Legal Take: We didn't start the fire. It was always burning.
In India, from time immemorial, women jumping into their husbands’ funeral pyres has been touted as the highest honour that the wife can pay to her husband. Also indicating, that the woman had no individual indentity of her own and thus had no right to continue living. That was then, this is now. The rule of nature today- Burn a woman to death if she disobeys you, she is after all your property, you have a binding contract of marriage with her . Otherwise known as Domestic Violence.
A survey conducted in Bangalore shows that every month 100 young women die violent deaths. And out of those, 70% burn to death. Of this, 40% is thought to be suicides and another 45% are from stove bursts. These are the statistics of one city in India alone…you can well magine the condition of the entire country.
Source: http://indiatravels.typepad.com/india_travels/2004/07/burning_brides.html
Partners, to cover up their violent acts take recourse to excuses such as "it was a kitchen accident". Surprised? Wait up there’s more. What made me gape in wonder was this: 12 woman are being burned to death every hour in India, most of them are aged between 15 to 34
Source: http://aftermathnews.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/12-indian-women-burn-to-death-every-hour/
Some examples from the 21st century:
1. Rubina, a 22 year old woman living in Karachi was burnt on 21st September, 2008 by her husband. The case was not registered due to the mores and value system of our society.
2. On 26th January, 2009 Bisma Bibi, a 21year old woman was burned to death by her husband and in-laws in Pakistan. Her unforgivable fault- She dared to discuss money matters with her husband. The police were the ones who tried to cover up the incident and bury the woman’s body. Her family was not allowed to see the body in the name of investigation. When the family tried to lodge an FIR the police did not cooperate.
3. In Oakland (17th December, 2008) a 32 year old woman named Weaver suffered severe burns (90%) along with her two children being burnt to death. Before this incident she had been abused numerous times at the hands of her husband which she had been reluctant to disclose.
The moot question is – Why does the law turn a blind eye to these horrifying statistics and stories? How does it continue to allow women being torched to death?
The legal system is largely at fault but sadly it is us who are also the wheels of this system. Corrupt law enforcements agents and open floodgates of the court may give importance to the most flippant issues and prefer to neglect more pressing ones like Domestic Violence. The media prefers to highlight issues like banning of computers and eradicating English medium education proposed by the Samajwadi Party only because this would make headlines more catchy. Even developed nations are not far behind. A Court recently took up a most important issue – a case against a man wearing sagging pants. Surely a wardrobe malfunction for men takes the pants off Domestic Violence, doesn’t it?
Tagged domestic violence, Law
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