‘Real Men Don’t Rape’ & Real Cops Don’t Discriminate against Women?’ say Local Women for Justice
- “Real Men Don’t Rape’ & Real Cops Don’t Discriminate Against Women?” say local women for justice. Then, WHY did our City Cops deny permission for a PEACE WALK named “FREEDOM FROM FEAR” planned by their very own ‘Peace Loving’ local women on Sunday, 4 October 2020 at 7 pm, when they permit others? #NoCountryforWomen Truly… When you cannot even walk past 7 pm in our own city…. Sad state of Democratic India said a woman at the Peace Protest, held in front of Mangaluru City Corporation Building, Lalbagh, Mangaluru
Mangaluru: On Sunday, 4 October, a Protest planned by local women activists along with other like-minded men and women, was intended to be a Walk from Navbharath circle to Lady Hill circle, unfortunately, the Mangaluru city cops denied permission for the WALK and came out in great numbers to STOP the silent protest walk, as they admitted that they would be unable to maintain law and order during this time. “Really?? What a Joke?? Where are the Cops when the heinous crimes occur… Either to Stop or to catch the culprits… Why do they come out to silence us? Why aren’t they able to maintain law and order, where it is truly required? Where is this sense of duty when little children are raped and molested? #NoCountryforWomen Truly… When you cannot even walk past 7 pm in our very own city… Sad state of Democratic India” said Gloria Viegas, a loving and caring mother of a boy and girl, expressing her feelings at the Peaceful protest.
Other Citizens who were restricted from taking their planned walk from Navbharat Circle to Lady Hill Circle by the Mangaluru Police, and who gathered for the ‘Freedom from Fear’ protest in front of Mangaluru City Corporation building at Lalbagh, Mangaluru, chose the footpath before the MCC building for its symbolic significance, said they were totally surprised why the police didn’t allow them to walk peacefully, while many other organizations get okay from the police to have rallies or protest march. This shows total discrimination from the law enforcement officials towards the women, said a bunch of women protesters. “Today our message to everyone is to stand in solidarity, stand united, stand fearless, speak up as we Stand against Injustice. If we do not Rise Today, the consequences, for our next generation of women, Dalits and minorities are inconceivable. What happened in Hathras is wrong at so many different levels and we will not stay home, stay silent”, said Asha Nayak, an advocate by profession.
Following are the excerpts from what these people, namely activist Shahnaz M, Mafuza, Akash, Rationalist Prof Narendra Nayak, Saroja Prakash, Dilip, Sneha, among others said,
“We have become aware that more people are fearful to be seen in public, or voice their opinion about matters of injustice in society, as they fear the rage, intimidation and victimization from the more vocal elements in our society. This fearful paradigm is further reinforced by the inconceivable, blatant, inhuman atrocities we have evidenced Hathras. We live in 2020 and most importantly in a democracy with a constitution, yet fear and rape continue to be a major concern for women, Dalits and minorities. We are not seeing the decline of these crimes against our own people, we cannot be mute spectators while such crimes increase and become more unacceptable as they get gorier”.
“If we go into fear and continue to live in fear, the issues and priorities of women, Dalits, minorities and other vulnerable communities will be even more acute. I speak as a woman and have said this previously that majority of rape incidents go unreported. It is only when the victim is mutilated and killed, we wake up. Enough is enough. We have to hold the perpetrators accountable so that such a thing never happens again. We have to build a society that is safe for our girls and women. It is our responsibility to stand up and demand justice for Rape Victim from Hathras and the many Rape Victims’ whose plight never makes it out into the open”.
“Today we say Enough is Enough, we say it together, in solidarity. We will hold the perpetrators of injustice accountable for their action in each instance. We have to build a society that is safe for our girls and women and together we will strive to be Fearless. We stand in solidarity with the family of the Rape Victim from Hathras; We condemn the atrocities and harassment she and her family have experienced; We condemn the manner in which her body was cremated of her body and she and her family were denied the rights of a humane funeral”.
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“We demand Fast track judgement for the perpetrators of the crime with serious consequence equal to the crime committed; We demand that every decision-maker in the Hathras incident should be held accountable by a court of law with a serious consequence so we set a precedent that these incidents cannot reoccur in our society”. Well said by all these women and men, expressing their feelings and anger as to what happened to an innocent young girl. We need to compliment and commend all these men and women who joined in this Peace Protest, looking for justice for the family of gang raped victim.
Yes, the victim was just 19-year-old, who went to get fodder for her animals not too far off in a field on 14 September 2020 with her mother and never came back home. She was raped, tortured, strangled, her tongue was split into two and her spine broken by four upper-caste (Thakur) men and left her fighting for her life. The woman’s family found her naked, bleeding, and paralyzed with a split tongue in the field outside their home. Two weeks later, she was declared dead after battling serious injuries in a hospital in New Delhi. As per reports are concerned, the Thakur (Upper caste) men knew her. They were neighbours and had been having a 20-year-old feud. But the case doesn’t stop here, the woman was cremated during the wee hours (2.30 am), by the local police without even letting the family perform her final rites to dodge vehement protest by the Dalit community.
The videos showing the family weeping and begging as the police insisted on cremating the body without allowing them to take it home, went viral on social media, and created outrage among the netizens. The state has witnessed a large number of new cases of young girls being raped and most of these young girls are from Dalit communities. There are many incidents of minor girls being raped or gang-raped after they went outside of their village. Last month, a 13-year-old Dalit girl was raped and killed in UP. In December 2019, a 23-year-old Dalit woman in the same state died after being set ablaze by a gang of men as she made her way to court to press rape charges.
This incident has sparked outrage across the country and several politicians and activists demanding justice and protesters rallying in the streets. The spine chilling incident is hauntingly familiar of what happened to Nirbhaya in 2012 in Delhi. Several celebrities came out and demanded justice for the young woman. Bollywood actors like Akshay Kumar, Anushka Sharma, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Kangana Ranaut, Huma Qureshi, and several others took to twitter to express dissent over the incident. Hundreds of people including leaders from opposition parties on Friday gathered in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to demand justice. Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad and his supporters came to Jantar Mantar in protest against the government for what they say not doing enough to stop crime against women.
In conclusion, in my perspective, I say that when the world is grappling with a pandemic-but guess what we are busy doing in our country- adding on to the statistics of violence and crimes against women. I can’t come out with a theme, but I have is a lot of anger and frustration to vent out. So, sorry if my rant posts will make you uncomfortable. And, I am not sorry to stir up the conscience of a sleeping nation. Few days, when I woke up to the news of the Hathras Dalit victim succumbing to death-the brutality of the crime managed to ‘shake’ up the nation again, I felt numb and I felt disgusted. The way her body was cremated late in the night without her family’s consent proves women’s faith in #nocountryforwomen. All these PRs of saving the daughters are falsified narratives by the rich and the mighty. You and I have the battle to fight alone.
I saw a senior DGP beating up his wife on video just because she objected to his extra-marital affair. Slow claps! A two-year-old baby girl stabbed 100 times by a screwdriver. Another Dalit rape victim dies at Balrampur in UP, 8-year-old raped and critical in Azamgarh in U.P., and a minor girl is raped by three men in M.P. Also, these are just a few of the national average of 100 rapes that get reported per day. Focus on the word ‘reported’; the actual number would be much higher. The sheer brutality of crimes makes me question the audacity of the criminals. Why isn’t there any fear in the mind of the predators? After the Hyderabad encounter, people had lauded the police about serving quick justice. Today I want to ask everyone if that incident was powerful enough to induce fear of the law in the minds of the criminals? Did it serve the purpose of stopping any such future heinous crimes? NO! All it did was to give a quick-fix cover-up to cater to the rising resentment in the country.
What we need is a sustainable system that ensures a safe environment for women, an assurance of quick justice, and severe punishment for the guilty. Looking at the present scenario, where the media is filled with men barking for TRPs and self-declared feminists (read opportunists) are too busy in seeking fulfilment of their vendetta, the future looks bleak and dangerous. Before I end this report, let me tell you that I see women, including our Kudla women like Vidya Dinker, Asha Nayak, Shahnaz M, Mafuza, Saroja Prakash, Sneha, among others are at war in this country. And to those beasts aka cruel men, if it doesn’t bother you today because of your privileged status, remember “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are” – Benjamin Franklin. Long live all these brave women of Mangaluru who are fighting for women’s rights.