WOMEN LIB INDIA TEAM iDIVA ON THE MOVE

I copied this extract from Indian Times to try to sensitize people in the West about the frustating and ambigious situation a lot or almost all of Indian women are living in.

Small victory, big loss!
By Team iDiva 13 Feb 09 Add Writer to Favourite


First we bore the brunt of a beating and then there were threats. Threats to marry us off on V-Day or post our pictures online for all the world to see if found on a date.
Humiliating us into following a misguided version of Indian culture was the motive behind the actions of these self-appointed custodians - the imposing moral police.
That this politically-motivated campaign would lead to the death of a 16-year-old school girl is something that should make even those unaffected sit up and take notice.

Moral police cause suicide
Disgraced in public, the 16-year-old hung herself from the ceiling fan and committed suicide in her house in Mangalore on Wednesday. She could have never known that she'd pay such a hefty price for meeting a friend of the opposite sex on that ill-fated day.
A group of men allegedly "caught" her with the friend and handed them over to police. The police have been quick to deny the involvement of Sri Rama Sene in the humiliation of the couple. That too after, the outfit was responsible for beating up the girls at a Mangalore pub last month and had also reportedly assaulted the daughter of a Kerala MLA for talking to her Muslim friend on bus.
The police and govt are no help

Even the state police machinery and the government haven't really behaved in the most responsible manner in this case. Mangalore City Corporation mayor and five others served a legal notice on union minister for women and child development Renuka Chowdhury demanding an apology for her statement that "Mangalore has been Talibanised". Her mistake - she chose to speak out and stand up for the rights of women.

Feedback to iDiva

iDiva too has been at the receiving end of flak from so called "culture keepers" (read: men!) Nevertheless, there have been those too (men included) who have left us comments like:

"Moral policing threatening to curtail personal freedom allowed by law is to be taken seriously and he (Muthalik) should be prosecuted according to law. He is an antisocial element."


"Why are women the only ones who have to uphold this moral fabric in our society? Why are men allowed to pee on the streets on Mumbai, in full public view, or walk shirtless, or beat up women, or get drunk in "taadi bars" - when is that acceptable? Indian culture, like any other organism has to evolve!"


"Great letter, way to go Team iDiva !! I feel sorry to see that there are still so many 'protector of culture' who start claiming how wine ruins life of girls/woman and many other 'facts?'. I know only one thing that I am a hindu girl and even though I don't drink or go to pub, I felt very strongly about the attack by those animals. If anything in this world proves that attacking unarmed woman for the sake of some idiot's opinion is our hindu culture, I refuse to follow such culture."

We thank you for your support. And would like to say to all those who said that all this rhetoric wouldn't change a thing - we agree! We cannot bring back the 16-yr-old who lost her life. We'll never hear her side of the story. But we can definitely tell it on her behalf and attempt to make those detractors see that public opinion can initiate change. Why else would Mutalik have called off the disruptions planned by his outfit on V-Day?