Gender violence survey of Kandhamal

JOINT NATIONAL FACT FINDING TEAM ON GENDER VIOLENCE IN KANDHAMAL-ORISSA

PRESS STATEMENT

BHUBANESWAR, 26th February 2013

CONCERN AT RISE IN GENDER VIOLENCE AGAINST JUVENILES IN KANDHAMAL

ADMINISTRATION, POLICE FAR AWAY FROM “ZERO TOLERANCE” OF RAPE; COMPENSATION STILL NOT PAID TO VICTIMS

NEED FOR FAST TRACK COURTS, HELP LINE AND COUNSELLING

The Government of Orissa needs to take urgent steps to enforce a“Zero Tolerance Regime” against rape cases in the State, specially in vulnerable hinterland districts such as Kandhamal with large populations of marginalized Dalit and Tribal people.

An All India Fact finding team on gender violence which toured Kandhamal and interacted with State and District authorities from 23^rd to 26^th February 2013 discovered that despite the national focus after the New Delhi rape and murder case, Orissa has not yet assimilated the administrative recommendations of the Justice Verma Committee into the functioning of district police and units of the Women and Child Welfare Department. There is also a feeling that since the anti Christian violence in 2007 and 2008 and the very large number of acquittals in criminal cases, the people seem not to fear the law as much as they should. The fact finding ream consisted of representatives of CBCI Women’s Desk, National council of Churches in India, All India Christian Council, EFI, ADF, and YWCA National Council.

A grass roots survey involving interviews with victim-survivors and families of murdered girls shows a shocking state of affairs typified in the rape of a six year old of K Nuagaon Blockin one case, and 13 to 14 years old girls attacked in Darringbadi. The situation demands that senior officials be held accountable for dereliction of duties by the subordinate police.

None of the rape victims have yet received any of the statutory compensation. It is absurd that the victim has to make an application pleading for compensation. The authorities must give such compensation suomotu, as was done in the case of the Delhi victim.

However, in the case of the murder of the 13 year old girl in Doddomah-Simanbadi village, the police have filed a charge-sheet in the court against two men. A third accused is a juvenile.

Police have not been able to explain the high number of acts of sexual violence against young girls. One senior officer dismisses them as “failed love affairs”. The team expresses disappointment at official statements that they register FIRs because of the pressure of parents “even where no actual rape had taken place.” Many parents insist there has been refusal to register complaints, or long delay at the police station. In some cases, police and village committees have sought to force the victims into compromising with the assailants instead of dealing with the crime under law.

According to data given by District Superintendent of Police J.N.Pankaj, the number of rapes has come down in 2012 to 21 cases from a high of 32 cases in 2011 and 25 cases in 2010.

However, NGO groups have saidthey had recorded at least nine cases from 24th October 2012 till 15^th February 2013 and there were many other cases they were probing.

The absence of a forensic science laboratory in the Kandhamal district, the absence of women personnel in many police stations, the fact there is no Special Juvenile Police Unit, and skeletal staff with almost no facilities in the women’s welfare units in the district aggravates the situation,making women more vulnerable.

Thefact finding group was also disturbed at the very large number of women in Kandhamal who had been deserted by their husbands. In most cases, the women were from Dalit or Tribal communities, and the men from other castes, specially “outsiders” including many traders doing business in the small towns.

Another area of concern was the situation in the government–run hostels in the district where as many as 10,000 tribal and Dalit girls stay and study inattached schools. The security of these schools and hostels has not got the attention it deserves from the authorities, and there have been cases of girls from hostels being lured and seduced by outsiders.

There is an urgent need for a gender situation survey in Kandhamal district which should cover the girls hostels, the issue of abandoned women and the crisis of human trafficking in Kandhamal girls in particular and Orissa girls in general. Police admit they haveidentified the vulnerable blocks and villages, but there is no system in place to check the crime. Step need be taken to ensure  change in the mindset of all people, specially officials.

In its suggestions, the team has called for urgent steps to sensitise police and officials at all levels on gender violence issues, apart from launching education programmesthrough mass media, TV and extension services. Sex education as a subject in schools, orientation of village committees and gram panchayats need to be taken up immediately. Local hospitals must carry out medical examinations by women doctors whenever a victim comes, instead of making the girl and her parents to go from one place to another.

In prevention of crime, patrolling has to be intensified where large crowds  congregate in the urban areas for fetes and fairs and people have to return home in the dark, making young girls specially vulnerable to sexual predators.

Other measures suggested include steps for counseling and rehabilitation of victims of gender violence, specially very young children  apart from legal services percolating to the grassroots. The Helpline for women must be activated.

The fact finding team consisted of Dr John Dayal, Member National Integration Council and Secretary general, All India Christian Council, Advocate Sr. Helen Saldanah [CBCI office for Women] Advocate Sr. Mary Scaria, AdvocateLoreignOvung [ADF_EFI], Sr. Justine, Ms. Lena Chand [YWCA India], SukantNayak and AshishBhasin [Light Foundation] and MrKasta Dip [India Peace Centre - National Council of Churches in India]

Copies of their suggestions are being forwarded to the State and Central governments and the Commissions for Women and Children.

ANNEXURES

FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS MADE BY THE FACT FINDING TEAM ON GENDER VIOLENCE IN KANDHAMAL

BASIC FINDINGS:

1.    Sexual violence against women in Kandhamal is due to the breakdown of the law and order situation in the district that gives a feeling to the culprits that they can get away with the law easily.

2.    Gender violence including child molestation, rape and murder has led to moral breakdown and manifested in incest, adultery and bigamy with desertion coupled with cruelty.

3.      Lack of medical examination facilities for the victims impede and delay the process of justice.

4.    An imposed culture of silence in which victims are not willing to voice the assault on them is due to threats from the accused and their families and friends.

5.      Lack of fast track courts for women, Mahila Thanas (Women Police Station) and women police officers discourage the victims of sexual violence to follow up their cases.

6.      Lack of juvenile homes in the district while the juvenile crimes are on the increase is a violation of the human rights of the juvenile criminals.

7.      Lack of education and awareness about their rights especially among the dalit and tribal communities lead to their sexual exploitation by Upper Caste people.

8.      Absence of payment of compensation, lack of rehabilitation facilities and trauma counselling centres for victims of rape continue to traumatize them   

9.      Prevalent dowry system and patriarchal mind set of people make them utterly vulnerable to sexual violence.

10.  Lack of gender sensitivity among the police officials leads to further humiliation, insults of the victims of rape.

11.  Negligence and passive role on the part of the police to accelerate the process of justice by refusing to register the FIRs destroys the confidence of the victims and their families to speak out against the atrocities being committed against them

12.  After the communal riots of 2008, the minority communities are being threatened especially targeting their women and children for sexual exploitation.

13.  Forcible inter caste marriages happening for acquisition of the tribal property and desertion of the women after acquiring their property seems to be a common phenomenon.

SUGGESTIONS TO THE ADMINISTRATION:

1.    Adopt Zero tolerance policy to curb violence against minor girls and women.

2.    Justice Verma Commission Report to be implemented with immediate effect.

3.      Adequate compensation to be given to the victims.

4.    Set up Fast Track courts to try the rape victims.

5.    Conduct a survey on Gender violence in Kandhamal and bring out statistics in order to take adequate measures to prevent sexual assault and rape against minor girls and women.

6.    Organize awareness programs regarding the rights of the victims and their families.

7.    Make medical examination of rape victims mandatory.

8.    Filing of FIRs to be made compulsory in every police station and officers who fail to perform their duties should be prosecuted.

9.    Establish child care centres/crèche for children of daily labourers and wage earners.

10.  Adequate women police officers to be posted in every police station and establish Mahila Thana (Women’s Police Station) in order to protect the integrity and dignity of the victim.

11.  Sex education should be given to the children from Class I onwards.

12.  Special focus on abandoned and deserted women and set up homes for women in distress.

13.  Establish self defence schools for girls and women.

14.  Establish and maintain help lines for women and children.

15.  Establish trauma counselling centres and rehab centres in every block for the victims

16.  Make provision for rehabilitation and employment opportunities including vocational training and education to victims of rape and other forms of gender violence. 

17.  Juvenile Homes and cells to be set up for rehabilitation and reformation of the juvenile offenders.

18.  Review existing security measures of the girl’s hostels run by the government and ensure security for the girls.  Establish hostels for working women.

19.  Implement and utilise Govt. funds for the benefit of victims of rapes and gender violence.

20.   Deploy adequate police force both male and female during major festivals and ensure frequent patrolling in sensitive areas and hamlets

21.  Provide financial help to run minority women’s and girls’ hostels.

22.   Village Committees to have 50% of women participants and to ensure that the justice process is carried out.

23.  Activate all Government Commissions with adequate representation of women.

24.  Adequate representations of SC, ST, SCBC communities in State Legislature and all women’s commissions.

For further details, please contact Dr John Dayal 09811021072

The human cost of fake encounters

John Dayal

A bullet kills a man, shatters a family, and adds to the triumphal statistics of a government totaling up the number of “Maoists” it has eliminated in its “Red Corridor” extending from the borers of Nepal to deep into Andhra Pradesh in south India.

The tragedy is compounded as Central and State governments pretend deafness when civil society challenges the “fake encounter”, a euphemism for cold blooded extra judicial execution by the armed police, and the country’s much wonted judicial system cannot intervene to examine the circumstances in which a bunch of young men me their death in such a brutal manner.

This is one such story, narrated by the brother of one of those killed, and a harried activist who sees his own son abducted by the police soon after he cries for justice for the dead innocents. It is also the frustration of national civil society activists and specially those of Orissa who have failed to rouse the conscience of chief ministers, governors and heads of various commissions dealing with human rights issues.

As news reports curtly detailed one morning, five men, described as Maoists, were shot dead in an encounter with the security forces in Gajapati district of Odisha on November 14, 2012. They were identified as  Aiba Padra, 35 years of age, of Bujuli village in Gadhapur panchayat, Shyamson Majhi, 50, of Bhingiriguda in Saramuli panchayat, Ghasiram Bagsingh, 33, of Mardhipanka village, Saramuli panchayat and Sanathan Mallick, 27, of Gaheju village in Hatimunda panchayat. All four villages are in Daringbadi block of Kandhamal district in the jurisdiction of the Brahmanigaon police station.

Dandapani Mohanty,  one of interlocutors along with Prof. Hargopal and Prof. R.S. Rao during the Government and Maoists’ peace talk process when Vineel Krishna, the then Malkangiri Collector, was abducted by Maoists, said the killings took place even as negotiations with the director general of police over implementation of  the past agreement were still under way.

On 30^th November, 2012, various civil rights organizations organized a demonstration and dharna in front of Odisha Assembly with the widows of the dead men, demanding a judiciary enquiry into the incident. The chief minister refused to meet the delegation.

Instead, police abducted Mohanty’s son. in a letter to the chief minister, Mohanty said “in a surprising move, on 5^th December, 2012, at the time around 10 am, when my only son Sangram Mohanty, an engineer and government contractor,  was returning from the garage after dealing with repair works of our trucks, the police in civil dress forcefully kidnapped him from Berhampur. In afternoon I knew from various TV channels that my son was arrested by police from Kamalapur of Mohana block area allegedly with arms and ammunitions and later forwarded to R. Udaygiri jail at 2 o’clock night. Though our family members and advocate tried to meet him police did not allow them at both Mohana Police Station and R. Udaygiri jail.”

Human rights activist VS Krishna and writer and social activist Deba Ranjan Sarangi  who led a fact-finding mission said “On the basis of our enquiries we state emphatically that all five of the deceased are not armed Maoist cadre but civilians. They did not die in an encounter but were murdered by the police. The version of the police that a combing party of the Special Operations Group and District Voluntary Force were fired upon on the forenoon of November 14 by Maoists in the Baliguda forest area of Gobindapur panchayat (on the Gajapati-Ganjam border) in the jurisdiction of the Mohana police station following which they returned the fire in self-defense resulting in the death of 5 Maoists is nothing but a blatant falsehood.”

Their enquiries found all five killed were civilians and unarmed. They were farmers who were leading completely over-ground lives. While three of them, Aiba Padra, Shyamson Majhi and Sanatan Mallick were adivasis of the Kondh tribe, Ghasiram Bagsingh and Laxmi Kanta Nayak were Scheduled Castes belonging to the Pano community. Ghasiram Bagsingh, Shyamson Majhi and Aiba Padra were also social activists.

Aiba Padra of Bujuli had some land on which he raised ginger and turmeric. His wife Ranjita is an anganwadi worker in the village and they have a 6-year-old son who studies at the Good Shepherd School in Brahmanigaon. Aiba was employed with an NGO Orissa Health and Medical Research Institute for which he was filling in details of the government’s socio-economic and caste census. He was, according to residents of the village, quite concerned about the development of the area. According to Ranjita, Aiba was driving her and their son on his motorbike from Brahmanigaon on November 12 when he said that there was some work he had to attend on and would be back the next day. He dropped them off en-route Bujuli and that was the last she saw him alive.

Shyamson Majhi of Bhingiriguda was a much-respected man. He was president, since 2004, of a local committee formed by the people and was quite active in issues like exposing panchayat raj corruption and laying of roads to remote villages. He had unsuccessfully contested for the Saramuli sarpanch’s post in 2006. On November 13, Shyamson asked his brother Judhistir, a government teacher, for his motorcycle saying he had to go to Daringbadi to seek legal help for 11 of their associates who were being implicated in a false case by Karma Patmajhi and their associates. That was the last his wife Sikko Alu Majhi saw him. The couple has two sons, one of who is mentally challenged.

Sanatan Mallick of Gaheju was a farmer who raised ginger and paddy. He was also a pastor his village church. He and his wife Mamita, an anganwadi helper, also ran a small kirana shop in the village. They have two daughters. According to the village residents, he was a good man and of a helpful nature. He would often speak in terms of doing the right thing. The last time Mamita saw him alive was on November 13^th when he left home in the morning saying he would return the next day.”

Ghasiram Bagsingh of Mardhipanka was by all accounts an exceptionally dynamic activist. He was elected panchayat samiti member in the 2006 polls and was quite well known in the area. Apart from some farming, he also did small construction contracts. He was the leader of the anti-corruption crusade in the panchayat that resulted in the sarpanch getting arrested. He, along with people like Shyamson Majhi took out an impressive rally at Daringbadi on October 12 seeking action against not just the sarpanch but also all those who were involved in the rice misappropriation and other illegalities. Ghasiram was driving the bike with Shyamson pillion riding on November 13th when they left for Daringbadi. This is the last seen of both of them alive.

How the deaths of these men, caught in the political crossfire between the government and the Maoist, have impacted their families is best told in the words of Ghasiram’s only brother Pramod. Pramod is a Catholic scholar, currently   a member of the community of Silesians of Don Bosco, studying philosophy in Karunapuram Warangal, Andhra Pradesh.

In a letter to some friends, he said “Karma Majhi, the Sarpanch of our panchayat is the dealer who sells ration rice to the locality. He is supposed to give to the people whatever comes from the Government but in reality he is selling away secretly the store and telling the innocent people no stock. It has been taking place number of times. People in their innocence went to my brother Ghasiram Bagsingh, a well-known person in the locality who always fought for justice. He was also a member of Daringbadi Block  council. Together with the people my brother went to police station to fail a case against the Sarpanch for cheating the people. The police responded immediately and arrested him. Later they had a rally in the block in the presence of B.D.O and Tahsildar.

“The sarpanch got bail complained to the Naxalites about my brother and four other innocent men.  The Maoists gave a letter to my brother telling him to come for meeting in the forest near Baliguda. The nature of the Naxalites of this place is that nobody should know what is happening in the place other than the people concerned. If at all the news is leaked they would come and kill the person responsible.

“The sarpanch who informed the Maoists, also informed the police  who went to the place where meeting is conducted and shot all five.  The question is whether they were shot on their way to the meeting spot or on their return journey or just called and shot. These questions remain unanswered. The whole incident was arranged by the sarpanch.

“My brother Ghasiram Bagsingh was married to Laxmi and had four children, two boys and two girls studying in different hostels aging from 9 to 3 years. His wife is housewife. Now I am in a dilemma what to do about them. I am in the seminary. I am only male at home. I have five sisters of whom two are married and three are studying in hostels. My family needs financial support very badly. We have filled case in the high court for the compensation and to get justice done for the family. So far nothing has happened.”

The media has not bothered about this family, or about the other five.

The government remains silent.

Civil society has also quietened down, frustrated as its efforts go unheeded,  and afraid they too may be targeted like Mohanty.

[First published in Indian Currents 10 Feb 2013]

GANG RAPES IN KANDHAMAL

The shame of Kandhamal

The untold story of gender violence in Orissa

JOHN DAYAL

On a recent visit to Orissa, I interviewed a 13 year old girl who had been gang raped on Dussehara evening in a forest in Kandhamal, not far from her home in a  small township. She was returning with her companions from a  “mela” or fete organized to celebrate the victory of good, exemplified by the Lord Rama, over evil, represented in lore by the effigy of abductor King Ravana.  Torn and naked, barring coat someone had given to hide her body, she made it to the town, and eventually to her extended family. After a long struggle and encounter with a foul mouthed woman police inspector and a callous official of the Orissa government’s Women’s Commission, the family managed to get a First Information Report lodged with the Police. The case is still not in court.

Another girl, also about 13 or 14 years old, was not so lucky. Coming home from another fete, she was captured by a gang of young men, stripped and gang raped. They then tied her to a tree, and  in a frenzy, killed her.

And now, a fact finding team, organized by the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights and others, which went to Kandhamal early in January, has discovered the rape of a third girl. All of them were either Dalits or Tribal. And two of them were Christian.

Away from the mass movement in New Delhi and other big towns, both spontaneous and organized,  of the gang rape and murder of “Brave-heart Daughter of India” as media and politicians called her, there has been a   stunning silence on rapes of Dalit and Tribal women across the country, often enough by members of the police an security forces, and the absolute impunity that goes with it. Orissa has specially been an area of darkness. Some accounts have put the number of rapes in Kandhamal region as high as 30, with civil rights groups speaking of upto 100 cases in Sundargarh, for instance.

This is time to have a look at the full picture in Orissa which has a long history of rapes and its political consequences. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's 13-year long regime has witnessed a series of such gory incidents.  Civil rights groups quote official data which says that three women are raped every day in the state.

Local activists say this winter has seen many spine chilling rape incidents. A dancing girl was raped by three persons in the state capital while another girl was molested and pushed out of a running auto-rickshaw in the city. This was followed by a most pathetic incident where a minor girl was forcibly lifted and gang-raped in Rayagada. The orphan girl who was staying with her grand-mother attempted self-immolation.

Crimes against women under three heads - namely rape, molestation and “eve teasing” - during the years 2009, 2010 and 2011 have increased in the state. "There has been a 20% rise in rape cases in the state during 2012. The increase in molestation and eve teasing cases have also recorded roughly the same percentage," a senior official in the state Home department has admitted.  The tribal dominated Keonjhar district tops the list of crimes against women. While 75 rape cases were registered in this mineral rich district in 2011, the figure increased to 101 in 2012. Besides, 235 molestation and 20 eve-teaching cases were also reported in Keonjhar the same year. Mayurbhanj registered the highest number of 295 molestation cases in 2012, figuring slightly below the neighbouring district in rape cases (82).

Christians have been particular targets. In the 2007-2008 attacks, women and girls were targeted for sexual violence, humiliation, brutal physical assaults and threats. “There are several other reports of sexual assault and molestation and it is highly likely that many other such cases have gone unreported due to the shame attached,” warned the study ‘Genocide in Kandhamal: Ethnic Cleansing of Christians by Hindu Rightwing Forces in Orissa’ by the Human Rights Law Network. According to the report of Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work, five women reported that they and / or their female family members had been subjected to sexual assaults, and that 16 women said that young girls in their area had been raped while 12 women reported that women had been raped in their villages.  Though witness testimonies indicate that sexual violence was rampant during the attacks, there are very few reported cases, and an even smaller number that have been registered and are pending in the courts for prosecution. 

Patently, civil society – which includes the Church in the State and in India, must wake up to this grim reality before we seek to rouse the Judiciary and the political system.

We must not be partners in the conspiracy of silence.

Change the gender discourse in India

A silent Church is a dead one

Why has it not spoken out on the Delhi gang rape?

John Dayal

The Church in India, and in particular the Catholic Church, have made themselves all but invisible in the current national debate on gender violence, ceding space to authoritarian voices that confuse revenge for justice, and shift focus from a change in mindsets and civilized values.
Perhaps an opportunity has been lost once again to intervene in and change the national discourse on issues of grave concern to the country, its democracy and its people.
As in the discussion on national corruption that hogged media attention and parliamentary time through much of 2012, the Church was uniquely placed to make a difference.
Among religious and social groups in India, the Catholic Church probably stands alone in articulating a gender policy for itself and the community after several years of a crushing internal discussion in which its more than 100,000 women took an active part.
It remains a moot question why the Church leadership chose to maintain a deafening silence over the brutal gang rape and murder of a young medical student.
I hope it was not because of a want of information, of which there was plenty in the carpet bombing by the electronic media, or a lack of sensitivity, which would weigh heavy on its conscience for a long time to come.
One possible explanation could be that it was afraid it would be seen as confronting the state, a bitter lesson it learned after it was “punished” for challenging the government in the controversial Koodankulum nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.
After siding with the common people whose lives and livelihoods would have been severely impaired, the local bishop suffered a curtailment of his permits to receive foreign funding for diocesan development activities.
Such “lessons” leave a deep mark on the collective psyche of the institutional Church.
No bishops with their silver crosses on their bosoms, no nuns in habits – barring a few exceptions – and no priests in cassocks were therefore seen in the massive crowds that laid siege to the national capital and its governance institutions.
For almost two weeks in December 2012 and the first week of January 2013, thousands of outraged protesters called for justice for the 23-year-old victim, gang raped by six men in a moving bus one fateful evening in New Delhi.
Jyoti Singh Pandey's male companion, who sought to defend her, was also beaten then both were dumped on a roadside.  The severity of her wounds spoke of the brutality of the sexual attack on her and moved the people into a frenzy.
Even doctors who attended her at one of Delhi’s premier government hospitals said they had in their careers never seen wounds such as these. Jyoti was later transferred to a hospital in Singapore, where she died of her injuries.
She was cremated in secrecy in New Delhi to prevent further confrontation between police and the people, mostly young men and women.
The assailants have been arrested and their trial has begun, in a fast-track court created specially under the orders of the Supreme Court of India. Judgment is expected within weeks. The police have sought the death penalty for the rapacious killers.
The trial, judgment and punishment however are not likely to quench the national demand for comprehensive laws to ensure the security of women in metropolitan cities and the 400,000 villages of the country.
The debate has been extended to include violence against women of the tribals and the Dalits, the former untouchables, and religious minorities such as the Muslims whose women are victims of targeted sexual violence in times of strife or even of confrontation with industry, rich landlords and violent religious and upper caste bigots in battles over land, forest rights and ethnic space.
The Catholic community has itself been a victim of gender violence, with religious nuns being victims of gang rape in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa in the last 20 years.
Wives, sisters and daughters of evangelical and Pentecostal pastors have also been subjected to targeted violence in an emerging trend in Madhya Pradesh and some other states in recent years.
These horrendous incidents quite correctly come under the national spotlight, but the gender debate itself remains subterranean other than when some political group or other takes up a position in parliament whenever there is talk of giving women some sort of a statutory representation in legislative institutions, or in the matter of equal opportunity in employment.
The vicious debates in parliament on the Reservations for Women Bill show perhaps even better than statistics that patriarchal India has still not come to terms with how to nurture and respect women, a little less than 50 percent of the population.
That they are not an exact half of the population, as nature designed them to be, is because of the hazards they run from the moment of conception all the way till they marry – pre-natal deaths in sex-determined abortions, infant mortality, girl child bias, and dowry deaths apart from selective malnourishment and labor.
The data on the “invisible lives” of Indian women remains terrible as it is for their sisters in some countries of Africa and South Asia. Three out of five women in South Asia and an estimated 50 percent of all women in Africa and in the Arab region are still illiterate. Close to 245 million Indian women lack the basic capability to read.
In India, the child sex ratio dropped from 945 females per 1000 males in 1991 to 927 females per 1000 males in 2001; up to 50 million girls and women are ‘missing’ from India’s population because of termination of the female foetus or high mortality of the girl child. Female foeticide in India increased by 49.2 percent between 1999-2000.
The share of women in non-agricultural wage employment is only 17 percent. Participation of women in the workforce is only 13.9 percent in the urban sector and 29.9 percent in the rural sector.
Women’s wage rates are, on average, only 75 percent of men’s wage rates and constitute only 25 percent of the family income. In no Indian state do women and men earn equal wages in agriculture.
Women occupy only 9 percent of parliamentary seats – less than 4 percent of seats in High Courts and in the Supreme Court less than 3 percent of administrators and managers are women.
The data on crimes against women is absolutely nauseating. Every 3.5 minutes, a crime is committed against women in India. In terms of daily statistics, 45 women were raped, 121 women were sexually harassed and 31 women and girls were trafficked in the last 24 hours.
As many as 40 women and girls are kidnapped every day, and 21 women are murdered every day over dowry issues. Domestic violence constitutes 33.3 percent of all crimes against women.
And finally, 110,424 housewives committed suicide between 1997-2001 and accounted for 52 percent of the total female suicide victims.
This is data from UNICEF, the National Crime Research Bureau and other official sources. In instances of sexual violence including rape, close relatives and acquaintances were the main assailants, and societal silence the main response.
The data should shock the nation, and specially the governance system – the ministries of the government, the bureaucrats who implement the decisions and the politicians, in parliament or state legislatures, who make the decisions. And it should shock the Church and the leaders of other religions.
The indices show that since 1950 when the constitution came into being giving every citizen, man and woman, equality under the law and the system, the effort has been at best half-hearted.
Just taking foeticide, education and wages as test cases, it is evident that a male-centric semi-feudal and semi-rural social structure has not yet reconciled the contemporary demands of equal treatment of the son and the daughter, for that is what every male and female is in the family structure.
It is all interconnected. One would feel that the decision for midday meals would help improve the health standards of all children, including girls. Not so.
To begin with, most of the girls are not in school anyway, and others as surrogate mothers to their young siblings at home often smuggle the food back for them.
This is of course true only when the midday meal scheme works, and there are serious doubts if it works as well in forest areas and in Dalit “bastis” or hamlets in the hinterland.
The issues of equal wages for equal work, better maternity health care and maternal nutrition are issues the government has not fully resolved, and may, in fact, not be able to resolve for a couple more decades going by the rate of progress at present.
But it is in the matter of sexual violence that one notices disturbing trends in governance and society.
A report compiled by the National Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms has revealed that about 260 candidates facing charges such as rape, assault and outraging the modesty of a woman contested assembly elections on tickets of various parties in the last five years.
The Congress was leading the 'shame-list' with 26 such candidates followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People’s Party), who had 24.
This does put a question mark on the intent of the political parties. Civil society has in recent years taken the initiative in persuading the government to draft a comprehensive law against communal and targeted violence, which focuses on gender violence and the traumatizing of women of all ages in times of ethnic or religious conflict.
Women’s associations have also been working on reforms of laws – some of which date back to the 19th century – concerning sexual violence, including changes in the definition of rape.
The country has also seen mounting anger against feudal rural society, popularly known as “khaps,” that run kangaroo courts to punish couples who defy caste norms, or young women who marry men they love.
Many such khaps are known to have forced rape survivors to marry their rapists. In fact sometimes police and magistrates, especially in states such as Madhya Pradesh, also recommend that rapists marry their victims.
It is such a feudal and anti-woman mindset that civil society activists are trying to change. Many social groups have joined them, especially youth from universities and the workforce. It is time to strengthen this civil society movement.
The Church, especially the Catholic hierarchy, religious and laity, have been in fact invited to join in this struggle at changing society and culture, introducing value-based education in schools and colleges, and working with rural and urban communities to ensure that India is safe and nurturing for its women citizens.
The Catholic Church cannot afford to keep aloof from the tectonic movement for a modern democratic India.
John Dayal is the general secretary of the All India Christian Council and a member of the Indian government’s National Integration Council