People's Democracy

AIDWA Criticises Govt’s Reaction To UN Report

IN a letter written to the union external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha on October 16, AIDWA general secretary Brinda Karat drew the former’s attention to a news item published in The Indian Express on October 12. The item read: “India has firmly rejected charges of honour killings of women saying the report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur in this regard was based on “hearsay” and lacks credibility. India is of the firm belief that selected reproduction of unsubstantiated reports which are based on hearsay seriously affects the credibility and importance of the report, said S S Ahluwalia, the Indian representative at the United Nations Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee.”

 The letter written by the leader of All India Democratic Women’s Association aimed at recording the organisation’s protest against this contention and demanding its withdrawal. It said in case the statement had been made with the knowledge and agreement of the government, the AIDWA would demand that the government convene a meeting with women’s organisations on the issue. The reason is that it deeply affects women in India when the government makes what is a patently false statement on a matter of deep concern to them.

 “One would have thought that a person representing the country on an international forum would be better informed about realities in India,” the letter added.

 The AIDWA letter sarcastically said sections of the government and its appointees to such committees have thr misconceived perception that the country’s ‘prestige’ depends on defending the indefensible even if it means distorting the truth. The truth is that violence against women in the name of protecting the izzat (honour) of a community, caste, village or family is a reality. In many parts of India, women who challenge the so-called social codes regarding marriage, maintenance of caste purity, etc, may become the targets of different degrees of violence, including killing.

 The latter asked the minister: “Is your representative so far removed from reality that he is unaware of the number of public lynching of young couples who have defied caste and community codes and chosen their own partners and been forced to suffer for it in many areas of north India? What are these cases if not cases of ‘honour killings,’ killings or other methods of violence to defend the so-called honour of the community?”

 The letter then said the AIDWA had been dealing with cases of this nature and could give the minister the details thereof. A recent case is of the last month when two sisters from the Jat community in village Talav (district Jhajjar, Haryana) were killed because one of them had eloped with a scheduled caste boy and the younger one had accompanied her. Two Dalits who were accused of helping them were attacked, their homes burnt, and finally they were driven to committing suicide. Two Dalit social activists who complained to the police were dragged before the caste panchayat and, with the threat of further violence against them, forced to pay a fine of Rs 2100 each for making such a complaint. “Any report looking at violence against women in India would perforce have to refer to this manifestation of violence against women,” the latter said. It then went to say it would have been better if the gentleman representing India had been able to convince the international community of the Indian government’s commitment to deal firmly with violence against women instead of criticising the report. “Contrary to his statement, it is not the credibility of the report that suffers but the credibility of the government,” the AIDWA leader’s letter concluded.                           

 After having enclosed several press reports of such cases, the letter urged the minister to take necessary action in this regard.