We speak of women empowerment and emancipation, yet it is a dictum of truism that being a man is an advantageous position in the society and so to say paradoxically a woman is more vulnerable. The relative existence of the fair gender is itself a manifestation of the plethora of issues that they face and physical aggression/violence is the gravest[Read More…]
Recently, when a 17-year-old Santal girl from an indigenous tribe in Rajshahi, Bangladesh went to cut grass for her family’s cattle in the pasture, she had no idea that danger was lurking around the corner. The danger was not that she was going to get attacked by a wild animal, but from a human predator disguised as a priest in[Read More…]
What is wrong with some men that in the time of Covid-19 they are raping women of all ages? Rape, the most intimate of crimes is happening every day, everywhere in the world. Raping does not fall under behavioral or mental disorder, it is a criminal offense. Sadly, the incidents of rape did not stop while nations across the globe[Read More…]
I don’t know who drew this this rape-map of Bangladesh, but this is a telling geography of rape epidemic which as can be see here, has spread widely and reached every nook and corner of the country. The scrolls on each district which are in vernacular are appeals to the predators from the rape victims – desperate pleas to dissuade[Read More…]
Women (idols) in India are worshipped, as they say, but the truth of Indian women is only known to herself. India has a sex ratio of 943 females/1000 males.[1] While the southern and northeastern states are better off, the cow belt (Hindi/Hindu heartland) has a disappointing population ratio. A lot to do would surely have roots in female infanticide, something[Read More…]
Hathras rape incident is not new to us and for the greater society it might not be shocking either. In India, the cold-blooded reality is the occurrence of rape every 15 minutes. This is as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data. What is usually overlooked in the statistics is the Dalit Women who are usually considered as the[Read More…]
Introduction Again, the inhuman and horrible incident of Hathras has put the entire society ashamed as it has been the second occurrence of such cruelty and brutality against women in the last eight years after Nirbhaya 2012, sparking a huge resentment and anguish against the governments exposing the concern of safety and security of the women. Although, the Hathras incidence[Read More…]
Even as the United Nations deliberated on the concrete actions that would advance gender equality for women and girls everywhere, marking the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and platform for action – the most comprehensive roadmap for women and girl’s empowerment, the world watched once again in horror another rape and murder story unraveling in India’s heartland.[Read More…]
The Caravan Magazine in August 2020, reported an incident from the month of June this year from Pokhari Village, Uttar Pradesh. Several upper-caste men hailing from the Thakur community (the caste community from which UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also hails from), attacked a colony of the Dalit community in the Gorakhpur district triggered by a puja of Goddess Kali[Read More…]
A frenzied attack or bouts of insanity; “rape is rape”! Every 30 minutes one rape is crafted in India. A woman or a child…they are all prey of the rape lore. The rape cases are up swinging in numbers each day. Bruises and injuries only leave scars not recoveries. The victims soon or later are succumbed or marked as grime.[Read More…]
“I know the alternative policy of adopting the line of least resistance. I am convinced that it will be ineffective in the matter or uprooting untouchability. The silent infiltration of rational ideas among the ignorant mass of caste Hindus cannot, I am sure, work for the elevation of the depressed classes. First of all, the cate Hindus like all human[Read More…]
Punish the rapists & murderers of dalit women and other victims. Hold the Administration, Police and Political Nexus Accountable. Chief Minister of UP must resign for repeatedly failing to safeguard rights of women from marginalized communities in the state 3rd Oct, 2020: The brutal rape and murder of yet another dalit woman in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh has sent shock waves[Read More…]
South Asians activists came together on the evening of Friday, October 2, to raise voices against the recent gang rape of a Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh, India. The victim died after struggling for life for two weeks. She was brutally assaulted and raped by people belonging to the upper caste. Her death has outraged the community of so-called untouchables[Read More…]
Amazing, till about three days ago the news was that a Dalit girl has been raped and killed- as a matter of fact. It occurs every now and then, and here is another such incidence. So do not fret. It happens. That is the audacity with which we are informed about the rape of a Dalit girl. And then, come[Read More…]
The attempt to stop Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi from visiting to Hatharas by the Uttar Pradesh government might have succeeded when they did not allow the convoy to move ahead of Greater Noida and detained both Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi who have been taken to Buddha circuit, a world class facility made by Ms Mayawati when she was the[Read More…]
The horrifically brutal and inhuman act of torture and rape perpetrated by Thakur men on a young Dalit woman in Haathras, Uttar Pradesh, tears at the soul and claws the conscience. It provokes violent thoughts and words and makes it impossible to not imagine a proportional response of the same barbaric extent as the ultimate self-defensive justice. This feeling is[Read More…]
Letter from Lawyers to the Hon’ble Chief Justice of Patna High Court and other Hon’ble Judges To Hon’ble the Chief Justice of Patna High Court and other Hon’ble Judges: Subject: Need for urgent and systemic changes in the treatment of survivors of violent sexual crimes in the Araria District Court. Lordships: We, the undersigned are lawyers practicing in different places[Read More…]
“In rape cases it’s strange to me when people say, Well why didn’t you fight him? If you woke up to a robber in your home, saw him taking your stuff, people wouldn’t ask, Well why didn’t you fight him? Why didn’t you tell him no? He’s already violating an unspoken rule, why would he suddenly decide to adhere to[Read More…]
The explosion of the #MeToo movement, the burgeoning discussion around sexual predators and the vulnerability of victims of sexual assault makes it even more pertinent to carefully and minutely examine the vocabulary of sexual assault in popular culture. Rape narratives that pervade literature, newspapers, popular culture, law, activism etc, help “organize, understand, and even arguably produce the social world” (Sara[Read More…]
In Bangladesh incidents of loot, plunder, enforced disappearances, breakdown of rule of law, extra-judicial killings, deaths and injuries in road accidents through reckless driving have become parts of daily news. Lately, news of audacious rapes, abductions of girls and women and sexual harassments in almost all parts of the country are also becoming common occurrences these days. Spates of horrifying[Read More…]
K.P Sasi is a film maker, writer, activist and cartoonist. He can be reached at kpsasi36@gmail.com
On May 28, 2016, a gorilla named Harambe was killed at the Cincinnati Zoo. A small child had fallen into the primate’s enclosure and… well, you know the rest. “As I watched the sort of public outrage and mourning rarely afforded murdered women, it was the final straw,” explains Dawn Wilcox, a registered nurse for 22 years. Wilcox is no “expert,”[Read More…]
It is fourth anniversary of 16 December 2012, the brutal gang rape and murder of a student in Delhi that shook the conscience of the nation and led to unprecedented protests against sexual violence across India. Crime against women has been common in India, as has been the support for such crime in the form of misogynist statements by those[Read More…]
Delhi, the national capital of India, has witnessed another gory incident involving the rape-murder of a minor. This time, a 16-year-old was allegedly raped, strangled, and then set on fire in her own house in East Delhi. The police reportedly tried to pass off the crime as suicide, filing a case of rape and murder only after the autopsy proved[Read More…]
In a rule of law jurisdiction, the story of a victim of gang rape being raped by the same accused against whom court proceedings continue, might be outlandish. But, in India today, these are the common stories that confront anyone willing to see reality: A Dalit gang rape survivor has allegedly been gang raped again by the same five accused[Read More…]
There is a fine line between prevention and normalisation of any entity. When an event manifests itself through the acceptance of society , passively as an everyday occurrence or something that is unavoidable, it already is nurturing a dysfunctional repressed violent idea. One of the celebrated deviant normalcy in the Indian society is that of a Rape. What imparts it[Read More…]
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This article is based on the 25th Chandrashekar Memorial Lecture delivered on 20 September 2020. The original lecture was delivered in Hindi and the event was organized by Punashcha, the Indian People’s Theater Association (IPTA) and Koshish. Friends, comrades gathered here; I am very honoured to be invited to deliver the Chandrashekhar Memorial Lecture this year but I cannot say[Read More…]
