(Shared by Abha Bhaiya – One Billion Rising India coordinator):
“No Encounters in our Name”- Protest on 9th December in Bangalore against increasing cases of sexual assault.
The women organisations have given a call to change the society entrenched in rape culture and have condemned the calls for death penalty.
Photo: Gauri Lankesh News
“Enough is enough”
Rape of women and children must be prevented. And no ‘encounters’ in our name.
Protest venue: December 9th, Monday, from 4.30p, onwards at Town hall, Bangalore.
More than 20 women organisations have come together to protest against increasing sexual violence against women, children and sexual minorities on December 9th at 4.30 PM at Town hall Bengaluru.
In their joint statement, they have said-
We, everyone, who cares about women’s rights and human rights strongly condemn the atrocities and rapes happening on women and we also condemn the experiments of ‘death sentence’ as revenge for these atrocities.
An ugly and perverse face of our society has been exposed to the world in just last one week. The horrific rape and murder of veterinary doctor Disha(name changed as per court order) has proved that the world’s largest democracy is not as democratic as it looks like.
In just one week, rape and murder in Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Chamrajnagar and Kalburgi in Karnataka have been reported. The many instances of gang rape and attempt to murder in Uttar Pradesh beats all these incidents. In Unnao, UP, gang rape survivor was set on fire by her “rapists” while she was going to court proceedings. The woman with 90% burns is fighting for her life in the hospital. These incidents show that women’s lives are in danger in this country.
Today, Hyderabad police carried out the “encounter” of the suspects in the rape and murder of Disha. Police say – ‘they had to be fired at as they were trying to escape’. Everyone is celebrating these encounters, the case hasn’t been investigated completely and the accused haven’t gotten a fair trial, but the encounters are hailed as justice to the victim. This sets a very dangerous precedent where calls for
We see a variety of reactions to these horrific incidents, there is sadness, helplessness and a genuine questioning our society. Along with these, we also hear voices like ‘enough of candle burning’, burn the rapists’, kill the rapists. To be noted it is not just the common emotional people but politicians occupying responsible positions too gave such irresponsible statements. In all this noise, the debate about what to do to stop these horrific incidents and the real work that needs to be done is taking a backseat.
Rapes do not happen just because of sexual desire. Those who have seen violence and those who’ve experienced violence since their childhood tend to develop these violent tendencies. This has been seen in 70% of violence against women. These incidents of violence against women will continue till we have a culture of insulting, inflict violence, suppress and even kill women. To change this, we need to teach the children about gender equality and put an end to the day to day violence practiced by elders against women.
Governments should incorporate the school curriculum in order to curb discrimination and promote a mindset that sees men and women as equals.
A patriarchal society teaches men to subjugate women, use force on them, rape them to prove their masculinity. We need to establish that this concept of hollow ‘masculinity’ is wrong and men women can lead a healthy life only by having mutual respect.
Criminal action be taken against politicians and officers, who in times of such horrific incidents, instead of carrying out their responsibilities they issue statements which are irrelevant, absurd, which are targeted against a particular community.
Government should take strict action against those who spread false narrative like ‘rapes happen because of the revealing dress worn by women, because women attract such things, because these women are amoral etc’ these arguments which put the blame of rape on the victims make the rapists feel proud of themselves when they should be repenting their crimes. This narrative which indirectly supports violence against women should be stopped.
Websites, advertisements, and cinemas that show misleading content about women should be restricted.
Every stage of the investigation, evidence collection, and inquiry in cases of rape and sexual violence should be done with utmost seriousness and with sensitivity and empathy towards the victim, only then the culprits won’t get released and make murder attempts on the victim. Only the process of delivering justice can scare those who have the mindset to rape and violate women and killing some people will never scare the future rapists.
Hence, all those who care for the rights of women and citizen, those who want to protect the health of society are getting together on December 9th , a day before world human rights day at Town hall, Bengaluru from 4.30pm to 7pm for a protest meeting. We are saying ‘women too have human rights, it’s our responsibility to protect them’.‘single window’ centres, which offer all kinds of support to the victims should be started in each district.
These are the actions that need to be taken to prevent rapes. If we do not take steps with these long term goals, we will be wasting our time to find an answer for this social menace.
We appeal to representatives of media to support or demand and help us spread this news widely.
Following organisations and people are signatories to this Press release.
1. JIH Malyali women’s wing
2. Karnataka garments allied worker union, Ramanagara
3. Kotresh kottur
4. Institute for alternative research and development (IARRD)
5. Dr. Sylvia karpagam
6. Karuna jeevakalyana trust.
7. Grama Seva sangatane
8. Human rights empowerment council of India
9. Shiva mallikarjun
10. Pushpa
11. AIPWA
12. Stree jagruthi samiti
13. Mahila Munnade
14. Gamana
15. Sadhana Mahila sangha
16. Garments mahila Karmikara munnade
17. Slum janandolana
18. Human rights law network (HRLN)
19. Peoples movement against sexual assault (PMASA)
20. Karnataka Sex Worker Union
21. Garment and Textiles workers Union (GATWU)
22. Sadananda modi Bijapur
23. Savita Bijapur
24. Gita Chadda
25. SOGDS
26. Bharati Devi
