Till Death Do Us Apart

http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2012/01/4298

How many more must die for love before it's curtain call for khaps and their feudal power?

Shaweta Anand Delhi

Even though the recent film Khap elicited lukewarm response at the box-office, it did ruffle feathers within khaps (unelected, caste panchayats) of Haryana who demanded an immediate ban on the film. They said the film misrepresented Indian culture as it 'portrayed them in bad light'.

Despite the poor response, the film did succeed in boldly highlighting the barbaric, feudal acts that khaps have perpetrated against couples-in-love for the first time on silver screen, even if it meant going against the powerful political class of Haryana that openly supports khaps.

With an eye on the electoral equations, he has given them a kind hearing whenever they held khap mahapanchayats (large gatherings of many khaps) and demanded from him an amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 to criminalise same-gotra (clan/sub-caste) marriages, otherwise legal in India. Om Prakash Chautala, ex-chief minister from the opposition party, too, has raised the same demand with the Union home ministry in order to appease the upper-caste vote bank. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had also tacitly backed the khaps.

Not far behind in regressive politicking is a representative of the younger generation, foreign-educated MP and industrialist from Kurukshetra, Naveen Jindal. Despite his exposure to a more liberal society, he had glorified the role of feudal khaps in society, arguing that they have been playing an important role in the settlement of village issues since generations, much before the formal legal system came into being. It was only when the Congress high command asked him for a clarification after he had attended a khap mahapanchayat, that he slightly backtracked from his stand.

'Honour' crimes, whether committed by organised upper-caste khaps (mostly Jats and Rajputs as reported by popular media), or individuals, comprise a broad range of acts from quiet murders passed off as suicides, to pre-mediated, long-drawn public humiliation and social boycott of those targeted for forming alliances across caste (for instance, between upper-caste girl and Dalit boy), religion, or for making swagotra alliances (ie, within the same gotra. Historically, people from same gotra are believed to be descendents of the same rishi/saint, hence siblings, according to Hinduism.)

Besides, family 'honour' sometimes also gets violated if girls refuse to follow 'acceptable' dress-codes, refuse forced arranged marriages, or engage in homosexual relationships, as all these are blindly denounced as blasphemous, 'un-Indian' activities influenced by Western culture.

According to the draft bill circulated by CPM's women's wing, All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) — The Prevention of Crimes in the Name of 'Honour' and Tradition Bill, 2010 — crime in the name of 'honour' comprises a range of violent or abusive acts, including emotional, physical, sexual abuse and other coercive acts by caste/community groups or individuals. The bill was submitted to the Union law minister last year, but no action has been taken upon it yet.

Commenting on the oppressive nature of khaps, activist Ranjana Kumari said that a Taliban-like diktat was issued by a recently convened khap panchayat in Uttar Pradesh. "It was decided at that meeting that young girls and women shouldn't be allowed to wear jeans or carry mobile phones so that they can be prevented from 'going astray'." Kumari was speaking at a recent consultation in Delhi on 'the socio-legal implications of honour killing' jointly organised by Women Power Connect (WPC) and Jagori at Vishwa Yuvak Kendra. To ensure effective policing of village girls, at that very meeting, five-member all-women teams were constituted to 'keep an eye' on them as their western attire would supposedly give rise to social evils like 'vulgarity' and 'eve-teasing', besides 'provoking them to elope' with someone.

Honour’ crimes comprise a broad range of acts from quiet murders passed off as suicides, to pre-mediated, long-drawn public humiliation and social boycott of those targeted for forming alliances across caste, religion, or for making alliances within the same gotra.

It is, in fact, anti-women beliefs such as these that lead to crimes against women and those who support them – and this is often done in the name of safeguarding 'honour'. A large number of cases have been reported from rural and urban Haryana, western UP, Delhi and Punjab, with states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu catching up fast.

Under public pressure and progressive directions by the Supreme Court, the central government appointed a Group of Ministers (GoM) last year to look into the legislative aspect of preventing 'honour' crimes. Nothing much has come of that exercise as the concerned states are not cooperating (Haryana, in particular), law and order being a state subject.

While acknowledging that feudal-minded groups or individuals take 'corrective' action against people who break traditional social norms, Anju Dubey Pandey, a participant at the WPC-Jagori consultation, urged people to use language more consciously as it is a potent tool of politics.

For instance, the term 'honour crime' reiterates the unfair, women-centric implication of the word 'honour'. 'Dishonour crime' and 'horror crime' (used by Kumari) bring out more accurately the insensitivity, intolerance and ruthlessness of acts of violence against women who resist customs, and the people who support them. In fact, usage of 'dishonour crime' was accepted at WPC's consultation last year as these crimes certainly bring dishonour to perpetrators than protect their honour in any way.

While taking slight offence to the words used by one of the panelists when she was passionately narrating an instance of a khap panchayat wrongly punishing a couple-in-love, "because they were found in a compromising position", Pandey urged everyone to be cautious of such regressive expressions that are often used in describing mutual acts between consenting adults, as the concerned adults were only exercising their human rights.

Elaborating further, she affirmed, "Dishonour crimes should be seen as a far greater violation of basic human rights (and, therefore, in that framework, invoke the entire law-and-order machinery to pro-actively respond) than anything that can possibly result from the breaking of social norms. Our framework informs our politics and the solutions we suggest for resolving issues." Pandey is associated with UN Women South Asia. She spoke with this reporter in an exclusive interview.

To ensure effective policing of village girls, five-member all-women teams were constituted to ‘keep an eye’ on them as their western attire would supposedly give rise to social evils like ‘vulgarity’ and ‘eve-teasing’, besides ‘provoking them to elope’ with someone.

Dr Jyotsna Chatterji, Director, Joint Women's Programme explained how the age-old practices that oppress women and the assertion of caste identity reinforce each other when khaps pronounce diktats against couples. She said, "This need to constantly establish one's caste identity is driven by deep-rooted patriarchal beliefs within groups, which in turn legitimises for them the domination by men and violence against women, including inciting or participating in dishonour crimes."

"Thus, efforts to preserve caste purity by khaps, and their justification for anti-women practices like controlling who they marry or live with, both go hand-in-hand. So to deal with one (casteism), one has to deal with the other (patriarchy) too," she elucidated.

A good illustration is the Supreme Court judgement on the Lata Singh case (2006) wherein the petitioner had married outside her caste against her brothers' wishes, who subsequently blatantly tormented her and her in-laws. The court categorically stated: "The caste system is a curse on the nation and the sooner it is destroyed the better. In fact, it is dividing the nation at a time when we have to be united to face challenges... Hence, inter-caste marriages are, in fact, in national interest as they will result in destroying the caste system."

The court rapped the police for not taking action against the erring brothers, upheld the inter-caste marriage of the petitioner, gave directions to institute criminal proceedings against the brothers, while simultaneously quashing the case of kidnapping and illegal confinement in Lucknow High Court, based on the FIR filed by Lata's brothers.

While the social punishment continues in the dishonour killing case of Manoj and Babli who were bludgeoned and drowned to death in 2007, their already traumatised families are still not allowed to lead normal lives. The psychological pain for Chandrapati (Manoj's mother) and Seema Kumari (his sister), who courageously went to Court against the khap, persists.

The torture was achieved by inflicting restrictions upon villagers. Soon after the couple was killed, a fine of Rs 25,000 was imposed on anyone who would interact with their family! Understandably, even the milkman discontinued engagement with them. Even though AIDWA has written to the Ministry of Home Affairs for their protection, threats to their safety abound as the family continues to oppose khaps.

"Unfortunately, the suffering of families that go against a handful of self-styled khap leaders is bound to happen as these are a powerful lot of men from higher caste and class, who command authority in the village and exploit the vulnerable as they please. Villagers are genuinely scared to go against their diktats," said Bharati Sud, Associate Professor at Satyawati College, DU, also a participant.

When it comes to asserting power and authority, many cases have been reported. Like the case of upper-caste men stopping Dalits from using well water in Jhajjar as their daughters 'ran away' with 'their' boy. The issue was 'resolved' only when the girls (one was with the boy, the other feared reprimand so escorted them) were brought back and duly butchered to retrieve 'family honour'.

Talking of instilling fear in villagers, even cops who marry outside caste have not been spared by khaps. Mewat-based khap attacked, boycotted and tried to break the marriage of a police officer-cum-champion wrestler from the Reserve Battalion, Bhondsi, who married within same gotra but as per Muslim tradition (to avoid complications). Despite legal action against them, his family still lives under constant threat.

Coming back to the Manoj-Babli case, even in death, what they achieved for couples-in-love was a landmark judgement by the Karnal district Court in 2010, when in a first-time conviction for 'honour' crimes, five people from Babli's family were awarded capital punishment, one was awarded life imprisonment and another, seven years in jail.

However, a recent Punjab and Haryana High Court judgement commuted death penalty to four convicts to life imprisonment and let go two others, including the main conspirator, Congress leader and head of khap, Ganga Ram. This has brought back shivers to the already ostracised family of Manoj, his mother and sister, who fear for their life and safety.

"What can one achieve if the judiciary is also patriarchal and either doesn't punish at all or gives reduced punishment in cases of dishonour crime," wondered Pandey, though not in particular reference to the Manoj-Babli case.

Most speakers on the panel agreed that dishonour crimes related to 'honour' reposed in women, who are primarily conceptualised as male possessions in a patriarchal world order. So when an 'unsuitable' match takes away the girl, it is a loss of 'honour' for that family. The family then fights back for its 'honour' by targeting, even killing the girl and her accomplices, as has often been reported.

" That women are not treated equal to men is clear from the high rates of female feticide, poor education and lack of opportunities for women," lamented Kumari. "In fact, women don't even get to participate in unilateral decisions that khaps take as they are not even allowed to step on their chabutara (raised platform). Though now, few women are made visible at some places to avoid the tag of khap panchayats being male-dominated institutions," she said.

Condemning all forms of violence against women, including dishonour crimes, Mamta Sharma, Chairperson, National Commission for Women, promised her solidarity with civil society organisations while urging them to engage with people in the villages and to generate awareness amongst them.

Promising support was Devika Singh Chauhan from the newly instituted National Mission for Empowerment for Women, which was inaugurated by the President of India Pratibha Patil last year.

The mission has a mandate to achieve inter-sectoral convergence for all pro-women programmes across various ministries of the government, including helping complainants who have been targets of dishonour crimes.

A point of debate was whether a stand-alone law was needed to deal with the issue at hand. Supreme Court advocate Meenakshi Lekhi was of the opinion that existing laws were sufficient and needed effective implementation.

She emphasised that feminists should behave like 'one caste of women' and not fight over whether or not to have a special law for dishonour killing. In reference to a recent Supreme Court judgment that terms 'honour' killing as 'rarest of the rare cases' deserving death penalty, she said, "We should try and get law-of-the-land enforced."

(Interestingly, Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda doesn't want a new law on 'honour' killing either. In his response to the specially appointed GoM for considering legislative measures regarding 'honour' crimes, he was of the opinion that new law was unnecessary as present laws were 'sufficient'.)

Ravi Kant, however, disagreed with this point. According to him, amendments in existing law were crucial for instance in the Special Marriage Act (to make marriage procedure less lengthy and painful for couples as it is an alliance between consenting adults) and the Indian Evidence Act (to put onus of proving innocence on the perpetrators), besides supporting a new legislation to tackle these crimes. Kant is also a Supreme Court advocate and is the Executive Director of Shakti Vahini.

"Just like there were laws made to deal with social malpractices like sati pratha (widow burning) and dowry, there should also be a well-defined legislation on dishonour crimes that stipulates the severest punishment to law-breakers," vouched Ranjana Kumari. "Since it is a specific social problem, we need a specific law to deal with it," she stressed.

The Law Commission, Ministry of Law and Justice, has come out in support of a special legislation to deal with 'honour' killings while turning down the proposal to amend IPC Section 300 (murder) by adding a clause defining 'honour' killing as that would 'create confusion and interpretational difficulties'.

The term ‘honour crime’ reiterates the unfair, women-centric implication of the word ‘honour’. ‘Dishonour crime’ and ‘horror crime’ bring out more accurately the insensitivity, intolerance and ruthlessness of acts of violence against women who resist customs, and the people who support them.

A recent draft bill on 'honour' killings titled 'The Endangerment of Life and Liberty (protection, prosecution and other measures) Act 2011', stipulates a three-five year imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 30,000 for caste-groups assembling with an intention of endangering lives or liberty of couples who want to marry. Those booked would face civil sanctions too; they would not be able to contest elections of hold public positions till five years of conviction.

Towards the concluding session of the WPC-Jagori meet, suggestions were discussed regarding future action. Smita Thakur of Jagori felt that all women need to start asserting themselves even at home for being able to ultimately stop dishonour killing – an anti-women act at its core. "We should promise ourselves that we will not tolerate dishonour crimes and resist them if they happen in front of us," she emphatically declared. 

There was a suggestion of social networking from the audience to unite people over this common cause, but again, as Sud argued, social networking is limited and can at best be a method of sharing information, but it is no substitute for real protests that happen in the streets. Tara Appachu Sharma, a gender consultant, suggested that there should be protests against dishonour crimes the same day all over the country to build a momentum and drive home the point. Lekhi said that 'flash protests' should be held at various places, especially outside the Delhi house of khap-supporting MP, Naveen Jindal to sensitise him.

Chatterji opined that to deal with the issue of dishonour crimes, one has to see them coming from a deeply casteist and patriarchal mindset of society. "Any changes will become effective only when they come from the bottom, after active engagement with people. Just law won't be enough," she said.

The Unbearable Immorality of Honour

http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2012/01/4289

Albeena, Zicou and Jagmati address audience at a film screening organised by SFI at Koyna Hostel Mess/JNU

Even as songs of love are brutally silenced by khap panchayats, using marriage codes rooted in their history of denying women the right to natal property, a documentary celebrates stubborn resistance to this bloodlust of feudal authority
Shaweta Anand Delhi

Surprisingly, the night show was houseful. Despite the freezing temperature, a lot of people turned up for the screening of a documentary film 'Izzatnagari ki Asabhya Betiyaan' (Immoral Daughters in the Land of Honour) by Nakul Singh Sawhney. The protagonists in this 93-minute film were people targeted by khaps (unconstitutional, upper caste panchayats), who refused to be cowed down and continued to offer firm resistance despite the odds.

Through finely blended multiple narratives, the film captures the emotional loss faced by bereaved families of victims (mostly from socially and economically insecure backgrounds), on the one hand, while airing the views of khap leaders, on the other. The film also depicts the challenges faced by Jat women in the rural and urban/city settings, while acknowledging the significance of education and activism in their lives.

For instance, Seema, (late) Manoj's sister, who is determined to become a magistrate, shares in the film how their family continues to be threatened, boycotted and psychologically tortured after they challenged khaps in court. In 2007, Manoj and his wife Babli had been beaten to pulp for marrying within the same gotra (clan) as the khaps believed their relation to be incestuous. As a final punishment for violating family 'honour', their limbs were tied with ropes before sinking them in a canal, silencing their songs of love in a cold, watery grave. This happened despite the court's prior intervention and police protection to the legally married couple.

Mukesh, the other powerful protagonist in the film, decided to leave home for good and become a full-time women's rights activist in Haryana after she was being forced to opt for arranged marriage. Geetika and Anjali, Jat girls pursuing education in Delhi, spoke about their experience of opposing 'honour' crimes through the medium of street plays and academics respectively.

Gaurav Saini, whose wife Monika was forcefully taken away from him as their marriage was inter-caste, soulfully narrates his experiences of being tortured by Monika's family, and also what it means to live without one's partner of choice.

The film's highlight was candid interviews with khap leaders, some of whom got defensive and claimed they have "nothing to do with honour killing", while others, including a woman leader, audaciously proclaimed that honour crimes were bound to recur if such 'aberrations' (i.e., alliances between so-called siblings or inter-caste alliances) were allowed. According to them, it would "disturb social order" and "destroy society by promoting immorality".

"But now khaps are unable to wash their hands off this issue as more people associated with khapsare getting convicted for 'honour' crimes," said filmmaker Sawhney. He was speaking in the context of Ramdiya Banwala, a member of Banwala khap, who was convicted in the Ved Pal case of 2009. Pal, a medical practitioner, had been lynched by his wife Sonia's relatives for violating the norms ofbhaichara (brotherhood) as he had married a girl from the adjoining village.

As far as future strategy is concerned, Jagmati Sangwan, activist and head of the Women's Study Centre at Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, said, "The two groups of people who are specifically targeted by khaps are the youth and the Dalits. We must work with them so that this scourge can be effectively dealt with." Sangwan participated in the making of the film and was present at the screening.

"As is well-known, all codes of marriage are rooted in regulation of women's sexuality and property. So the khaps' demand for a ban on sahgotra (same gotra) and bhaichara marriages is integrally linked to their history of denying women natal property rights. This link should not be forgotten," said Albeena Shakil from the All India Democratic Women's Association, also a participant.

Glamour Undone

http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2011/04/3925

With a case in consumer court, a high-end beauty clinic is in the spotlight for irreversible damage caused to the eyesight, psyche and future of a young girl

For those of us who have studied Biology in school and dissected frogs in the laboratory, the following visual analogy might help. Preeti (name changed) had to lie face down on a bench, arms and feet spread out, so that the doctor could perform lumbar (spinal) puncture - a painful procedure involving surgical removal of excessive fluid from the spine to relieve the high fluid pressure that was blurring her vision. She screamed in pain but the operation was the only way to save her from going completely blind, thanks to a drug reaction.

In this procedure, a needle was used to extract a maximum of 25ml fluid to relieve her bulged out eye so that it could see better, and to treat severe headaches. This was the last resort after every other medical treatment to diagnose, treat or suppress her intense, intolerable pain had failed.

As was finally diagnosed by the neurophysician treating Preeti, the high fluid pressure was caused by a reaction to the minocycline drug prescribed to her at the high-end Kaya Skin Clinic for treatment of acne, rendering her 80 per cent blind at that time. Sadly, instead of stopping her from having more tablets, clinic staffers ensured she continued having them "to complete the medicine course".

Preeti underwent the spinal tap once and then another procedure - optic nerve fenestration - to save her failing eyesight, but is still left with permanent loss of peripheral (sideways) vision with blurry vision in one eye. She has acquired a hypo-allergic face skin that gets purple and blotchy under the sun, and so she will always have to use a special sunscreen or avoid sun exposure altogether.

It all started when Preeti complained of mild acne as an adolescent, which is a common complaint at that age. Impressed by advertisements, she wanted her pimples to be removed cosmetically and immediately. She could have also chosen a simple, healthy and balanced diet; but that perhaps would have taken much longer to work, compared to the quick-fix options offered by seductive, often brazenly unethical, ads.

"Since the time we contacted the Noida branch of Kaya Skin Clinic for treatment, our daughter has been traumatised. She has not stopped going to hospitals for one reason or another because of the reaction to the medicine they prescribed her," says her father, on condition of anonymity.

Among other things, Preeti was prescribed minox/minocycline 100 mg tablet daily, without any warning about probable side-effects that are well-established in medical literature. The consent form mentioned nothing to that effect either.

When contacted, Kaya representatives did not respond to this reporter's queries about the issue.

"Despite absence of proper legislation, the one thing that beauty clinics shouldn't be allowed to get away with is malpractice like this," says Dr Shehla Agarwal, consultant skin specialist, Mehak Skin Clinic, Delhi, who has hands-on experience of dealing with adolescents, anxious with skin problems.

"The consumer has to be more vigilant and should not get swayed by big media advertisements. They should ensure that people they go to for beauty treatment have the right qualification and are registered under the Medical Council Act," says Dr Shishu Bhushan Singh, a cosmetic surgeon at Dr Rekha Suman's Laser Cosmetic Surgery and Skin Clinic in Delhi.

Not only that, every clinic should maintain proper documentation of treatment they are giving. They should provide consumers with elaborate consent forms that clearly spell out the side-effects of medicines prescribed by their qualified doctors.

Doctors argue that people should understand how 'selling beauty' is big business because establishing and running such clinics in cities is not an easy job. Hence, demanding full information about the products and services they offer is the consumer's prerogative. Plus, none of the practitioners can claim to have magic wands for quick, short-cut, yet healthy treatments, as is misleadingly claimed in ads promoting beauty products and services endorsed by celebrities.

"Inexperienced medical graduates (fresh degree holders) should not be allowed to deal with patients in beauty clinics as the knowledge required to monitor the side-effects of medicines comes only with time," argues Dr Agarwal. "In many such clinics, there is this trend of different people dealing with the same patient each time s/he visits the clinic, thus breaking continuity in effective monitoring of the treatment."

"Yes, provision of services should be done ethically. The service provider should have full knowledge of the treatment s/he is giving. Another important factor is the quality of chemical products used during beauty treatments to avoid such chemical reactions. Today, every product in the market has a cheaper duplicate, from milk to garam masala. So when anyone goes for beauty treatment, s/he should also enquire about the quality of products used because beauty clinics commonly don't use original, good quality products so as to maximise their profit," says Karan, a senior make-up artist working with the Hindi film industry.

"Whatever the legislative weaknesses with regard to the beauty and cosmetic industry in our country, the fact remains that due to constant bombardment of the so-called ideal beauty images, especially targeting women, they have developed an inferiority complex and deep-seated insecurities about who they are and how they look," says Dr Rippon Sippy, a Delhi-based clinical psychologist. "I mean what is wrong with having acne sometimes? If you let it be, it goes away on its own."

In the contemporary anorexia-driven beauty business in metros and urban India, there is a constant comparison between bodily 'imperfections' vis-à-vis the artificial perfection of models and celebrities. Secretly or openly, the desire to possess a perfect skin, body, features, has been stimulated. Even youngsters, especially girls in their teens, face immense peer pressure, and suffer deep anxieties and insecurities. Like perhaps Preeti did.

Given that a section of women has more money to spare - it empowers but also creates an ironic decrease in self-worth - it is not surprising that many use products and services to alter their looks, points out Jessy K Philip, a sociology teacher at Delhi University. "In cities, fitting the beauty stereotype is something women are more obsessed with than in a village in Kerala, for instance, where women are also valued as workers."

As Naomi Wolf suggests in her book The Beauty Myth, why does this stereotypical notion of beauty - light coloured, fair, flawless, acne-less, hairless, smooth, young, tight skin and an hour-glass anorexic, almost famished, body shape - exclude women's inner qualities, integrity, resilience, achievements and talents? Why are educated, working women expected to conform to the mythical, antiseptic, market-driven, commercial body image, as if their acquired knowledge and professional skills are not enough?

"In my profession, if your face is not acne-free and your body weighs more than a prescribed standard, you'll be soon on your way out. This does cause stress, but it is part of our job to appear that way," says former air hostess Sanjam Jasuja.

Producer-anchor of a TV channel, Kajal Sharma, feels that for someone who appears on the TV screen every day, it becomes mandatory to constantly work towards a fair, smooth skin, wear make-up, have hair of a certain length, flaunt a certain kind of figure and look 'beautiful'. Just being intelligent and efficient is not enough.

Altering one's looks for 'job security' is one aspect of the problem women face, but changing one's appearance to feel valued as a person in relationships seems far more depressing. "One of the reasons why my marriage didn't work out was because I couldn't live up to the beauty norms prescribed in Punjabi families, which is different from what we learnt in Marathi culture. I remember growing up comfortably, like a tomboy, but today I use every product I must to make me look and feel feminine, and worthy of love," says Shruti (name changed), a JNU student in Delhi.

"I dress up conservatively and don't wear as much make-up in Delhi as I do when I am at home. This is because with people from the northeast, other stereotypes are associated. If we wear bright lipstick, we are thought of as women who are easily available. So then, this unfriendly city decides how beautiful I can look or how comfortable I can feel while I live here," says another student from JNU.

Celebrated feminist author-filmmaker Jean Kilbourne brings out similar, deeper concerns in her documentary Still Killing Us Softly, which is about beauty images that media propagates through ads. She says that ads sell not just products, but values, images and concepts such as love, sexuality and normalcy, defining who we should continuously aspire to be. Or else, you can feel left behind, incomplete, imperfect and guilty.

So, be it luxury creams or products to prevent aging, remove pregnancy marks, tighten the cleavage, soothe eyebrows, lighten skin colour and increase lip volume, or treatments for acne removal, facial wrinkles (botox) or body hair removal (waxing or laser), removal of 'ugly' fat (liposuction), breast augmentation, hair spa and so on: everything seems legitimate. However, the bitter realism might be different. "I doubt if women are dying to have body-altering treatments as most procedures are not physically comfortable, some involve painful sittings in beauty clinics with medical risks, some require multiple visits and cost a lot of money. Who would want to go through so much inconvenience unless there's some nagging compulsion inside," says Philip.

Uncannily, the UK has reported several cases of women who want 'vagina-cosmetic surgery' because their partners prefer younger-looking vaginas, similar to those advertised in adult magazines and films. This suggests the level of 'self-hate' and 'deep insecurity' women nurture under the guise of being successful, beautiful, rich and happy, argues Wolf.

In her film, Kilbourne also explains the stereotyped images of the 'perfect male'. In the Indian context, celebrities like Shahrukh Khan, Shahid Kapoor, John Abraham and cricketer MS Dhoni have endorsed fairness cream brands for men. In this racist worldview, to be 'fair' is to be handsome, successful and an achiever, with women chasing you.

The crux is that the concept of 'ideal beauty' is fake, fraudulent and false. It is driven by crass commerce with beauty clinics and products claiming to do the 'magical' transformation of the 'ugly' into the 'beautiful'. But when a silly acne-treatment fails and turns into infinite physical and emotional trauma, altering one's life into an abyss of despair, pain and tragedy (like that of Preeti), then it's time for a serious re-think.

From the print issue of Hardnews :

APRIL 2011

Ask the Women! (Story on injectable contraceptives)

http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2011/01/3802
The introduction of contraceptive Depo Provera in India might spell health disaster for millions of women, especially rural and poor women. And if city women too get hooked, it might also spell an urban disaster.

Shaweta Anand Delhi

Two weeks before her term as Union health secretary ended in November 2010, Kanuru Sujatha Rao suggested to the Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) to introduce Depo Provera (Depot medroxy progesterone acetate/DMPA or Depo) injectable contraceptive in the national Family Welfare Programme (FWP), previously called the Family Planning (read 'sterilise women only') Programme. The only exception to the women-only rule was the time when 'Sanjay Gandhi's totalitarianism' led to forced vasectomy (nasbandi) of men during the notorious Emergency (1975-77), among other widespread atrocities, including press censorship, torture and imprisonment of thousands.

No matter what the FWP is technically called, the government's main intention has been to curb population growth for it holds that as the basic cause of poverty. Thereby it intends to target women, officially or unofficially, especially poor women, in the name of either maternal and child health services or reproductive and child health programmes --- as if women's health, and their life itself, begins and ends strictly between the reproductive period of 15-45 years. Indeed, this uncanny conjecture implies that the only threat to their life and social condition is complication from childbirth.

Somehow, widespread nutritional deficiency, systemic misogyny since birth (high levels of foeticide, infanticide and domestic/work place violence) and lack of education, equal employment opportunities and equal wages, have never qualified to become areas of aggressive government interest or activism, unlike sterilising FWP targets, namely women.

This highlights the official fixation with birth control through the two-child norm strengthened by advocacy for birth control by women, including by the use of hazardous Depo Provera injectable contraceptive, according to Prof Mohan Rao of the Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and member of the National Commission on Population. "Other than the Supreme Court upholding the Haryana government's law prohibiting a person from contesting or holding the post of a panch or sarpanch in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), if s/he has more than two children, there are more state governments like Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Orissa that also advocate the two-child norm by offering a battery of incentives and disincentives through their population policies," he told Hardnews.

In his note on 'Population policy and the two-child norm', Rao elaborates: "... (desperate to curb population at any cost,state governments are) restricting schooling in government schools to two children; restricting employment in public services to those with two children; linking financial assistance to PRIs for development activities and anti-poverty programmes with performance in family planning; linking assessment of public health staff to performance in family planning and so forth. Indeed, service rules for government employees have been altered in several states making a two-child norm mandatory." This implies that for all the above reasons, primarily a large number of poor women are being coerced to go through sterilisations as permanent contraception.

"The way things happen in our country, the government pressurises thepoor only for population control and therefore contraception. As women, we finally get cornered both by the government and our husbands, untilwe get the (sterilisation) operation done, no matter how physically sick or psychologically weak that makes us feel afterwards," said an old village woman interviewed in Deepa Dhanraj's documentary, Something Like a War.

Most poor women interviewed in this film made 15 years ago, on the subject of coerced family planning, said that pushed by the government's (mostly false) promises of money, some land or foodgrains, it's their husbands who finally decided that they 'need to' get operated. This makes them feeltotally powerless. This is quite the opposite of what promoters of new contraceptive technology claim, including promoters of quarterly injectable hormonal contraceptives like Depo.

Talking of losing control, women (or 'cases', as they were being referred to in the film by 'motivator' health workers and doctors),were brought in, their saris removed, and they were hastily mounted onthe operation table almost upside down for the doctor to easily perform the quick surgery - like an animal is pinned down fortests in a biology lab.

The doctor, while performing operations, simply could not control his boastful monologue, looking straight into the camera, jabbering about having performed 3,50,000 tubectomies (female sterilisations) in the past 12 years, with an efficiency rate of one procedure per minute. "In the interest of the nation," he said, while one of the woman he was "fixing" moaned in excruciating pain and hurled profanities at him.

Women came and women went while the doctor went on about his business of operating upon them most nonchalantly, "like the women were products being rolled out on a conveyor belt, who he is fixing," commented Abha Bhaiya of Jagori, a women's group which played an instrumental role in the making of this documentary. The attitude shows total lack of sensitivity towards women by family members, community workers and doctors. There are many similarities in the experiences of women who went through sterilisations in Dhanraj's film and those who got injectable contraceptive Depo Provera administered in a 'public hospital' setting in Delhi.

This, despite a recommendation against Depo's use in the FWP by the DTAB in 1995 after a Supreme Court direction, even though the injection continues to be available off-the-counter in certain local chemist shops. The 'hospital' had received a stock of injectables directly from Pharmacia and Upjohn, who made the drug before they were taken over by Pfizer, the current manufacturer of Depo.

'UNVEILED REALITIES', A study conducted by Sama - a Delhi-based resource group for women and health - involved recording in-depth experiences of women from a resettlement colony who were administered the injection. Sama also documented how ethically and within medical guidelines was this actually done in a public health set-up.

As in the documentary, this study also showed that men - either the husband/family or the doctor - were basically deciding about women's sexuality and reproduction, including the method and timing of contraception. It makes no difference whether this was 'new-age' -'liberating-the-woman-by-giving-her-another-contraceptive-choice' kindof technology - or a redundant one.

Most women's social identity and status is defined 'because of the father, husband or son' in the Indian context. As a corollary to that, men tend todecide on behalf of a majority of women; hence Depo is not having anyspecial liberating effect on female contraceptive users. In contrast, it is adversely affecting women's bodies and disrupting their lives with anxiety and illness.

On part of the service provider, the crucial issue concerns following ethical and medical safety guidelines, some of which are mentioned in the literature accompanying a Depo pack itself, before administration of the injection. One of the crucial considerations is to ensure 'informed choice' of the recipient before suggesting injectable contraceptives as 'the most effective' contraceptive compared to other methods that might actually suit the potential user better.

The doctor should ideally feel responsible and accountable to the patient if something goes wrong after taking the shot, and should do whatever is needed to put the woman's health and well being as his first priority, without worrying about discontinuation of the injection. As studies show, in most cases, the doctor takes upon a businessman's role, pushing aside the women's negative experience after using Depo and 'counseling' her to continue with the shot, no matter what be her expressed experience, helplessness, angst or anger.

As for compliance to guidelines, the Sama study reveals that the majority of poor women were suggested only Depo Provera injectable as the contraceptive they can opt for, a majority were not told about the probable short-and long-term side-effects, proving that their informed consent was not taken before administering them the injection, which could seriously jeopardise their future health prospects.

Majority of the respondents in the study were also not screened forall the tests before administering the injection. This includes documenting detailed personal and family medical history, menstrual history, blood pressure and weight, gynaecological examination to rule out pregnancy, and a pap smear test to rule out risk of infections. Majority of women showed contradictions (like history of heart disease or diabetes in the family, migraine, jaundice, hypertension, abnormal pregnancies), but were still given the injection, exposing them to grave danger as the hormonal contraceptive causes changes in the body's metabolism itself.

Not just that, Depo reduces the bone mineral density (BMD) irreversibly that has earned the injectable a black box warning in the past. It is the harshest warning of adverse effects caused by drugs issued by the US Food and Drug Administration. In its latest package insert, Pfizer acknowledges the issue of BMD, and that women who can use other birth control methods should not continue Depo for more than two years!

"As a Physician, I am saying that in the case of long-acting, hormonal contraceptives like Depo, adverse drug reactions - not 'just side effects' as Pfizer would like to put it - are a matter of grave concern. On administration of this injectable, healthy women have faced a disruption of their menstrual cycles, possibility of premature menopause accompanied by anxiety, depression and loss of libido, loss of bone density leading to weak, brittle bones, susceptibility to life-threatening blood clots and an increased possibility of HIV transmission, among other problems. All this can happen to normal, healthy women, who might just desire safe contraception, not sickness -inducing contraception, that will not only increase their suffering but also require additional treatment for disorders they never had earlier," argued Dr C Sathyamala, an epidemiologist. Many of these findings are documented in a research study: 'An epidemiological review of the injectable contraceptive, Depo Provera'.

The collective experiences of women reveal that Depo Provera has been administered to them in a highly unethical way that could endanger their lives. Plus, there is data to show that most women have eventually discontinued the injection due to adverse drug reactions,which service providers brush aside, calling them 'minor side-effects' while trying to cajole women into continuing with the contraceptive to meet population control targets. This has been the experienceof women world over, including in the US!

A related study, Introducing DMPA injectable contraceptives to private medical practitioners in urban Gujarat, by Population Council and others, recommends: "Obstetrics/gynecology specialists may be a more appropriate category of physicians (than generalists or MBBS) for reaching women", to administer the injection and for follow-up care. Indeed, India just does not have that kind of health set-up as yet.

However, after suggesting the inclusion of Depo Provera in FWP, Sujatha Rao had suggested that Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) from the National Rural Health Mission could take up the task of administering the injectable, they being 'gaon ki beti' (daughter of the village) and trusted by villagers. "But the fact is that literacy not being their selection criteria, ASHAs may not be able to read even technical instructions on the Depo package regarding when to administer the injection, probable risks and adverse drug reactions involved, nor do they have much knowledge about a woman's internal bodily functioning like gynaecologists do, to watch out for complications or offer advice in case of ill effects to Depo users. ASHAs cannot do this. It will be like playing with the health of millions of women," said Kalpana Mehta from Saheli, a women's group.

"The injectable is hazardous to the woman and to her progeny irrespective of whether the government can find someone at the village level - trained or not - to persuade women, who trust them, that it is safe. Its use should be banned from the private sector too," urged Dr Sathyamala.

Indeed, its rampant misuse among young girls and women in the US has become an alarming cause of concern within the health sector. And if the trend catches up in 'unaccountable India', with girls and women also picking it up off the counter, without prescription, or corrupt doctors prescribing it, this might mark an epidemic with dangerous consequences. No wonder, the drug is in the midst of a deadly controversy with a dark, depressive narrative hidden behind its public claims.

Nothing ‘natural’ about it

http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2010/09/3686

Violence against women is rooted deep in the way girls are brought up to become 'women' and boys are made into 'men'

That women are not treated with dignity unless they shout from rooftops is to say the least. Women often find that they are treated as non-intellectual objects meant to entertain men at workplaces, perhaps so that the latter can perform better in a competitive, aggressive environment. Many office-going, educated women complain about not being treated in their day-to-day dealings with men in public and private spaces as human beings with intellect and their own subjectivity.

Talking about the subtle violence against women in media offices, Smriti Singh (name changed), a media professional who has worked for at least three Indian TV channels in the last ten years, says: "We often find the camera men or their assistants desperate to put the lapel mike (small microphone wired from under the clothes) on women celebrities or news reporters, just for that ever-so-slight touch of pleasure while adjusting the wires. Sometimes other male co-workers in the studio wait through the process to see if the woman's cleavage would get accidentally revealed, even for a fleeting moment. And then this becomes the staple of the men's gossip sessions, which get more graphic and enjoyable, but only for them."

Even walking the city streets alone can make a woman feel very unsafe. "No matter what I wear, men ogle at me. When I was in school, I stopped walking to tuition classes alone because boys on bikes would ride past making kissing sounds. It became very annoying and a constant source of anxiety for me," shares Vidhi Choudhary, a student from the Centre for Media Studies.

"I HAVE A car now, so I feel much safer when I travel," she adds. But a far greater number of women have to depend on public transport. "Travelling in buses is such a nightmare. During monsoons, even metro travel has become so unpleasant. Someone or the other is always on the lookout for that split second when he can touch a woman's private parts as it is easy to blame the overcrowding when confronted," says Savita Sindhu, a Delhi University student.

So what do women do when they are harassed? "Some stay silent and ignore troublesome men while others choose to confront them. Either way, we should not let our work get affected," says Choudhary.

Even the relatively progressive Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is not free of incidents of harassment of women. "Physical mobility gets restricted for most girls once they are out of the JNU campus. However, even within the campus we keep getting cases of violence ranging from mental to physical torture faced by women despite being in consensual relationships, and even after marriage," says Akanksha Kumar, former student representative of the JNU's Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH), a pioneering institution that acknowledges and punishes harassers on campus, both men or women, after a rigorous formal enquiry and fact-finding process.

"At least three recent cases of violence faced by girl students from their male teachers have come to light. The power dynamics in such cases come into play much more strongly. If the girls speak up, they might lose out on grades, but if they don't, they will certainly lose their self-esteem. Understandably, speaking up is a difficult choice at this point, but a few women do make that choice," says Kumar.

With a patriarchal set-up,restrictions on women start from childhood itself and gradually get extended to higher institutes of learning or work spaces as well, as if restricting and silencing women is the most 'natural' thing to do," explains Akhila Singh, a Delhi-based women's activist. From the clothes they wear to how 'gracefully' they should walk and talk, who they can speak with, how many hours they can spend out of home - limitations on women cover almost everything under the sun. Of course, depending on where they are located - for instance, whether in the rural or urban set-up - the restrictions (and the violence or suppression if they resist) can take various forms.

Indeed, killing of couples-in-love reveals an all-time low in levels of misogyny - as if female foeticide, infanticide, high levels of anaemia and malnutrition in women weren't enough of social problems based on deep-seated discrimination against women. Ninety per cent of the times, it is the girl's family that attacks the duo as their 'honour' gets violated when she chooses to fall in love and decides to marry a man outside set social norms. This was one of the findings of a study conducted by National Commission for Women in 2009 with help from Shakti Vahini, an NGO.

Advocate Renu Mishra, who has been relentlessly fighting for women's rights in Lucknow for the past decade, gives an interesting depiction of the subtlety in the working of patriarchal norms. She says, "If a girl straightens her spine and walks briskly with her eyes meeting the eyes of the passers-by, without her shoulders drooping an inch, she is immediately 'corrected' by someone in the family and asked to walk demurely, head bent downwards, to be a 'decent' girl. But if a man walks hesitantly, with his eyes on his feet, he's instantly reprimanded and asked to 'become a man' by fearlessly looking up into the eyes of people as he walks on the street."

It is from here that the difference in socialisation begins.

Being fearful thus becomes a desired feminine trait, but 'boys become men' as they turn aggressive. "But in police stations and courts, women are generally asked why didn't they fight back or resist the perpetrator hard enough. How can anyone sane expect women to fight back or strongly resist a man when all they are taught from childhood is to stay quiet and submit to them?" rues Mishra.

"For thousands of years, women have been trapped inside homes. Today, a large number of them have chosen to move out of the domestic sphere with vigour and determination. This effort to change the status-quo by questioning male domination in every possible way is being met with rising rates of crime against women," says Albeena Shakil, member of All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA).

The Delhi Human Development Report 2006 published by the Delhi government, in a section devoted to crime against women and safety, points to the alarming rise in the rate of crime against women in the capital. Adverse female-to-male ratio, high levels of rapes, sexual harassment, domestic violence etc make Delhi a very hostile and unfriendly city for women.

According to the 'Safe Cities Baseline Survey', whose findings were released in July 2010 by Kiran Walia, state minister for health and family welfare, violence against women is quite 'normalised' in the city. A large number of women live in a constant state of anxiety when out of home. However, as the National Crime Records Bureau data shows, this heightened state of discomfort is not a Delhi-specific phenomenon.

It is one thing to dig out studies and surveys to say how terrible this male-dominated society is. It is quite another to survive this suffocating system and to involve men as well in the process.

"Often men don't know how to help and have to be told how to do so without confrontation with the perpetrator," remarks Dr Suraiya Baluch, director of Princeton University's Sexual Harassment/Assault Advising, Resource and Education (SHARE) programme. Speaking at an event organised by GSCASH in JNU, Baluch acknowledged high levels of violence against women in the US and discussed community-level solutions that seek to involve everyone, especially bystanders, in stopping acts of harassment of women.

In a similar vein, Ruchi Sinha, Chairperson, Centre for Criminology and Justice, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, says it is not feasible for women alone to deal with the high rates of crime against them. For instance, all-women police stations were earlier sought as havens of justice for female victims of violence since policemen don't take their complaints seriously. But the actual experience in states like Orissa and Tamil Nadu showed that women police officers end up being heavy-handed or indiscriminate, promoting the very stereotypes they were meant to break. Indeed, violence against women cries out for an all-inclusive approach, which doesn't shrink from looking beyond merely legal solutions.

From the print issue of Hardnews : SEPTEMBER 2010

They hate love

http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2010/08/3659

Barbarism of the banana republics of khaps has led to a spate of killings of young couples. Will the epidemic stop, or will it spread its vicious wings?

Shaweta Anand Delhi

Jyotsna and Rohini

Dishonour crimes is a phrase made popular by Shakti Vahini, a women and child rights group, to describe the phenomena of 'honour killings' associated with a sense of violation of community honour. The phenomenon acquires a vicious and barbaric form when youngsters breach the traditionally prescribed social norms of marriage and select a partner of their own choice, mostly across castes, within their gotra (sub-caste) or across religions.

Traditional belief in many villages of the rural northern belt, especially in Haryana, UP and Rajasthan, is that youngsters from the same gotra or even different gotras but living within or adjoining villages are considered to be siblings. Marrying each other is therefore considered incestuous by some and unhealthy for the offspring by others, 'bringing dishonour to the family and community', according to the self-appointed guardians of orthodox culture and tradition.

A handful of men among them, who constitute the khap panchayats, have taken it upon themselves to decide upon 'appropriate punishment for offenders', including unconstitutional torture or death sentences to be executed by villagers themselves. This comes as a punishment for exercising the right to choice of a partner (albeit without social approval), which is well within the purview of law under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

It is a misnomer that only young people choose socially unacceptable partners because many parents are doing the same for their children due to lack of options. "Earlier, smaller villages had two-three gotras so you could avoid them, but now, villages have 20-25 gotras that must be avoided, alongside parents' gotras and gotras of neighbouring villages. This, coupled with low sex ratio (as low as 550 women per 1000 men in some districts) and high unemployment, makes it a very challenging situation," says sociologist Dr Prem Chowdhry.

The informal institution of khap goes by the names of a particular gotra (Dahiya khap, Hooda khap, Gathwala khap etc) or of the geographical area they represent (Meham chaubisi representing 24 villages in Rohtak, Bawal chaurasi representing 84 villages in Rewari etc). Such khaps are still functioning in states of northern India and cases of dishonour crimes have also been reported from as far as Tamil Nadu down south.

Members of this unconstitutional, parallel system of 'justice' often convene an all-male gathering that squats on or around a chabutara (a raised platform) in the village, smoking hookah sometimes to denote bhaichara (brotherhood), with an aim of taking quick, unilateral decisions on multiple issues like social transgressions, property rights, inheritance, or regarding situations threatening peace in the village.

Most cases heard at such gatherings concern women but they are never made part of the proceedings. This reveals the patriarchal and authoritative nature of this grouping compared to the constitutional gram panchayats that also have women representatives, especially after the 73rd Amendment, says Chowdhry in her acclaimed book Contentious Marriages, Eloping Couples.

Interestingly, the concept of bhaichara (brotherhood) as elaborated upon by Chowdhry, whether caste or village-based, covers sisters and daughters, not wives. For instance, a married woman running away is not made to be such a big deal by people of the community. But an unmarried woman eloping with her partner is met with an iron hand and it evokes a range of violent reactions, especially from male members of the community for breaching and threatening traditional social norms and culture.

As it happened in the case of Darshana, a married woman of Jhajjar, who was unveiled in front of other village men (symbolising a return to single status as unmarried women do not cover their heads) and was made to tie a rakhi (a thread signifying the bond between brother and sister) on her husband's hand on the diktat of the khap.

Her torture didn't end there. Her father-in-law was given the duty of marrying her the second time to someone who was appropriate as her marriage was 'against the order of nature' by virtue of fraternal ties between their gotras starting many generations back.

In Punjab and Haryana, the brother is considered to be the 'protector' of the izzat (honour) of his sister. Such emotions with regard to sisters and daughters are played upon and exaggerated. They are also used as male control-mechanisms. They usually serve as common factors in male-bonding within khaps when members collect to pass decrees on couples who transgress kinship norms, informs Chowdhry.

Dwelling on this idea of honour, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Radhika Coomaraswamy, says the regulation of women's sexuality and violence against them is closely related. She writes: "In most societies, the ideal of masculinity is underpinned by a notion of 'honour' - of a man, a family or a community - and is fundamentally connected with policing female behaviour and sexuality."

'Honourable' behaviour for women then gets defined by concepts of sharm (modesty) and lihaz (deference), explains Chowdhry. Any breach of 'honour' is met with violence of varying degrees to teach them (and others) a lesson.

Such an oppressive system exists because the functions of production (control over land) and reproduction (control over women through the institution of marriage) need to be closely guarded at all costs by men since that gives their lineage or caste strength, recognition and leverage in society and the polity. That explains why men get so threatened and offended by women who choose their partners not only breaking out of social norms, but also taking away their legal share in their father's property under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, to another group with a different lineage.

In retaliation to the idea of health risks posed by same gotra marriages, Dr RS Dahiya, associated with Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, offers an interesting argument in his paper titled 'Khaps: Misusing the science of genetics' in the context of Haryana. He says that marriage within the first generation of Jats and within a gotra makes two people first cousins. But beyond the third and fourth generation, blood gets mixed hundreds of times over. So it's a myth that same-gotra marriages cause genetic diseases in the offspring. Women in abusive relationships or teenagers who are forced to give birth to children pose a greater threat to the children's health than the danger posed by same-gotra marriages, he argues.

"That marriage within the same gotra poses health risks is a bogus argument made for the heck of it. This is because the genetic pool of both the families is very different due to different family histories," says research scholar Rani Rohini Raman at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi.

The social ostracism meted out to 'erring' couples and families by villagers can be excruciating, feels Ranjana Kumari of Women Power Connect, a women's rights group. She was referring to exclusion faced by Manoj's family members in the famous 'Manoj-Babli case' in which Additional District and Sessions Judge Vani Gopal Sharma of Karnal High Court found seven people guilty in a landmark verdict of April 2010. Justice Sharma pronounced death for Babli's family members, life imprisonment for the khap leader of Kaithal district who ordered their killings, and a seven-year prison term to the driver who abducted the couple.

The couple-in-love was hunted down after they eloped and got married in 2007, despite having approached the Chandigarh High Court for protection in advance. Their crime was that they belonged to the same gotra because of which their marriage had been declared incestuous, thus null and void. The policeman who had been directed to provide protection to the couple is under suspicion for having revealed their whereabouts to Babli's blood-thirsty family in 2007. He is currently facing departmental action.

Justice Sharma is facing threats from the khap, and has been given police protection. Manoj's mother, Chanderpati, who approached the court in her relentless fight for justice, continues to live a lonely and dejected life. No one talks to her in the village or sells her grocery as a punishment for raising her voice against the khap's diktats. Indeed, the village kumhar (potter) even refused to give Manoj's family clay pots for the dead couple's ashes and their last rights. "The village dhobi (washerman) refused to wash their clothes, such is the extent of ostracisation," says Kumari. It's vicious, entrenched, relentless, this social boycott and vengeance.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) was approached by Shakti Vahini in 2009 and subsequently, a study on similar crimes (unpublished) was carried out in which 326 such cases were examined. It was found that a maximum number of oppressive diktats were made by panchayats in cases of inter-caste marriages (72 per cent), marriage within same caste without family consent (15 per cent), contentious relationships (7 per cent), same-gotra marriages (3 per cent), and inter-religious marriages (1 per cent).

"The issue of dishonour crimes is therefore not about same-gotra marriages as it is made out to be. It is about the larger issues of curbing women's rights to make their own decisions. Most such crimes (90 per cent) are executed by the girl's family," says Supreme Court advocate Ravi Kant, president of Shakti Vahini. "Today, more girls are getting education. Their role models have changed to NASA astronaut Kalpana Chawla, World Number 2 badminton player Saina Nehwal and Mamta Sodha who climbed the Mount Everest, all from Haryana," says Kant.

Zohra Chatterji, Member Secretary, NCW, agrees that parents are supporting education for girls even in Haryana - but to get them better grooms in the marriage market. They are least interested in their professional careers. "There is a widening gap between parents and children, the latter having the exposure and education to rationalise things for themselves, even if there is no social sanction. Such decisions lead to friction, feeding into instances of anger-driven dishonour crimes," she adds.

Prof Surinder S Jodhka at JNU feels that such crimes show serious inability of parents to communicate with their children because the gap between them is generational. Youngsters belong to a mobile generation, are educated and far more independent in thinking compared to parents, which leads to disagreements between them. "Inter-caste marriages are not unheard of if you think about the tales of Heer-Ranjha, Sassi-Punnu or Sohni-Mahiwal. What has happened today is that due to changes in a liberalising world, rural agrarian relations of dependency of lower castes on upper castes are disintegrating. With falling authority outside family and even within it, a large number of people feel socially pressurised, hence the pent-up frustration," asserts Jodhka.

Many villages in Haryana have about 150-200 boys who are unable to get married; the sex ratio is low, unemployment is high. "Altogether there is too much energy and no other work. This makes it easier for khaps to get their violent diktats executed through these people by playing on their emotions," says Kant. "Additionally, in Haryana's case, Jats also want to find a political identity, especially after the landmark Manoj-Babli verdict that convicted seven people for their murder. Just like the BJP used the temple issue, Jats are using the issue of same-gotra marriages for mobilising themselves through khaps," he says.

A spate of community-pride related crimes have been recently reported, but they are not even 10 per cent of what is actually happening. "Sums of up to Rs 20 lakh have been collected by khaps in a small place called Shyamali (Haryana) alone to fight legal battles in courts with regard to same-gotra marriages. This shows the level of mobilisation and bhaichara on this issue and it shouldn't be taken lightly by the government," Kant cautions.

While the Supreme Court has issued notices to nine states and the Centre with regard to 'honour'-related crimes, a certain diabolical politics of conspiracy and silence is being enacted on the ground. How long will the UPA regime, headed by a woman, and the states, refuse to recognise and punish this organised barbarism and blood-letting, which is fast turning into a social epidemic?

From the print issue of Hardnews : AUGUST 2010