Missing the point: What the protesters against the Kathua rape-murder haven’t got it right?

Samvartha ‘Sahil’ | coastaldigest.com
April 16, 2018

The rape of a minor in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, followed by her brutal murder has gained the attention of India, even if it is after three months. In these three months the civil (?) societies, the lawyers, the politicians belonging to the right wing in Jammu have without any hesitation come out in public to shield the perpetrators. These facts when brought to light, the liberals of India rightly got enraged as much as they got outraged on hearing about the rape of the minor girl belonging to the Bakarwal community, a nomadic tribe.

While nothing better than supporting perpetrators could be expected from the right wing, my disappointment is with the liberals, though I believe that the protest being registered is a necessary gesture. Here I would just like to list my disappointments…

Firstly, the case of Kathua and Unnao, though barbaric and unacceptable, are being mentioned in one breath as if they are similar. No, they aren't, even when both of them are inhumane. The question how will be answered through my elaboration of the other disappointments.

The case of Kathua temple rape is not being communalized and politicized by the ones underlining the religious and political identity of the girl. The rape happened because of her religious and political identity. So if anyone brought religion and politics into this, it is not those who are highlighting the identity markers but those who perpetrated violence. The cry of some liberals requesting to not make the incident “about religion and politics,” marks their ignorance of the details in this case.

The issue of Kathua cannot be seen in isolation, distancing it from the history of rape used as a weapon by the Indian state in Kashmir and on Kahsmiri people. Had the girl been raped for being a girl alone, we could have spoken only about humanity and patriarchy. But since she was raped for being a Muslim and a Kahsmiri, let’s talk primarily about the state of minorities and the way Indian state has conducted itself in Kahsmir, especially with relation to women.

Amidst all this, I fail to understand the tweets of people like Javed Akhtar who wants to remind people of the ways in which Bakarwal people showed their loyalty to India and asking us to be in solidarity with the victim. The question to be asked is, what if Bakarwal people were anti-Army? In that case would Javed sahab be okay with the rape? Or does he want us to be okay with rape?

The issue of Kathua rape and murder, for many liberals, has become a scoring point against the Bharateeya Janatha Party. I have no doubts about the BJP being a disgrace to democracy, which one needs to get rid of. But I find it morally disturbing when the issue of Kathua rape is being used to churn anti-BJP public opinion alone. If at all the Kathua incident has troubled the Indian liberals then it should enable them to see the connection between the Kashmir dispute and the rape and murder of Kathua. To see it as a symbol of the maliciousness of BJP alone is to not understand the context of the Kathua rape and murder. Restricting the discussion to the role of BJP alone is parking the vehicle mid-way and aborting the truth before one has arrived at it completely. More importantly it will be dilution of the matter. The interconnectedness between occupation of Kashmir and the Kathua incident exists beneath the surface and one more round of scratching is enough to reach there. Very hesitantly I make this statement: If intelligence is a slave to convenience, then it is not just a moral corruption but also a sign of opportunism.

The liberal discourse around Kathua has been reeking of poverty of understanding, knowledge, sensitivity and imagination too. In extreme conditions of history, such as this, to be a liberal centrist is to let down the victims and let violence continue on the socially, politically vulnerables.

If the Indian liberals are actually horrified, as they claim to be, then the question is if the Indian liberals will at least now acknowledge Kunan Poshpora and innumerable such rapes in Kashmir (Handwara, Shopian, Islamabad, Trehgam, Doda etc) orchestrated and conducted by the Indian army? Will they stop seeing the Kathua incident out of context? If not then the liberals need to reimagine their politics.

 

[Samvartha ‘Sahil’ is a freelance writer based out of Manipal, Karnataka. An alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune he has earlier worked as an academician at Manipal University and as a journalist with The Hindu. He is a columnist with The State now and earlier with Karavali Karnataka and Kannada Prabha. His book on the travel experiences in Jammu and Kashmir during the 2016 uprising is about to be published by the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi.]

Comments

Danish
 - 
Monday, 16 Apr 2018

Still, the protests are not in organised form and failed to meet its goal. Diverts from the actual goal.. It became just to vandalise properties in many states

Unknown
 - 
Monday, 16 Apr 2018

Along with protests, there is some moves to defame entire india with some photoshoped images.. People already started to send those with some fake msgs like BBC carried etc. Because of Modi and almost all perveted minds of BJP shaming entire country.

justiceforasifa
 - 
Monday, 16 Apr 2018

ಆಶಿಫಾಳ್ ಸಾವಿನ ಸುತ್ತ ನೂರೆಂಟು ಸಂಶಯದ ಹುತ್ತ

 

ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಶದ ಕಾನೂನಿನ ಪ್ರಕಾರ ಅತ್ಯಾಚಾರಕ್ಕೊಳಗಾದ ಹೆಣ್ಣಿನ ಹೆಸರು ಐಡೆಂಟಿಟಿ ಬಹಿರಂಗಗೊಳಿಸುವುದು ಕಾನೂನುಬಾಹಿರ. ಆದರೆ ಹೆಣ್ಣಿನ ಧರ್ಮ/ಜಾತಿ ಬಹಿರಂಗಗೊಳಿಸುವುದು ಕಡ್ಡಾಯ!! ಶಭಾಶ್. ಯಾಕಂದ್ರೆ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಅತ್ಯಾಚಾರಕ್ಕೊಳಗಾದ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ ಮುಖ್ಯವೇ ಅಲ್ಲ. ಅವರ ಜಾತಿ ಧರ್ಮವೇ ಮುಖ್ಯ. ಅದೇ ತಾನೆ ರಾಜಕೀಯ ಲಾಭ ನಷ್ಟಗಳಿಗೆ ಮೂಲ!?

ಅತ್ಯಾಚಾರ ಆರೋಪ ಎದುರಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ಆರೋಪಿಯ ಪರ ಸಾವಿರಾರು ವಕೀಲರು ರಸ್ತೆಗಿಳಿದು ಹೋರಾಟ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆಂದರೆ ಈ ಪ್ರಕರಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾಕಷ್ಟು ಗೊಂದಲಗಳಿವೆ ಮತ್ತು ಸುಳ್ಳಾರೋಪ ಕೋಡಾ ಇರ್ಬಹುದು.

ಮೊನ್ನೆಯಿಂದ ನಾನು ನೋಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದೇನೆ ಕೆಲವು ಸಾಮಾಜಿಕ ಜಾಲತಾಣಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಅತ್ಯಾಚಾರದ ಪ್ರಕರಣಕ್ಕೆ ಧಾರ್ಮಿಕ ಲೇಪನ ಅಂಟಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ ತೊಂದರೆ ಇಲ್ಲ ಮತ್ತು ಇದೆನ್ನು ಹೊಸದೇನಲ್ಲ

 

೧ ) ಆಶಿಫಾಳ್ ಅತ್ಯಾಚಾರ ಯಾವ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದಿತ್ತು ಆ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನದ ಹೆಸ್ರಯಾಕೆ ಬಹಿರಂಗ ಪಡಿಸುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ

 

೨ ) ( ಆಶಿಫಾಳ್ ತಂದೆಯ ಹೇಳಿಕೆ ) ಒಂದು ವಾದವರೆಗೆ ಆಶಿಫಾಳನ್ನು ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಕಡೆಗೇ ಹುಡುಕಿದೀವಿ ಎಲ್ಲಿಯೂ ಸಿಗಲಿಲ್ಲ ಕೊನೆಗೆ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಮೃತಪಟ್ಟು ಶವಯಾಗಿ ಸಿಕ್ಳು. ಹಾಗಾದ್ರೆ ಒಂದು ವಾರದವರೆಗೆ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಯಾರು ಬರಬಾರದಂತ ಸರ್ಕಾರ ರಜೆ ಕೊಟ್ಟೀತ್ತಾ ?

 

೩ ) ಇನ್ನು ಕೆಲವರ ಹೇಳಿಕೆಯ ಪ್ರಕಾರ ಅತ್ಯಾಚಾರಿ ಅತ್ಯಾಚಾರ ಮಾಡುವಾಗ ಜೈ ಶ್ರೀ ರಾಮ ಅಂತ ಘೋಷಣೆ ಕೂಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದಂತೆ ಛೇ ಎಷ್ಟ ಮಸ್ಕಾರಿ ಮಾಡ್ತಾರಲ್ವಾ ನಾಯಿಗಳು

ಅವ್ನು ಜೈ ಶ್ರೀ ರಾಮ ಘೋಷಣೆ ಕೂಗಿ ಅತ್ಯಾಚಾರ ಮಾಡುವುದನ್ನು ಯಾರು ಕೇಳಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದು ಅವ್ನನ್ಯಾಕ್ಕೆ ಆ ಬಾಲಕಿಯನ್ನು ರಾಕ್ಷಸರ ಕೈಯಿಂದ ಕಾಪಾಡಲಿಲ್ಲ ?

ಅಥವಾ ಅತ್ಯಾಚಾರ ನಡೆಯುವ ದೃಶ್ಯವನ್ನು ಮೊಬೈಲ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಸೆರೆ ಹಿಡಿಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ?

 

೪ ) ಜಮ್ಮು ಕಾಶ್ಮೀರದಲ್ಲಿ ಪರ್ಸೆಂಟಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಮುಸ್ಲಿಮರು ಇದ್ದಾರೆ ನೋಟ್ this point ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಹಿಂದೂಗಳಿಗೆ ರಕ್ಷಣೆ ಇಲ್ವೇ ಇಲ್ಲ ಈ ಹಿಂದೆ ಸಾಕಷ್ಟು ಭಾರೀ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನಗಳು ದ್ವಂಸ ಗೊಂಡಿವೆ ಮತ್ತು ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾಂಸ ಎಸೆದು ಹಿಂದೂಗಳ ಭಾವನೆಗೆ ಧಕ್ಕೆ ತರುವ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ಕೋಡಾ ಆಗಿದೆ ಇದೇ ಕಾರಣಕ್ಕೆ ಅಪರಾಧಿಗಳನ್ನು ಹಿಡಿಯಲು ಎಲ್ಲಾ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನಗಳಲ್ಲಿ  ಸಿ ಸಿ ಟಿ ವಿ ಕ್ಯಾಮೆರಾ ಅಳವಡಿಸುವುದು ಕಡ್ಡಾಯಗೊಳಿದ್ದಾರೆ

 

೫ ) ಅತ್ಯಾಚಾರಕ್ಕೇ ಒಳಗಾದ ಬಾಲಕಿಯ ಹೆಸ್ರು ಧರ್ಮ ಅತ್ಯಾಚಾರ ಗೈದ ಆರೋಪಿಯ ಹೆಸ್ರು ಧರ್ಮ ಅತ್ಯಾಚಾರ ನಡೆದ ಸ್ಥಳದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಬಹಿರಂಗ ಪಡಿಸಿದ್ದೀರಿ ಅಂದ್ಮೇಲೆ ಸಿ ಸಿ ಟೀ ವಿ ಪೋಟ್ಯಾಜ್ ಯಾಕೇ ಬಹಿರಂಗ ಪಡಿಸುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ

ಅತ್ಯಾಚಾರ ಅಲ್ಲೇ ನಡೆದಿದೆಯೋ ಅದೇ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗಳು ಅತ್ಯಾಚಾರ ಗೈದಿದ್ದಾರೆ ಅನ್ನುವುದಕ್ಕೆ ಸಿ ಸಿ ಟಿ ವಿ ಫೂಟ್ಯಾಜ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದೆ ಇರುತ್ತದೆ ಇದನ್ನು ಕೋಡಾ ಬಹಿರಂಗ ಪಡಿಸಿ ನೋಡೋಣ ಸತ್ಯ ಸತ್ಯತೇ ಗೊತ್ತಾಗುತ್ತದೆ

 

ಹೇಳುವುದಕ್ಕೇ ಇನ್ನು ಸಾಕಷ್ಟು ದೋಷಗಳಿವೆ ಚರ್ಚೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡೋಣ

ಚಾರ್ಜಸಿಟ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಸುಳ್ಳಾರೋಪ ಕೋಡಾ ಬರೆಯಬಹುದು

ಈ ಹಿಂದೆಯೂ ಸಾಕಷ್ಟು ಪ್ರಕರಣಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೆದಿದ್ದಾರೆ

Anjana Sagar
 - 
Monday, 16 Apr 2018

Those who think that Kathua gang-rape and murder case is unnecessarily being communalized and blown out of the proportion for political reasons should understand following points:

 

1)When the mutilated dead body of the girl was found and the culprits were identified, the innocent parents of the victim did not give the case a communal tinge. Not a single Muslim organization in India tried to drag a community or religion into this case.

 

2)The preliminary investigation sent shockwaves across the world. The culprits reveled that they resorted to such a heinous crime just to threaten the community of the victim and drive them away from village. One of the rapists also revealed that he felt bad to rape a small girl but it was necessary for their “cause”!

 

3)After the arrest of the accused, Hindu Ekta Manch staged a protest demanding the release of the accused. They also demanded that the case should be handed over to the CBI which is fully under the control of union BJP government. Two of the prominent speakers at the protest said that the accused should be released because they are Hindus and victims is a nomadic Muslim. Two BJP ministers also took part in the protest and defended the accused.

 

4)When the two ministers who defended the rapists were forced to tender their resignation, the BJP said that they did not commit anything wrong!

 

5)When Deepika Singh Rajawat, a woman lawyer took up the case, she was threatened by the so called Hindutva groups. The president of the Jammu High Court Bar Association abused her and asked her to stay away from the case.

 

6)In spite of all these facts, the parents of the victim did see it as a communal case. In fact they don’t even know that communal hatred can instigate people to commit such heinous crime. When people started asking how can those Hindutva groups justify a rape saying that victim was a Muslim and culprits were Hindus, BJP leaders started accusing Opposition of communalizing the case! Who communalized the case: The self-proclaimed Hindutva groups or the family and supporters of the victim?

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News Network
February 1,2020

Washington, Feb 1: The Indian economy experienced some abrupt slowdown in 2019 due to turbulence in non-banking financial institutions and major reform measures such as GST and demonetisation, but it is not in a recession, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has said.

"The Indian economy indeed has experienced an abrupt slowdown in 2019. We had to revise our growth projections, downwards to four percent for last year. We are expecting 5.8 per cent (growth rate) in 2020 and then an upward trajectory to 6.5 percent in 2021," Georgieva told a group of foreign journalists here on Friday.

"It appears that the main reason for this slowdown was the non-banking financial institutions experiencing a turbulence," she said on the eve of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting the annual budget in Parliament on Saturday.

She said India had undertaken some important reforms that over the longer term would be beneficial for the country, but they do have some short-term impact.

"For example, coming with the unified tax system, and the demonetisation that took place. These are steps that over time are beneficial, but of course they might, might be somewhat disruptive over short term," Georgieva said in response to a question.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director said that there is not a lot of fiscal space in India. “But we also recognise that the policies of the government on that side, on the fiscal side have been prudent. We will see how the reading of the budget, the submission of the budget goes, tomorrow,” she said.

In the medium-term, she said, the IMF remains optimistic about India. “This is why we see that upswing potential for the growth in the country,” she said.

Georgieva said that the current economic slowdown cannot be described as a recession. "No.... You're far from that. But it is a significant slowdown, not the recession," she said.

The IMF managing Director noted that the consumption in India also slowed down and that contributed to the overall slowdown in the economy. The IMF would be keen to see what India does to get relatively sound macroeconomic fundamentals to pay off in terms of better growth trajectory, she said ahead of the budget.

One thing that is important for India is that budgetary revenue have been below target. "The country knows that. The finance minister knows it. They need to increase budgetary revenue collection so they can improve their fiscal position. I said it's tight on the spending side, but I also want to stress that there is room to improve collection on the revenue side," she said.

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News Network
June 21,2020

Mangaluru, June 21: A local court has held notorious serial killer Cyanide Mohan Kumar guilty in the murder of a 25-year-old woman from Kasargod. This is the 20th and the last case of Cyanide Mohan to be tried in the sixth additional district and sessions court. 

According to public prosecutor Jayarama Shetty, the victim was working as a cook in a ladies hostel and got in touch with Mohan Kumar, a teacher. He visited her house thrice and promised to marry her. On July 8, 2009, on the pretext of visiting a temple in Sullia, she left home, never to return. 

They had travelled to Bengaluru and three days later, when her family tried to reach her on phone, he told them that she had gone for a bath and that they were married and would be returning back home soon.

The next day Ramakrishna, a constable from Upparpete police station, found a lady lying unconscious outside the bathroom and he immediately rushed her to a local hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival. Like in all other cases, after staying in a lodge and having sex with the victim, he took her to the KSRTC bus stand and asked her to consume a cyanide laced tablet, stating it was a contraceptive pill. 

He asked her to leave behind the jewellery that she was wearing at the hotel room. An unnatural death report was registered and since none of her relatives had turned up for identification of the body, on July 15,2009 the body was buried.

The moment the Dakshina Kannada district police arrested the serial killer on October 21, 2009 and his pictures were all over the media, the family recognised him and the victim’s younger sister filed a missing complaint. The police had also recovered the victim’s jewellery from the house of Mohan’s second wife and the jeweller from whom he had purchased cyanide had also identified him. Meanwhile, the CID had taken over the case and a charge sheet was filed.

"The report from the Forensic Science Laboratory is crucial in this case as cyanide was found in the victim’s viscera. Mohan over the years has become a legal expert and in this case, he had sought two adjournments," said Jayaram Shetty. Mohan is currently lodged in the Hindalga central jail.
 

Comments

AJIT KUMAR
 - 
Sunday, 21 Jun 2020

shame to keep this man  alive for so many criminal cases, shoot him or hang him immideatly

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Media Release
January 18,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 18: ‘Ride For Rotary’ convoy of motor vehicles will be flagged off from Hotel Ocean Pearl Inn at Bejai-Kapikad, Mangaluru on 19th January, 2020 at 8.30 a.m.

Mangaluru has been chosen as the starting point for the convoy route this year which will cover Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. 38 Rotarians from 14 countries are participating in 2019-20 Ride For Rotary, which is the fourth edition of the event. They will traverse through Madikeri, Mysore, Wayanad, Ooty, Coimbatore, Munnar, Thekkady and Allepey before terminating at Kochi on 29th of January, 2020.

2019-20 Ride For Rotary includes 28 motorbikes and 5 cars. The participating nationalities are India, Norway, Sweden, Canada, France, Germany, USA, UK, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Poland and Belgium. They belong to ages 21 to 78, with 78-year old Otto Rieve from Canada being the senior most enthusiast. Swiss national of Indian origin Raj Patholi and Mangalorean Abraham Zacharias are among the riders. Delegates who have already reached Mangalore visited Bantwal on Friday to attend a gala dinner hosted by the Rotary Club of Bantwal.

Ride for Rotary is a charity event conceived by Rotary District 3181 which comprises of the revenue districts of Mysore, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada and Chamarajanagar covering 85 Rotary Clubs in 9 zones. Rotarians from across the world will come together for twelve exhilarating days. They will traverse through the meticulously arranged routes, enjoy the natural beauty of the places and experience the varied cultures and cuisines of the region. Ride for Rotary connects people and places like no other - Rotary Connects the World.

The proceeds from the event go to The Rotary Foundation, a charitable organisation that works tirelessly for the upliftment of the society.

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