________________________________
From: Soma Marik <mariks...@hotmail.com>
To: "feministsin...@yahoogroups.com" <feministsin...@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 28 August 2013, 13:37
Subject: [feministsindia] Statement on Mumbai and some Recent Rapes
Punish
Rapists without Consideration of Identity. No Double standards. No
Communalisation.
No death Penalty. Make Homes, Public Places and Work Places Free from Sexual
Harassments
Radical Socialist
Statement on Recent Rapes
Despite
the tall claims of the politicians, two rape cases have in the past few days
highlighted the stark reality that even after six months of the notorious Delhi
bus rape case, nothing has changed for women. In Delhi, the Godman, Asaram
Bapu, was accused by parents of a 16 year old girl that she had been raped by
him in his Jodhpur Ashram, in Rajasthan. Given his high profile identity,
Rajasthan police first stepped very gingerly, while the BJP immediately went on
the offensive, claiming that he was a “saint”, and the charge was motivated by
the UPA because he has attacked Sonia Gandhi. Thus, in typical display of
power, a rape charge became a matter of power politics. According to the latest
news, Jodhpur police have decided to drop the charges of rape while keeping the
charges of sexual assault, against him, while Bapu compared himself to the
Buddha.
In
sharp contrast, the gang rape in Mumbai of a photojournalist has been followed
by prompt police action. Yet, what was so terrible was that this 22 year old
young
woman, on an assignment from a magazine, had gone to take pictures in the
abandoned Shakti Mills compound on 22 August, accompanied by a male colleague,
and was accosted by a group of men, who passed obscene remarks, and on that
being protested, attacked them, tied up her male friend, and gang raped and
beat her with beer bottles till she fell unconscious. When she regained
consciousness, she untied her friend, and they went to
Jaslok Hospital, where doctors called on the police. An FIR was registered, and
the next morning sketches of the accused were issued. All the five persons have
been arrested.
The alacrity with which the Mumbai police have moved in this
case, due to public pressure and wide scale protests, is commendable. However,
the fact that such incidents are occurring everywhere in India and even though
on paper the government is committed to take actions against rapes, the state
machinery does not move swiftly, indicating the complete disregard for the
fundamental
rights of women. In this particular case, the woman was trying to pursue a
professional assignment. Such violence is both a torture and trauma inflicted
on her, and a blow against all women and their equal right to mobility at any
time and any place, to work.
The
harassment of women professionals in the media among other professions is rising
rapidly along with work-place related sexual harassment, most women have had to
work in sexist atmosphere and are exposed to biased reactions from employers
and colleagues and contractors. This was clearly observed by the Supreme Court
of India in theVishakha Judgement [writ petition criminal Nos. 666 – 70 of
1992, Vishakha &
Ors. Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors.]. However ‘TheSexual Harassment of Women at
Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal)
Act, 2013 ("Sexual Harassment Act"), passed by the
Indian Parliament due to consistent
pressure by the women’s group, is yet to be implemented.
We demand
that government, police and employers everywhere take the responsibility of
ensuring that everyone has the right to pursue work of her/his choice, and that
attacks on such rights are under all circumstances opposed and where such
attacks involve in any form a breach of law, duly punished.
At the
same time, the fact that Raj Thackeray has come out with a statement that the
rapists were Bangladeshis is a deeply disturbing development. We reject class,
caste, or ethnic profiling, and condemn the selective action against rapes and
sexual violence, depending on whether the accused belongs to the “right”
category.
The selective
anger of the Shiv Sena is contemptible. A Shiv Sena MLA, Anil Kadam, recently
threatened to strip women toll plaza workers and was forced to resign only
because his utterances were caught on camera.
Rapes are
occurring in an alarming way all over India. In same month, 23 August a young
adivasi policewoman in Jharkhand was gang-raped on a National Highway while
accompanying her family members for the burial of her sister. An eleven year
old girl with some neurological disorder was raped in the
North Delhion 14 August, when she had gone out play. The Park Street rape case
in
Kolkata started a wave in West Bengal where the ruling party and its Chief
Minister would deny rape, accuse the victims of lying, of being politically
motivated, accuse all protests of being CPI(M) or Maoist inspired.
And every time there are rapes and protests, there is the
demand, patronised by those very politicians who in reality have no serious
attitude to sensitising police and judiciary, ensuring speedy trial in cases of
sexual violence, that rapists should be hanged to death.
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data shows that
incidents of reported rape in the country have increased by 791% since 1971
(murder increased by just 240%, and robbery by 178%, kidnapping increased by
630%). And at the same time, conviction rates for rapes dropped from 41% in
1971 to 26% in 2010. Further, this 26% is a percentage only of those cases that
actually do go all the way to courts. One estimate suggests that not more than
one out of ten rapes goes to the court. Just as, unless there is a massive
protest, there will be no trial for Asaram Bapu, and the young girl will be
branded a liar and a tool of the UPA. Under such circumstances, the call for
death penalty will simply mean the selective hanging of a few people, usually
of the “correct’ class/caste/community (lower class, low caste, minority) while
others will get off.
According to the NCRB, offenders were known to the survivors
on over 94% of rape cases. Rapists are not mostly the unknown like assailants
of the Mumbai Rape Case. So death penalty will mean not only judicial and
police reluctance, but even greater social pressure on the victims not to bring
in charges in the first place.
In the Radical Socialist statement on the Delhi Rape Case in
December 2012, we had commented that “We
oppose the demand for death penalty on both principled and practical grounds.
We are opposed to death penalty per se and therefore to its extension. But we
also assert that in reality, the enactment of a law making death penalty
possible for rape will have the opposite effect. That is when class as a factor
will seriously come into play. It is the elite who will get away with lesser
penalties, or will not even be convicted as police play an even worse role than
now, while one or two lower class rapists will be hanged as so-called
exemplars”.
The fact that Sushma Swaraj has demanded the death penalty for the rapists in
the Mumbai case while the BJP staunchly stood by Asaram Bapu shows how correct
the foregoing assessment was.
We
condemn:
Ø Gang
rapes and all other forms of sexual violence either as blunt assertion of male
power or in the name punishing the enemy party, community, caste, ethnic groups
and class.
Ø Politicization
and communalization of sexual violence.
Ø The
demand for death penalty instead of addressing the issues of controlling
women’s sexuality, and socially endorsed norms of masculinity
We
demand:
Ø Speedy
and impartial investigation, trial and punishment of the guilty in the Mumbai
and all other rape cases.
Ø Immediate
arrest of Asaram and action against officials who delayed the necessary
procedures demanded by the law of the land.
Ø Exemplary
action against officials at all levels who do not follow the legal procedure
under undue pressure.
Ø States
take the responsibilities of gender sensitization training of the officers at
all levels in all seriousness in dealing with cases of sexual assaults.
Ø Adequate
training of the administrative personnel on the laws and procedures for handling
the cases of sexual violence of persons with disability.
Ø Ensure
safety everywhere whether at home or public spaces or work places
Trupti
Shah
Soma
Marik
(Radical
Socialist)
(Radical
Socialist)
28
August, 2013
28
August, 2013
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