Women of India: The Pitiful Lot

India is the land that honours  women . We have a woman president.  The parliamentary administration   of   the nation is  supervised by   another capable woman. But, the oppression and exploitation suffered by women in India remain   unsolved.  A particular  category Men are the trouble makers in most cases.    The   target of these selfish men  might  be the woman’s father, brother, or husband:  but, it would be she  who get victimised.  If her husband  doesn’t payback the  money  he  borrowed, the  moneylender’s men   would abduct his wife or sister or daughter.  She may be subjected to gang rape and  torture.  The blue film and brothel mafia  may  exploit her brutally. There is ample chance for her to be killed in a  cruel manner. The daughter of  a poor hawker in our town had a bad experience of this sort. She was a Pharmacy graduate of about 22 years old then.  Before she could get a suitable job , she was married to  a young-man who was said to be an insurance agent.  This fellow had a heavy debt which the wife or her parents failed to know. The husband  used to collect  cheques signed by his wife  frequently. The purpose was unknown to her.   One day a group of rogues rushed in to the girl’s house  shouting and threatening her father. The gang smashed everything  in the house and  dragged the  mother of the girl into the bed room and raped.  Then the gang left the place and rushed to the hospital where the girl was  working as  trainee.  They wanted to enjoy the beautiful girl first and then sell her to a brothel.  Somehow  she was rescued by the hospital authorities. Her husband who was the real villain was absconding. In another case the moneylender’s  gang had tortured a pregnant woman in an attempt to collect the debt from her husband. 

Safety of the working women is   not   guaranteed  in any of the Indian cities. The male  co-workers   in some cases behave to them   in a  hostile  manner.  There was a news report recently about an  employee  taking snaps of  his   co worker,  a beautiful woman without her knowledge. The next day he  made it an obscene stuff and  sent it  to all his friends. This had ruined the reputation of the woman who is simple, quiet  and good natured.  The man  must be  of abnormal mind.  But, the man was not  punished. He had some strong men to support him. So his heinous crime could be ’sanctified’.  It was the bad image of the woman that    spread.  A leading newspaper   had conducted a study on  how males behave to  a lonely woman commuter in the bus station after 7pm. It was a woman journalist    whom the newspaper   had entrusted  to act as a lonely passenger. Most of the men in the bus station talked to her   in a filthy manner.  A superior  government officer  who looked like  gentleman  invited her to  a  tourist resort  to spend the night.  Someone came forward to take her forcibly into a car. By that time  the escorts accompanying her intervened and avoided  mishaps.