Nasreen an Excuse for a Riot?

So the rioters have driven Taslima Nasreen away from Kolkata, just as they drove her away from Hyderabad in August. Why are the politically orthodox Muslims so afraid of this woman? What has she said that has offended them so much? Evidently, she has criticized the manner in which Islamic clerics (and clerics of other religions) treat women. What followers of the revealed religions fail to understand is that although they might believe they are upholding the word of God, those who have to suffer through their interpretation of revelation also have a right to speak up and be heard. However, Islam today, as Christianity as late as the early twentieth century and Hinduism not so long ago, has to learn to listen, not just to the voice of God as embodied in its holy book and other traditional sources, but also to the voice of its followers, which include women. So let Nasreen and others like her speak up and be heard. And why has the Communist government of West Bengal chosen to ban Nasreen’s books? I thought communists were atheists--why this concern for other people’s religious feelings when they have no concern for another person’s right to life?

Which brings me to the other story that caught my eye--that of the Saudi rape victim, who has vowed to fight the verdict handed out to her (six months in jail and 200 lashes) despite being the victim of a gang rape. The Saudi government is embarrassed because her story has caught the attention of the media. Well, if they’re that embarrassed, why not do something to change the law, such as reserving punishments for the perpetrators (not the victims) of rape?

It seems women and their views are just an excuse for the orthodox to riot or to punish women--they cannot come up with a rational argument against Nasreen or this 19-year-old girl. Evidently, the Saudi court felt the girl, who was 18 when she was raped, was committing a criminal act because she was with a man who was not a relative and she was trying to get back some pictures he’d taken of her. When will the Saudis change?

Winds of Change?

Hindustan Times is running an interesting series of articles, which shows how Indian Muslims navigate between religion and the modern world to create a better life for themselves. As I glanced through this series, I was especially moved by the story of Samina and Zarina, who had to fight the local maulvi to get an education. Their story brings to mind many others that took place over a hundred years ago in Hindu homes--when girls were told that educated women tended to get widowed young. Thirty years ago, when my mother used to teach a course in Interior Design in a Delhi polytechnic for women, the principal told her of parents who would say that they feared to give their daughters a professional education, because the girls would never marry. My mother, who'd completed a BFA from Kolkata, told her not to worry, because a woman's education would, in the future, be a better investment than a dowry, because she would be able to add to her husband's income. Today, she's been proved right--all her ex-students are working women, who have set up their own businesses and are doing well.

Why is it that men of religion, whether Hindus, Muslims or Christians of all shades, have attempted to prevent women from gaining an education and financial independence? Is it only to keep the power centres of society intact, to prevent women from having any say in their own lives? Samina and Zarina have managed to get an education--luckily, the Prophet (peace be upon him!) said that those who wished to get an education should go wherever they could find it, even if it was as far as China. The nineteenth century scientists who opposed women seeking higher education spoke of how it would damage their health. The first women medical students had to face protests from their male colleagues and had to be chaperoned to classes. None of the men would even speak to them--etiquette ruled that a man and a woman could only converse after a proper introduction! We've come a long way, but we have to go further still--when education and financial independence for women is not something they have to beg for, but something that is their birthright, wherever they live on the face of this earth.

Women in India

Dowry deaths were a big issue in the 1980s. Morchas were taken out and slogans were shouted whenever any young woman was burned to death by her in-laws and husband. Section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code has been in force since 1986, but has had little or no effect. Now, the Law Commission in its wisdom has decided that those convicted of conniving at a dowry death will not face the death penalty but will be given a maximum sentence of 10 years.



Although the National Commission for Women (NCW) has welcomed this decision, I feel that capital punishment should be the norm in all cases of murder, including dowry deaths. Capital punishment might be just the right deterrent, when a man and his family gang up to harrass a young bride to get more money and goods from her parents. This harrassment is nothing more than extortion by another name. Moreover, the criminals, who are often from the middle class or lower middle class, might be able to get away by serving half their terms on the grounds of good behaviour.


The reason why I'm so upset by this decision of the Law Commission is that there's yet another case of a 21-year-old girl committing suicide in Gurgaon. She was the wife of a banker and alleged, in her note, that she had committed suicide due to harrassment over dowry. Education and the spread of modern media channels have done little to change the Indian tendency to look down on women--most people surveyed think there's nothing wrong with wife-beating.