Women Molestation and its politicisation

Binita Tiwari
Such incident freezes me to death and suddenly I feel haunted yes haunted for the beautiful dream I carry to have a girl child…screams of girls follow me and I dash my head on the wall.
Molestation has become a trend these days there was Kochi, Chennai, Tiruvanathpuram and Uipur to tag along Mumbai where the molestation case has taken a very different turn.
Suddenly the case has got a political hue..Nothing astonishing! In India every incidents are converted into one to get more and more mileage out of it. Newly formed Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray has emerged as the armament of the 14 youth arrested in Mumbai Molestation case.
To hell with the shamelessness of these men, they appear with tilak on their forehead and plead that they are innocent in a press conference.
One fine day R R Patil, the deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra said that such case should not be bailable, he did the right thing he made a place in the heart of millions of parents, millions of such victims who suffer. They suffer because of the helplessness and over a period of time they forget what they said but it gets etched in people’s mind.
This is our politicians, who every now and then make us weak. Few days back euphoric Modi said to the crowd “I'm the CM, will remain CM forever” and he went on clarifying that CM stands for ‘Common Man’. How can they ever say like that? People vote them to power thinking that they are not just ordinary people they are the leader, they should go ahead and set an example.
When Raj Thackeray said that no Maharashtrian would behave in such a way, is not that he tried to demean the victim’s suffering? What about those photographs?
So, here is a message again that “No body is there to fight your fight ‘WOMAN’”.
Yes somebody has aptly said “Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their oppressors.” But the women folk here have a different story to tell, many of those who dream to move ahead in life sounds positive but at the same time there is resentment against the authoritative law, politicians and police.
That is what Saloni Singh Parmar, an aspirant of Judicial Services says, “Being a law student I know that there are certain loopholes in our judicial system, if law is there to speak loud on something it remain silent at so many places where there is an urgent need.”
But a woman in her could not hide her feelings, “I feel that men should undergo such humiliation a woman has to pass through when she is molested,” she furies.
“Will ever a woman be able to breath freely outside her home without fear?” she asks.
“Modesty of almost every woman is insulted with such incident and keeping mum in such case only encourages them to do such crime, lets stop them,” she urges the womenfolk.
“Molestation is a heinous crime; it shows the mentality of Indian men living in the society. Stricter laws should be made against women’s violation to keep women safe and maintain a healthier environment,” said Tulika and Namrata from faculty of Political Science., Jamia Milia Islimia University.
Indira Basumatary another student from Political Science Department of Jamia Milia Islamia University said, “There should be death and only death for a rapist or a molester then only this society will see the change it is craving for.”
“Many legal experts say that if death penalty is there for such case there is a chance that innocent people too will become victim of such punishment but then what to those innocent girls who died without any fault,” she complains.
“Punish the culprits in worst possible way, barbaric punishment for barbaric act,” she says with a thump.
“The centre is trying to play safe by directing the state governments to review safety and security of foreign as well as the domestic tourists specially women tourists. They are forgetting that every human female whether Indian or alien is vulnerable in this land of male predators,” says Sarita Tripathi an UPSC aspirants on the alleged molestation in Kochi, Udaipur and Tiruvanathpuram.
“I take no pride to be called as Sita, you call me shrewd and I will say ‘Damn it if I am and Damn it if I am not’ ” she sounds confident.
Hema Patra says “It all in the mind lets shrugged this attitude of pointing fingers at ourselves even when there is no fault of ours.”
This civil services aspirants boldly asked women to be stronger in their belief and pull themselves to stand against all odds.
But the discussions here still go as there is a deep gash in their mind, the mind which has stopped taking the things other cook and give; they have a point to prove.
But then there is a need that every woman must stand and speak up..as Faiz Ahmad Faiz , a famous Pakistani Poet has said..( bol ki lab azad hain tere,bol zaban ab tak teri hai….bol ye thoda waqt bahot hai,jism-o-zabaan ki maut se pahale,bol ki sach zinda hai ab tak,bol jo kuchh kahane hai kah le..)
Speak, for your lips are yet free;Speak, for your tongue is still your own;…..
Speak, this brief hour is long enough, Before the death of body and tongue:
Speak, 'cause the truth is not dead yet,Speak, speak, whatever you must speak!

poems by faiz

Loneliness

Loneliness like a good, old friend
visits my house to pour wine in the evening.
And we sit together, waiting for the moon,
and for your face to sparkle in every shadow.


Last Night
Last night your lost memory visited my heartas
spring visits the wilderness quietly
,as the breeze echoes the silence of her footfalls
in the desert,
as peace slowly, softly descends on one's sickness.

Tonight
Do not strike the chord of sorrow tonight!
Days burning with pain turn to ashes.
Who knows what happens tomorrow?
Last night is lost; tomorrow's frontier wiped out:
Who knows if there will be another dawn?
Life is nothing, it's only tonight!Tonight we can be what the gods are!

Do not strike the chord of sorrow, tonight!
Do not repeat stories of sufferings now,
Do not complain, let your fate play its role,
Do not think of tomorrows, give a damn--
Shed no tears for seasons gone by,
All sighs and cries wind up their tales,
Oh, do not strike the same chord again!

Speak
Speak, your lips are free.
Speak, it is your own tongue.
Speak, it is your own body.
Speak, your life is still yours.

See how in the blacksmith's shop
The flame burns wild, the iron glows red;
The locks open their jaws,And every chain begins to break.

Speak, this brief hour is long enough
Before the death of body and tongue:
Speak, 'cause the truth is not dead yet,
Speak, speak, whatever you must speak.

Stanza
If they snatch my ink and pen,
I should not complain,
For I have dipped my fingersIn the blood of my heart.
I should not complain
Even if they seal my tongue,
For every ring of my chainIs a tongue ready to speak.

My Interview
The wall has grown all black, upto the circling roof.
Roads are empty, travellers all gone.
Once againMy night begins to converse with its loneliness;
My visitor I feel has come once again.
Henna stains one palm, blood wets another;
One eye poisons, the other cures.

None leaves or enters my heart's lodging;
Loneliness leaves the flower of pain unwatered,
Who is there to fill the cup of its wound with color?

My visitor I feel has come once again,
Of her own will, my old friend--her name
Is Death: a friend in need, yet an enemy--
The murderess and the sweetheart!

Translated by Azfar Hussain