Skip to main content

Kerala women unsafe in a patriarchal society

Kerala is one of the two states in India (the other is Puducherry) to have a higher population of females than males. It also takes the top position in female literacy but these statistics are not indicators that women are safe in the state. In fact, incidences of rape and assault on women in Kerala are highly reported. Two sensational cases of the 90s, called the Suyranelli and the Vithura cases, where minor girls were gangraped, are still languishing in the courts:
http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/calls-grow-louder-for-politician-accused-of-rape-to-resign/

The comments of the politicians and the judiciary are grossly insensitive that exposes the biased mindset of a patriarchal society. The lawmakers and lawgivers believe men can do no wrong or can do just about anything. On February 9, Justice R Basant, the former Kerala High Court judge, who was part of the two-judge bench that tried the Suyranelli case in 2005 made shocking comments against the rape victim. The bench had acquitted 35 (except one) of the accused who were named by the rape victim with a view that she could have escaped if she wanted to but she did not. In 1996, the girl then a minor school girl, was kept in captivity and raped by 42 men in a span of 40 days. Justice Basant said on February 9 that there was ample evidence the Suryanelli girl was used for child prostitution. "Child prostitution is no rape." In India 
How safe are women in a society where a former High Court judge talks so callously?

A journalist from a Indiavision Channel, while talking to Justice Basant, recorded his views on her mobile phone. It was telecast on the channels soon after. At a function that was held later, Justice Basant goes on to blame the media: Watch till end to hear Justice Basant trying to wriggle out of what he had said hours before:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf64kBSCc54

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: An Autobiography Of A Sex Worker by Nalini Jameela

I am 51 years old. And I would like to continue to be a sex worker.” This is how the candid and defiant opening statement in Nalini Jameela’s autobiography in Malayalam, Oru Lymgika-thozhilaliyude Atmakadha, goes. It at once throws a challenge at society’s double standards — harsh on prostitutes and soft on the clients. Nalini Jameela, who is the coordinator of the Kerala Sex Workers’ Forum, reveals her sordid story with no trace of compunction. Nalini was a 24-year-old widow when she entered the profession to feed her two children. At that time she did not think about the repercussions of her act. She writes, “I was earning Rs 4.50 at a tile factory near Trissur. My mother-in-law served me with an ultimatum to either give her five rupees a day to look after my children or leave the house. I recounted my woes to a friend, who introduced me to Rosechechi. Rosechechi promised me Rs 50 if I spent time with a man. The first thought that came to my mind was that my children would be looked...

Kochi Muziris Biennale: Whorled Explorations

London-based artist Hew Locke was in for a bit of shocker when he reached the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014 site, Fort Kochi in Kerala. His installation,  Sea Power , was apparently crafted from his imagination of what the historical kingdom of Cochin would have been. Indeed, he had yoked his imagination to that of a 17th century German printmaker. The printmaker had in turn conceived the kingdom of Cochin based on the tales of another. “My work is imagination based on the imagination of an image that was perhaps real. It was double fiction and I thought the prints were elaborate romantic imagery...but I discovered when I arrived in Cochin that this double fiction has elements of reality. People still wear lungis and walk around bare-chested,” says an amazed Locke. Hew Locke’s beaded frieze of mythological and historical figures that gently sway in the wind is a response to the biennial theme, ‘Whorled Exploration’, and suggests blips in the seminal mov­ements of history. Whorled...

SnooTea: Just My Style

(Photographs by Minu Ittyipe) It began on a lark to spiff up my morning cuppa. Oh well, I just wanted a change from what I had been drinking all my life. I am not complaining about the faithful brew that I stir up with tea dust, it does merrily improve with two extra spoonfuls of sugar but I was just plain bored with the regular. My concept of a cup of tea was corralled in the traditional Indian style- coppery coloured liquid topped with plenty of milk and sugar but now there was in me this undeniable thirst for a more delicate bouquet. Tranquilitea, Coonoor Curiously, though grown in our own backyard, few of us have heard of the orthodox leaf tea, forget the Silver Tips, Golden Tips and the White Tea etc.. that quietly find their way to the export market. To make a foray into this relatively unknown terrain, I headed for Tranquilitea, a tea lounge in the Nilgiris, for a cup of “Tippy” tea. On a sober note, you are cautioned not to confuse “Tippy” with the more commonplace “Tipsy” for...