Bhopal Notes : 62 :: Deficient policing gives molesters a field day

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Parade of apprehended molesters

Our state, Madhya Pradesh­ has achieved new heights in excellence in administration. On 17^th March newspapers brought happy tidings for the chief minister who appears to be a favourite of the PM. The vernacular press headlines screamed that MP recorded during the last one year as many as 5310 crimes against women - highest ever recorded in any state in the country. Besides, the paper reported that as many as 5 molestation cases were recorded in Bhopal during the preceding 24 hours even as three molesters were being shamed by parading them through the streets when women fearlessly went up to them to give them a hiding.

Crimes against women seem to have become routine. One opens newspapers and finds the city pages full of reports of rapes, molestations and suicide by girls who either were raped or persistently molested. While school and college-going girls are routinely molested in broad daylight those who go to late evening coaching classes or are held up at their offices have the worst of it. Worse, even the minors and infants are not spared by these brutes.

 Some of the most heinous kinds of rape cases have taken place in the city but there seems to have been hardly any initiative on the part of the local administration. For some time after an incident policemen become active and take some cosmetic measures as is happening currently but soon they fall back into the same inertia. Many a life of young intelligent girl aspiring to achieve something in life was cut short by the increasingly bold and fearless molesters of the town. Fear of law and its supposedly long arm – the police – appears to have evaporated.

For long for crimes against them politicians have been blaming the girls for their outfits – brief or otherwise. All the time they refrained from blaming the police whose cover of sensitive areas has disappeared apparently because of a conscious decision to give up the beat policing system. While the so called VIPs are guarded 24X7 by batteries of policemen common men and women have literally been left unprotected against the wolves prowling the streets. It is probably to deflect attacks on these well-guarded politicians for their overprotective layers of policemen that girls/women were being blamed for attacks on them for their provocative attires or conduct. Politicians have cornered the lion’s share of scarce police resources even as the police population-ratio in the state has progressively become dismal.

Only this morning (18^th March) the Times of India in a news headline said “MP grapples with shortage of cops, higher crime rate”. The story below it said the state has a crime rate higher than the national average and numerous vacant posts of police personnel against the sanctioned strength.  It quoted from a report of the Bureau of Police Research that said that the state’s crime rate in 2015 was 338 per lakh population against the national average of 234 per lakh population. At the same time, the Bureau said that the state has a sanctioned strength of 1,15,756 of policemen in January 2017 but the actual strength was 98,466 – more than 17,000 short.

The short manpower has converted maintenance of law and order into more of a joke. Whether in rural or urban areas crime is rampant. Rapes in Jabalpur, Gwalior and other towns are as frequent as in any other town. Rural MP is as unsafe for women as its urban parts. Elsewhere the sand mafia has become so emboldened that it resorts to attempts to killing of forest or police personnel when they try to prevent illegal sand mining. It is anarchy that reigns in the state

 The shortage tells heavily on policing all around and especially for providing safety and security to the common man. Since the government has not acted upon the orders of the Supreme Court to make the Police independent of political control, politicians merrily draft policemen mostly in excess of requirements for their own security. No wonder crime is increasing and the criminals have a field day, becoming bolder and fearless by the day. Even if they are nabbed they can be easily bailed out as investigations take time since there are not enough policemen to investigate crimes. No wonder molestations, rape, robbery and murders, especially of senior citizens, are frequent in the state capital as also elsewhere in the state.

Besides, even the policemen are stressed out because of the heavy pressure of work. Suicides in the force are not uncommon. A few months ago even a deputy superintendent took his own life on account the heat he was facing because of the heavy load of work. It is not that the facts are not known to the government but there is a perceptible drift, more so when the assembly elections are creeping closer and closer. None, for the present, including those in the government, is going to do anything substantive to take care of the state’s law and order.

When a non-performing government is fighting for its survival what the people can do is to take measures for their own safety. The vulnerable sections will have to take such precautionary measure as can ensure the safety and security of their life and property.

Sports and Indian women

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India's Women's Cricket team

Of late TV watchers would have noticed two ads that show just about teen-aged girls displaying their keenness for playing football and basket ball. While pushing their respective products the advertisers seemed like unwittingly giving a social message too – that of need for girls to be active in sports.

From recent trends it is quite evident that girls have come into sports in a big way. Lately they have earned fresh laurels and the current year has brought in a rich harvest of achievements in women’s sports. Earlier in the year, the women’s cricket team came within sniffing distance of victory in the 2017 edition of the Women’s World Cup. They were well on their way to win it but seemingly were seized with an attack of nerves only to narrowly lose the match to England by mere 9 runs. Nonetheless, there were some very outstanding performances during the tournament. While the skipper Mithali Raj ended up as the tallest scorer in the world of Women’s cricket, there were very commendable performances from Punam Raut, Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Jhoolan Goswami etc. The whole lot of them deservedly won for themselves the country’s gratitude as well as admiration.

Others have taken off from the eventful month of July this year. The country’s ace woman shuttler PV Sindhu fought hard at Glasgow at the finals of the World Badminton Championships only to lose to her Japanese opponent very narrowly. Like at the Cricket World Cup, it was a matter of so close yet so far. But Sindhu is only 22 and she has a long way to go. Recently she lost to Saina Nehwal in the National Championship. The win brought Nehwal again into reckoning after Sindhu had lately wrested the initiative from her.

On the heels of this superb performance came the news of victory at the Asia Cup final of Indian Women’s Hockey team. They beat rivals China in a penalty shoot-out. The women’s Hockey team has won the Asia Cup after a long hiatus – of more than ten years. Now that a competent coach is reported to be taking care of the team its performances are going to be keenly watched. The team is likely to prepare hard for the next Olympics.

Others, too, like pistol shooter Hina Sidhu, are also lining up and practicing hard to win laurels for the country. Sidhu recently won Gold along with Jitu Rai in a mixed event of the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup last month at New Delhi. At the same time, differently-abled Rubina Francis of Jabalpur won another Gold in 10 metre pistol shoot in the World Shooting Para Sport World Cup.

Just the other day news arrived of the fifth Gold won by Mary Kom at the Asian Boxing Championships held at Ho Chi Minh City. She has been consistently winning medals despite her age and increasing obligations. Besides running the family, she takes her duties as a parliamentarian very seriously. And yet she always thanks Jesus for her extra-ordinary performances.

Numerous others have been known for extraordinary performances in various sporting events. Akanksha Singh for one, belonging to the famous Varanasi Sisters, a few years back was acknowledged as the “most valuable player” in the Indian Women’s Basket Ball team. She currently is its captain. Likewise, Deepika Pallikal has earned a name for herself in Women’s Squash championships. She has been playing squash from an early age and is still active in the international arena having won several domestic and international titles.

These are instances of coming good in sports by girls mostly belonging to the middle classes. They have done so despite lack of adequate opportunities. A vast majority do not get even this much despite the huge population of more than 1.26 billion. In a telling article the Financial Times said “With more than 1.2 billion people, of whom 65 per cent are under 35, India would presumably have vast reserves of athletic talent. Yet it has been unable to convert its human potential into global competitive success: a problem not confined to the sports field.” India won only 23 medals since Independence and at the Rio Olympics, though it sent as many as 117 participants, only two won medals and both of them were women.

Indian women are up against various kinds of handicaps that restrain them from participating in sporting events. Firstly, there is pathetic absence of infrastructure for sports, particularly, at the grassroots level in the rural areas. Besides, for centuries the women in the country have been subjected to patriarchy which, in fact, meant outdoor games or athletics were not meant for them. Why, unborn girls in various provinces have been the subjects of male chauvinism. It is a great tribute to the guts and determination of Sakshi Malik and her ilk to pursue a carrier in wrestling in the state of Haryana where the sex ratio is highly skewed in favour of boys and men in the state have had to import brides from the eastern states. Sakshi Malik, perhaps was inspired by her seniors like Phogat sisters, six of whom launched themselves in the wrestling ring and three of them won several Commonwealth Championship medals.

 Apart from Hindu conservatism similar considerations among Muslims do not allow their girls to take part in outdoor events or athletics. Nonetheless, it is a matter of great satisfaction that women In the Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir have organized themselves into a team to participate in the inter-state women’s cricket championships. 

Women are also held back from sports by lecherous sports officials who also happen to be venal. The fair sex has always had the wrong end of the stick and has cruelly been confined to play their stereotypical role of playing the housewife. Girls from their very childhood have drilled into their heads that activities like sports are for only boys and not for girls as they have to be modest and feminine. The so called “gender gap” is thus built up from the childhood, particularly in the rural areas where education of the girl child is yet to make inroads. Educational deprivation as also nutritional deprivation for girls starts from here holding the girls back from any strenuous sporting activities. The narrow-mindedness of the parents in the rural households is largely responsible for keeping the girls away from schools and its various activities, including sports.

With the 24X7 news and sports channel beaming to majority of Indian households news about sporting activities in the country, things seem to be changing. The regional press publishes numerous items of girls’ creditable performances in the sporting arena. Numerous success stories of girls in sports have stoked what they happened to have witnessed on the TV. The governments at the Centre and in the states have also allocated generous funds for girls’ education and their sporting activities. Hopefully, a decade from now things are likely to be very different.

*photo from internet

Our life, our times :: 5 :: Indomitable Afghan women

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A recent report on the first Afghan women’s orchestra taking Davos (Switzerland) by storm stirred some memories. Lately, it was unthinkable that music would be something which would be allowed in Afghanistan, more so, for women to indulge in it. The reasons are not far to seek. Music is reckoned as un-Islamic by the rigorous practitioners of Islam. Under the Taliban’s ultra-Islamic rule, leave alone women, it was taboo for even men.

  Women in Afghanistan always got the raw end of the stick. No one knows how many women sacrificed their life in wriggling out and away from under the heavy weight of Taliban boots where they were being constantly squashed. They were so effectively subdued that their world was confined only to within their veils. A few stray stories could come out of the veritable prison that they were in by the brave and indomitable ones who were successful in escaping from the clutches of those brutes. And, surprisingly, not too long before that they were so very free.

I recall my two months in Kabul in 1983 – around 35 years ago. A part of the country was under the occupation of the then Soviet Russia. Vast parts were under the control of the Mujahideens and, as UN consultants, we were permitted to move around only within 3 square kilometers of Kabul. Even the hills surrounding the city were held by Mujahids. Every night there would be fire fights and one would hear shrieks, generally emanating from women.

And yet, during the day business would be as usual. Shops would open up and do brisk business. Dhabas and restaurants would be preparing for the custom expected for lunch. An occasional strain over loudspeakers would waft in of a Hindi film song.

Women were largely free. They would be in offices by 8.00 AM well dressed, tastefully made up with stylish hair-dos. They were freely working with men and would be generally in Western dresses, some even wearing denims and tee shirts. No burqas, hijabs or chadors for them. They did not know English but were great admirers of India and, of course, Bollywood films – India’s infallible soft power. A senior lady among them by the name Zermina spoke fluent English. She was connected with the family of the exiled King and, hence, was much travelled. What struck me most was the freedom that educated women enjoyed despite being in an Islamic country. Zermina used to tell me that during King’s rule night-life was great; there would be late night parties, socials and cabarets in restaurants and Kabul was considered as Paris of the East – unbelievable, but that’s precisely what she said.

But those free days came to an end as the Soviets retreated – beaten back by the Mujahideens, the Talibans and Pakistani regulars and irregulars actively encouraged by the US. Dark days descended on Afghanistan as the country came under the ultra conservative Taliban who smothered freedom generally and of women in particular. They were all pushed back from the public spaces and driven back into their veils or within the limited spaces of their houses. Many were killed for raising their heads. Rapes and murders became order of the day.

Though the country has now a democratic government presided over by President Ghani yet the ultra conservatives continue to have their sway in large parts. Let us face it; it is a Muslim country, after all, where most are conservative and where Islamic social values hold primacy. Adhering to their faith as the Afghanis do, it will take a long time for them to become a liberal society. For these Afghani ladies, therefore, to come out from such a hide-bound society and collect together for musical sessions and then to come out on a trip to regale an elitist Western audience speaks hugely of their guts, courage and commitment to the idea of freedom and to their chosen performing art – a medium through which they hope to realize their dreams.

We, from the fringes, can only call out “bravo” to them and wish them Godspeed. 

*Photo from internet

"Temple entry" of women -- and "dalits"

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Trupti Desai of Bhumata Brigade was beaten up the other day simply for entering the sanctum of Mahalaxmi Temple at Kolhapur in Maharashtra in a dress that is generally used by women in Punjab. Once used only by the Punjabis, the dress is now common all over India, including remote places of the North-East and South India, presumably because it offers ease in carrying out regular activities and daily chores inside the house or outside. The sari seems to hamper women in that and is also, apparently, cumbersome. The Punjabi outfit is no less Indian than sari and yet she was assaulted in a display of the extreme orthodoxy of the locals. But, that does not seem to be the actual reason for her being roughed up. The staunch Hindus of Maharashtra have been against entry of women in the sanctums of their highly venerated places of worship. Ms. Desai has been spearheading the women’s movement against this discrimination. On the basis of a judgment of Mumbai High Court, where a case had been filed in this regard, she led women into the temple of Shani Shingnapur in Ahmednagar district after the Court delivered a verdict in favour of the women. The faithful, true and steadfast Hindus did not like it one bit and had developed acute antipathy for her.

Orthodoxy has never had any rationale and even if it had any it wouldn’t adapt to the changing environment. The kind of rigidity displayed by the devout Hindus in Maharashtra was utterly reprehensible, particularly, at Kolhapur where they indulged in violence and that too against a woman. The court had already ordered that the discrimination was not legally sustainable. The Shingnapur Shani temple authorities fended off the attempts by the Bhumata Brigade for a couple of days after the court ordered in favour of the petitioners but later women entered and worshipped the deity in the sanctum only under police protection. Those were a few days of tension which may continue for some time as the staunch Hindus are not likely to give in so easily. One expects civil disturbances to occur whenever women attempt to enter the sanctums.

One might mention that another instance of this kind of discrimination is being fought out in the Supreme Court of India. A case is being heard of entry in temples of women down in the South. The famous Ayappa temple of Sabarimala in Kerala has prohibited entry of women of the ages between 10 and 55. Hundreds of millions of people visit the temple trudging for miles through difficult terrain of hills, rivers and valleys of dense forests but menstruating women cannot join the pilgrimage. The reason handed out is that Lord Ayappa is a celibate (Brahmachari) and hence women are barred – an absurd argument if ever there was one. The Apex Court has decided to give the matter extensive and detailed hearing and has asked uncomfortable questions embarrassing the lawyers defending the indefensible practice. The matter, however, is yet to reach finality at the Court. What is, perhaps, ironical is that these very men wouldn’t flinch from worshipping a goddess. For them, perhaps, goddesses do not menstruate.

In the meantime, the Hindu religious head of a monastery (math), Swami Swaropanand Swaraswati of Sharda Peeth, Dwarka in Gujarat, waded into the controversy. He gave an avoidable statement and said that women should not worship Shani (Saturn) as it is a cruel planet and that women will be raped in increasing numbers if they did so. A greater nonsense perhaps was never uttered by a Hindu high priest whose position as Shankaracharya is traceable back to Adi Sankara of 9^th Century AD, the great reformer of Hinduism. Of late he seems to have appropriated the exclusive right to articulate views that at best are idiotic. He gave another statement in which he viewed the drought in Marathwada region of Maharashtra in another context. He said that Marathwada was undergoing an acute spell of water scarcity because people there have been worshipping Sai Baba of Shirdi – a deemed god who, according to him, is unworthy of being worshipped. He has thus made himself a subject of ridicule for millions of Hindus who have unshakeable faith in Sai Baba.

Speaking of women’s movement of “temple entry” one is reminded of another such movement more than a hundred years ago. This movement was one for “temple entry” for Dalits, the erstwhile untouchables. India has had the scourge of untouchability since times immemorial and as a consequence the Dalits, the lowest in the Hindu caste hierarchy, were never considered equal to higher castes. They were not only suppressed, shunned and humiliated, they were also prevented from making use of various common facilities, for instance, the roads leading to temples or the very essential facility of a common well. These practices still continue in several parts of the country in the north and south even sixty years after independence and promulgation of the Constitution that guarantees absolute equality to each and every citizen regardless of caste and creed.

If the Dalits were prevented from making use of facilities that were vital for sustaining their lives, the question of their being allowed into the Hindu temples would naturally not arise. A simmering discontent was, therefore, pervasive all over, particularly in the southern parts of the country where orthodoxy was and still is at its worst. There it is a litany of agitations, riots and largely unsuccessful litigations in the courts since the 19^th Century. However, the “temple entry” movement gathered strength in the early years of the 20^th Century. Even Mahatma Gandhi lent his moral influence to the movement which, though, had little effect on a bull-headed Hindu orthodoxy.

 Eventually, the erstwhile state of Travancore (Thiruvanantpuram, earlier Trivandrum of Kerala) became the epicenter of the movement, though before that the movement was active elsewhere in the region. Despite the uninterrupted agitation for almost a decade it was only in 1936 that the Maharaja of Travancore signed the historic Proclamation of Temple Entry for Dalits, thus in one fell swoop doing away with the age old injustice meted out to them. This happened more than 80 years ago but even now one hears of the discriminations against Dalits in the South where they not only are harassed in their day-to-day lives, their women are raped with impunity and they are hacked to death if they ever displayed  the audacity to marry a member of the upper caste.

Divisions are inherent in the Hindu social and religious fabric. It has been like this for ages and the abominations in the system have developed deep roots. It will take years, decades, even centuries to get a level playing field for everyone in this society. Women who have won the right to worship in the inner sanctum of temples have to face up to the Hindu extreme Righ – a fringe that is a tough nut to crack. It might take some more years before they are able to visit temples without any fear or apprehensions. Shaking off their complacency, they have to be prepared for a few more fights that seem to be in offing for them.

*photo from internet