Where can one sell a wife, or a daughter? Sale of women and children is not a unique practice attributable to a specific geographical region. It is practiced across the globe, but mostly in clandestine deals. What makes India, particularly the state of Gujarat unique is that selling women is openly carried out there.
The recent Ms. Rekha Narayanbhai case, for example is a case in point. Rekha was married off to a stranger when she was still a minor. On coming of age, Rekha fell in love with a village youth and eloped with him. They later got married. Her marriage had anything but a fairy-tale ending. ‘And they lived happily after…’
Rekhas parents were against this marriage of choice and she was brought back home to care for her ‘ailing’ mother.
Once at home, Rekha was locked up in a room and later sold to a widower by her father and uncle. The ‘commodity’ was sold for Rupees 500,000 [USD 12500]. Rekha escaped the custody of her owner-husband and sought refuge in a local non-government organisation. The organization helped Rekha file a complaint at the local police station against the father-uncle duo that sold her, as well as against her owner who bought her.
Treating women as a mere commodity or comodification of women is a common phenomena in India. There is a high incidence of this practice in the northern states of the country. This is reflected more in the rural villages than in the metros. In Rajasthan for example women are sold in open markets. For further information please see AS-166-2007issued by the Asian Human Rights Commission on July 18, 2007.
Rajasthan and Gujarat has one thing in common however. Both these states are ruled by Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP]-led governments. Both state governments have openly declared that their administration is guided by their own interpretation of Hinduism. Unfortunately it is in these very states that governments are generally ignorant about the feudal practices within the society.
Both in Gujarat and in Rajasthan caste based discrimination and atrocities against minority communities are rampant. Caste based discrimination and the undeterred belief in caste practices has a direct bearing upon the rights of women as well. In the caste setup, women are considered to be a source of pollution and their status is considered to be equal to that of a member of the lowest caste.
The treatment meted out to other minority communities by the upper caste is also similar in India. For example scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are considered to be untouchables for a caste Hindu. The law prohibits caste-based discrimination in India. Atrocities committed against women are also regarded a crime in the country. There is a law for most of these concerns in India.
The problem in India however is that none of these laws are implemented. Take for example the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe [Prevention] of Atrocities Act, 1989. The law mandates punishment for anyone convicted under this law. The law also mandates that each complaint under this law be investigated by a senior police officer and tried in a special court. But none of this really happens in India.
There are cases that have been registered under this law and prosecuted. However, the number of cases successfully registered, investigated and prosecuted is far fewer than the number of atrocities committed against the lower caste communities in India. The low number of crimes registered under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe [Prevention] of Atrocities Act, 1989 does not necessarily mean that there are no more atrocities committed against the lower caste in India.
Atrocities committed against women are also on a similar footing. The only difference is that in the case of violence and other atrocities committed against women in India, the caste-factor is conspicuous by its absence. In fact the atrocities committed against women are higher than caste based discrimination. Violence against women is more evident within the ‘safety’ of the home; and this never gets reported outside the four walls of a house. Things have come to such a head that now nobody cares to complain about these issues.
The reluctance to complain is not because the victim is unaware of her rights. It is because the victim finds that complaining about domestic matters is meaningless. Violence against women and caste based discrimination, both being crimes, are to be investigated by the local police. Policing in India is one of the least trusted government machineries. The state of affairs of other justice mechanisms is also not much different. For example the courts would take decades to finally decide a case. Justice delayed is justice denied. All these factors result in a state of affairs where the ordinary people have lost faith in the justice mechanisms in India.
Faith lost, particularly in the balancing pillars that hold a society together is hard to regain. India as of today is a society that has no faith in its justice mechanism. People approach these institutions as the last resort or as a tool for harassment. What has been showcased in India however is its newly developing metros and the neo-rich urban elite.
A society’s maturity is reflected in its ways of dealing with and sorting out deep-rooted injustices meted out against fellow beings. A society that violates the rights of mothers and children alike merely because of the fact that they are women is not a mature society. A society that differentiates and discriminates its members on the basis of birth and descent is a perverted society. What India is today is a combination of both.
