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Molestation and other crimes against women in India rarely carry stringent punishment - the accused get bail very easily.
All the sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 mentioned below are the ones under which (according to media reports) the Guwahati goons have been booked; all these sections of the IPC are bailable, that is, the accused have the right to be released on bail, and that the accused need not be forwarded to a court to seek bail, an officer in-charge of a police station can bail them out after seeking a personal bond and/or surety from them. Even some traffic violations are looked at more seriously by the law.
And I am amazed that almost no one has thought to look into the fact that it is so easy to molest a woman in this country and to get away with it- the law is completely in favor of the molesters (NCW, are you listening?). I have taken the Guwahati molestation as a test case.
Section 341 (Wrongful restraint) Whoever wrongfully restrains any person shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term, which may extend to one month, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both.
Wrongfully restraining a person gets the offender a month in jail; wrongfully retraining an animal gets him three months (Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, section 11 f)
Section 143 (Unlawful assembly) Whoever is a member of an unlawful assembly shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six month, or with fine, or with both.
The blood-thirsty riotous mob that assaulted the hapless girl in Guwahati was not booked for rioting, which carries imprisonment for one year. Wasn’t this mob riotous? Section 146 of the Indian Penal Code defines rioting as “Whenever force or violence is used by an unlawful assembly, or by any member thereof, in prosecution of the common object of such assembly, every member of such assembly is guilty of the offence of rioting.” This section could have been read with section 34, IPC (common intent) and 120B, IPC (criminal conspiracy).
Section 294 (Obscene act) Obscene acts and songs.—Whoever, to the annoyance of others- (a) does any obscene act in any public place, or (b) sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine, or with both.
Well, a man can be obscene, nasty and insensitive to a woman in public, harass her, tease her, and be crude and crass, all he gets is three months in jail; but if someone is caught selling, renting out, circulating, etc. “a book, pamphlet, paper, writing, drawing, painting, representation, figure or any other object…deemed to be obscene if it is lascivious or appeals to the pruri¬ent interest…” (note the tone of moral policing here), gets two years in jail for the first offence and five years for any subsequent offence (Indian Penal Code, section 292).
Section 323 (Voluntarily causing hurt) Whoever, except in the case provided for by section 334, voluntarily causes hurt shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.
There is an escape clause here in section 334. It says, “Whoever voluntarily causes hurt on grave and sudden provocation, if he neither intends nor knows himself to be likely to cause hurt to any person other than the person who gave the provocation, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one month, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both.” All that the accused need to do is to malign the girl, shift the blame to her, prove, through a smart lawyer that they were provoked.
Section 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.
If a man criminally assault a woman, he get jailed for two years; if he steals anything- could be a hundred rupees- he goes to jail for three years, and the offence of stealing is non-bailable. (Indian Penal Code, section 379; also if someone steals anything from a ‘dwelling house’, the jail term goes up to seven years- Indian Penal Code, section 380)
All the arrested Guwahati goons will be roaming free by now, all bailed out because the law says so.
I am a former bureaucrat, and have worked a lot on gender issues, disaster management and good governance. I am also the proud father of two lovely daughters. read more...
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What I loved was how there is so much in the movie of the SRK we have known, and also a totally new star. The gestures, the smile, the wit and the charisma are all too familiar, but you also witness a rawness, an edginess.
When a movie that got the entire nation in a twist – for the right and wrong reasons – hits the theatres, there is bound to be noise. From ‘I am going to watch it – first day first show’ to ‘Boycott the movie and make it a flop’, social media has been a furore of posts.
Let me get one thing straight here – I did not watch Pathaan to make a statement or to simply rebel as people would put it. I went to watch it for the sheer pleasure of witnessing my favourite superstar in all his glory being what he is best at being – his magnificent self. Because when it comes to screen presence, he burns it, melts it and then resurrects it as well like no other. Because when it comes to style and passion, he owns it like a boss. Because SRK is, in a way, my last connecting point to the girl that I once was. Though I have evolved into so many more things over the years, I don’t think I am ready to let go of that girl fully yet.
There is no elephant in the room really here because it’s a fact that Bollywood has a lot of cleaning up to do. Calling out on all the problematic aspects of the industry is important and in doing that, maintaining objectivity is also equally imperative. I went for Pathaan for entertainment and got more than I had hoped for. It is a clever, slick, witty, brilliantly packaged action movie that delivers what it promises to. Logic definitely goes flying out of the window at times and some scenes will make you go ‘kuch bhi’ , but the screenplay clearly reminds you that you knew all along what you were in for. The action sequences are lavish and someone like me who is not exactly a fan of this genre was also mind blown.
Recent footage of her coming out of an airport had comments preaching karma and its cruel ways, that Samantha "deserved her illness" because she filed for divorce.
Samantha Ruth Prabhu fell from being the public’s sweetheart to a villain overnight because she filed for divorce. The actress was struck with myositis post divorce, much to the joy of certain groups (read sexist) in our society.
A troll responded to Samantha’s tweet, “Women Rising!!” by adding to it “just to fall”. She replied, “Getting back up makes it all the more sweeter, my friend.”
Here’s another insensitive tweet by BuzZ Basket showing fake concern for her autoimmune disease. “Feeling sad for Samantha, she lost all her charm and glow. When everyone thought she came out of divorce strongly and her professional life was seeing heights, myositis hit her badly, making her weak again.” Samantha responded, “I pray you never have to go through months of treatment and medication like I did. And here’s some love from me to add to your glow.”
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