Violence against Women

                                              Violence against Women

                                                       Dr. Keshab Chandra Mandal 

The issue of violence-free world is the highest need of the hour where women can join in development activities without any fear of oppression and violence. There is highly necessity for such a world where all women and girls can live freely, a world where all girls can enjoy the right to education and have freedom to go to school without the fear of being eve-teased and kidnapped, a world where domestic violence like beating, kicking, pulling hair, pushing, slapping etc. no longer exist, a world where women’s human rights defenders are not killed for raising their voices, a world where women and girls are not systematically raped at home, at work place or during times of instability and war. “Causes of violence against women have generally been attributed to inequality between men and women, hierarchical family relationships, early marriage, and women’s isolation.”

 

    The environment of violence against women in the area of study can be found from the following statements of the respondents. Out of three states under the present study, Tamil Nadu is better in this respect as considered by Masthura, one Assistant to BDO in Kundrathur Block, Chennai. She utters that, “In overall Tamil Nadu, there is no eve teasing, no bride beating and no bride burning.” But the views of Priti, a Post-Graduation student in Jaipur, Rajasthan, differs from Mastura. She pointed out that, “Actually domestic violence is a problem in villages. After consuming wine, husbands beat women. In Bhilwara and Ajmer districts the cases of domestic violence and particularly wife beating by the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes men is too much. In Rajasthan, the Rajput and Brahmin families do not like to send their women outside of their home. They are doing theoretical politics, not practical.” West Bengal recently topped in crimes against women. The Hindu reports that, According to the 2012 NCRB report, 30,942 crimes were committed against women. However, the figure has fallen marginally to 29,836 crimes in the 2013 report.

 

    As a whole, violence against women in Indian society is well known. “Violence against women and girls in South Asia begins in the womb with the selective abortion of female fetuses and continues throughout life with infanticide, dowry deaths, sexual harassment, assault, and domestic violence. Rigid patriarchal norms work in tandem with caste, class, and religious oppression in most of the countries in the region. Recent inci­dents in India have included a gang rape episode on a Delhi public bus on December 16, 2012, and the subsequent death of the twenty-three-year-old victim, which brought thousands of Indians into the streets in Delhi in pro­test.”

    Violence against women is not only a crime in India, it is a worldwide phenomenon. “Violence against women who choose the political path is an increasing concern in South Asia. The assassinations of Indira Gandhi (in India in 1984) and Benazir Bhutto (in Pakistan in 1997) and attempts on the lives of Chandrika Kumaratunga in Sri Lanka and Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh are examples of violence against women in positions of power. Granted, these women were targeted also for their policies and political positions, and men with similar policies and positions would likely have met the same fate. In general, however, violence against women with political aspirations is common and a reflection of deeper systemic violence against women.”