Central Hall – Politics & Gender Insensitivity

@prashanthamine

Mumbai: Unfortunately, tragically and regretfully any incident of any atrocity against women in our country quickly gets caught in a political vortex. What is essentially a social evil, gender equality and above all gender insensitivity is thrown out of the window as political parties across the spectrum try to corner each other politically rather than address the delicate issue impartially.

Even after the Nirbhaya case (2012) in New Delhi, barely a year later the Shakti Mill case happened in Mumbai on August 22, 2013. Despite the strengthening and making the laws crimes against women have continued to occur. Both in the Nirbhaya case and the Shakti Mill case, what shocked many was that one of the accused was a minor.

The explosion of social media has exposed young impressionable minds which can easily get influenced by the dark side. Then the Bollywood movies which have had a huge impact on the psyche of the people, too have dealt with the sensitive issue in their own way.

There have been many horrific crimes recorded against women in India. Be it the Mathura case (Chandrapur, 1972), Aruna Shanbaug case (Mumbai, 1973), Scarlet Keeling (2008, Goa), Suzette Jordan case (Kolkatta, 2012), Priyadarshini Mattoo case (New Delhi, 1996), Bhanwari Devi case (Rajasthan, 1992), Shopian case (Jammu and Kashmir, 2009), Juhu molestation case (Mumbai, 2008), Jalgaon Sex Scandal (Maharashtra, 1994) and the recent Hathras case (Uttar Pradesh, September 2020), the list is endless and long.

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Then there are the other incidents also like the – Imrana case (UP, 2005), Jisha case (Kerala, 2016), Soumya case (Kerala, 2011), Bantala case (West Bengal, 1990), Ajmer (Rajasthan, 1998), Kamduni case (West Bengal, 2013), Badaun case (UP, 2014) and Birbhum (West Bengal, 2014) which too shook our conscience to the core considering the heinous and barbaric nature of the crimes.

Another tragic and unfortunate aspect of the crimes like honour killings has been that they have often been mired in caste and community politics, which underscores the fact that we are a long way off from achieving socio-economic, caste, creed and gender equality. Who can forget the 2012 female feticide cases indulged into by the Doctor couple of Dr Sudam Munde and Dr Saraswati Munde in Parli-Vaijanath, in Beed district of Maharashtra.

It is not that such a chauvinistic attitude has been restricted to our country alone. Susan B Anthony (1873) had to wage a 48 year long battle for women’s voting rights (1920). We too have been guilty of being unable to pass the Women’s Reservation Bill or the constitution 108^th Amendment bill in the Lok Sabha, 10 years after it was passed in Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010. There is still a feudal section of our political class that is still uncomfortable with women occupying top posts in administration.

Former Director General of Police (DGP) of Maharashtra, Pravin Dixit has in his piece on Women’s Safety in thenews21 has very rightly summed up by highlighting the dark underbelly of our society when it comes to patriarchy, false sense of men being more powerful than women, chauvinistic and misogynistic attitude towards women.

Howsoever strong laws and womens empowerment measures are enacted, what is the need of the hour is to resist overtly politicizing crimes against women and being sensitive. Lot more needs to be done in respect of gender sensitization more on the social, cultural, religious, economic and educational fronts. The fear of the rule of law and timely delivery of justice can only instill faith in the system. Not by politicizing the issue.