- The political leadership, especially incumbent governments at the Centre and States, in India, would want us to believe that the country is progressing palpably as well as rapidly and in line with the aspirations of the people. The aspirational society will be among the most developed nations by 2047, we are told. The moot point to ponder over here is whether the largely patriarchal, misogynistic, and male chauvinistic society has developed, offering gender parity as is being claimed. The answer will be a resounding no. It’s a fact that women continue to play second fiddle to men in every aspect. The women’s participation in the workforce is still a long way from being termed at par to men. And women are subjected to various crimes with impunity.
PC: India Hood Bangla
- The question that must be asked is why women are treated with such condescension. The sense of entitlement pervading among men despite efforts to usher in gender parity hasn’t yielded desired results yet. Let’s look at how sexual crimes in educational institutions and on campuses are hurting women’s aspirations in singular ways. Sadly, politicization of the matter is simply disgusting and abhorrent, to say the least. The shocking incident in Balasore, Odisha, must have stirred the collective conscience of all concerned. Why did a woman college student set herself on fire? Of course, we will never know the entirety of the answer. The powers-that-be will be leaving no stone unturned to bury the matter. But there’s plenty we do know, and it’s all dismaying.
PC: India Today
- As reported, she had apprised her college’s internal complaints committee about a professor who had been asking her for favours, and there was pressure to withdraw the complaint. She had also gone to the police, but no FIR had been registered. She had posted on X that if she didn’t get the justice, she would commit suicide. Finally, it took 4.5 hours after she poured petrol on herself to get her to AIIMS Bhubaneswar, and that proved too late. This seems the most pitiful case of a death foretold. Except such a label belies the culpability of every person and every system that failed to both protect the 20-year-old and give her a rightful hearing. There are mandated POSH committees, strong laws against sexual harassment, polity-wide speechifying for safe campuses.
PC: The Hindu
- Yet, when women students complain, all too often, what they meet is institutional stonewalling. Horrifying cases continue to wound in silos. In Kolkata, even as the law student rape case makes its way through the court, another one is being reported from a premier B-school. But shouldn’t a single such case anywhere in the country alert every college and university to audit its safety and complaint apparatus? Odisha had been served a warning by a woman’s suicide at KIIT just this February. Her complaints of harassment and blackmail seemed to have been shrugged off as carelessly as in the Balasore case. Trust the politicians to fish in troubled waters by keeping the embers of fire burning for parochial considerations. It’s sickening.
