Stop this Shame....

(image source-google)

We all know that in ancient Indian scriptures, woman was given a glarified status. She was an embodiment of shakti, no religion ceremony was complete without her.  Savitri, Parvati, Sita, Ahilya were the role models of Indian society.....In later days, during the freedom struggle Aruna Asaf Ali, Sarojini Naidu, Kasturba Gandhi, Sucheta kirplani and other women played excellent role for the libration of their motherland from the Britishers. They fought against all odds, so that at no point of time their commitment or energy could be derated with those of their male counterparts during those times.

With the advent of the technology dominated era and commercialism our women have also changed. The shy n not so bold female in the saree have been replaced by a youthful, fashion conscious and smart girl in jeans and T-shirts. Whenever needed they are more hard working and sincere in all the walk of life and more productive than their male counterpart and no one can deny that at present women have been playing major roles in politics, economy, household, society and nation building.

Today we have woman as a speaker of Lok Sabha, a woman chair person of the ruling coalition govt and not to mention that just couple of months back we had a woman President too. Not only this, recently when Saina Nehwal and Mary Kom came back with those glittering Olympic medals in their hands then there was a status update on social networking sites saying "Performance of Sania Nehwal and Mary Kom is enough proof to have more n more girl children in India...."

But unfortunately every time we start making an opinion that the condition of woman have improved, there is Guwahati or Delhi type of unfortunate incident, where a girl is molested n stripped by a mob or gang reaped and the status of women in the society suffers a jolt. The most important thing is, the incidents like Guwahati n Delhi makes one to believe that our women are not safe even in the educated urban environment.

There was a report  by The south Indian Council for Human Rights Education and Monitoring in Feb 2011 which says "One woman is molested every 26 minutes, One woman is raped every 34 minutes and one-fourth of the 15 million girls born every year don't even get to celebrate their 15th birthday....." Now after looking at this report one can easily understand that its not only Guwahti or Delhi which has witnessed such fateful incidents but such things have been happening in this country at regular intervals, irrespective of the states n cities....But as a human what do we do....???? 

Well, the moment such things happen, each of us start condemning it through all means, including dharnas, candle march etc.... Even our own blog world starts over flowing and showing its concern for the victim n their family but after couple of days or weeks, each of us get busy doing our own business and its the victim who only continue to suffer n goes through the mental trauma through out her life.....

I remember it was the same scenario when the girl was molested on the roads of Guwahati, everybody(sitting in dining room) was ready to kill the culprits, all the news channels were busy discussing the whole story day n night....it was like now or never....but what happened after few days, as usual every thing became normal for the entire nation.... Did anyone ever tried to peep into the life of the victim, how is she coping up with her life...???

Whether she got justice or not...???

Did any of us ever tried to know whether culprits got fixed or not....??? or,

Did we the Civilised Indians  ever came again on any social platform asking to the authorities that why culprits have not been fixed yet....???

No, we didn't... In fact, we never do that, perhaps we tend to forget such things very easily and its only get reminded to us when something similar happens somewhere again.....

Unless we change this attitude nothing will change.....

Its not that we lack the laws to protect women, in fact there are laws which literally protect them right from womb and through out their life. But the fact is, even after having these laws women continue to suffer at the hands of the system n society. Perhaps our great nation is still struggling to have proper mind set to use the laws and deal with those people who commit such sinful n brutal act....

Enough is enough.... 

The time for talk is over.... 

Its high time to take some action, to stop this shame.

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irfaaaann@gmail.com

pen_irfan@twitter.com

iron Lady....

Well, there is no need to mention that recent 12 days fast by Anna Hazare paralysed Indian political system by capturing the media attention and inspiring hundreds of thousands of people across the country.......But in India where hunger strike is known as a common tool of protest , not all of them capture the public support and media attention in quite the same way as Anna Hazare and Narendra Modi did in recent past, and Irom Sharmila is one of them whose lonely and nonviolent struggle against the disputed Armed Forces Special Power Act(AFSPA)  has endured in obscurity.

Irom Sharmila of Manipur has been on fast for more then 11 years, yes it is more then a decade now that she has not allowed even a drop of water to pass through her lips. The episode that prompted Sharmila to begin her fast took place on 2nd Nov. 2000 in Malom, a village near Imphal, where after an explosion along the main road, the Army men killed 10 people that include a teenager and a 62 year old lady. And in protest of brutal killing by army men, Sharmila started her hunger strike demanding repeal of AFSPA and was arrested shortly after beginning her fast on charges of attempted suicide. She was sent to a prison hospital in Imphal,  where began a daily routine of being force fed via a nasal drip and it is continuing till date. The soldiers claim that they had been fired upon but the judicial inquiry found no evidence of firing by villagers.

I think the only difference between Anna Hazare and Irom Sharmila is that Anna is able to galvanize public support through various means. Most importantly he could get a media glare to reach the mass at a rapid pace, where as Sharmila's battle is so silent and confined to Manipur only. But why can't the media do its part to get Irom Sharmila some attention. I mean you report if Big B sneezes or Katrina coughs....So please do your part for Irom Sharmila too.

But again what has Sharmila got to give to media if it backs her, a little amount of TRP in the North-Eastern region....Well who cares, when they are getting much more TRPs by showing Big B's visit to meet his charge sheeted friend and by covering Narendre Modi's high profile fast......

I personally feel that if there is any true Gandhian at present then it is Sharmila but our authorities as well as society is not even as responsive to her as the imperialist Britishers were to Mahatma Gandhi. I think its time that people of India join hands in convincing her to put an end to misery.....Her life is too precious to be wasted like this.

By writing this post here I am not saying that in response to Sharmila's hunger strike government should have withdrawn AFSPA from that region, in fact Govt. knows better about merits and demerits of the disputed act. But what I want to say here is that the Govt should not give an impression that it succumbs to the pressure of rabble rousers only. In my view it should listen to Irom Sharmila and pay her due regards and if rules of the game can be twisted for Anna Hazare, why should the Govt not heed the demand of a silent sufferer. We must note here that she is suffering in silence only and not blackmailing anyone....