Madura Chakraborty was part of a women's group which went to submit a memorandum to Mamata Banerjee to demand better protection for women in West Bengal and suitable prosecution of perpetrators of sexual violence in view of the spurt in crimes against women in the state. Instead, the women, some of them senior citizens, were manhandled by Kolkata Police and arrested. Mamata has already labelled those criticising her government for not doing enough to protect women as CPI(M) supporters. Women's rights activist Madura Chakraborty joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the issue.
Q. Dear Madhura Madam, It is very saddening to hear the crime against women. Madam, all the culprits (except one) if one will dig are surely Bangladesis as the name resembles. A lot of Bangladesis are illegally entering India, courtesy to our dull system. I am staying in Riyadh and here also lot of Bangladesis are coming in Indian Passport. Firstly, the political parties should not blame each other rather they should focus on this matter and do something to drag out all these Bangladesis who are spoiling our culture... Asked by: Bhanu
A. It is very well to shift the blame onto 'Others'. But we, as part of this society, are responsible for the prevailing 'rape culture'. Blaming and labelling vulnerable sections of the population [such as migrants from eastern states of India, in the context of Delhi] is just another way of washing our hands off. It is precisely this need to shift blame, that at the administrative levels is leading to the labelling of rights activists and rape survivors and consequently to the denial of their legitimate claims and questions. We have to come together, as individuals, as members of the civil society, as government officials to address the rights, freedom, mobility, security and safety of women instead of looking for scapegoats on the basis of caste, religion, nationality, etc.
Q. Dear madam, in West Bengal, there is big question of woman security and now it is in alarming position.what do you think,this is all happening due to our change of life style or insecurity of social life or economic unstability due to failure of our government! Asked by: suman
A. I do not think that we can point to one specific reason or another. It is obviously a combination of things. Our society has not been very hospitable to the women and a look at the sex ratio in the state will reveal the discrimination against the girl child starting from before birth. The situation has been worsening for the past few years as looking at the NCRB data will reveal. However, what is alarming is the fact that the administrative powers that be are more intent on shifting blame than actually adopting a pro-active attitude.
Q. Most of the Indian Women themselves are responsible for this situation. Start with Bollywood. Look at the cat fight going on. Who is the best Item Number? In corporate, and this I have perceived, you have inconvenient situation, most of the girls are ok with that, whether cheap conversations or relations. Their parents run like a dog after a guy who is MS or Doc or has a good package. They are ready to shell out any amount of dowry. What is this? They themselves treat their daughters like a commodity and burden. Otherwise they wont even give a single penny of dowry if being asked and what is asked by the grooms parents as they say they have invested lacs in their son's education. For a single women its difficult to live. Worst for Divorcees and Widows. I am a guy but I have perceived all this and I have seen such cases. If there is a divorce case, everyone jumps on the fact that the girl is mad. If any Indian girl comes to know that her husband is promiscuous, they still live with that man if he is providing comfort to her. Prove me if I am wrong! Asked by: pc aka @jpchat9
A. I am not here to disprove anything! The devaluation of women and girls begins right from birth, or even before that as the skewed sex ratio all over the country will reveal. Every aspect of our lives are mired in discrimination--from attendance in schools and institutions of higher education to alarming rise in the incidences of child marriage with West Bengal having very high numbers of child brides. It is not just one aspect or the other, but the whole picture we need to be aware of. From advertisements urging women to be fairer as a key to their success to Bollywood dance routines where the hero is harassing a woman but ends up being the love of her life--every aspect of our material and symbolic culture is rife with and reinforcing gender discrimination. Blaming women for that is very unfair. Everyone is part of the patriarchal system and unless gender sensitization on a mass scale begins now, the situation does look very grim.
Q. Is there simply no political will to take crimes against women seriously? Asked by: Sneha
A. At present, in West Bengal, based on the recent happenings, it does not seem that the administrative officials are keen to proactively tackle the problems. We are still seeing name calling, labelling as members of the opposition party or as Maoists. Overall it is very disheartening.
Q. Why Mamata behave in an arrogant manner every time? What's wrong with the CM? Asked by: Priya
A. That's question best asked to the CM! However, as a leader of the opposition Ms Banerjee did very proactively take up cases of sexual assault. Therefore, it is all the more surprising and disheartening when she is adopting the same language of the erstwhile ruling party by blaming those who dare to report sexual assault.
Q. Beyond the petty politicization of such crimes, we hang our head in shame that crimes against women are only rising every day. Have we reached a state where the victim is of such crime is blamed and the perpetrator in most cases goes scot free. There is no dearth of laws to curtail such incidents, it is only the lack of political will to implement them. God save our country. Asked by: Benhur
A. I think a more pro-active attitude is also needed from us, the citizens. We need to be aware of the overarching issues framing each and every case of assault. Often the administration and politicians respond by demands that actually curtail the freedom, mobility and rights of the women in the name of keeping them safe and secure. We need to raise our voices so that survivors of violence, abuse and assault do not feel persecuted and shamed. It is our responsibility as citizens to extend respect to those who dare to come out in the open with stories of assault and other violent crimes in a hostile environment. Victim blaming must stop now. We must not reiterate things like 'zinda lash' for a rape survivor. There is life beyond an incident of violence and as a society we must enable survivors to continue to lead their lives without being persecuted and shamed.
Q. It is disheartening to note that despite being a lady herself, West Bengal chief minister is politicising the incidents of rape. How can activists change her mind and attitude? Asked by: Sudarsanam
A. It is not just the Chief Minister but female politicians across the board from Sushma Swaraj to Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar who have made extremely insensitive remarks. We need to have a more efficient system in place by which we can hold our elected leaders and politicians to task when they make such remarks. The problem is the lack of gender awareness among the political leadership as well as the administrative staff. For instance, the Director General of Police, commenting on the NCRB data, has repeatedly pointed out that the increase is due to rising incidences of crimes reported under 498A of the IPC. As if, crimes against women, whether rape or torture by husband and his relatives, can be dis-aggregated! These incidents, coupled with the rise of violence against women, make it imperative for mass gender sensitization awareness campaigns. The government should invite experts on gender issues to formulate workshops and syllabi for educational institutes that can be disseminated among the citizens as well as among the police, the administrative staff and so on.
Q. Do you think violence against women will be an election issue in upcoming state and national election? What can be done to make sure it becomes one? Asked by: Jayanti
A. I certainly hope so. One of the ways in which this can be done is to keep the issues of discrimination and violence against women alive. This, I feel, can be achieved by active participation of the citizens through social network websites, through actual participation on the ground, through constantly monitoring and scrutinizing the government's actions and inactions. We must not sink into apathy but constantly question and examine the happenings around us. As of now, there does not seem to be any abatement to the rising incidence of violence against women. To hold the government and the police accountable in every case, to ensure that the media takes up these issues and follows them up will be key to keeping the issues alive and ensuring that they become important in future elections.
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