If you want to understand how to become better allies to people with disabilities, then join us at Embracing All Abilities: Including People with Disabilities at Work.
We need swift punishment for those who perpetrate crimes against women - like those in the recent Guwahati case
One of our national pastimes is to analyze near about anything- from the state of the nation to the performance of the Indian cricket team in this tournament or that. This propensity to analyze becomes a disease when it paralyses action.
I was shaken out of my wits when various news channels were showing a mob assaulting a young girl in Guwahati for no apparent reason, except that she was leaving a pub after attending a party. The visuals I saw were of a mob of crude men, many of them staring right into TV cameras, with no fear that they may be identified. And I do not know why the TV crews were busy filming the ghastly incident when they should have been brave enough to defend the hapless girl.
By the time I gathered my wits around me, the analysis had already begun. A news channel was quoting the DGP of Assam saying that the media had blown the incident out of proportion; another one was asking questions as to why nobody tried to save the girl from assault; while yet another was wondering if there was more to the incident that met the eye. Politicians were making the right noises, the media were going to town showing the sickening footage again and again, and somewhere I felt the issue of swift punishment to the guilty was going into the background. Today, I am sure, there will be long winded discussions on the incident on every news channel, with retired cops, politicians, sociologists and the rest of the vocal classes telling us what was and what should have been.
Where I am concerned, analysis can wait- after all, if the girl were someone from our own families, what would we do? Sit back and analyze what happened, or do something about it?
For whatever my opinion is worth, anybody assaulting a woman should be given the same treatment by the police in full public view or else the whole incident will again become a routine analysis- the cops will analyze the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code; the public prosecutor will analyze the charge-sheet; the courts will analyze the evidence; higher courts will analyze the lower court’s verdict and this trail of analyses will become one collective paralysis till the incident conveniently fades from public memory.
I know human rights activists will question my advocacy of such summary punishment, but my question is just this- what about the human rights of the girl who was so brutally assaulted? Where are the likes of APDR, PUCL and such others now? Why don’t they speak up now? Or are human rights only for the accused and not for victims?
Let’s not paralyze ourselves; let us act- change the law, provide for summary punishment; just beat up the goons; but let us DO something.
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...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
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.”
Please enter your email address