Over the last few days, women victims in India have been breaking down the Chinese Wall of shame and coming out against sexual assaults. We always knew there were sexual predators everywhere, including at workplaces, but the extent of the evil, now that it’s being spoken about, is more than horrifying.
It would be safe to think that for every woman who has chosen to go public with her protest, there are many more who haven’t. So far in India, women have come out only from two fields: the entertainment industry and the media. It would be laughable to think that men in other professions would be any better. So, what we see now is the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
It is deeply disturbing. I salute the women who have come out. They deserve immense respect because they must be going through intense pain while reliving in public what they have suffered in private till now.
I do hope the society will treat the victims with the respect and sensitivity they deserve. I do hope the criminals will be called out, and at least some big fish will go to jail. But it won’t be easy.
In November 2013, Tarun Tejpal, a high-profile editor, sexually assaulted a colleague, who happened to be his daughter’s friend, on a lift in a Goa hotel. When the details, including CCTV footage came out, it seemed to be an open and shut case. But after five years, the man is out on bail, and the victim would have been dragged to courts repeatedly, adding societal insult to her personal injury. And it doesn't happen in India alone.
Recently, US senators chose to ignore Dr Christine Blasey Ford’s moving testimony against a sexual predator who shows no sign of remorse. Promoting an accused predator to the Supreme Court of the United States after a sham of an investigation was a public indictment of a completely credible victim.
But I do hope ultimately, the Me-Too movement in India will lead to a more civilised workplace for women in a country where lots of men bow before clay images of women, but grope them and rape them when they are in flesh and blood.
Thursday, 11 October 2018
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