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Society
No Safe Place in Kerala
by Sreedevi Jacob
In the second
week of November, newspapers in Kerala revealed a disturbing incident,
which has since been haunting the public conscience. Neena (name
changed), first year nursing student at the School of Medical Education
(SME), Kottayam, sought police help to bring to book six third-year
students of her college who, under the guise of ragging, raped her in
the college laboratory and threatened to kill her if she revealed this.
The south
Indian state of Kerala is no stranger to incidents of ragging, rape and
violence against women. But this is the first known instance of rape as
a form of ragging in the state. That too in a college laboratory, on a
working day.
On October
21, the senior students gave the unsuspecting girl a laddu
(sweetmeat), and she lost consciousness. The seniors then raped her.
When she regained consciousness, Neena went to her hostel. Later, she
went to the medical college, where the doctor admitted her to the
psychiatry department, apparently in an effort to pass her off as
mentally unstable and hence unreliable. She was given tablets that made
her drowsy for days together. The doctor also asked Neena not to talk
about the rape even to her parents.
When she
could no longer bear the silence, Neena told her parents, who
immediately approached K M Mariam, Principal of the college. But the
principal, a distant relative of the main accused in the case, was
emphatic that nothing could be done. Instead, the principal and K
Muraleedharan Nair, Director of SME, offered the girl's parents, who are
from an economically poor background, enough money to make her life
"secure".
Crimes
against women are occurring in Kerala with an alarming regularity. The
Economic Review 2004 released in February 2005 by the Kerala government
says that atrocities against women increased by 300 per cent from1991 to
2001.
Several sex racket cases, including those involving minor girls, have
been unearthed in the recent past. In an investigation conducted by six
women reporters of the Malayalam daily Malayala Manorama last year, it
was found that women, whether working or otherwise, go through trauma
and harassment at public places, while on train or bus, or when they
relax at parks.
According to statistics compiled - through a media scan of newspaper
reports - by Sakhi Resource Centre for Women, Thiruvananthapuram, 117
women died of various types of violence in Kerala between November 2004
and October 2005. This included three girls aged below 10 and seven
girls between 10-20 years, who were raped and killed. While domestic
violence caused most deaths, rapes and other crimes nearly half the
total number.
"Kerala has zero sexual literacy, and this is the main cause for such
incidents," points out Leela Menon, a veteran journalist and social
activist who has exposed several sex racket cases in the state. "Neena's
revelation has taken the lid out of a big boiling pot. Despite our tall
claims of high indices in areas of health, literacy and female
education, the fact remains that sex is still discussed in hushed tones.
This veil of secrecy perpetuates acts that are beyond human
understanding."
As is true of other places in India and elsewhere, sexual harassment
probes in Kerala are scuttled through political interference. The girl's
family is 'advised' that her life would be doomed if the facts are
common knowledge.
'Compensation' - in the form of money, house and the like - is offered.
Many succumb to these pressures, but Neena's father V P Gopi did not. In
an interview with a news channel, he said, "It is important for us that
this is not repeated with anyone else, which is why we are going ahead
with the case. Also, my daughter has to study further and leave these
memories behind."
Neena has been a good student all through, and has approached the
government to allow her to move to another college to pursue her
studies. "I am not defeated or destroyed by this act. I will continue my
studies, and my dream is to see that the guilty are punished," she said
in an interview to a leading Malayalam daily.
"Fear of risking the reputation of the institution is a major impediment
to reporting brutal ragging incidents in a college," says Sudha
Balachandran, reader with St Teresa's College, Ernakulam. "Such cases
are almost nil in colleges actively involved in student politics. The
political affiliations of the students act as a deterrent," she
explains.
The Kerala government had banned ragging in 1998. Those found guilty
could be fined Rs 10,000 and face confinement of up to five years. They
are also supposed to be dismissed from college, and denied admission in
any other college for the next three years. But the law is toothless,
says Leela Menon. "Even stringent laws become ineffective in the hands
of politicians. In all the cases that I have investigated, political
pressure is found to be the greatest force acting against law
enforcement," she says.
The SME case has alarmed students and parents. Many students have come
out in the open, revealing that their internal marks were affected by
the teacher's attitude. While boys complain of enmity, girls suggest
that they were asked for sexual favours in return for higher internal
marks. "In many colleges, it is mandatory to appease your teacher, or
your internal assessment score will be affected," says a student, on
condition of anonymity. Neena strongly supports the demand for removal
of internal assessment from the valuation system. There are many who
face harassment due to misuse of the assessment system, she says.
"Craving for sex is a major factor behind atrocities against women in
Kerala," opines Leela Menon. Explains Dr Seethalakshmi George,
psychiatrist with Kusumagiri Mental Hospital, Kochi, "In Kerala, people
are extra careful about sex. I have often found here that a woman
talking to a man is easily interpreted as evidence of an affair, whereas
in cities like Mumbai and Delhi healthy relationship with someone of the
opposite sex is easily accepted." She says that there is a definite
increase in the number of women who go to her for trauma counselling,
and that this is an indication of increase in crimes against women.
"What has come out is only the tip of the iceberg. We should suspect
that there are many similar cases waiting to be unearthed," Menon warns.
December 25,
2005
By arrangement with
Women's Feature Service
Top
| Society
The Week of December 25, 2005
India 2006 : A Nation Stung to
Action? by Rajinder Puri
Pakistan's Monochromatic Foreign
Policy by Dr. Subhash Kapila
NY Transit Workers' Demands &
Pensions of the Powerful by Gaurang Bhatt, MD
Keep Back Pain at Bay by Dr.
Savitha Suri
Legacy of the city of pearls -
Hyderabad by Neha Girotra
Quiet Laughter from within The
Child's Soul by Dhiraj Bhimji Raniga
Double Game by Vikram Karve
Live Life Kingsize : A Play by
Kartik Krishnan
Here's Looking at You, Brother
by Aparna Sharma
Many Shades of Red by Mehru
Jaffer
Rajni Kumar : A Class Apart - A
Profile
Reclaiming the Earth for All by
Deepti Priya Mehrotra
From Frying Pan to Fire by
Nitin Jugran Bahuguna
No Safe Place in Kerala by
Sreedevi Jacob
The Colors of Evil A Review
by G. Swaminathan
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