People's Democracy

Bengal: Women with Disabilities Hold Convention

Sailen Chowdhury

Shampa Sengupta

UNDER the auspices of the Paschim Banga Rajya Pratibandhi Sammelani, an affiliate of the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD), a state level convention was held at Kolkata on June 4, 2012, on the issue of social security for women with disabilities. Several disability rights activists, persons with disabilities, their family members, academics and policy makers participated.

Inaugurating the convention, Kanti Ganguly, convener of the NPRD, said though different issues related to disability were highlighted from time to time, gender remains a non-issue within the host of problems and needs more attention. Eminent lawyer Smt Bharati Mukherjee lamented that issues concerning women were not covered under disability specific legislations enacted in the country. She mentioned that there are four laws pertaining to persons with disabilities in India but the government has failed to implement them. One major reason is the lack of penal provisions.

Dr Sudha Kaul, chairperson of the New Disability Law Committee of the government of India, informed that this lacuna was sought to be addressed in the draft of the new bill. She mentioned that the draft has an entire chapter devoted to disabled women and penal measures are mentioned in the same. Dr Kaul also said that the new draft was written keeping in mind the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities and should bring much needed relief to persons with disabilities.

Professor Malini Bhattacharya, ex-MP and former chairperson of the State Women’s Commission, stressed the need for not just disability laws but for generic laws on women to consider issues of women with disabilities. She mentioned that during the discussion on the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, there were discussions on how disabled women would be able to lodge complaints if they were harassed. Not only are disabled women subject to violence, there are times when women become disabled because of the violence they face, she added. She narrated cases of women who were tortured and deserted by family members, and as a result they became mentally ill and dependent on others.

Mental Health activist Srija Chakroborty focussed her presentation on plight of mentally ill women within mental health institutions. She gave examples of two hospitals in Kolkata and narrated how women are deprived of basic dignity within the walls of hospitals. Sometimes they are pushed into solitary cells without a shred of cloth on them, sometimes they are physically abused and they are treated not as human beings but as “pagals” who do not have any rights. Though mental illness is enumerated as a disability in the Persons with Disabilities Equal Opportunities Act of 1995, yet this particular group does not enjoy any of rights enshrined in the law for them.

This was also apparent from speech of Ishita Sanyal who sought to highlight the plight of mentally ill women within families. She highlighted the fact that even people who are economically well placed deprive these women of basic needs.

Jeeja Ghosh, an activist, pointed out that that sometimes disabled women do not even realise that they are being subjected to abuse and hence they do not complain. Disabled women internalise the abuses and do not know the language of protest.

Ajin Sen, president of Parivaar, rued the fact that West Bengal did not have a state policy on disability. However, the disabilities commissioner Smt Mita Banerjee said West Bengal government was contemplating formulation of a policy on disability.

Eminent poet Krishna Basu noted that women are anyway treated as second class citizens; so it is obvious that a woman who is disabled remains doubly disadvantaged. Professor Ishita Mukhopadhyay, director, Women’s Studies, Calcutta University, mentioned the need of economic empowerment of disabled women.

Sailen Choudhury presided over the meeting. Shampa Sengupta summed up the day long deliberations and read out the demands raised from this platform.

A young girl with hearing-speech impairment who was raped in Bankura Government Hospital and a nine years old and blind rape victim from Birbhum district, along with their families, were also present at the convention. It is to be noted here that in the recent past West Bengal has seen a rise in rape cases and many of the victims are disabled women. These incidents of rape drew the attention of the National Commission for Women as well. After a visit to the state, an NCW team made specific recommendations about looking into the cases of women with special needs.

The academics, activists and all present at this convention showed solidarity towards these victims, demanding proper rehabilitation of and compensation for these hapless girls who belong to very poor families.

At the conclusion, Kanti Ganguly proposed that the Sammelani organise meetings on the same issue in all districts of West Bengal and that the NPRD should organise a national level convention on women with disabilities in the capital city of Delhi. This proposal was unanimously accepted.