Crimes Against Women: India Back In Medieval Times!
In the Middle Ages India was utterly divided along dynastic states and
those of the invaders apart from the ethnic, cultural, linguistic, caste and
religious divisions already inherent. There was tremendous infighting too and
therefore security in a particular locality or fief was a great concern. So the
feudal lords decided what was best for them, set the harshest rules for the
society and enforced those with vigor.
The feudal lords were predominantly the land owners and they commanded
most of other wealth like livestock and natural resources of the fief. Women
too were considered as part of their property and that defined the larger
relationship issues for the society.
The feudal lords of the 21st century India continue
to remain as reactionary and as powerful as in those times. They still decide
what is best for them and accordingly for the society. The 21st
century India remains
utterly divided too despite the formation of a republic after Independence in 1947. India of the medieval
ages and India of the 21st century stand united though only on one
front—dominating, suppressing, oppressing, torturing and exploiting women.
They consider women as commodities of the use and throw kind and user
friendliness is always a must condition. At best, they consider women as
reproductive machines and here too if they find the machines starting to wear
off they go for new and newer ones. They just cannot tolerate any spark of
individuality in women. They want them for all the services from cooking
onwards…and of course with the utmost loyalty at all times. They commit all the
crimes and ridicule the idea of punishment for themselves. But if a woman dares
committing even an innocuous mistake, forget crimes, her fate gets sealed as
per the set rules of their society.
This sickening male domination infects all spheres of life of medieval India or modern India—the administration from the
village onwards, the police, the military, the judiciary and the government. If
a wronged woman approaches any of these authorities the first suspicion will be
on her character—what exactly she did to invite the atrocity, what exactly she
wore and what exactly she ate or drank. The victim of malevolent male
atrocity becomes the accused very fast as per set patterns.
Forget about what the sick and malignant male component does with the
female fetus and the girl child, because you need to concentrate more on the
larger issue of crimes against women that continue to hit you with ruthless
regularity and from all parts of the country.
Yes, it has to be Uttar Pradesh, as always. The council of elders known
as the Khap Panchyat in a particular village there passed the following
diktats only recently.
Women up to the age of forty cannot:
- Go to the market or go out of home after evening if not escorted by a male.
- Own a mobile phone.
- Fall in love or have a love marriage.
- Go out without covering even her head fully.
They know nobody would dare oppose their diktats. For the simple reasons
that malevolent males like them only form the higher authorities and the
government too would be heavily dependent on their votes. As per latest reports the central Khap has said that female feoticide is a crime. Maybe be they are afraid of the very adverse male-female ratio in their region, because if females cease to exist who will service them!
But as we have indicated earlier it is not just Uttar Pradesh, it is the
entire country that is fast making a regressive journey into the middle ages.
Heart wrenchingly, my home state of Assam and my home city Guwahati
too. A state known for the simple folks,
warmest hospitality, endearing sincerity, a time tested thread of social and
religious tolerance thanks to our great saints and liberated intellectuals,
festivals devoid of caste or religious barriers and happy-go-lucky attitude.
The lush green and serenely peaceful land we grew up in. A tranquil balance of
man and nature to be felt and relished all the time. But the malignant male
disease has threatened to devour up that piece of land too.
Of course, the danger signals were there for all to feel and realize.
First the terror strife and rising levels of unemployment and frustrations
among the youth. Then, a palpable and continuous decay of cultural values with
people craving for consumerism and superficial tastes. The bad and the ugly
were looming large as two back-to-back incidents happened that showed human
depravity at the lowest and exploded the myth of a contented society.
The first incident is not about a common and a vulnerable woman, but
about a sitting lady member of the legislative assembly of Assam. We do not exactly know if the lady was happy
with her ‘male’ husband—an elected member too. But we know for sure that she
fell in love with a boy much younger to her and belonging to a different
religion. Eventually the lady representative decided to take the plunge and
eloped with the boy. She converted to the other religion and married the boy
without divorcing her first husband. The first husband feigned total ignorance
and lodged a missing complaint with the police.
Meantime the loyal media followed the couple everywhere and continued to
air spicy stories so that the people know all the details. Now, by the
standards of medieval India
the woman committed crimes of the most grievous nature. The feudal lords geared
up for ‘corrective’ action or punishment for such unpardonable crimes.
So, when the couple happened to visit the constituency from which the lady
got elected and was staying in a hotel for the night a huge crowd of over 200‘reformers’ gathered in front of the hotel in the dead of the night. They
ransacked the hotel and forcibly entered her room starting to beat up the
couple mercilessly. They pulled, stripped and kicked the lady gleefully
video-graphed by some media person who perhaps wanted the whole world to know
about it. The hooligans would have gone on to kill her if the police did not
arrive finally. The video was instantly
around in all media channels and the net. Outrage, demands for strict
action…but hardly any action so far.
The second incident happened right in the middle of the city of Guwahati late evening. One
17 year old girl attended a birthday party in a bar and came out alone maybe
due to some technicality or a brawl with her friends as reported by some news
agencies. The feudal lords were waiting for her. How could she dare enter a bar
and possibly drink liquor, the lords justified. That was crime enough for the
‘protectors’ of society.
A group of them cornered the girl just outside the bar and in full public
view. They started touching her, stripping her and molesting her. More ‘male’
components joined the fun instantly attracted to the ‘reformist’ action and it
grew into a 40 something strong mob. Passersby too stopped in their tracks and
nobody had any thought of trying to rescue the helpless girl. The spot was very
near to a prominent news channel and its reporter was present maybe from the
beginning or even earlier.
The inhuman and indefinably cruel torture continued for 30 long minutes
and the channel cameraman continued to record the incident with great details
and a creative finish. ‘He’ was reportedly even directed by the rampaging
perverts to take particular pictures from particular angles. Perhaps ‘he’ too
wanted the whole world to know about it. Finally the police managed to arrive
there and rescued the girl. But as the ‘male’ components were very dominant in
the police too questions were asked more about the girl’s character and habits.
After a national outrage broke out the police had to show some progress by arresting four lords. The other lords including a government employee could perhaps be
planning for the next ‘reformist’ action. Some say the reporter was part of the
mob instigating the whole incident.
The news channel defended its reporter saying it wanted action for that
shameful act and therefore recorded the video as solid proof for identifying
the culprits. But vital questions need to be answered. Why the video recording
continued for half an hour? Why did not they record for two minutes for
identification purpose and then try to rescue the girl? Why the video was
loaded into the YouTube? Was it for creating a public opinion or for just
giving vicarious pleasure to the eternal net voyeurs? After the video was
supplied to everyone possible the news channel vowed not to show it as it would
make the girl’s trauma endless! Kill all the birds with a single bullet? Give
out a social message while earning massive revenues?
We recently cried for redefining SHAME in India! But it is hardly necessary.
It is written large and in bold all over everywhere and anywhere. If AL Basham
wrote ‘The Wonder That Was India’, now it should be rewritten
as ‘The SHAME That Is India’!
The invasion of cultural Taliban-ism in India is in full swing. Unless the
‘male’ mindset is changed there seems to be no way out of it.
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