Justifying a 25 year old Russian girl’s rape, the Goa Minister had alleged that rape victims invite rape on themselves. The Russian consulate has protested, “if the Goa government believes that the rape is justified since the woman was out of her hotel at 2 a.m., it would warn Russian nationals visiting the state” [Link]

[Anonymous, thank you for the link.]

I would say they should warn their citizens when they visit any place where a Minister can say,

“Recent incident when a Russian lady was alleged raped, has been blown out of proportion in the electronic media. The news was telecast for a number of days denigrating and …ing  the fair name of Goa. There is no doubt that rape is the heinous crime and anyone who commits the rape must be punished severely but a person allegedly committing rape on a lady with whom the lady had no relationship or acquaintance whatsoever or an alleged rape of a lady who moves with stranger for days together even beyond middle of the night are to be treated on different footings. If an adult male and female move like friends and indulge in sexual activities for ten days and then for the eleventh day they have a fight then allegation of rape against the male has to be cautiously investigated. The Scarlett case spoiled Goa’s name in the past although the young lady herself invited all the offences against her ultimately resulting in her tragic death in the middle of the night on the beach of Goa.”

He is not pained or ashamed that such crimes are happening? Is he shocked that a woman could actually blame a rapist for raping her?

Rape victims in India are conditioned and humiliated into silence. (Click to read how this begins). We start with doubting their word. Then we point to their life style… Why do we go out of our way to make it easy for a rapist? Because that suits everyone. No complains means no crimes. No media coverage. Our reputation is saved.

He denied saying what he said. “I have never said it, I don’t say that, I have never said it  …”  Watch the video to hear what he claims he never said.

Don’t these wise men realise that such irresponsible statements are a clear message to rapists and criminals? They are also a  message to the victims

For anybody who wasn’t convinced after reading this post. Here’s further proof The Indian male does prefer pink.

So if the bride thought she would stand out…  she’s in for a shocking pink.

If you feel colours belong to beautifully tended gardens, click here to find yourself proven wrong 

(*For any body who doesn’t know this is a pink clad Band going to play for a Wedding Procession – the baraat. The picture is blurred because it was taken from a moving vehicle. )

Help your readers nominate their favourite posts on your blog for The Avant Garde Bloggies Awards 2009 Make a list of your posts published this year. The last date for sending nominations is 20th Dec, 10 pm IST   So hurry up!

I created a list using Archives Shortcode, this is how it looks. [click]

To create this archives list, simply type the code below without the dots on a Post/Page on your WordPress blog

Fill in the number of posts you have written this year in place of 420. Don’t forget to delete the dots!

[.archives. limit.=420.]

(Replace 420 with the number of posts you’d like to be displayed.)

This is what I got when I replaced 420 with 5. (And removed the dots)

[archives]

For more examples click here

“We seem to have come a long way from the 1979 case of 16-year-old Mathura, who was raped by two policemen within a police compound, when the court acquitted the policemen on the grounds that Mathura had eloped with her boyfriend and “was habituated to sexual intercourse” says Gurchran Das in today’s Times of India.

I agree with  him. The conviction of the rapist in the Dhaula Kuan (Delhi) gang rape is good news.

The ‘court admonished the defence for maligning the victim’, saying the private life of the victim has nothing to do with with the case.

“It cannot be said that a lady, who has already lost her virginity, is an unreliable person,” the court said, rejecting the plea that the victim had sexual relations with others before the incident.

(‘The victim was abducted on May 8, 2005 when she was walking back home after buying food from a roadside eatery along with a friend and was raped by four accused in a car near Dhaula Kuan in South Delhi here.’) [Link]

Seeing how we treat the victims ever wonder what happens to Sex Workers in such cases?  Do read this short story by Pawan.

Amrutha shared this eye opening video on twitter – ‘ Sunitha Krishnan’s fight against sex slavery‘. The description reads, “Sunitha Krishnan has dedicated her life to rescuing women and children from sex slavery, a multimilion-dollar global market. In this courageous talk, she tells three powerful stories.”

And she asks, “Can you break your culture of silence, can you speak to at least two persons about this story..?“

My father’s sister describes wistfully, a silver Lemon Set her mother gave her when she got married. She  resents  that her mother in law passed the Lemon Set (along with other things) to her husband’s sister in her dowry. This silver Lemon Set had originally been a part of my mother’s dowry.

I ask my mother if she didn’t mind her things being taken away like this, but she says this was very common. A girl’s dowry traditionally belongs to her husband’s family.

There is a custom in some places where the trousseau is critically examined by the in laws and the girls in the new family pick whatever they like from the new bride’s possessions.

This sort of thing does not happen with inheritance. The inheritance belongs to the inheritors, legally and socially.

One hears of comparisons between Inheritance and Dowry.

I feel the biggest difference is one empowers while the other puts the lives of 50% of the population at risk. Right from the moment they are found to be females.

Unlike a Will, the dowry is wealth given away while the parents are still alive, whether or not they can afford it. This makes girl children unwelcome.

Inheritance on the other hand, can be used by the parents to ensure a comfortable old age. It gives them something to bargain with. They have a choice in when, how and to whom they part with it. This empowers them.

A friend once argued that since the girls get their husband’s property, it is balanced. What happens when a girl doesn’t marry? What if she is divorced or widowed? An unmarried, divorced or widowed woman maybe seen as an outsider in her parental home.

Girls who inherit are in a much better position socially. They are not considered a liability. They have the same rights and responsibilities as the male children. (Legally it is mandatory for all children to take care of their parents even now.)

Do you think dowry, jewellery and other gifts on festivals are a fair compensation for disinheriting or disowning a family member?