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AIDWA Writes to Parliamentary Panel, Seeks More Time for Views on Personal Law Reforms

Sat, 05 Nov 2022 10:57:05 +0000

File Photo.

New Delhi: The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) has written to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law & Justice about reforms in personal laws.

The organisation, which has actively dealt with issues of personal laws for the last 40 years, noted its surprise about the Committee’s decision to ask for memoranda concerning the entire gamut of personal law within a short period of 21 days.

“This gives the impression that the entire exercise of asking for memoranda is not a serious attempt to get the opinions of various organisations and people working on the issue, but is just a formality. If it were serious in eliciting views and in getting Memoranda, the Committee would have allotted far more time for this purpose. It is unacceptable and absurd that suggestions for such wide-ranging reforms can be given in three weeks,” the letter noted.

In its memorandum, AIDWA unequivocally opposed a Unifrom Civil Code (UCC), stating that it cannot be equated to equality.

“The 21st Law Commission to whom the Modi Government had referred the question of the UCC, had clearly stated that “a Uniform Civil Code is neither necessary nor desirable.” It further recommended reform in different personal laws and tolerance of plurality and differences in the different personal laws. AIDWA advocates reform in different personal laws in consultation with the concerned community, particularly with the women of the community.”

Furthermore, the women’s rights organisation called some of the aspects identified for review “vague.” The Committee has said it is thinking about reforming personal laws, but it hasn’t delineated the areas which would be subjected to reform.

“This can only mean codifying Muslim personal law and perhaps laws which come under the Sixth Schedule, pertaining to the tribal areas.”

AIDWA said that mere codification does not give equal rights to women, adding that it could only be after extensive discussions with the communities involved.

“We have seen how Muslims have been targeted for exercising their choice to wear a Hijab and how this has affected their fundamental right to education. Also, the Central government, without protecting the rights of divorced Muslim women, initiated the law to put Muslim men in jail with an obvious communal intent for a practice that the Supreme Court had already declared null and void. Muslim youth who have been in consensual relationships have been targeted and jailed in several fictitious cases of ‘Love Jihad’.”

In these circumstances, we are fearful that on the pretext of reviewing of personal law, the effort may be to bring in uniform laws, which will be majoritarian laws, and not laws that give substantive equal rights to women. Uniformity of law by itself will not result in substantive equal rights for women, and in fact, will probably result in duplicating Hindu laws and their gender biases on all communities,” AIDWA said it its memorandum.

Furthermore, AIDWA wrote that nothing had been done to ensure equal rights for women over marital property. Additionally, as per AIDWA, Hindus and other women do not have equal land rights in agricultural property in a few such, such as Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

“Though the Hindu Succession Act was amended in 2005 to remove an exception which exempted agricultural land from the purview of the HSA, the inheritance to agricultural land continues to be governed by some state laws which actively stop women from this inheritance. In fact, these laws have been placed in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution with the intention of keeping them outside the purview of courts.”

The organisation also discussed anti-conversion laws, child marriage, etc.

“We request the Committee to make its position UCC clear so that we are assured that the present exercise is not a step towards bringing about a Uniform Civil Code. We, therefore, urge the Committee not to embark on this mammoth task in such a short period and withdraw the three weeks deadlines. We also urge the Committee to have hearings in centres throughout the country as has been done in the past on women-related Laws.”

AIDWA Memorandum on Reforms in Personal Laws.pdf

Courtesy: Newsclick

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How Italy ignored the sexual harassment debate taking place around the world

Thu, 16 Nov 2017 06:59:58 +0000

Instead of opening a conversation about workplace sexual harassment, the Italian debate has focused on shaming those who come forward.

As the Harvey Weinstein scandal continues to erupt, there’s been an outpouring of allegations against powerful men, accused of committing similar abuses during their careers.

The media, politics, the tech industry, and the art world are all having their own Weinstein-inspired moments of reckoning, although it’s too early to say if there will be a sea change in behaviour.

Experiences shared via the #metoo hashtag on social media have shown how widespread this kind of abuse of power is; women around the world face sexual harassment at work everyday.

‘women around the world face sexual harassment at work everyday’

In Italy, however, media coverage of the Weinstein scandal has been predictably outrageous, focusing on actress Asia Argento’s behaviour. Instead of focusing on abuse, and how to end it, we have been victim-blaming.

There has been no “Weinstein effect” here, and discussions around sexual harassment at work remain largely taboo. Of course that’s not to say Italy doesn’t have a sexual harassment problem; we do.

The only research on this topic is from 2008-2009, when the Italian National Statistics Institute (ISTAT) revealed that over one million women in Italy have been harassed or ‘sexually blackmailed’ at work.

This number is huge, but the true figure is likely even larger. The ISTAT study said almost 99% of victims do not report such abuse to the police. Women stay silent for many reasons: concerned over proof, shame, fear of being treated badly, or not believed at all.

An artist’s effigy of Harvey Weinstein. Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire/PA Images. All rights reserved.In 2015, an Italian journalist published a book entitled Toglimi le mani di dosso (“Get your hands off of me”) about her experience of sexual harassment in a national newsroom. She used a pseudonym, Olga Ricci, and anonymised the newspaper and identifying details.

In the book she described how her editor-in-chief promised her a contract, then began making advances, inviting her to dinner, before more explicit requests to spend the night in a hotel room with him, and finally blackmailing her. In the end, she lost her job.

Harassment and ricatto sessuale (‘sexual blackmail’ – when a man takes advantage of a position of power over women who want to start or progress in their career, or are fearful of being fired) is “pervasive in Italian media”, Ricci told me.

After her book was published, she received messages from other female journalists who tried to guess the identity of her harasser, suggesting editors and publishers who had behaved in similar ways.

These stories have yet to come out.

#Metoo protests continue in the wake of the Weinstein scandal. Photo: NurPhoto/SIPA USA/PA Images. All rights reserved.The lack of debate on workplace sexual harassment in Italy also means there’s a lack of awareness of what it is.

Ricci herself did not immediately realise what was happening to her. “I thought that my boss’s behaviours were normal,” she said. “He treated lots of women in the same way in the newsroom.”

She explained that harassment can be difficult to prove, as there may not be witnesses. Such behaviour may also be minimised by other women.

“We learn it as children. It is unimaginable, according to ‘common sense’, to consider a dinner invitation, a compliment, a shoulder massage, or a hand on a hip as harassment. Even sexual jokes are considered normal. And if you point out [these acts] to your colleagues…they will call you tragic or a bigot.”
“Sexual jokes are considered normal. And if you point out [these acts] to your colleagues… they will call you tragic or a bigot”

For her, awareness of this issue came only after she left Italy to study. She told me: “Now, I use the word ‘violence’ to describe what happened to me. Too many women still do not use it, because they do not know they can.”

“I still receive messages from women who say that after reading the book they finally are able to give a name to what they have been through,” she added.

Italian ‘showgirl’ Miriana Trevisan is one of the very few women on Italian TV who disclosed her own experiences of workplace sexual harassment in the wake of the Weinstein scandal.

Earlier this month, Trevisan said she had been in Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore’s office about 20 years ago, and that he “put me against the wall and started to kiss my neck and my ears, and touched my breast aggressively.”

“He may not recall it, but I do,” she said. Tornatore has denied the allegations and announced legal actions, while Trevisan has been engulfed in a flurry of piublic criticism.

She also described a case of sexual assault by an unnamed TV personality. “His approach was sneaky. At first he flattered me – which made me think I had an opportunity. Then the conversation became sexual,” Trevisan told me.

At this point, she remembers feeling confused, asking herself: “Did I do something he misunderstood? Am I dressed too sexily? Am I overreacting?”

Then, “he said I had to be nice to him, because we could only talk about work if we were close. Then he tried to kiss me, but I said no.”

Leaving his room, she met his assistant: “She gave me a quick look and said: ‘You still have your lipstick on, I think we will never see you again.’”

“Did I do something he misunderstood? Am I dressed too sexily? Am I overreacting?”

“I was not able to give a name to the discomfort I felt. I almost convinced myself that it was the way it worked. I felt that everyone around me was addicted to these behaviours,” said Trevisan.

But after Asia Argento came forward, with her allegations against Weinstein, “all the pain resurfaced, together with the anger” that she had previously repressed.

“I think there’s a problem in our media. Newspapers and TV are showing no courage in talking about the implications of Weinstein case,” Trevisan said.

“They talked a lot about Asia Argento and said almost nothing about ‘our Weinsteins’. We have them, and everybody knows it.”

Recently, a few actresses – some of them anonymously – have recounted experiences of sexual harassment on the Italian TV show Le Iene; though most of their abusers have not been named.

Harsh treatment endured by Argento is a clear example of why women may feel forced to choose between staying silent about abuse or being blamed – and if they talk after many years, they may be blamed for having waited too long.

“Public opinion is uneducated, sexist and fierce,” said Ricci. “Those commentators [who attacked Argento] will never change their point of view if the debate in the media doesn’t offer them new ones.”

“When a boss invites you to dinner, talks to you about his private life or his problems, says how beautiful or attractive you are, when he kisses you, hugs you, touches you, he is abusing his power,” she insists.

And this is the whole point: sexual harassment is not about sex. It’s about power. If we want women in Italy to speak up, Italian public opinion needs to understand this first. Our reaction to the Weinstein scandal has shown the dire need for cultural change.

Claudia Torrisi is an Italian freelance journalist focused on social issues such as migration and civil rights. In 2015 she was a finalist for the Roberto Morrione Award for investigative journalism with a video report on the application of the law on abortion in hospitals in Rome. She is part of Chayn Italy, an open-source project that uses technology to empower women against violence. Claudia writes monthly features for openDemocracy 50.50. Follow her on Twitter: @clatorrisi.

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The patriarchs of the CPI(M) continue to undermine women’s rights in Kerala

Tue, 14 Nov 2017 06:31:22 +0000

After the atrocious indifference and trivialisation of domestic violence displayed by the sneering alpha-male brigade of the CPM during the discussion of the Hadiya Case, nothing surprises me. However, it appears important to point out how such callousness is indeed becoming normalised here alarmingly. It seems that the gains of women’s movement which made violence against women at home something beyond an intimate private affair, a ‘family quarrel’, are being steadily depleted. Of course, we did see how so many smooth-talking liberal CPM-oriented or purportedly-rationalist young male intellectuals went ballistic at the mere suggestion that they are blind to the domestic violence in Hadiya’s imprisonment. Also intriguing was their persistent defense of the father’s right to keep an adult, mentally fit, educated daughter immobile and imprisoned because he feared for her safety.

Image Courtesy: Manoj Thalayambalath / Mathrubhumi

But now an even more atrocious incident has been reported. Here is the link.

This is about the illegal arrest and detention of a woman who tried to leave her home seeking domestic labour to escape her alcoholic and abusive husband. Twenty-eight-year-old Nisha left her two young sons at her husband’s home unable to bear his violence, seeking work in Aluva first and then accepting work at Chennai. On Nov 3, the husband, Ramesh, reported her missing to the police. The police apparently tracked her using her mobile number,arrested her from the railway station, and slapped a case on her using the Juvenile Justice Act. She was produced in court last Saturday and remanded to custody.

It seems to me that the Kerala police are happily advancing the assault on women facing domestic violence already underway in the Hadiya case. If the CPM alpha male intellectuals were keen to uphold the father’s rights, the police are enthusiastic to uphold the rights of the abusive husband. In both cases, the woman is imprisoned with her words treated with utter disregard.

I want to ask all the senior and respected women IPS officers in Kerala — B Sandhya, R Sreelekha, and others — is this the culture of your force? Are they bound by oath to the Indian Constitution and the laws of democratic society, or are they minions of petty patriarchs? Is a legislation like the Juvenile Justice Act meant to be used against women trying to survive in the face of domestic abuse? Does the father have no responsibility at all in the care of young children? There is widespread concern that the Kerala police has acted nearly like the arm of Hindutva forces in the ‘protection’ they are offering Hadiya in her home, colluding with her father to expose her to Hindutva agents. In this case too they are acting on the bidding of the father, against the mother who tried to escape his violence. So are we back to a brutal patriarchy in which fathers/husbands have no obligations to care for and foster their daughters/wives and respect their equal rights, but may exercise brutal control over them and subject them to violence with the complicity of the law? What does that imply for you, respected women IPS officers? It is clear that for all the ‘gender sensitisation’ programmes that the Kerala police may have undertaken, they still feel nothing for a woman struggling against domestic violence; they know nothing of the everyday trauma she goes through.

Please stop boasting about the Janamaitri community policing from now at least. My maitri to janam is limited to whatever a social science researcher can acquire during fieldwork, but I have seen how the Juvenile Justice Act is often used against impoverished women in the poorest localities of Thiruvananthapuram, often by hostile relatives. But even in cases in which mothers have indeed been violent to their children, I have wondered, seeing them helpless and despondent in custody: how come it is the poorest, socially the most disadvantaged women, themselves subject to horrid violence on a daily basis often by their husbands and juggling many kinds of work to keep the hearth warm, who get punished, and not, say, middle-class school teachers who have no qualms about subjecting children to the most humiliating violence?

Indeed, the police’s mechanical use of the Juvenile Justice Act in this case is parallel to the Women’s Commission Chairperson M C Josephine’s mechanical implementation of the Kerala State Women’s Commission’s powers in the Hadiya case. In both, apparent faithfulness to the letter is actually a cover for violating the democratising spirit of the law; indeed in both, these instruments are used against women who need help, not for them.

But even more appalling is the language used by the reporter. Indeed, shame on you all, editors of the Mathrubhumi! Is this your level of education really? Your reporter clearly hasn’t even heard of the term ‘domestic violence’ and so uses the regressive and apolitical term ‘family quarrel’ which hides the power equations so well! Your reporter does not know anything about how laws ostensibly to protect women and children could well be used against them! The whole tone of the report casts the woman as somehow trying to abscond after committing a crime and ‘getting caught’ by the police. This points to the deep erosion of democratisation of public language in Kerala — terms like ‘domestic violence’ were not born in the language by themselves, they were hard-fought-for by the women’s movement. To erase them thus shows how low journalism has fallen in Kerala.

I believe that this is actually part of a much larger process of the destruction of the language and convictions build into public life by feminists in Kerala. The honeymoon, persisting from the mid 1990s, is over. Today, the CPM-acolyte-cum-journalist-led gaslighting especially on Facebook, (led by some of their female supporters, actually) needs careful analysis, which I hope to do someday. It is important to call their tactics just that — gaslighting — which is a powerful form of emotional abuse.

Their primary tactic was to divide subtly – establish that sexual violence in the actress attack case involving the actor Dileep was somehow more vital and demanding punitive state action, in comparison with the domestic violence in Hadiya’s imprisonment. As in effective gaslighting, this was done carefully, with the women among them taking the lead, and claiming to be fair and concerned about domestic violence even while arguing that it was something that could be easily resolved through ‘care for the family’. Outright lies and misrepresentation of the history of the Hadiya case were spread repeatedly and determinedly in precisely the way effective gaslighters operate, combined with trivialisation and meme-making trolling tactics of others who tried to present more empirically-rigorous versions of the event. The effort to make the latter feel that they were against social freedom was forceful. Then, on Facebook, with the MeToo campaign sweeping in, domestic violence disappeared deep in the horizon, so did the prospect of dealing with sexual violence at work as an institutionally-resolvable harassment-at-workplace issue. With the feminist response to sexual harassment reduced to essentially list-making, generating outrage seems to be synonymous with the delivery of justice, and ironically enough, the potential for sensationalising sexual harassment seems to have multiplied manifold.

Therefore the sleazy solar scam report seems to be generating heavy-duty outrage among the CPM-leaning acolytes, and Saritha Nair’s woes seem to attract sympathy and admiration among them. Indeed there is every reason for us to think of building due process in a way that would make it possible for us to take Saritha Nair’s complaints as sexual harassment at workplace, given that it happened while she was at work. Not that I sympathise with her, nor is she a naive victim. But if she seeks justice, then it should be through pursuing her complaints as harassment at workplace, and not through lending her talents to the sensationalising, outrage-building industry. In the present however, the former may not be even possible, though, since the CPM seems to be waiting to squeeze out the juiciest from the massive outrage-cum-titillation potential.

Destroying the gains of feminist struggles in Kerala by trivialising and belittling democratising ideas and language for short-term gains (for example, to beat down Islamicists) will inevitably boomerang on all of us one day. One bright young progressivist activist, prominent on Facebook, asked me privately why ‘my standards’ are falling. He could not produce any concrete evidence for a fall in the empirical and logical strength of my arguments. My concern with the disparaging of domestic violence by his ilk, my refusal to sympathise with their inability to stomach the fact that many of them may indeed have participated in different degrees in partner-abuse, was what he perceived as a ‘fall in standards’.

This young man ought to take a look at the standards his peers are pushing in people’s faces before judging me. He ought to wonder why it is so acceptable to protest sexual violence while domestic violence seems to have become incomprehensible to the judiciary, the police, and smart and mobile young men like him. Why those who were enthusiastic about Metoo were outraged by the farthest suggestion of a domestic abuser list.

And therefore, I prefer to write about the lone struggle of a woman trying to escape of a violent alcoholic husband, and how the LDF government’s police is viciously destroying her life. The gaslighting has still not worked on me despite all the vicious memes; the epithets of ‘Sudapini’ (which I think is Basheerian-cute), and ‘cheergirl’ have not bothered me. I have still not lost the ability to critique Islamicism, and more importantly, am still able to see that you are gaslighters, not intellectuals.

Courtesy: Kafila.online

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How media sexism demeans women and fuels abuse by men like Weinstein

Mon, 23 Oct 2017 05:57:52 +0000

The sexual abuse scandal currently embroiling media mogul Harvey Weinstein has stunned the United States, with Hollywood and the fashion industry declaring that “this way of treating women ends now.”

Advertising continues to portray women as charming keepers of the home, making it harder to succeed at work. Andrea44/flickr, CC BY-SA

As an Argentinean woman who studies gender in the media, I find it hard to be surprised by Weinstein’s misdeeds. Machismo remains deeply ingrained in Latin American society, yes, but even female political leaders in supposedly gender-equal paradises like Holland and Sweden have told me that they are criticized more in the press and held to a higher standard than their male counterparts.

How could they not be? Across the world, the film and TV industry – Weinstein’s domain – continues to foist outdated gender roles upon viewers.

Women’s work

Television commercials are particularly guilty, frequently casting women in subservient domestic roles.

Take this 2015 ad for the Argentine cleaning product Cif, which is still running today. It explains how its concentrated cleaning capsules “made Sleeping Beauty shine.”

The prince could help clean up, but why bother when women can do it all?

In it, a princess eager to receive her prince remembers that – gasp – the floors in her castle tower are a total mess. Thanks to Cif’s magic scouring fluid, she has time not only to clean but also to get dolled up for the prince – who, in case you were wondering, has no physical challenges preventing him from helping her tidy up.

But why should he, when it’s a woman’s job to be both housekeeper and pretty princess?

Somewhat paradoxically, advertisements may also cast men as domestic superheroes. Often, characters like Mr. Muscle will mansplain to women about the best product and how to use it – though they don’t actually do any cleaning themselves.

Mansplaining domestic chores.

More recently, there’s been a shift – perhaps an awkward attempt at political correctness – in which women are still the masters of the home, but their partners are shown “helping out” with the chores. In exchange, the men earn sex object status.

Thanks for ‘helping out,’ hubby.

We’ve come a little way, baby

Various studies on gender stereotypes in commercials indicate that although the advertising industry is slowly changing for the better, marketing continues to target specific products to certain customers based on traditional gender roles.

Women are pitched hygiene and cleaning products, whereas men get ads for banks, credit cards, housing, cars and other significant financial investments.

This year, U.N. Women teamed up with Unilever and other industry leaders like Facebook, Google, Mars and Microsoft to launch the Unstereotype Alliance. The aim of this global campaign is to end stereotypical and sexist portrayals of gender in advertising.

As part of the #Unstereotype campaign, Unilever also undertook research on gender in advertising. It found that only 3 percent of advertising shows women as leaders and just 2 percent conveys them as intelligent. In ads, women come off as interesting people just 1 percent of the time.

Britain paves a path

Even before it was forced to reckon with allegations that Harvey Weinstein had also harassed women in London, the United Kingdom was making political progress on the issue of women’s portrayal in the media.

In July, the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority announced that the U.K. will soon prohibit commercials that promote gender stereotypes.

“While advertising is only one of many factors that contribute to unequal gender outcomes,” its press release stated, “tougher advertising standards can play an important role in tackling inequalities and improving outcomes for individuals, the economy and society as a whole.”

As of 2018, the agency says, advertisements in which women are shown as solely responsible for household cleaning or men appear useless around kitchen appliances and unable to handle taking care of their children and dependents will not pass muster in the U.K. Commercials that differentiate between girls’ and boys’ toys based on gender stereotypes will be banned as well.

Sticky floors

The U.K.‘s move is a heartening public recognition that gender stereotypes in the media both reflect and further the very real inequalities women face at home and at work.

Worldwide, the International Labor Organization reports, women still bear the burden of household chores and caretaking responsibilities, which often either excludes them from pay work or leaves them relegated to ill-paid part-time jobs.

In the U.K., men spend on average 16 hours per week on domestic tasks, while women spend 26. The European Union average is worse, with women dedicating an average of 26 weekly hours to men’s nine hours on caretaking and household tasks.

In Argentina, my home country, fully 40 percent of men report doing no household work at all, even if they’re unemployed. Among those who do pitch in, it’s 24 hours a week on caretaking and domestic chores for men. Argentinean women put in 45 hours.

You can do the math: On average, Argentinean women use up two days of their week and some 100 days annually – nearly one-third of their year – on unpaid household labor.

Real-world consequences

These inequalities, combined with advertising that reinforces them, generate what’s called the “sticky floors” problem. Women – whether would-be investment bankers or, I dare say, aspiring Hollywood stars – don’t just face glass ceilings to advancement, they also are also “stuck” to domestic life by endless chores.

The cultural powers that be produce content that represents private spaces as “naturally” imbued with female qualities, gluing women to traditional caregiving roles.

This hampers their professional development and helps keep them at the bottom of the economy pyramid because women must pull off a balancing act between their jobs inside and outside of the domestic sphere. And they must excel at both, all while competing against male colleagues who likely confront no such challenges.

Former U.S. president Barack Obama once pointed out this double standard in homage to his then-competitor Hillary Clinton. She, he reminded an audience in 2008, “was doing everything I was doing, but just like Ginger Rogers, it was backwards in heels.”

The sticky floor problem puts women in a position to be exploited by men like Weinstein, who tout their ability to help female aspirants to get unstuck. Until society – and, with it, the media we create – comprehend that neither professional success nor domesticity has a gender, these pernicious powerful dynamics will endure.

Virginia García Beaudoux, Professor of Political Communication and Public Opinion, University of Buenos Aires

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

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What India Needs is More Gender Just Laws, Including Personal Laws, for Its Women

Wed, 23 Aug 2017 06:44:59 +0000

First Published on: June 12, 2017

Leveraging Our Laws: A Comparative Account and Conscious Effort to Strengthen Various Personal Laws in India

India – a kaleidoscope of cultures, has always been immensely diverse in thought as well as in action. People of different religions reside in India in harmony as also in disharmony. Some are the original inhabitants such as the Hindus; some, who sought refuge such as the Parsis and Jews; others, the foreign rulers such as the Muslims and Christians. Nonetheless, they all continue to thrive together as rightful citizens of India.

In secular India, all citizens are governed by uniform criminal and contractual laws. However, their family laws are different. Each community has its own personal law governing marriage, divorce, adoption, custody, inheritance and more. Which community a person belongs to, is generally decided by his/her birth or conversion. Thus, Hindus are governed by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955; Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956; Hindu Succession Act, 1956. The Parsi community is governed by Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936. The Muslims follow the uncodified Shariah Law, the Shariah Application Act, 1937, Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Divorce Act, 1986. The Christians are governed by Indian Christian Marriages Act, 1872, Divorce Act, 1869. This multiplicity of laws does to a large extent uphold and honour the fundamental right of citizens to practice and profess their religion but at the same time, it also causes inconvenience and upheaval in the delivery of justice. Thus, we aren’t left with much of a choice. Either we choose our religious preferences or simply follow the egalitarian secular laws on matrimonial issues, namely the Special Marriage Act, 1954.

Not recently, but ever since A44 has been a part of the Constitution of India, deliberations have taken place to decide the possibility of implementing a Uniform Civil Code in India. The current stir relating to the feasibility and applicability of the UCC (as popularly abbreviated) seems unnecessary to me. The need of the hour is to strengthen the currently prevailing laws, to rid the existing laws of the sting of discrimination and not to enforce homogeneity on the heterogenous Indian diaspora.

The prime factors driving this debate are – a secular republic needs a common law for all citizens rather than differentiated rules based on religious practices and gender justice – against discrimination of women. In my opinion, both these factors are flimsy and unconvincing. It is important to highlight the fact that personal laws of all communities in India, not just one, are discriminatory in one way or another. This is due to the inherent structure of patriarchy which exists in our society. In fact, this structure pervades all others and has its clutches shackling Indian society since times immemorial. The power dynamics in this country are so skewed that the enforcement of a uniform civil code will do only little to alleviate the anomaly. The underlying principle should be that constitutional law should supersede religious law in a secular republic. However, many practices governed by religious traditions are at odds with the fundamental rights guaranteed in the Indian Constitution. The remedy to this would be to identify the vitiating factors in each community’s personal laws, amend and align them with the Constitutional principles.

Often, when we talk of archaic personal laws, the first thing that comes to mind is the matter of ‘Triple Talaq’ and the discriminatory Muslim personal laws. Well, there’s much more to it than that. Let us take a holistic look at the personal laws of the religious communities in India and explore areas for improvement,without politicising issues, to bring about a fair and just judicial system for every citizen of India.

To begin with the Christian community in India, which is governed by Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872 and Divorce Act, 1869. Matters relating to succession are governed by the Indian Succession Act, 1925. The laws for dissolution of marriage under Indian Divorce Act, 1869 severely discriminate against women. S.10 of the Divorce Act, 1869 provides for dissolution by husband on the ground of adultery by wife only. On the other hand, a wife can seek divorce on the grounds of conversion of husband to another religion and marriage with another woman; or incestuous adultery, or bigamy with adultery, or marriage with another woman with adultery, or rape, sodomy or bestiality, or of adultery coupled with desertion, without reasonable excuse, for two years or upwards.

Thus, for a Christian man to seek divorce, one fault ground is enough whereas a Christian woman has to prove multiple fault grounds. This provision forces a Christian woman to live in a marriage which is painful, unhappy, devastated, broken – as has also been laid down in the case of Ammim v. Union of India. In this case, the Kerala High Court said that this provision violates Article 21 and 14 of the Constitution of India. A bigger problem is the tussle between the Roman Catholic Church in India and the Formal Courts, it is to be noted that marriages annulled in the ecclesiastical courts/ churches are not valid in the eyes of law in India. At the same time, a marriage dissolved by a decree of court is not accepted by the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, Christians seeking to dissolve/ annul their marriage must seek a decree of Nullity from the Church as well as the Court of law. The Indian Divorce Act, 1869 states that after a decree of divorce has been provided by the District Court, a special bench of the High Court must confirm the divorce, this provision makes the process of seeking divorce lengthy, tiresome, tedious and increases matters before courts, thus burdening them further. Several efforts have been made by Christian Groups to identify, alter and amend these shortcomings in the law. Their efforts have paid off with the recommendationsof 164^thLaw Commission of India Report in 1998. Thus, came into force, the Indian Divorce (Amendment) Act, 2001, which to a large extent has cured the law of the anomalies. Thus, a conscious effort to create awareness within the religious community, logically persuade everyone to arrive at a consensus and drive a social change is the way to go to strengthen our laws.

Next, we must discuss the restrictive laws of the Parsi community. Neither Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936 nor the Amendment Act, 1988 provide for adoption of children. The community does not recognise adoption as a means of child bearing. This is a very inequitable practice, both for the parents and the child. Every couple must have the right to bear a child. If biologically this is not possible, the couple must have the option to adopt a child.Further, the Act provides for the establishment of Parsi Matrimonial Courts with an appellate jurisdiction to the High Court. With an already established, secular redressal system in place, the provision for special Parsi Marriage Matrimonial Court, is unnecessary and defeats the purpose of the formal courts of law. Besides these flaws, there are also progressive provisions in the Act such as, on dissolution of marriage, either spouse can claim maintenance from the other, both pendentelite and permanent. The custody of children upon dissolution of marriage can be given to either of the spouses or any 3^rd party keeping in mind the best interest of the child. Either parent can be the guardian of the child without restriction, unlike the practice in Muslim Law. Finally, the event of conversion to another religion by one of the parties to the marriage, does not make the marriage null and void, unlike the practice in Hindu Law.

Speaking of Hindu Law, it is imperative to put the spotlight on the anomalies in the law governing the majority of the population in India. Besides the Hindus, the Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists, all fall within the ambit of this law. To begin with, the practice of marriage which is a sacrament under this law is grounded on the derogatory belief and practice of “Kanyadan”, a bride is considered as the property of her father which is donated to the groom upon marriage. The concept of Restitution of Conjugal Rights as practiced by the colonial powers was first introduced to Indian society by Hindu law and is still a part of it. This practice is considered to be in violation of A21 of the Constitution of India as it forces sexual cohabitation on spouses not desiring to live together. In T. Sareeta v. Venkatasubaiah, this provision was stated as unconstitutional. Such archaic provisions which are still part of our laws must be abrogated. Though the Muslims are accused of being polygamous, it’s not them alone, the practice continues among Hindu men also. Research has it, bigamy is also prevalent among Hindus, perhaps in numbers larger than those of Muslims. A Hindu woman who seeks divorce or demands maintenance on grounds that her husband has contracted a bigamous marriage must prove that he has married again. To add to the torment, marriages under the Hindu Marriage Act are not automatically registered hence it is hard to prove the existence of the marriage. The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 makes provision for a Hindu Undivided Family to deliberately ensure that property remains with the male line of descent. A son gets a share equal to that of his father whereas, a daughter only gets a share in her father’s share. Worst still, she cannot reside in the family home unless she is single or divorced, and cannot claim her share of property as long as the men of the family continue to live in it. Also, a Hindu woman has no right to her matrimonial home, unless she can prove that it was purchased with her earnings. Thus, whether in their natal home or in their matrimonial home, Hindu women can never find comfort or security. Every day is a struggle and the laws provide little or no help what so ever. We must understand that women are equal partners in the marriage, and their contribution has to be recognised with an equal division of matrimonial property. Maintenance is the right of every woman and must not be mistaken for compensation.The Hindu Matrimonial law enumerates an extremely long drawn procedure for dissolution of marriage which does not relieve the spouse from the marriage but creates further adversity. Such hardship desists many, especially women from filing for divorce, despite facing violence and abuse.

For reasons unknown, adoption laws in all religious communities are either absent or discriminatory. Hindu, the only community to recognise adoption, also discriminates as to who can adopt. While any major, Hindu male of a sound mind may adopt a child (boy/girl), a Hindu woman has more prerequisites to fulfil. Along with being a major, Hindu female, of sound mind, she must also be unmarried or if married, whose marriage has been dissolved or whose husband is dead or has completely and finally renounced the world or has ceased to be a Hindu or has been declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be of unsound mind. To put it in simple words, a Hindu woman can adopt a child only if her husband ceases to exist in the eyes of law. What is this, if not discrimination against the one who is to nurture and protect the child?

Having known the harsh realities about each of the religious community’s laws, we certainly can deduce that Muslim personal law is not the only demon we need to deal with.Yes, the Muslim personal law does also have unconstitutional elements which need to be repealed and major efforts have already ensued in that direction. To name the obvious, practices of Triple Talaq, Nikah Halala, Polygamy need to be banned. This is primarily because these practices are extra judicial, ultra vires to the law and against the basic principles of our Constitution. The Five Judge Constitutional Bench has recently heard several cases in this regard and the nation keenly awaits its verdict. Some of the less criticised yet alarming issues are of Muta Marriage or temporary marriage, no maintenance, guardianship. Muslim uncodified law gives a Muslim man the option to marry as many times as he wants, to women belonging to a Qitabi religion for as long as he wants. The only prerequisite is that the duration of the marriage must be predetermined. Laws for maintenance of a Muslim woman are quite skewed. The latest judgement in this regard is Danial Latifi&Anr vs Union Of India on 28 September, 2001. However, the provision of reasonable amount of maintenance to be provided to a divorced Muslim woman beyond the period of Idda is neither accepted in theory nor in practice. Worst still, the position of a woman in Muslim law is so poor that the father is recognized as sole guardian of the child’s person and property and after him his relatives. Mother is not recognized as a guardian, natural or otherwise even after the death of the father. Efforts must be made to straighten out these irregularities as well.

To conclude, establishing a common code for all citizens rather than rules based on religious practices, may pose a problem for the Indian democracy. The Uniform Civil Code may itself be ‘unconstitutional’ by restricting religious freedom. Yet, the cornerstone should be that every citizen of India is protected by the constitutional laws and none is denied justice.The need of the hour is to amend and update existing personal laws to ensure equality and gender justice especially in aspects such as marriage, dissolution, adoption, succession and maintenance. To quote B. R. Ambedkar “I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality and fraternity”. Taking from this, let the supreme religion guiding our thoughts, actions and laws be that of humanity.Let us try to align the personal laws in a manner in which they fall within and in line with the Constitutional law, in the true spirit of India being a secular republic.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author’s personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sabrangindia.

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NHRC Notice to Haryana DGP over Gurugram Gangrape

Fri, 16 Jun 2017 05:39:49 +0000

NHRC issues notices to the Haryana DGP and Gurugram Police Commissioner over gang rape of a woman: asks police chiefs of Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad to explore joint action programme to check crime in the NCR region

The National Human Rights Commission, on the basis of media reports about a gang rape in Gurugram on 30th May, 2017, has issued a notice to the city Police Commissioner calling for a detailed report. The Commission has observed that the incident makes it clear that night patrolling on the road by the police was not being done.

The Director General of Police, Haryana has been directed to inform about the steps being taken to ensure safety of the citizens, specially the women. They have been given four weeks to respond.

The Commission has also called for comments of the Police Commissioners of Delhi, Faridabad and Senior Superintendents of Police, NOIDA and Ghaziabad with their suggestions, if a joint action programme by the law enforcing agencies of the NCR region could be planned and executed to deal with such heinous crimes against women. Their response is expected within six weeks.

The Commission has observed that though the direct involvement of any public servant in the incident is not apparent yet the sorrowful contents of the media reports are indicative of an atmosphere of fear, insecurity and uncertainty prevailing in the NCR region, especially the places like NOIDA, Faridabad and Gurugram etc. Ensuring safety of the citizens, specially, the women and children, is one of the prime duties of the State. It seems that some conspicuous steps are immediately required to be taken by the law enforcing agencies so that these kinds of incidents do not reoccur.

According to the media reports, carried on the 7th & 8th June, 2017, a woman had some altercation with her neighbours in the night of 29th May, 2017. She decided to go to her parent's house. On NH-8, she got a lift from a truck driver who tried to harass her so she left the vehicle. Thereafter, she was offered a lift by occupants of a Magic van heading towards Gurugram only to be sexually assaulted by them. Her perpetrators snatched her daughter away and covered her mouth to stop her from crying. Before leaving the place of crime, one of the men threw the crying baby at the road divider inflicting injuries on her head.

The woman walked on the road with her injured daughter and reached a factory, where one guard on duty asked her to wait till the dawn when the baby was examined by a doctor who told that she was dead. The woman travelled with her child's dead body in a Metro train to reach her parents place at Tughlaqabad in Delhi. There, another doctor examined the baby and declared her dead. Later, the woman again went to Gurugram to lodge an FIR.

(based on a press release by NHRC)

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Over 10 Years, Bengaluru Molestations Reported Rose 417%, Conviction Rate Was 0.37%

Sun, 07 May 2017 06:04:51 +0000

In a decade to 2016, the incidents of molestation reported in Bengaluru increased more than four-fold, statistics compiled by the Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru, on cases of molestation (under Section 354) show. Yet, according to our analysis of police data, of the 4,241 complaints filed between 2006 and 2016, the conviction rate was 0.37% (16 cases).

People stage a demonstration against molestation of women in Bengaluru. Of the 4,241 complaints of molestation filed between 2006 and 2016 in Bengaluru, the conviction rate was 0.37% (16 cases).

The number of complaints under under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (assault to outrage the modesty of a woman) rose from 150 in 2006 to 776 in 2016. Experts say this could be because of an increase in the number of incidents as well as greater willingness on the part of women to register complaints.

The data were compiled by Bengaluru Commissioner of Police for the Karnataka Legislature Committee on Prevention of Violence and Sexual Abuse of Women and Children. This data project could serve as a template for how police in India’s burgeoning cities can make sense of their crime data in public interest.

Section 354 includes sexual harassment (354A), use of criminal force with intent to disrobe (354B), voyeurism (354C) and stalking (354D). The data obtained from the Bengaluru commissionerate group these offences under ‘molestation’.

Bengaluru–India’s IT capital–entered 2017 with reports of mass molestation of women in the city’s bustling MG Road and Brigade Road areas despite deployment of thousands of police personnel. The reports came as a shock to Bengaluru residents and for people across the country who believed the city to be safe for women.

Bengaluru’s conviction rate for molestation is indicative of the larger problem nationwide. “Few women who survive sexual assault have a pathway to justice and recovery from their horror,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, an advocacy, in a statement issued after the Supreme Court upheld on May 4, 2017, the death sentence to four men who were part of the gang that raped in 2012 a Delhi physiotherapy student now known as Nirbhaya.

‘A stranger tried to kiss me in front of dozens of people! No one came to my help’

Kavya S, 24, was on her way to work when a stranger attacked her in public. “It was around 8:30 am in broad daylight, I was walking to work in Kormangala when a stranger grabbed me and tried to kiss me in front of dozens of people! No one came to my help but when I screamed and kicked him, they yelled at me and asked me to leave him,” she recounted.

Kavya immediately filed a complaint with the local police under Section 354, but did not pursue the case once she shifted her residence. “Police officials were very cooperative,” she recalled, “but I couldn’t follow up on the case as I had to shift my house and job.”

Cases such as Kavya’s are increasingly common, although Bengaluru police say they are working to improve the law and order situation for women. “We have identified areas that are hotspots for crimes against women and launched 51 Pink Hoysalas (mobile units) that are dedicated to women. We have also launched an app called ‘Suraksha’ last week (April second week). Anyone can inform us if they are in danger and we would reach the spot in 10 minutes,” S Ravi, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), told IndiaSpend.

4,241 cases reported, 53% pending trial, 12% acquittals, 0.37% convictions

Bengaluru’s criminal justice system is marred by delays, as with the rest of India’s (discussed here, here and here). Of the 4,241 molestation cases reported, 2,248 (53%) are pending trial, according to data from the Bengaluru City Police Commissionerate.

Among the cases tried, there have been 523 acquittals (12%) and 16 convictions (0.37%)–even as the police consider 97% of cases to be “true” after investigation. A decade earlier, the figure for “true” cases was 84%, indicating more open-mindedness in dealing with women’s complaints as well as better effort on the police’s part to investigate.

However, lawyers and activists believe the large proportion of acquittals are due to shoddy investigation. “In most crime against women cases, especially the molestation cases, the accused get acquitted or the cases are kept pending for years,” Pramila Nesargi, a noted lawyer and a well-known women’s rights activist, said. “The main reason for all these is the reluctance of police in getting proper evidence.” She said the government needs to appoint well-trained investigative officers.

Source: Bengaluru City Police Commissionerate
Note: Figures are for cases under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code. Totals may not tally as some cases may be under investigation.

The government needs to think from women’s perspective, Rani Shetty, coordinator of Vanitha Sahayavani, a government agency that provides rescue and support services for women in distress, and operates from the office of the Commissioner of Police, told IndiaSpend. “I have met many victims of molestation whose cases have been pending for years. The legal system needs to be strong, there should be fast-track judgment for any cases related to women,” she said.

As per law, the police have to file a chargesheet within 90 days of a crime being reported. “[I]n most cases, they fail to do so, and this in turn affects the court proceedings,” Ugrappa VS, a member of the Karnataka Legislative Council and chairperson of the expert committee to prevent crimes against women and children, told IndiaSpend.

At the same time, public prosecutors, who are responsible for presenting the case in court, are overworked. “The main reason for cases pending for years is because public prosecutors are given too many cases,” public prosecutor SN Hiremane, who has been in the field for over 20 years, said. “I myself have 450 molestation cases pending so far.”

Judicial delays, which make it easy for the accused to get bail, can be extremely dangerous for victims of sexual assault. In one case, a grade IX student was molested by her 25-year-old neighbour. Her family filed a Section 354 case at the Peenya police station and the accused was arrested immediately. On his release on bail within four months, he kidnapped the girl and raped her. He is back in jail now.

“What happened to me shouldn’t happen to any girl. He has to be punished,” the girl told IndiaSpend.

“If the police had taken strict action on his first crime, they could have prevented the second incident. Now he is in jail but he might do the same thing when he comes out,” her father said.

The city’s burgeoning population, with a massive influx of immigrants, could be one of the factors behind molestation cases such as the one that took place on New Year’s eve, former Lokayukta Justice (Retd) N Santosh Hegde said speaking at a private college in the city in March 2017. The 2011 census had pegged Bangalore city’s population at 84.4 lakh. By 2016, it had risen to more than 1.15 crore.

“They come alone. They stay alone. And the manly desire is always there,” he said at the discussion about immigrants, adding that the benefit of anonymity in an overcrowded city apparently emboldens them to pursue their pervert desires. He also cited a lack of morals as one of the reasons.

She said cases of sexual violence against women have their root in the society’s mindset towards gender and it depends on how boys and girls are raised in home and school, Monisha Srichand, noted psychologist and Director of TalkItOver Counselling Services, explained.

“From childhood, boys are taught they are better, superior to girls, while the latter are seen as sex objects. They see it all around them in the media, movies… There’s a lot of gender inequality and as men see women walking around freely, being independent, working outside the house, being out late, they subconsciously want to assert their power over her,” she added.

(Mani is a Bengaluru-based independent journalist and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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Women & Work: No Reflection of Unpaid Drudgery by Women in Official Data

Fri, 14 Apr 2017 06:56:00 +0000

The absence of any official Indian data on the unpaid drudgery work performed by women results in poor gender budgeting: Economists

Contesting data on poor work rate participation (WRP) among women data, as calculated by the Government of India, well-known Gujarat-based economist Indira Hirway, has said that, if calculated on the basis of latest methodology, men spend 27 per cent, while women spend 38 per cent of their time on work.

Revealing this in a book, “Mainstreaming Unpaid Work: Time Use Data in Developing Policies”, published by Oxford University Press (2017), and edited by her, Prof Hirway says, the methodology, time-use survey (TUS), being adopted across the world, takes into account “unpaid work”, or the work which does not give women any direct remuneration.

The book contains 10 researched articles by scholars, Indian and foreign, focusing on continued gender discrimination in data collection, whether it is Latin America, Africa or Asia-Pacific.

TUS, according to Prof Hirway, includes unpaid work that “falls within the production boundary of the System of National Accounts (SNA) as well as unpaid work that falls within the general production boundary but outside the production boundary (non-SNA)”.

While men’s share in SNA work is 67.89 per cent (in total person hours), it is 32.11 per cent for women, Prof Hirway, heads the Centre for Development Alternatives (CFDA), Ahmedabad, says, but adds, in non-SNA activities like free “collection of water, fuel wood, vegetables, fruits, and leaves) for meeting basic needs of the household”, women's share in India (both rural and urban) is 35.56 per cent, as against just 5 per cent of men.

“The total time spent on these activities also is much longer (3.11 hours per week) for participant women than for participant men (0.97 hours per week)”, calculates Prof Hirway, adding, “7.23 per cent of men and 9.27 per cent of women participate in some additional activities” like “animal grazing, making cow dung, collecting, storing, and stocking of fruits, woodcutting, and stocking of firewood.”

Terming all of it unpaid drudgery, Prof Hirway further says, “Women, on an average, spend 28.96 hours per week on household management, that is, taking care of the household”, which includes cooking (14.59 hours), cleaning and washing (7.89 hours), care of textiles (2.31 hours), childcare and care of the old, sick, or disabled in the household (4.47 hours).

In yet another research paper on India in the book, “Integrating Time Use in Gender Budgeting”, Lekha Chakraborty points to how the country’s gender budgeting policies often rest on a highly restricted assumption that “all public expenditure cannot be gender partitioned.”

Senior economist at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), an autonomous research institute of the Union Ministry of Finance, Prof Chakraborty says, TUS surveys indicate that “the value of unpaid activities could be as much as 26 to 28 per cent of the relevant state domestic product (SDP).”

“Compared to women, the valuation of unpaid activities by men was imited to only about 2–3 per cent of the SDP in these two states”, Chakroborty notes, adding, “The unpaid work, as a proportion of SDP, is as high as 49.93 per cent in Meghalaya and 47 per cent in Madhya Pradesh.”

She states, “The time-use statistics revealed that public expenditure on water schemes benefit women greater than men”, adding, “Applying the population proportion of time budget data, the benefit incidence of water expenditure is estimated. The figures clearly show that women benefit more from public expenditure on water.”

“If gender budgeting is predominantly based on the index-based gender diagnosis, a reanalysis of the construction of the gender (inequality) index is necessary to avoid a partial capture of gender diagnosis in budget policymaking”, she insists.

Courtesy: Counterview.net

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Outsourcing Maintenance of Law and Order to Vigilante Groups (UP) Violates Law and the Constitution: Women Activists

Thu, 06 Apr 2017 08:16:23 +0000

Joint statement by women’s activists to immediately disband anti-Romeo squads in UP.

“Anti-Romeo Squads” are policemen and women and vigilante groups, operating outside the purview of law, with the support of the Uttar Pradesh State, which threaten women’s freedoms. The serious issue of violence against women and routine sexual harassment of women in Uttar Pradesh cannot be addressed by setting up anti-Romeo squads.

These “squads” impose their own aggressive and arbitrary code through moral policing. It has already come to light that in many cases, these “anti-romeo squads” have become an even greater source of harassment and fear for women and men, which has even been acknowledged by the DG Police UP in his order of 22^nd March and 25^th March, 2017.

However, the DGPs order of the 22^nd March also opens up the doorway for moral policing as it talks of leaving alone couples in public spaces if their conduct is well within the traditional code. The term traditional code is ambiguous and not defined which once again allows police and public interference into the people’s privacy and the excesses thereof.

We therefore strongly disapprove of the process of this form of policing, including its outsourcing to private actors in some cases, which again the DGP police and the Lucknow SSP have acknowledged, in their letters issued in this regard.

We are clear that maintaining law and order is the primary function of the State and nothing can be done contrary to law, while addressing the issue of women’s safety.

The so-called Anti-Romeo Squads are being encouraged by a State which reneges on its own obligations to maintain law and order.

When the right to personal liberty and privacy is compromised by these squads, the State must be held fully accountable for such violations, and must be made to restore the dignity of the citizens, who are targeted by these squads by adequately compensating them and acknowledging that their rights have been violated.

It is our understanding that the Allahabad High Court Judgement of 30^th March, 2017, uncritically legtimises these squads on the basis of the guidelines presented by the DGP and also opens the doorway to bringing in vigilante groups by saying that,

“in our considered opinion, it is the duty of the every citizen as well as of the State to come to the aid of women keeping in view the provisions contained in Article – 51A (e)(j) of the Constitution of India which provides that it shall be the duty of every citizen to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of the women. The action taken by the state government can be a signal project informing the citizens of this State that the time has come when they also have to rise to the occasion to act in the aid of the Constitution by educating and informing their children to observe moral discipline”.

This rather benign resolve can have overreach where citizen’s groups may begin moral policing and form vigilante groups in the name of disciplining children. We would like this rectified by the court. The court instead could have asked the state government to present a grievance redressal mechanism both for instances of sexual harassment of women and excesses committed by the “preventive mechanism called anti-Romeo squads”, it in this detail that the commitment of the State towards ending violence against women and not encroaching on people’s privacy would have been established.

We would also like to bring to the notice of all that we are deeply disturbed and alarmed that a tweet by well-known Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, has led to vigilantes attacking his home and the police registering a FIR against him, under Sec. 153A and 295A IPC, in P.S. Hazaratganj, Lucknow.

As feminists, our viewpoint on the subject of the tweet is different from that of advocate Prashant Bhushan. In our understanding, there is a sharp distinction between consensual friendship, flirtation and love between two adults, irrespective of differences of class, caste or religion in which nobody has the right to interfere and between sexual harassment, stalking and sexual assault of women, on the other.

The FIR registered against Adv. Prashant Bhushan by Hazratganj Police is a clear case of abuse of power, as no such offence is made out on the basis of the tweet in question. This is yet another example of the prevailing high level of intolerance to opinion that is at variance from the majoritarian viewpoint.

We demand that the “anti-romeo squads” be immediately wound up by the UP state and women’s groups that have been engaged with issues of ending sexual harassment and violence against women for long periods of time, be consulted to develop mechanisms to end such violence.
We also demand that the FIR’s and complaints against advocate Prashant Bhushan be immediately closed. Curbs to freedom of speech is not just intolerance, but in violation of fundamental rights.
The free run being given to vigilante groups in UP raises serious concerns about the subversion of rule of law by them. There is urgent need to implement laws preventing violence against women more effectively.
The Allahabad High Court judgement be reviewed in the light of its misuse of initiating vigilante groups in the name of citizens disciplining their children.
A prompt grievance redressal mechanism responding effectively on instances of sexual harassment along with the responding to the excesses carried out by these squads be put in place.

Signatories:
Aruna Roy, President National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW)
Syeda Hameed, Muslim Women’s Forum
Indira Jaising, Lawyer and Human Rights Activist
Uma Chakravarti, Feminist Historian and Democratic Rights activist
Annie Raja, General Secretary, NFIW
Kavita Srivastava, Feminist activist and People’s Union for Civil Liberties
Vrinda Grover, Advocate, Human Rights Activist
Kavita Krishnan, General Secretary, All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA)
Shabnam Hashmi, Convenor Anhad, Delhi
Monisha Behl, Convenor, North East Network
Arundhati Dhuru, National Alliance of People’s Movement
Kalyani Menon Sen, Feminist activist and ndependent Researcher
Koninika Ray, Researcher, with NFIW
Suneeta Dhar, Activist
Jyotsna Chatterjee, Director, Joint Women’s Programme
Ranjana Ray, Member Secretary, Dr. AV Baliga Memorial Trust, and NFIW
Kamla Bhasin, Sangat
Gargi Chakravartty, NFIW
Noor Zaheer, Indian People’s Theatre Association and NFIW
Dipa Sinha, Convenor Right to Food Campaign
Anjali Bharadwaj, Convenor National Campaign For People’s Right to Information
Akhila Sivadas, Centre for Advocacy Studies, Delhi

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Women Have Fought for their Liberty and Dignity be it Sita or Draupadi, Read Hindu Mythology in its Entirety, Yogi Adityanath

Tue, 04 Apr 2017 06:13:49 +0000

I remember the year 2004 when I was teaching a post graduate course in social work in the Government College in Barwani, Madhya Pradesh (MP) when Bhartiya Janta Party’s (BJP) Uma Bharti became the Chief Minister (CM) of the State. Soon after, the regional press extensively reported that a dress code for girls in the colleges of MP was to be implemented soon by the BJP Government. The reason given was “provocative dresses” worn by the students were leading to “perversions”

I had decided back then that if the BJP Government imposed the dress code, I would change my attire from my regular salawar khameez to pants and kurtas in solidarity with the protesting girls even if it cost me my job as a lecturer in the Government College. However I did not have to do anything of the kind as the Government bowed to wide spread protests across the state. It was a proud moment for me when young girls stood up to the proposed diktat by the then BJP Government.

Come 2017 and a statement by BJP minister Maneka Gandhi as reported by the Indian Express comes to my mind – “Women and Child Development minister Maneka Gandhi recently made a statement that has left a lot of people baffled. Speaking to NDTV, she said early curfews in hostels ensured safety. “When you are 16 or 17 you are also hormonally very challenged. So to protect you from your own hormonal outbursts, perhaps a lakshman rekha is drawn. It really is for your own safety”.”

It is important to take note that Maneka Gandhi herself has exercised her freedom from her young age by pursuing formal education only up to I.S.C. She took up modeling at age seventeen and dated Sanjay Gandhi as a teenager. But that does not matter. She adheres to BJP –RSS’s skewed ideology concerning women as its minister of Women and Child Development.

Other BJP – RSS functionaries have also expressed their regressive ideas about women very vocally in recent times. This is not surprising as this is the part and parcel of RSS-BJP ideology in its endeavor to build a Hindu Rashtra. However what is worrying is that ever since BJP has come to power at the center, it has started executing its ideas in an aggressive way. For example the Vice Chancellor of the esteemed Banaras Hindu University (BHU), a BJP appointee himself reportedly advocates discriminatory treatment towards girls in the university as follows:

Girls not to be served meat in the hostel mess as it makes the girls “impure”.
Girls cannot avail of the 24X7 library facilities as it would be immoral for girls to study after 10 pm.
Girls cannot use mobile phones after 10 pm.

There are no such restrictions on boys. During my recent visit to Banaras Hindu University, I was told that the girl students are not allowed to raise their voice against the discrimination meted out to them or participate in any protests.

It is under this back drop that the appointment of BJP CM Adityanath and his regressive views about women should also be understood. More importantly, by appointing Adityanath as the CM of UP, the BJP/RSS has given a clear message that this is what BJP stands for and requires the people of this country to abide even if it is contrary to the Constitution of India.

I therefore bring before the readers what Adityanath as BJP CM thinks about women through his article titled, “Matru Shakti Bhartiya Sanskruti Ke Sandarbh Mein”:

In reference to talking about women’s reservation, he says:
‘There are many other dangers in trying to make a woman like a man-

When a woman becomes as impressive as a man, then the home is destroyed.
It is legitimate to train girls but a homemaker should not be the fairy of an assembly.
If men acquire the qualities of a woman along with those of men, than they become God but if women acquire the qualities of men, they become demons…

These are the points made by several old sayings, and we should take them seriously….’ (translation).

Adityanath also says:

‘Otherwise the thoughtless charming storm coming from the west of women’s freedom will uproot them and they [women] will be thrown from a well into the valley’ (translation).

Five Pandavas watch helplessly as Draupadi is disrobed

He also says:

‘Our scriptures which have described the greatness of women, after considering the importance and limitations of women have also talked about giving protection to women always. The way in which energy if allowed to remain unregulated and released without control is wasted and can even be destructive, similarly women in form of shakti (energy) do not need freedom, but require need based protection and channelization. Therefore what the shastras (scriptures) say-

Women shakti in childhood is protected by father, in youth by the husband and in old age by the son. This way, women are not fit to be left free or independent always. As stated by the shastras that women are not qualified for freedom does not mean that they are dependent but that as energy [women] need protection and control. The energy of the women power that is protected this way alone converts into midwife and mother of great men and when needed she emerges from home to destroy demons in battlefield…’ (translation).

From the above writings and many of his speeches that have been televised it is clear that Adityanath’s views about women are deplorable. Adityanath bases many of his beliefs about women on the Hindu scripts, texts and mythology and advocates that women be protected/controlled by men of her family. He also believes that women’s freedom/liberty is a western concept alone and there is a danger that women in India are likely to succumb to it.

However if one were to refer to Hindu mythology, epics and scriptures, there are innumerable occurrences contrary to Adityanath’s views where women have actually suffered humiliation/injustice at the hands of men including those from within the family. One will also see how women have fought for their dignity and freedom from the times of Sita and Draupadi and that women’s struggle for liberty and freedom is not a western concept alone as Adityanath wants us to believe. I give select examples here to prove my points:

The two greatest women icons Draupadi and Sita in Hindu epics suffered great humiliation at the hands of their husbands. Draupadi was staked by her husbands in the game of dice. Even while she was being disrobed, none of her five husbands came to her rescue.

Ram deserted Sita while she was pregnant merely on hearsay. That too, after she had given the test of her purity by passing through fire! What is important to remember is that Sita exercises her freedom in the end to return to mother earth rather than reunite with Ram. There are many other instances in Ramayan where women have been wronged by their husbands. For example Dashrath had three wives, Urmila fended for her own self when Lakshman abandoned her to accompany his brother Ram to the forest and so on.

Sita Returns to Mother Earth

In Mahabharat, Bhisma abducted the three sisters Amba, Ambika and Ambalika, when Amba was about to garland king Salva whom she loved. She protests, goes back to Salva and leaves for the forest after facing rejection from him too. She later practices great asceticism and penance. She holds Bhishma responsible for her misfortune and takes birth as Shikhandi for revenge.
In Mahabharat although Gandhari’s energy was ‘controlled and channelized’ none of her hundred sons rose to be great men. On the other hand, Kunti exercised her freedom to have a son even before she was married. Kunti also chose that each of her sons was born with a different father. And yet, her sons turned out to be more virtuous than the hundred sons of Gandhari. But ultimately both Gandhari as well as Kunti received a lot of heart ache on account of their sons. In fact, Gandhari had no sons left to be by her side in her old age although she had hundred of them.
Ahaliya was turned into a stone by her much older husband sage Gautama. Her only “fault” was to have been deceived and seduced by Lord Indra disguised as her husband Gautama. The irony is, Ahaliya was to be eventually liberated from her condition only at the touch of Ram’s feet, the very same Ram on account of whom Sita returned to mother earth!
Renuka was beheaded by her son Parsuram who was ordered by his father Rishi Jamadagni to do so for her having faltered in her chaste thoughts only for a moment! Fortunately she was brought back to life but only when her son wished so.
From the days of Dushyant till the present day, there have been many incidents where husbands have refused to even recognize or acknowledge their wives leave alone support or protect them! Women from the times of Shakuntla have fended themselves well with great dignity under such circumstances.
Birth of wayward sons is also mostly blamed on the wrongful behaviour or thoughts of women in Hindu mythology. For example, Kashyap Rishi’s wife Diti is said to have given birth to unworthy sons as her mind was impure with lust. It does not matter if Kashyap rishi himself had more than one wife! It was a common practice among Kings, Rishis and even Devas’ to have more than one wife while women were even cursed for having just “impure” and “unchaste” thoughts!

The important part is that learning from such incidents in Hindu mythology and texts, women in India since the days gone by have fought for liberty, be it Sita or Mirabai. Women fought back then and continue to fight even now- first, for equality and dignity within their own homes and family, next, within the religious beliefs and practices and ultimately for equality and dignity in the society at large. Today many women have made great strides to be able to live life on their own terms and not succumb to diktats. Women continue to fiercely safeguard their liberty, equality and freedom as clearly recognized by the constitution of the country and not as any foreign concept.

Amba and Bhishma

Therefore it is high time that all those in the country who believe in women’s dignity, freedom and equality recognize BJP for what it is. It is time that BJP’s regressive ideas concerning subjugation of even women are understood and strongly condemned. It is time that BJP/RSS’s skewed ideology for the establishment of a Hindu Rashtra where women across all communities will have only secondary status to men is checked collectively. If this is not done, BJP/RSS and its hard core – orthodox Hindu ideologues will inflict irreparable damage to not just women but men too and to the Indian society at large.

(The author is an Independent researcher and social activist. Source: http://nandinioza.blogspot.in/)

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