthorized tweets made from my account. The investigations are on and I hope some resolution can be found.”

https://twitter.com/sharmarekha/status/1318797126285996033

However the ‘tweets’ that have rattled her are from as far back as 2013, where she aired communal, and patriarchal opinions, trolled Sonia Gandhi, and added fuel to the general divisive trolling online, and unexpectedly even made some tweets against the PM who she claimed to be close to.

This too pic.twitter.com/aEfDcRtPwI

— Haroon (@Haroon64706806) October 20, 2020

These tweets are now deleted by Rekha Sharma. pic.twitter.com/fNNLMbSVbN

— Dr Nimo Shastri ? (@niiravmodi) October 20, 2020

However no one seems to be buying her claims of ‘unauthorised tweets’ etc and have called for her sacking as NCW chief. Interestingly hundreds of offensive tweets have also been deleted from her account overnight. Apart from deleting her old tweets faster than she posted them, Sharma also claimed she did not use Twitter before 2012. However, she has been on the platform since 2009. The NCW chief has now protected her Twitter handle, even though screenshots of her tweets are doing rounds on social media. 

Good morning. While you all were deep asleep, Someone had to be awake the whole night to delete 350+ old and controversial tweets. pic.twitter.com/ceyFEWFXim

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) October 21, 2020

We are aware of bomb-making women sadhu MPs, but it is shocking to see that even RSS Women see rape as a legitimate political weapon. #sackrekhasharma pic.twitter.com/ixr4q8fow1

— Contractor Non Sense ?? (@NonSens88454133) October 20, 2020

However that has just added to the demands that she be sacked from her current post.

Seriously? Please sack your gem @PMOIndia A women’s body chief asking for women to be raped https://t.co/hgNnw9bLC4

— Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) October 20, 2020

How on earth can women in this country ever be safe when such selective,agenda driven woman is leading such commission?? Disgusting n disgraceful to say the least ?? #SackRekhaSharma #SackRekhaSharma #रेखा_शर्मा_इस्तीफा_दो pic.twitter.com/6Ir0RKwxDK

— Urmila Matondkar (@UrmilaMatondkar) October 21, 2020

Some have begun pointed out that it was her social media activity that got her the top job in the first place:

Modi made such a women as Chairperson of @NCWIndia. And we expect this lady to protect women’s rights!!

#SackRekhaSharma pic.twitter.com/3eIKI8AglG

— Naveen (@naveelaw) October 21, 2020

There is much debate about how a sexist woman with vile views like @sharmarekha be head of NCW. But knowing @narendramodi & @BJP4India that’s precisely the reason for her meteoric rise! The more hatred you spew the more you thrive in that ecosystem. Shameful. #SackRekhaSharma

— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) October 21, 2020

Her conduct both now and in the past only prove that @sharmarekha does not deserve to be heading the @NCWIndia. It is incredible she was appointed in the first place. India’s women deserve better, beginning with an overhaul of this organisation and its mandate

— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) October 21, 2020

This #SackRekhaSharma trend is deplorable. Sharma was probably trying her hardest to obtain a sarkaari job. Which one of us hsn’t buttered up a potential employer?

Please help her: post all screenshots of tweets she can delete at leisure behind the cloak of a protected account. pic.twitter.com/maoOFr05YC

— Santhosh D’Souza (@santhoshd) October 21, 2020

#SackRekhaSharma. National Commission For Women, can not be anti-feminist.
Feminists raise their voice for gender equality, equal opportunities & for empowerment of all women. pic.twitter.com/bmu7irGjSd

— Nirjhari Sinha (@NirjhariSinha) October 21, 2020

While Sharma has not denied the offensive tweets were made from her account. Her most recent tweets before her ‘love jihad’ claim, have just been regular, including live tweeting the Prime Minister’s recent Covid related address to the nation. Nevertheless she has locked her profile, and by some strange coincidence the NCW website too seems to have crashed. Perhaps citizens were thronging it to officially lodge a complaint against its own chairperson.

The post BJP karyakarta, Modi devotee, anti-’love jihad’ proponent, anti-feminist: Who is the real Rekha Sharma? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A team of seven members from the National Commission for Women (NCW) met the girls of the Shree Sahajanand Girls Institute (SSGI) in Bhuj, Gujarat, who were allegedly forced by the hostel authorities to strip to prove that they were menstruating, The Indian Express reported.

The police have also formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) including women personnel, inspectors and sub-inspectors to probe the reported incident at the college which is run by a trust of the Swaminarayan Temple. Statements of the students, apart from hostel staff members and other people who knew about the incident have been recorded by the police.

The members of the NCW who met more than 40 girls said that they were shocked to find out that a register was being maintained at the hostel to keep track of their dates of menstruation on which they were holed up in a room for three days and made to eat and sleep separately.

NCW member Rajul Desai said, “An educational institution works for social transformation. This transformation requires a change in our dogmatic tradition. But if such an incident takes place in 21st century, then this is definitely a matter of shame and disgrace.” She added, “We will get to know about the whole thing only after proper investigation. But we were shocked to find that a majority of girls agreed to this practice being followed in the name of religion.”

Expressing shock over the statements of the girls who said they were okay with the practice followed by the institution she said, “The response of the girls was shocking. While we talk about right to education, and while the commission is working to bring about legal awareness among women, the girls here said they consented to the rules framed by the hostel authorities regarding how they should eat and sleep during days of menstruation. We object to this,” adding that the NCW would also investigate if the girls were giving out such statements under pressure.

Desai also told reporters that the team would talk to the girls who weren’t present at the meeting today, citing that the incident was one about a “good and bad impact on society”. She asserted, “Should women in an educational institution be asked to follow such rules that put to question their right to dignity? No educational institute can force such a rule on girl students. Even if the institution is associated with religion, it cannot compel girls to follow such rules.”

While saying that the NCW team would probe the matter over the next two days, she said it also sought to find out if the college has an internal anti-sexual harassment committee with well-trained members.

Last Tuesday, over 60 girls at the institution were made to remove their undergarments by a woman staffer to check if they were menstruating. Four people – the Principal, hostel coordinator, hostel supervisor and a peon, have been booked in the incident.

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The post Can’t have rules violating students’ dignity: NCW appeared first on SabrangIndia.