Murder For Cattle
Two Muslim men on way to a Friday market with their buffaloes were tortured and hanged to death in Jharkhand allegedly by Hindu radicals.
The Unorganized Women Workforce
A 17-year-old girl, who worked at a textile mill in Tirupur district (Tamil Nadu), was found dead, and this has raised fresh concerns of bonded labour in textile mills. It is important to note that the girl was sexually harassed by a male worker, but mill management often try to hush up such issues.
In Tamil Nadu, a 25-year old girl was “bought off” as domestic help, was beat up and mentally harassed by the couple where she worked as house help. When she was rescued and tried to file a complaint, the police tried to ‘mediate’ the issue without filing an FIR.
Dr. Saibal Jana Arrest
Dr Saibal Jana, chief physician of Shaheed Hospital at Dalli Rajhara, Chhattisgarh has been arrested. It is important to note that the hospital was founded by Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha led by Late Shankar Guha Niyogi and run by money collected from the workers of the area. Dr. Jana’s arrest comes close on the heels of the attack on Soni Sori and harrassment of her relatives.
Other News
A Parliamentary panel rapped Women and Child Development Ministry for letting Nirbhaya Fund “lay idle” for last few years and asked it to come up with concrete steps to ensure their safety.
While the parliamentary panel claims that if the issue of marital rape is brought under law, the entire family system will be under great stress, here is an article which talks about why burden of proof cannot hold us back from criminalizing marital rape.
Even as the issue of abortion remains a sensitive one, a latest global report showed that 70 per cent respondents in India support abortion and said it should be permitted under any circumstances.
RSS joint general secretary, Dattatreya Hosabale took to twitter and said, “Homosexuality is not a crime, but socially immoral act in our society. No need to punish, but to be treated as a psychological case.“
Some Positive Stories
In a bid to encourage women and physically challenged people to take up transport business, the Bihar government has decided to give cent per cent tax exemption to them on purchase of commercial vehicles.
A resident of Dudhgarh village of Morni block has sold his buffalo to raise money to build a toilet in his house. He said that he had been thinking about it for long since his wife had to go out in the open.
Reported Rapes & Rape Case Updates
Several cases of rape and child sexual abuse were reported by media. Some verdicts & sentences were produced.
Murthal gang-rape update: A report sent by the Haryana government to the Union Home Ministry has rejected the allegation of sexual assaults on women in Murthal region in Sonepat during the Jat stir in February. However, some women were “harassed”, the report said, near a ‘dhaba’ in Murthal.
Family of the two-year-old girl, who was raped by her neighbour on March 13, held a protest demonstration at Bharat Nagar Chowk and disrupted the traffic for at least one hour, demanding strict action against the accused. Family members claimed that the accused in the case was actually 19 years old, but the police was trying to shield him by telling that he was a minor.
In Pune, the girl who filed rape case against ex-MLA’s grandson attempted suicide. She has given a statement to the police at the hospital that she was being threatened by ex-MLA Popatrao Gawade and some others after the case was registered.
What We’re Reading
Conventional wisdom says that employers lose women in their 30s because those women are starting families, and need more flexibility than the workplace is designed to grant them. However, here is a new study, that actually disproves it! A new global study of women in their 30s found they don’t leave jobs because they’re worried about family obligations. They leave because employers won’t pay and promote them.
While we continue to talk about sexual violence such as abuse & rape, here is an excellent article by the Why Loiter? crew on how we ignore the everyday pervasive low-grade street violence that women are expected to chin up and tolerate. Basically, women need a zero-tolerance policy towards everyday harassment and a focus on enabling infrastructure.
Featured Image Credit: The toilet being constructed at Subash’s house, who financed it by selling his buffalo | http://indianexpress.com/
