We would argue that gender
violence is more often than not a statement of the dominant male political
discourse over and above the “other” female self, and in this sense it is an
exercise in critical negotiations with the androgynous heterogeneity of the
masculine psyche. This is the initial position we adopt while discoursing on
gender violence irrespective of ethnicity, class, religion or even culture.
We cannot afford to discuss sexual violence without addressing a statement
of power like penetration that has been offset in the feminist vocabulary
with a term of discourse like engulfment.
Much of today’s feminist movement began with the ontology of equal rights
with the men but even this metaphor could not quite carve out the niche of
women as the “otherness” of men over and above the discrete culture root
paradigms of the male ego.
The problem appears much more compounded in the context of India’s melting
pot of civilization where values, ethos and perceptions have been exposed to
different systems of belief and politics of everyday life since time
immemorial. So the problem of gender violence in India (and especially in a
highly mobilized state like West Bengal) is predicated upon analyses that is
much more complicated than the black / white scenario informed by mutually
exclusive categories of understanding.
The Problem
India’s National Commission
for Women was established in January 1992 as a statutory body under the
National Commission for Women Act 1990 (Act No. 20 of 1990 of the Government
of India) to review the constitutional and legal safeguards for women,
recommend remedial legislative measures, facilitate redress of grievances
and advise the Government on all policy matters that affect women.
The NCW has adopted a multi-directional strategy to tackle the problem of
gender violence. The Commission works toward spread of legal awareness among
women, building as well as developing their capacities to use their rights.
It helps women redress their grievances by way of pre-litigation services.
Parivarik Mahila Lok Adalats are organized in different parts of the country
to expedite the delivery of justice, review the existing provisions of the
Constitution and other laws affecting women and recommend necessary
amendments in this connection.
The Complaints and Counseling Cell of the Commission processes complaints
related to domestic violence, dowry-related torture, desertion, bigamy,
rape, refusal to register FIR, cruelty / deprivation by husband, gender
discrimination and sexual harassment at work place.
West Bengal: Myth and Reality
There is a general civil
societal perception in the state and elsewhere that the Bengali Hindu middle
class bhadralokian ethos acts as a deterrent to gender violence.
Bengal has always had “a tradition of unorthodoxy” conjoined by a higher
degree of political mobilization than most other regions of the country that
are more often not identified with male chauvinistic values whose historical
roots may well be traced back to the feudal mores.
Such systems of dominant male
belief never really addressed women as the essential other but considered
the feminine from within a construction moored in sexist and discriminatory
perceptions. The woman is not really an actor but an agenda that caters to
requirements like libido, comforts like housekeeping and necessities like
male off-springs.
Despite remarkable progress made in the Nineteenth Century by social
reformers during the controversial Bengal Renaissance, it appears that
“mainstream” society has only been able to make strides in progress at the
inadequate veneer level and the deep text of this most problematic discourse
as yet remains effectively interrogated.
Eve teasing is on the rise in Calcutta and Salt Lake City, witch hunting
continues unabated in tribal belts of Midnapore and Purulia, incidents of
gang rape are reported from South 24 Parganas, dowry deaths happen in
Bengal’s cities and villages, instigation to suicide and actual bride
burning are not entirely unknown, underprivileged girl children are either
smuggled out across the international border to Bangladesh from bordering
districts like Malda and Murshidabad, domestic violence in Muslim families
is a reality while rape in police custody takes place along with infamous
incidents like Bantala and Birati.
Question is: why has gender violence escalated in Bengal since 1994? Is it
due to an expanding consumer culture that tends to influence the manner in
which a society reacts to mis-governance, gender violence and conventional
values? Is it due to problems of urbanization, unemployment and population
explosion that facilitate anomie, indifference / antipathy and erosion of
social capital (networks of trust and cooperation within the communitarian
discourse) among faceless “unknown citizens”?
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