A call from an agitated student of Karshak Engineering College has put my whole team on the tip of their toes. A revered faculty member harassed a student. When she asked him to check her program, he touched her on her sensitive parts. He promised this girl a pretty decent grade in her practical examinations, if she would go to his room. Fighting back her tears, she told her peers about the incident, which was not a new experience in the college. The students wanted to show their power, an agitation was staged, after four hours of serious drama; the secretary of the educational institute comes forward to declare that the lecturer was severely hurt and he resigned. The agitation ended, media started disbursing. But I was not content with the result. I approached the college secretary and asked him why they failed to lodge a police complaint. I was aghast to his almost instantaneous reply that 'the girl was at fault'. He said that this 'below average female student' was after the 'bright' lecturer for help to get through the examinations. He was in all praises for the 'bright spark'. But there were scores of other girls who have similar experiences to share. The management hushed up the issue by throwing the blame on the student. The secretary went on repeating, "He is a great man, he is an MTech guy, a well read person, why should he do something like this to a below average girl?" One thing my sense failed to understand is - will the girl loose her right to protest against such abuse because she is not a rank holder unlike the 'revered' lecturer? Finally again I had to be satisfied with the same answer that character assassination of a female is the easiest task in this society.
Just few weeks ago, I faced similar disturbing incidents. A lecturer of Vathsalya Engineering College received love letters from a faculty member of her father's age. Here too, she is not the sole example. The management was averse towards taking any action because it was not a serious incident. After a four-day rigorous protest by the students, the poetic lover was suspended, of course without any complaint being lodged with the police.
And the worst of all is Pallavi's incident. This female call center executive was harassed by her cab driver. She was bold enough to go to the police and report the incident. Not very astonishingly, she failed to get a positive response. She had to roam for more than four hours, in the dead of the night, to more than three police stations just to get her complaint registered. But what did she get in return? Finally a few tabloids all eager to munch on the sensitive issue and add spice to it, reported saying that the 'lady' lodged a complaint on the cabbie because he did not allow her to meet her boy-friend. Some smart ones went to say that this girl was returning from a party hosted by her office in a sleazy dress, and so she had to face the consequences. And I have the visuals of the girl during the fateful night to prove that all these statements are absolute crap and that she is dressed from top to toe. After the incident, the cabbies and their owners went up to the police asking for a dress code for women call center employees so that they will not get distracted!!! The Indian Penal Code proudly announces that even a prostitute cannot be touched without her consent. But these cab drivers say they are getting provocated by the women executives dressing and they are not responsible for any consequence!!! Audacity of the male dominate world!!!
Then there is an Arab Sheik, who is an octogenarian with enough money to marry a minor girl. The police fail to take an action on him because he has all the permissions to buy the girl for just five thousand rupees. From the incident reported in the past, this newly wed bride from the poverty struck gullies of Old City, might one day be used for flesh trade. God should save her.
Yesterday, a graduation student committed suicide in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh, answer being quite simple. Her lecturer has been harassing her for almost six months now. She complained to her mother who asked her to 'bear with it' till the end of the academic year. Otherwise her academic year will be disturbed!! Her college administration brushed this away, when she complained to them. Now, after an innocent girl's life is lost, the lecturer was arrested. God knows whether he will be punished or not!!
These are just a few incidents that happened in this part of the country, in hardly a month's time. Good enough to reinstate my feeling that we are living in a barbaric world. There are many such we have been hearing about. A girl raped by her grandfather, a gang rape in broad daylight, a PhD student asked for sexual favors by her guide, women in high posts harassed by her boss, an acid attack on a girl's face for rejecting a great majnu's love, in fact even murdering the girl, a teacher rapped by her student, a gory dowry death, increasing female feticides, someone's morphed images splashed everywhere. The list is endless.
But how many women managed to get justice? Will women in this country ever get some fair dealing? I doubt, sincerely, because we still are thinking on the lines of giving compensation to a rape victim basing on the intensity of rape. Instead of giving lethal punishment to the culprit!!
first published:March 11, 2006, 14:34 ISTlast updated:March 11, 2006, 14:34 IST
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Whenever I speak like this, many MCPs love to designate me as a feminist. Let them get their pleasure, but I don't voice my opinion for pleasure. I do it because it is the truth, it is the truth that this male dominated world is frightened to accept. I started to write on this topic, at least three times in just a fortnights' time but somehow didn't manage to go beyond the first line. But even at this very second the topic is relevant and of course very disturbing.
A call from an agitated student of Karshak Engineering College has put my whole team on the tip of their toes. A revered faculty member harassed a student. When she asked him to check her program, he touched her on her sensitive parts. He promised this girl a pretty decent grade in her practical examinations, if she would go to his room. Fighting back her tears, she told her peers about the incident, which was not a new experience in the college. The students wanted to show their power, an agitation was staged, after four hours of serious drama; the secretary of the educational institute comes forward to declare that the lecturer was severely hurt and he resigned. The agitation ended, media started disbursing. But I was not content with the result. I approached the college secretary and asked him why they failed to lodge a police complaint. I was aghast to his almost instantaneous reply that 'the girl was at fault'. He said that this 'below average female student' was after the 'bright' lecturer for help to get through the examinations. He was in all praises for the 'bright spark'. But there were scores of other girls who have similar experiences to share. The management hushed up the issue by throwing the blame on the student. The secretary went on repeating, "He is a great man, he is an MTech guy, a well read person, why should he do something like this to a below average girl?" One thing my sense failed to understand is - will the girl loose her right to protest against such abuse because she is not a rank holder unlike the 'revered' lecturer? Finally again I had to be satisfied with the same answer that character assassination of a female is the easiest task in this society.
Just few weeks ago, I faced similar disturbing incidents. A lecturer of Vathsalya Engineering College received love letters from a faculty member of her father's age. Here too, she is not the sole example. The management was averse towards taking any action because it was not a serious incident. After a four-day rigorous protest by the students, the poetic lover was suspended, of course without any complaint being lodged with the police.
And the worst of all is Pallavi's incident. This female call center executive was harassed by her cab driver. She was bold enough to go to the police and report the incident. Not very astonishingly, she failed to get a positive response. She had to roam for more than four hours, in the dead of the night, to more than three police stations just to get her complaint registered. But what did she get in return? Finally a few tabloids all eager to munch on the sensitive issue and add spice to it, reported saying that the 'lady' lodged a complaint on the cabbie because he did not allow her to meet her boy-friend. Some smart ones went to say that this girl was returning from a party hosted by her office in a sleazy dress, and so she had to face the consequences. And I have the visuals of the girl during the fateful night to prove that all these statements are absolute crap and that she is dressed from top to toe. After the incident, the cabbies and their owners went up to the police asking for a dress code for women call center employees so that they will not get distracted!!! The Indian Penal Code proudly announces that even a prostitute cannot be touched without her consent. But these cab drivers say they are getting provocated by the women executives dressing and they are not responsible for any consequence!!! Audacity of the male dominate world!!!
Then there is an Arab Sheik, who is an octogenarian with enough money to marry a minor girl. The police fail to take an action on him because he has all the permissions to buy the girl for just five thousand rupees. From the incident reported in the past, this newly wed bride from the poverty struck gullies of Old City, might one day be used for flesh trade. God should save her.
Yesterday, a graduation student committed suicide in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh, answer being quite simple. Her lecturer has been harassing her for almost six months now. She complained to her mother who asked her to 'bear with it' till the end of the academic year. Otherwise her academic year will be disturbed!! Her college administration brushed this away, when she complained to them. Now, after an innocent girl's life is lost, the lecturer was arrested. God knows whether he will be punished or not!!
These are just a few incidents that happened in this part of the country, in hardly a month's time. Good enough to reinstate my feeling that we are living in a barbaric world. There are many such we have been hearing about. A girl raped by her grandfather, a gang rape in broad daylight, a PhD student asked for sexual favors by her guide, women in high posts harassed by her boss, an acid attack on a girl's face for rejecting a great majnu's love, in fact even murdering the girl, a teacher rapped by her student, a gory dowry death, increasing female feticides, someone's morphed images splashed everywhere. The list is endless.
But how many women managed to get justice? Will women in this country ever get some fair dealing? I doubt, sincerely, because we still are thinking on the lines of giving compensation to a rape victim basing on the intensity of rape. Instead of giving lethal punishment to the culprit!!
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