Abhirupa Purkayastha – Simplifying Life

 

They can beat, slap, kick hard, rape, throw acid and even murder and can come clean by saying – “She deserved it”! What exactly does “She deserved it” mean?

I have tried to jot down a few extremely annoying remarks that  we often see associated with the victims of sexual attack, rape or physical assault –

• She was wearing tube tops and tight jeans. In other words she dressed provocatively and was giving SIGNALS to the men.
• She used to hang around with guys…she had many sexual partners.
• She went to nightclubs, danced till the wee hours of the morning and got drunk…high risk behavior. In plain terms women if try to be adventurous can court big problems. Gender equality talks are all bull shit basically!
• She had the audacity to say “no” to HIM…cases like that of Priyadarshini Mattoo who was raped, strangled by Santosh Kumar Singh, her senior in college. After murdering Priyadarshini, he battered her face beyond recognition with a motorcycle helmet.
• And many other such victim-blaming remarks.

Kolkata Rape Victim

Recently the city of Kolkata witnessed a heart-wrenching story of a woman who was raped in a car at gunpoint and was left bloodied and battered in the deserted streets. When she went to lodge her complaint at Park Street police station on February 9, the victim says she was asked uncomfortable questions and was jeered at for going to a night club. “Is it a sin to go to a night club? The policemen made me feel like a criminal. I was already traumatised and they made me all the more sick,” she said. The victim is a mother of two and was born and brought up in Kolkata and always considered it a safe city. You can read the complete report – http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-16/kolkata/31066093_1_night-club-gunpoint-young-woman

The investigation is ON and police hasn’t yet come out with the reports but the CM was quoted as saying “It was a fabricated story created to malign the government,” and if that was not all as the Transport minister of the state’s remark “Why did a woman with kids at home, who is separated from her husband, go to a nightclub? For all you know, she may still be drinking at a club.” on a TV panel discussion left many fuming. Check the report – http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Rape-complaint-fabricated-Mamata/articleshow/11919755.cms

Such dismaying remarks from the leaders of the state makes my faith in the political system dwindle. Yes, they can have their own reasons for not believing the woman concerned but isn’t it too early on their part to come out with such comments when the investigation is still ON.

BTW today Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Damayanti Sen told the reporters that 2 arrests have been made.

Sumit Bajaj and Rehman Khan alias Tusi, who masqueraded as Lavi Gidwani and some others whom the 37-year-old woman named, had befriended her at a night club, Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Damayanti Sen told PTI. The police were on the lookout for two others, whose identities had been established.

Ms. Sen said the police collected CCTV footage from the night club and spotted some persons around a car that night. “However, those named in the FIR by the woman did not match with the CCTV footage and it was found that the offenders were masquerading under other names to mislead the victim,” she said.

Read the complete report here – http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2907861.ece

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/kolkata-woman-raped-confirms-police/231524-3.html

Update on 19 Feb – Two people have been arrested identified as Sumit Bajaj, Naseer Ali and Nishat Alam alias Ruman Khan alias Tussi. The Honda City has been seized and is being sent for forensic tests The accused impersonated Lavi Gidwani, Sharafat Ali and Azhar Ali. The accused were habitual offenders and regulars at different nightspots. They always took aliases of real persons of their age and appearance before committing an offence. They knew Lavi Gidwani, Sharafat Ali and Azhar Ali as they went to the same gym. They also had a brawl with Lavi, Sharafat and Azhar at a nightclub a year ago.

Update on 20 Feb- The main accused Kader Khan(brother of another accused Naseer Khan) andJohny have left the city and are hiding in a neighbouring state. Cops have tracked their hideout and a detective department team is headed there, sources said. Among the duo, Kader was the one who impersonated Sharafat Ali and raped the victim. He is supposed to get married within a week.

Police has slapped gang rape charge on all the suspects.

Read the report here – http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Gang-rape-charge-on-Kolkata-pub-raiders/articleshow/11957381.cms

Scarlet Keeling Murder in Goa

The incident reminds me of the rape and murder of Scarlet Keeling in Goa. And this is what one of the Goa ministers had to say “How can a mother, let her minor daughter go out so late in the night?…. Tourists should take care of themselves.” I also saw some comments on various blogs like “Scarlett was wasted, she was just 15, yet she was having sex…..”

The mother of the victim was accused of bad parenting but what about the parenting the rapists and the murderers of Scarlet Keeling received…no one questions that!!

Aarushi Talwar Murder

Another case where the victim has been bashed several times on blogs, websites, and newspapers is Arushi Talwar of Noida. Well, people say that she was murdered by her father because he caught her in a compromising situation with their servant Hemraj. BTW Hemraj was also found murdered.

Soumya Vishwanathan Murder

When journalist Soumya Vishwanathan was killed in the year 2008 while returning from work in the wee hours in her car Chief Minister was quoted as saying “All by herself till 3 am at night in a city where people believe…you know…you should not be so adventurous.”

Thus, in a way blaming the murdered victim for leaving the work place late and unescorted rather than nabbing the culprits and ensuring law and order of the state. BTW Dixit later apologized for her insensitive remarks.

You can read the complete report here http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-10-03/delhi/27932960_1_home-minister-sheila-dikshit-law-and-order

It’s appalling that in country such as ours which boasts of women empowerment- you know, women in power kinda stuffs with a woman President, 4 powerful women chief ministers, Mrs Gandhi as one of the powerful politicians in the country, Smt Sushma Swaraj as leader of Opposition Lok Sabha, Chanda Kocchar , Indira Nooyi, Kiran Bedi et al, we get to hear such remarks about women victims who in addition to going through the physical+emotional trauma of rape or assault also have to face the probing of her  life –like how many men she was going around with, what she was wearing, how she behaved in public, what was her family background etc etc so that the reason why the man was PROVOKED or ENTICED to commit the crime could be determined.

The idea that women provoke men to assault them or entice rape sounds plain preposterous to me.  Let’s face the fact and it is –

• There’s no woman who wants to get raped or assaulted. Or even deserves it.
• Men who want to attack or assault women will find someone to attack– irrespective of what one wears or how one behaves.
• A woman’s rape is not her fault.
• Last but not the least – Rape is a horrendous crime and the criminal should be punished severely. And we must understand one thing – if a woman is saying that she was assaulted please don’t cast aspersions on her at the first go. Let the facts emerge and then decide. If you don’t know the facts  then do not  convict, sentence or bash her.

The Kolkata Rape Victim, Aarushi Talwar and Scarlet Keeling – all have received similar kind of bashing from moral police. In case of Aarushi and Scarlet they were tried, judged and bashed relentlessly after their death, whereas the Kolkata rape victim is living a nightmare.