The Culture of Misogyny
AIIMS has initiated a departmental inquiry and issued a show-cause notice to a senior resident on duty for alleged negligence in providing timely medical treatment to a seven-year-old rape survivor. The survivor was brought to AIIMS, where she was unattended for more than 3 hours. She did not even receive basic first aid though she was bleeding profusely.
In Gujarat, Mahila Suraksha Samitis were formed four months ago, where women members of the samitis were not only supposed to help cops in bringing down crime rate by tipping them off, but also swing into action whenever the need arose. However, the purpose of the samiti has already been diluted by the state government directive that members of Mahila Suraksha Samitis will not accompany cops during raids on liquor dens, citing safety reasons.
Dalit & women rights activist, Manjula Pradeep, executive director of Navsarjan Trust, disclosed via a Facebook post, that one of the organization’s former employees ‘sexually attacked’ her in public during her campaign to end violence against women, which she began on November 25, 2014.
Protests & Collectives
To protest gender discrimination, about 400 women would be entering the inner sanctum (where women are not allowed to get in) of the popular Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra on Republic Day.
Debatable
The internet rejoiced last week, as the country’s first women-only liquor store opened up in Delhi, with women salespersons and security guards. However, several women have also declared that they do not want an exclusive store, but want regular thekas to be accessible to women. While special preferences and reservations in public transport has definitely proven useful to women, these are short term measures. And, the women-only liquor store definitely seems like a stretch.
Justice Without Court
In yet another instance of the Panchayat working like the courts, in Uttar Pradesh, a panchayat directed the survivor of rape to beat the rape accused with shoes after he refused to pay the fine of Rs. 5 lakh imposed by it.
In yet another case of mob “justice”, two men accused of raping a minor girl have been thrashed with hot iron rods by people at a village near Alwar, Rajasthan.
Sports
Oinam Bembem Devi, arguably the best Indian women footballer in recent times from Manipur, announced retirement on the last day of 2015 in a Facebook post. The Manipuri has left a lasting impression on the younger generation of women footballers.
Global
More than 55 women came out and accused actor and comic Bill Cosby with sexual assault. A US court charged him with sexual assault in 2004 leveled by Andrea Constand.
In an extremely misogynistic move, more than 1,000 Chinese young women were asked to sashay in bikinis in some sort of qualifying to become air hostesses. Women’s empowerment can go down the drain.
Reported Rapes & Sentences
In the Infosys Pune campus, an employee was raped by one of the housekeeping staff while another filmed the rape. However, no one from the company reported the rape to police, instead, the police filed a case only when the survivor reported the same. In immediate damage control mode, the company issued a statement stating that the victim as well the accused were contract employees hired from an external agency.
Aboard the Howrah-Amritsar Express, a 14-year-old minor girl was gang raped by 3 army men, after they forced her to consume alcohol.
Many other cases of rape, gang rape and child sexual abuse were reported.
Verdicts and sentences were declared for several rape cases.
Featured Image Credit: A picture of Oinam Bembem Devi in action in a match | www.chrispd.de
