Category Archives: Violence/Conflict

Mathura too did not scream: Forum Against Oppression of Women

Guest Post by FORUM AGAINST OPPRESSION OF WOMEN

As a feminist collective that was formed in the aftermath of the historic Mathura rape case in 1980, in which two police men had sexually assaulted a tribal girl within the police station, two recent cases of sexual assault (in Mumbai) have become matters of grave concern for us. These were filed by women against medical professionals who had committed the crime within their clinic or hospital,

On May 17th 2013, a 26 year old woman had gone, accompanied by her husband, to meet Dr. Rustom Soonawala who had been treating her for TB and later infertility since August 2012. This was at around 6 pm as per appointment. Upon examination, the doctor told them that the TB was almost cured and then asked the husband to go out of the examination room, locked the room, and raped her while covering her mouth with his hand. Continue reading Mathura too did not scream: Forum Against Oppression of Women

To the German ambassador in India, a letter from Kashmir

This letter was faxed from Srinagar on 26 August 2013 to the German embassy in New Delhi and the Bavarian State Opera. List of signatories given at the end.

To,
Ambassador Michael Steiner,
German Embassy,
New Delhi, India.

Subject:  URGENT Protest Letter to German Embassy on scheduled Zubin Mehta concert in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir on 7 September 2013

On 22 August 2013, a press release was issued by the German Embassy that Zubin Mehta would be conducting an orchestra on 7 September 2013 at Shalimar Bagh, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir.

The press release quoted you as stating that the concert was for the people of Jammu and Kashmir by way of a cultural tribute. The press release also reads that the concert was intended to give a message of hope and encouragement to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The concert, said to be a part of a “broader engagement” is being organized by the German Embassy and supported by the “competent authorities both at Central as well as at Union State level”. The costs of the concert are covered by “benevolent sponsors mainly from the business world in India and Germany, as well as “Incredible India‟ and the German Foreign Office”. Continue reading To the German ambassador in India, a letter from Kashmir

To travel or not to travel to India: Karen Dias

This is a Guest Post by KAREN DIAS

The most recent ‘Incredible India’ video ad campaign shows a young woman of seemingly European descent traveling alone through India. She is seen drinking coconut water and being friendly with a man, playing chess with holy men, being helped after a fall by two men, cheering at a snake boat race on a boat filled with men, playing Holi surrounded by more men and strolling on what looks like a deserted beach with a male mahout and his elephant. Sadly, the truth is far from what the video depicts for foreign women traveling in India, and most of them will try their best to not find themselves alone in situations like the ones shown in the video.  Stories of foreign women being verbally and sexually harassed are not new in this country and being accompanied by male friends or relatives is almost never a deterrent. Continue reading To travel or not to travel to India: Karen Dias

Network of Women in Media demands safety for women media professionals

The Network of Women in Media, India, (NWMI) is shocked and angry at the alleged gangrape of a woman journalist and the assault on her male colleague in the evening of August 22 while they were on assignment for a print publication near the Shakti Mills compound at Mahalaxmi in Central Mumbai.

The two journalists were accosted and intimidated by a few people who demanded to see their authorisation for shooting in the area. They took the woman journalist aside on the pretext of securing the authorisation for her, tied up her colleague and allegedly gangraped her. In all, five persons perpetrated the attack, according to preliminary reports. The woman journalist showed great presence of mind in freeing herself and also managed to free her colleague and the two then sought to file a complaint with the N M Joshi Marg police station. They are being treated at Jaslok Hospital now for multiple injuries.

The incident is a grim reminder of the deteriorating state of safety for women in Mumbai as well as the lack of security for media professionals, especially women media professionals. The harassment of women professionals in the media is on the rise and, along with work-place related harassment, journalists also have had to contend with anti-women prejudices and biased reactions from employers as well as law enforcement officers.

The Network of Women in Media, India extends all support and solidarity to the journalists who were assaulted. The NWMI also cautions its colleagues in the media to report on the incident responsibly and sensitively, without providing unnecessary details that provide markers to the identity of the journalists involved.

NWMI also demands that the police conduct a speedy investigation into the assault and ensure that justice is delivered without delay. It also urges media employers to ensure the safety and security of their staff.

Yours sincerely,

Geeta Seshu, Kalpana Sharma, Meena Menon, Sameera Khan, Sandhya Srinivasan, Laxmi Murthy, Sharmila Joshi, Ammu Joseph, Rajashri Dasgupta, Jyoti Punwani and others

on behalf of

Network of Women in Media, India

Communalisation in the name of Security and Sovereignt: JKCCS

As Kishtwar continues to be under curfew, this public statement put out on 15 August 2013 by the Srinagar-based JAMMU AND KASHMIR COALITION OF CIVIL SOCIETY is pertinent.
On 29 July 2013, Village Defence Committee [VDC] members were alleged to have killed 16 year old Shamim Ahmed Lone, resident of Noutaas, Thatri, Doda. Further, a few days prior to the murder of Shamim Ahmed, a 16 year old girl, resident of Kuntwara, Kishtwar, was kidnapped and raped by persons backed and protected by the VDC. According to newspaper reports from last over a month at many places in Doda-Kistwar region masked men have terrorized people. Over the last week, several places in the Jammu region, particularly Kishtwar, have been subjected to violence at the hands of VDC members, supported by Hindu communal groups, which resulted into loss of three lives, numerous injuries and loss of public property. The unabated support and encouragement to VDCs by Government of India, has ensured deepening communal strife. Continue reading Communalisation in the name of Security and Sovereignt: JKCCS

The Curious Case of Hamid Ansari

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You may think he is a spy or a saboteur. If he is one, would he have spent months trying to reach Kohat from Mumbai and then get caught in just two days?

Sitting in Mumbai, Hamid Ansari fell in love with a Pakistani Pashtun girl over Facebook. He was a 26 year old management teacher, she was a B.Ed. student. After over a year of obsessing about each other over the internet, phone and phone messengers, she called him one day, crying. She had confided in her sister about this online affair, but the sister told the parents, who decided it was time to find her a husband. It was the last phone call. She soon disappeared from Facebook too. Continue reading The Curious Case of Hamid Ansari

Manmohan Singh must visit Pakistan

Dr Manmohan Singh with wife Gursharan Kaur at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on 1 January 2012
Dr Manmohan Singh with wife Gursharan Kaur at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on 1 January 2012

By SHIVAM VIJ: Which Indian or Pakistani premier has not desperately wanted to be the one to clinch peace between the two countries? Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has reportedly been keen, for years now, to go on a state visit to Pakistan.

Before the political climate could be conducive to Manmohan’s visit to Islamabad, 26/11 took place. Pakistan’s refusal to give Dr Singh even breathing space on the 26/11 investigations, followed by the LoC tensions in January and August this year, means that in his 10 years of prime ministership, Manmohan Singh will never have visited the country of his birth. Continue reading Manmohan Singh must visit Pakistan

Good Muslim, Bad Muslim – A Response to Ashish Khetan on the ‘IM’: Warisha Farasat

Guest Post by Warisha Farasat

The recent opinion piece by Ashish Khetan in the Hindu has yet again reiterated the false and malicious stereotype: that Muslims somehow have something or the other to do with terror, either when they are directly involved or when they are silent about others of the community being involved. It is disappointing that the debate is framed in the stereotypical, “good Muslim”, “bad Muslim” tenor rather than a real engagement with issues of shoddy investigation and communal bias that marks terror investigations in the country. Perhaps the greatest disservice that has been done to idea of justice has been linking an entire community to terrorism.

Continue reading Good Muslim, Bad Muslim – A Response to Ashish Khetan on the ‘IM’: Warisha Farasat

Terror and the Indian Mujahideen – A Response to Ashish Khetan: Sharib Ali

Guest Post by Sharib Ali

There is something disquieting in what Ashish Khetan has written and said recently on terror in India (in The Hindu and on Tehelka.tv), and centrally within it, the Indian Mujahideen. More so, because it comes from one of the most credible journalist’s today, who has done some commendable work over the years. A journalist I personally respect. But there are several reasons which compel this response. And yet, this is not just a response, but also an attempt to elucidate the many complex processes within which ‘terror’ is located today, and the way the discourse has transformed, and has implications for a people’s negotiated relationship with their state.

Continue reading Terror and the Indian Mujahideen – A Response to Ashish Khetan: Sharib Ali

Gendered Violence and the Hall of Mirrors: Parnal Chirmuley

Guest Post by Parnal Chirmuley

A very young man, who should have been cheerfully devouring the world of ideas over samosas and tea from the canteen, tries instead to hack an equally young woman, his classmate, to death. With an axe, some say. Tries to shoot her too, but the pistol is too stubborn, they say. Then turns the blade and the poison on himself. There he sees success. Succumbs to both.

This leaves behind rivers of blood in the classroom and gashes in the minds of those who witnessed this, bravely intervened, or ran away from it. It leaves everybody entangled in a sea of Gordian knots that are just questions.

Continue reading Gendered Violence and the Hall of Mirrors: Parnal Chirmuley

The Affective Claims of Violence – Reflections on the JNU Campus Tragedy: Pratiksha Baxi

Guest Post by Pratiksha Baxi

Many competing frameworks have given expression to shock, disbelief, rage, grief, guilt and fear after the violence witnessed as the new semester kicked in, with a monumental tragedy, on the JNU campus. Everyone is stunned by the tragic turn of events that has resulted in a young woman battling for her life in a neuro–ICU in Safadarjung hospital. Confusion gripped the campus as the classroom became a scene of crime, a classmate became a bloodied body and the familiar transformed into the incomprehensible. It was devastating that the assailant, who succeeded in extinguishing his own life, aimed to unite in death the object of his obsession through a planned and highly performative act of violence in the routine setting of a classroom.

Continue reading The Affective Claims of Violence – Reflections on the JNU Campus Tragedy: Pratiksha Baxi

Unrequited love or simply ‘self love’? – Reflections in the wake of a Campus Tragedy at JNU: Shivani Nag

Guest Post by Shivani Nag

In the days following the brutal rape and murder of a young woman in December last year, I remember waking up each day and being out on the streets raising slogans on women’s freedom and liberation. For months after that, there were a series of mobilizations, vigils, parades and protests, and my strongest recollection of those events is the resounding reverberation of ‘mahilaayein maangi azaadi… khaap se bhi azaadi aur baap se bhi azaadi, shaadi karne ki azaadi aur na karne ki azaadi…’. It WAS about justice for that one woman, but it wasn’t ONLY about that… it was also about many other such women – some forgotten, some not, some dead and some still around… it was also about all women, demanding not just justice but their right to life as equal citizens. We did not come out on the streets to be told how to be safe, but to convey it loud and clear that we cannot spend our entire lives trying to be safe without actually getting to live it. We came out to demand and defend our right to choice!! Continue reading Unrequited love or simply ‘self love’? – Reflections in the wake of a Campus Tragedy at JNU: Shivani Nag

Beyond Reasonable Doubt? The Conviction of Shahzad Ahmad: JTSA

Guest Post by Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association ( JTSA ), Delhi.

Beyond Reasonable Doubt? The Conviction of Shahzad Ahmad is a detailed analysis and critique by the Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association of the judgment awarded on the 25th of July by the 2nd Additional Session Judge, Delhi-South East (Saket) Court in the ‘State vs. Shahzad Ahmad@Pappu’ case, also known as the ‘Batla House Encounter’ case. Yesterday, on the 30th of July, the judge confirmed his verdict of ‘guilty’ and awarded Shahzad Ahmad the punishment of imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs. 95,000/-. The JTSA, which has been following the Batla House Encounter since 2008 presents its findings on the trial in this booklet, and disputes the guilty verdict awarded to Shahzad Ahmad. Kafila is carrying this publication (as part of a series of posts on the Batla House Encounter) as a downloadable pdf format file.

The Batla House Judgement and the Impossibility of Closure

The word ‘closure’ has a reassuring, comforting resonance, particularly when it comes to matters of death. One achieves closure. It is granted.  Those who are fortunate receive it as recompense for the necessary tasks of grief and mourning. We move on.

On the 25th of July, last week, after Rajender Kumar Shastri, 2nd Addiitional Sessions Judge of the South East (Saket) Court in New Delhi announced in open court that a young man named Shahzad Ahmad of Khalispur village in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh Disttrict was guilty of causing the death of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma of the Special Cell of the Delhi Police in Flat No. 108, L-18, Batla House, in South Delhi’s Jamia Nagar on the 19th of September, 2008, the word ‘closure’ began to ring out on prime time television.  We were given to believe that the infamous ‘Batla House Encounter’ case had finally achieved closure. That the ‘martyrdom’ and sacrifice of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma had now been vindicated. That all unseemly controversy could now be put to rest. We were told that it was time to move on.

Continue reading The Batla House Judgement and the Impossibility of Closure

आतंकवादी कविता के विरुद्ध युद्ध: अपूर्वानंद

‘शिक्षा बचाओ आन्दोलन’ ने आतंकवाद के खिलाफ अंतर्राष्ट्रीय युद्ध में नई जीत हासिल की है. वह कालीकट विश्वविद्यालय के स्नातक स्तर की  अंग्रेज़ी की पाठ्यपुस्तक –‘लिटरेचर एंड कंटेम्पररी इश्यूज’ से ‘अल कायदा से जुड़े एक आतंकवादी’ इब्राहिम अल रुबाईश की कविता ‘ओड टू द सी’ को निकलवा देने में सफल रहा है.  आन्दोलन की केरल इकाई के सचिव ने इस कविता को पाठ्यपुस्तक में शामिल करने को ‘गंभीर मामला’ बताते हुए कहा था कि किताब को वापस लेने और विश्वविद्यालय द्वारा माफी माँगने के बाद इसकी जांच होनी चाहिए कि ‘बोर्ड ऑव स्ट्डीज़’ और अकेडमिक काउन्सिल’ में आतंकवादियों के समर्थक कौन हैं जिससे इस तरह की सामग्री के चुनाव के पीछे की साजिश का पर्दाफ़ाश हो सके.

कुलपति ने फौरन अपने डीन प्रोफ़ेसर एम.एम. बशीर को मामले की जांच करने को कहा. उन्होंने कहा कि ऊपर से निर्दोष लगने वाली इस  कविता में रुबाइश ने अत्यंत अर्थगर्भी प्रतीकों का इस्तेमाल किया है जो खतरनाक भी हो सकते हैं.मसलन, उसने ‘फेथलेस’ शब्द का प्रयोग किया है जो अरबी शब्द ‘काफिर’ का अंग्रेज़ी अनुवाद है. फिर जैसा आज का अकादमिक रिवाज है, वे इंटरनेट पर गए और पता किया कि इस कवि  ने अमरीका के खिलाफ जंग का आह्वान भी किया था. भला इसके बाद और सोचने की ज़रूरत ही क्या रह जाती है?पाठ्यपुस्तक के संपादकद्वय में से एक ने लगभग माफी माँगते हुए कहा कि डेढ़ साल पहले इसे संपादित करते वक्त रुबाइश के बारे में ज़्यादा सामग्री ‘ऑनलाइन’ मौजूद न थी. अगर उन्हें कवि के  राजनीतिक रुझान  का जरा भी अंदाज होता तो वे इसे कतई न चुनते. Continue reading आतंकवादी कविता के विरुद्ध युद्ध: अपूर्वानंद

The BJP’s very own Stalin

Yashwant  Sinha is a worried man these days. He is apprehensive of his leader Narendra Modi being taken for a ride by the Congress party. He says that the Congress party is laying a trap for him, a trap of the binary of Communalism and Secularism and  fears that his upward looking Narendra Modi might fall in it. So, well  wisher that he is of Narendra Bhai, he wants to alert him: do not get  entangled in the conspiracy of the wily Congress. He appeals to Narendra Modi to stick to people’s issues and not let the political discourse  shift to the terrain of the Secularism  versus Communalism debate. Continue reading The BJP’s very own Stalin

मुकदमा क्या सिर्फ मीना कुमारी पर चले ?: अपूर्वानंद

मीना कुमारी पुलिस हिरासत में हैं.उन पर भारतीय दंड संहिता की धारा 302 और 120 के तहत मामला दर्ज किया गया है. यानी उन पर छपरा के गंडामन गाँव के नवसृजित प्राथमिक विद्यालय में पढने वाले तेईस बच्चों की ,जो स्कूल का मध्याह्न भोजन खाने के बाद मारे गए, इरादतन ह्त्या और उनकी ह्त्या के लिए आपराधिक षड्यंत्र का आरोप है.उन पर मुकदमा चलने और साक्ष्यों के स्थापित होने के  पहले ही बिहार के मुख्यमंत्री ने अपने दल के कार्यकर्ताओं के समक्ष शिक्षा मंत्री के षड्यंत्र के सिद्धांत को दुहराया है. आज , जब मैं जनसत्ता में छपी अपनी टिप्पणी को देख रहा हूँ, मुख्यमंत्री ने इसे दुर्घटना मानने से इनकार किया है. लेकिन वे इसे बाहरी साजिश का नतीजा मानते हैं. पहले ही इशारे किए जा चुके हैं. मीना कुमारी के पति के राष्ट्रीय जनता दल से सम्बन्ध की बात बार-बार कही जा रही है. कहा जा रहा है कि दुर्घटना वाले दिन वह स्कूल आया था और यह भी कि भोजन सामग्री की खरीदारी वही किया करता था. पहले यह खबर लगातार चलाई गई कि भोजन-सामग्री उसकी दुकान से खरीदी जाती थी. सच यह है कि उसकी कोई दुकान नहीं है. यह भी कोई  नहीं पूछ रहा कि आखिर मीना कुमारी का पति  सामान न खरीदता तो और कौन था यह काम करने वाला? क्या यह काम भी मीना कुमारी को ही करना चाहिए था?

मीना कुमारी की तस्वीर खलनायिका की बन चुकी है: रसोई बनाने वाली के संदेह के बावजूद  खाना उसी तेल में बनाने और फिर बच्चों की हिचक के बाद भी उन्हें खाने को मजबूर करने वाली औरत हत्यारी नहीं तो और क्या हो सकती है! Continue reading मुकदमा क्या सिर्फ मीना कुमारी पर चले ?: अपूर्वानंद

The media monster of the juvenile offender: Enakshi Ganguly and Anant Asthana

This is a guest post by ENAKSHI GANGULY and ANANT ASTHANA

July 17 was an important day. Supreme Court announced its judgment refusing to interfere with the Juvenile Justice Act. This was with respect to the eight petitions that were filed in the wake of the alleged involvement of a juvenile in the rape and murder of a 23 year young girl on December 16, 2012. The boy, who was found to be below 18 years, was described by the media as the most heinous of the rapists, a monster and a beast, and even the main accused—and this even before the police had filed the charge –sheets based on statements of the witnesses and evidence gathered. Should there be a fair judicial process that decides the case based on scrutiny of relevant facts or should we let media undertake a trial? Continue reading The media monster of the juvenile offender: Enakshi Ganguly and Anant Asthana

What Indian school children learn about the Partition

I wrote recently about the surprising political maturity with which NCERT textbooks teach Indian students about the Partition. These textbooks were prepared under the National Curriculum Framework of 2005. This is of course not limited to the Partition chapter or indeed just the history textbooks. But I was particularly moved to see the Partition chapter. As you read it you realise what school textbooks can do in shaping how future generations see themselves, their own history and identity. I think a lot of people in both India and Pakistan would like to read it. Here it is:

Ilavarasan: At a deadly new junction of caste and electoral politics: Rajan Kurai Krishnan

ilavarasan_divya-350_070513040519This is a guest post by RAJAN KURAI KRISHNAN

The gruesome death/alleged murder of Ilavarasan, a Dalit youth, at the outskirts of Dharmapurai on the afternoon of 4th July has come as a shock to all those who have heard of his case. Murders, ironically called honour killings, and socially abetted suicides as outcomes of inter-caste marriages are of course as common as catching cold in most parts of India. However, what has made Ilavarasan’s case something that could penetrate the armour of the middle class everyday plated with trained nonchalance to extract a possible expletive under their breath is the fact that his case has been in the limelight for more than eight months now.

It was a few weeks after his marriage with Divya, a girl belonging to the caste of Vanniars, a Most Backward Caste in the official description of Tamil Nadu Government,  in October 2012, Divya’s father was found dead allegedly having committed suicide due to the “dishonour” caused by his daughter’s marriage. Making the suicide an excuse, the Vanniyars organized riots in which three Dalit hamlets, about 250 houses, were destroyed. The scale of violent destruction caught the national attention and so did the love story behind the riots. The young couple earned a media profile while trying to live in peace beyond the reach of the raging Vanniyar caste men. It was fated that was not to be. The Vanniar caste leaders used Divya’s mother to temporarily separate Divya from Ilavarasan by using the well known tactics of emotional blackmail. They then broke the communication link between Ilavarasan and Divya. When Ilavarasan saw Divya in the court on the first of July, Divya told the court that she would live with Ilavarasan after convincing her mother. Divya’s lawyer, however, managed to make her tell the press that she is separated from Ilavarasan forever. Ilavarasan, on the other hand, told India Today, that he was highly hopeful of re-uniting with Divya. After two days, he was found dead near a railway track in broad daylight. Given this history, the news had some potential to shock people. Continue reading Ilavarasan: At a deadly new junction of caste and electoral politics: Rajan Kurai Krishnan

पाकिस्तानी गाली नहीं है : अपूर्वानंद

लखनऊ के बारहवीं कक्षा के एक छात्र आदित्य ठाकुर ने हाल में विदेश मंत्रालय के सचिव को हाल में  एक पत्र लिखकर तकलीफ जताई  है कि भारत का संचार तंत्र , विशेषकर टेलिविज़न पड़ोसी मुल्कों के खिलाफ नफरत का प्रचार करता है. आदित्य ने यह पत्र ‘इंडिया न्यूज़’ नामक  टी. वी. चैनल  के एक कार्यक्रम से दुखी होकर लिखना तय किया. कार्यक्रम पाकिस्तान में पोलियो की बीमारी की समस्या पर केंद्रित था. ऊपरी तौर पर एक गंभीर मसले पर चर्चा करने के लिए बनाए इस कार्यक्रम का शीर्षक था, ‘लंगड़ा पाकिस्तान’. आदित्य ने लिखा है पूरा  कार्यक्रम  पाकिस्तान के बारे में प्रचलित ‘स्टीरियोटाइप’, उसके प्रति अपमानजनक  और सनसनीखेज प्रसंगों से भरा पड़ा था.रिपोर्ट लगातार पाकिस्तान को ‘दुनिया को तबाह करने के सपने देखने वाला’ कह कर संबोधित कर रही थी. ‘बम का क्या करोगे पाकिस्तान , खाओगे?’ और ‘दो बूँद से मत डरो पाकिस्तान’ जैसे संवादों से कार्यक्रम की पाकिस्तान के प्रति घृणा जाहिर थी. Continue reading पाकिस्तानी गाली नहीं है : अपूर्वानंद