Author: The Metrognome

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Diaries

News event of the year

The Palghar Facebook arrests showed us the foolhardy side of police action, thus forcing the Government to make swift reprisals.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

It was an innocuous post on Facebook, as most posts go. A student from Palghar, 21-year-old Shaheen Dhada, was upset over the total lockdown of Mumbai and its outlying suburbs after the death of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on November 17, 2012. Taking to Facebook to vent her anger, little did Shaheen know that a simple post questioning the logic behind the shutdown would soon get her arrested.

Similarly unaware of the impending storm was her friend Rinu Srinivasan, also 21 and also a Palghar resident. Rinu ‘liked’ the post.

And there the matter would have rested.

However, the post was brought to the attention of Bhushan Sankhe, Palghar’s Sena shakha pramukh,  who was suitably upset by Shaheen’s remark and Rinu’s appreciation of it. Very soon,  a mob of Shiv Sainiks was mobilised into action, they went to Shaheen’s house, vandalised her uncle’s clinic, and that night, Shaheen and Rinu were arrested.

These arrests marked a watershed moment in a year that saw the imprisonment of cartoonist Aseem Trivedi and the taking down of his website, the jailing of a Kolkata professor after he forwarded a cartoon of Mamata Banerjee over email, the abrupt cutting off of video channels like Vimeo at the hands of entertainment giants like Reliance and the mass blocking of Twitter and Facebook accounts in the aftermath of the Assam violence, to name a few.

The public, already bewildered by the seemingly indiscriminate clampdown on its internet freedom on various pretexts, was pushed past the boiling point after the two girls were arrested. Already furious over being forced to wait out Thackeray’s funeral in their homes, the city erupted in protest after Shaheen and Rinu were not just arrested, but a local magistrate awarded them a 14-day judicial custody term.

Spurred into action by the rising protests, first from Mumbai and then from all over the country, the State Government ordered a probe into the matter, then after the police action was deemed inappropriate and hasty. The girls were finally let off, the charges against them were subsequently dropped, and both the girls are now back on Facebook.

But perhaps the biggest offshoot of the entire incident was that the public, used to not voicing its opinions on the Shiv Sena, went full throttle in its criticism of the party’s strong-arm tactics.

‘Diaries’ is a series of stories on one theme. The Yearender Diaries seek to capture the most telling moments, happenings and people in the city this year. Watch out for Personality of the Year tomorrow.

(Picture courtesy indiavision.com) 

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Diaries

Event of the year

The biggest funeral in Maharashtra this year, after Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s in 1956, came with its fair share of controversies.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Part 2 of our Yearender Diaries 

It was expected to be a funeral of somewhat large proportions. The city of Mumbai was to pay a silent homage, and was told to be off the streets. Some unkind people even said that if you had the money and the muscle power, it wasn’t that tough to get a big crowd together. That fear of retribution would force people to attend the funeral, just as fear had compelled every Mumbaikar to silently take whatever the dead man had thrown at the city all his life.

Bal Thackeray, founder of the Shiv Sena, passed away on November 17, 2012. It was a Saturday, and when the announcement was finally made from his residence, Matoshree, it was 3 pm. In a few minutes, the city began to shut down – first the shops, then its offices, then its transport. As the grieving at Matoshree began, so did another momentous phenomenon: a bandh which the late leader had not called for, for the first time the Sena’s life.

It was probably a fitting tribute to Thackeray; bandhs had characterised his party’s workings for a better part of forty-odd years, and a bandh it was that saw him through on his last journey.

Everything remained shut till Sunday night, by which time the late leader’s funeral had already taken place at Shivaji Park. But those two days of a total lockdown were difficult to get past – most people, accustomed to doing their shopping on Saturday evening, found they had no milk, vegetables or anything to eat. Sunday dawned without respite, and in some places, without newspapers. By evening of that day, all entertainment channels on TV had been blocked. So all one could do was watch the funeral live.

On the other side, there was a genuine outpouring of grief. Not after Dr BR Ambedkar’s funeral in 1956 had Maharashtra witnessed such a deluge of mourners descending on the city in such a short span of time. It would be churlish to say that all of those gathered were Shiv Sainiks and their families alone – the crowd largely comprised Sena voters and Bal Thackeray admirers – and nobody was ordered to be part of the funeral procession.

And even before his mortal remains had reached the cremation grounds, rumblings over what the party would do without his stewardship began. Questions about the Uddhav-Raj equation resurfaced. Declarations of ‘The Shiv Sena is finished!’ were made, sometimes on TV. But all the screaming rhetoric quietened as the body was finally laid to rest. When the funeral pyre was lit, everybody cried.

It has been over a month since his death, but the man is anything but forgotten, and not just because of controversies linked to where his memorial should be, or if people should be arrested merely for stating an opinion on a social networking site. It is said that the measure of a man’s life is made by the numbers of people who show up at his funeral. If the numbers at Bal Thackeray’s funeral were anything to go by, he lived a very successful life indeed.

‘Diaries’ is a series of stories on one theme. The Yearender Diaries seeks to capture the most telling moments, happenings and people in the city this year. Watch out for News Event of the Year tomorrow.

(Picture courtesy bbc.co.uk)

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Enough said

Help victims, not the accused

Humra Quraishi writes on the malaise of rape and how a lack of policing is helping rapists get away it.

Another gang rape has taken place in New Delhi. No, it’s not really surprising, for eve-teasing is so rampant there that no woman is actually safe on the roads or lanes of this city. After dusk, it’s risky for a woman to commute, unless of course, she is a top politician or a senior civil servant or Somebody Important, in which case she has adequate security as she goes about her daily tasks.

And before I write any further, let me mention that even young men and teenage boys are not safe in Delhi either. With this, another point that cannot be ignored is that people’s faith in cop and the policing system is nil. The average citizen is apprehensive about entering a police station to lodge a complaint, because that one act results in a hundred different offshoots, with him or her facing some unsavoury consequences. There are several horror stories to be told about the city’s lockups, the police thanas, the interrogation and detention centres. The worst crimes take place right there, under the watchful eyes of cops.

In fact, there are no records and statistics to show how many cop-rapists and molesters have been hanged thus far. They get away because of all the possible loopholes in this system.

So where do you and I go for help if we are molested or raped or eve-teased? It sure does require nerves of steel to report these crimes, and that’s why most of these crimes go unreported. Reporting them is, perhaps, the last resort for most people.

I am of the definite view that hanging is not the solution. Are we so short-sighted to think that hanging a couple of men will solve all crises, be it related to terrorism or rape? Death isn’t a remedy for such ills. Those off-with-your-head orders were fine when given by rulers of bygone days, because the rule of the law was paramount then. Here, when every fifth or sixth man is trying his level best to grab an opportunity to touch or intrude on a woman’s personal space, how many men can be hanged? We will upset the gender ratio if we hang every eve-teaser and rapist.

Another important point, which most of us ignore, is what we are seeing on the big and small screens today –  obnoxious item numbers, with even more obnoxious lyrics, and our top heroines dance in them without the slightest trace of embarrassment. There are disgusting image portrayals, but there doesn’t seem to be any effort being made to stop this kind of objectification.

Today the situation is so pathetic that we have moved backwards, beyond the medieval ages. If you are planning to move out of your Delhi home after dusk, you to yourself well and try and return before it gets late. Men friends or a male companion cannot be of much help if such a situation happens to you, because rapists attack in groups, and are often deranged with drink that only a policeman can probably stop them.

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Picture courtesy ibnlive.com)

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Big story

Off with his hands! (And feet. And eyes)

Shivaji’s punishment for rape was to sever the man’s hands and feet, or gouge out his eyes, ancient manuscript reveals.
by Shubha Khandekar

That Maratha warrior king Shivaji was a ruler and a thinker way ahead of his times is well-documented, but a recent historical discovery has once again underlined this fact. At a time when might was right, and women were often commodified to the extent that they were included in the spoils of war, Shivaji’s orders for men who raped women were clear: cut off his hands and feet.

Historians in Pune have recently discovered a dated manuscript (see pic on left) in which Shivaji had ordered the hands and feet of the headman of a village in Maharashtra be cut off as punishment for raping a woman. In another incidence of rape, in which the accused was a military general who raped a woman who had defended Belwadi Fort before surrendering, Shivaji ordered that the man’s eyes be gouged out.

“This is the oldest and the most indisputably authentic manuscript of Shivaji,” said SM Bhave, secretary of the Bharat Itihas Samshodhan Mandal. The manuscript had mysteriously disappeared after it was originally reported by researcher SG Joshi  of the Mandal in 1929, 83 years ago. A Marathi translation of it was published in Vol II of the sources for the biography of Shivaji, compiled and published by the Mandal in 1930. The manuscript, wrapped safely in old handkerchiefs of a Mandal researcher, was rediscovered recently among old files in the Mandal office. The manuscript is written in the Modi script, which has been in use in Maharashtra for the past 700 years.

English translation of the manuscript of Shivaji (dated 20 Jilhez, according to the Mandal)

“From the office of Rajashri Shivaji Raje.

Scribes: Clerks Deshmukh and Deshkulkarni.

May it be known that while the headman Bavaji Bhikaji Gujar (Patil) was heading the said Ranje village, he committed an offence, which became known to Saheb  (Shivaji), following which he had him fetched here. On inquiry it was revealed that the news was true, whereupon his ancestral domain was merged with the royal kingdom and he was dismissed from the headman’s post after severing his hands and feet. At that time one of his relatives, namely Sonji Bajaji Gujar pleaded for getting the custody of Bavaji. In consideration of this request he was charged a fine of 300 Padshahi hons, after paying which Bavaji was handed over to him. Since Bavaji was childless and Sonji is his kin, Saheb compassionately passed on the headmanship to Sonji, for which he was asked to deposit  200 Padshahi hons into the royal treasury. May nobody hinder the carriage of this order. This original letter may be given to him for execution.”

The manuscript

“Our experts have thoroughly investigated, verified and confirmed the authenticity of the manuscript,” said historians Dr Anuradha Kulkarni  and Ajit Patwardhan in Pune. “It clearly mentions the name Bavaji Bhikaji Gujar (Patil), the headman of the Ranje village near Kondhanpur, and the punishment awarded to him by Shivaji, of cutting off his hands and feet for having misbehaved with a woman.”

Giving details of the above instance, Govind Pansare, whose booklet Who was Shivaji? sold 22,000 copies and has gone into four editions from 1988 to 1991, narrates that the Patil abducted the young daughter of a poor farmer and raped her, after which she committed suicide. The whole village, intimidated by the tyrannical Patil, sympathised but remained passive and helpless after the girl’s death. “But when Shivaji heard of it, he had the man arrested and brought to Pune, after which he pronounced the punishment to him,” the book says.

In another instance, described in the same book, Sakuji Gaikwad, a military general laid siege to the Belwadi fort, being defended by a courageous woman called Savitribai Desai in 1678. She held out for 27 days before surrendering. Euphoric over the victory, Sakuji captured the fort and raped the defeated Savitribai. As Shivaji got to know of it, he was infuriated and had Sakuji’s eyes gouged out. Sakuji was also thrown in jail for the rest of his life.

 

Categories
Diaries

Crime snapshot of the year

Mumbai was not such a great place to be in in 2012. A survey by Praja Foundation finds out more.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Part 1 of our Yearender Dairies

It’s not often that you can actually measure how secure you feel in a given place. But the Praja Foundation has done just that – brought out a white paper after carrying out a survey in Mumbai and measured, in terms of percentages, how secure people in the city feel, after alarming spikes in crime rates this year.

As per a survey conducted across 15,191 correspondents in Mumbai, Praja Foundation has compiled statistics that are grim, at best. For instance, 25 per cent of people surveyed felt unsafe in Mumbai this year. Only 20 per cent of respondents from North East Mumbai who said they felt safe in the city, while 41 per cent of respondents from North Central Mumbai said they felt safe when travelling from one place to another within Mumbai.

The Foundation further notes that “of the total 71,425 cases filed in Mumbai in 2011-12, 18 per cent (a total of 12,762) cases are related to serious offences. Of this, only 45 per cent (a total of 5,772) cases were sent for trial. The rest are pending investigation. And of those that went for trial, only 10 per cent got a conviction. It is indeed shocking to learn that of the 1,61,528 cases gone into trial, the acquittal rate was a shocking 83 per cent!”

And if you blame lack of political will in getting criminals punished, or indeed, talked about, you may be right. The Foundation reveals that Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from the North Central Mumbai zone were guilty of raising only 65 questions during the Monsoon 2011, Winter 2011 and Budget 2012 Sessions of the State Legislature; this zone also has the highest incidence of crime in the city, at 6,736 cases. MLAs from this region are Krishnakumar Hegde, Milind Kamble, Prakash Sawant, Kripashankar Singh and Baba Siddiqui.

A lack of strong policing was also found to be a key issue – of 71,425 cases, 18 per cent (ie 12,762) cases were related to Class II (Serious offences, such as murder, rape, abduction, grievous hurt, kidnapping, etc.) and were investigated in 2011. Of these, investigations were completed in only 6,515 cases.

‘Diaries’ is a series of stories on one theme. The Yearender Diaries seeks to capture the most telling moments, happenings and people in the city this year. Watch out for Event of the Year tomorrow.

(All figures are from Praja Foundation. Picture courtesy gawker.com)

 

 

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Guest writer

Sex and the city

Shifa Maitra recounts a recent late night ordeal in Mumbai, and says that Mumbai is only slightly safer than Delhi.

So Delhi is an awful place and women shouldn’t even visit. Well, Mumbai is just a tad better. Having lived in both cities and having returned here after a five-year stint in Delhi, I can tell you that living on your own as a single woman here isn’t as great
as it used to be. I am not comparing it to Delhi, but let’s put it this way, women can’t be as bindass as they used to be here. With women being molested outside a five star hotel on New Year’s eve, to a security guard sexually assaulting and killing a bright young lawyer, to acid attacks, stones being pelted at the ladies compartments in trains…all of it is a nightmare.

I recently had a shocker of an experience when I was returning home from a late night shoot. Thank God my driver was driving. It was around 3 am and at the Juhu beach turning, an SUV came very close to my car, with some guys inside it waving and screaming. My first reaction was to see if it was someone I knew, but my driver sensed trouble and stepped on the accelerator. I could see them screaming and making lewd gestures. I panicked and my driver warned me that he would be speeding – this car tried to block our way and stop in front of us. The entire ordeal lasted a few minutes but it was nightmarish. When I looked up, my driver had taken another route till we lost them.

I was telling a friend the next day about this incident, and she said that something similar had happened to her and a friend when they left from Wtf in Versova and were going home. We don’t have a Chief Minister, yet, who tells us that women should stay at home to avoid such incidents, but we are getting there.

Pepper sprays and learning taekwando are all very well. Drunk driving is something the city has been able to get under control, but all the same, driving alone past midnight is best avoided. A friend had a flat tyre late at night at the Garage Road in Santacruz, and she was pretty shaken up by the time she got home.

Another thing to avoid is going for a walk or a run at night. From Versova’s back road to the Carter Road promenade, women have had to deal with unwelcome attention for no fault of theirs.

Allowing electricians, plumbers and watchmen inside your home when you are alone is again a no-no. However inconvenient, call a friend or neighbour to hang around till the work is being done. Someone I know runs an agency for guards, and he was candid about the fact that background checks on those employed are not always done.

Taking an autorickshaw at night is asking for trouble. God help you if you light up a cigarette, you really may not get home. People who seem perfectly ‘normal’ when alone, when in a group become a mob that can’t be trusted. Colaba Causeway, Gateway of India, Linking Road and Juhu are areas that are hellholes, given that streetwalkers operate there and any woman out at night alone is instantly branded as one.

Crowded places are again a bane, whether it is Ganpati visarjan or Holi. New Year’s eve or the Bandra Fair, the minute a woman is in the crowd, it is assumed that the woman will ‘enjoy’ being groped and molested. Sad but true, that women are better off staying off the roads when these hooligans reign.

Well, the silver lining is that if a woman asks for help in a public place in Mumbai, people will step forward and help her. Walking into a cop station is also not as daunting as it would be in Delhi.

Keeping your mobile phone charged at all times helps, and calling up a friend when there is a hint of trouble makes sense. A friend who lived alone had a drunk neighbor banging on her door at one in the morning. Thankfully, she called us instantly and had only frayed nerves to deal with.

So, trust in God but lock your car, as the Dalai Lama said. Of course Mumbai is a rocking, fun city, but don’t push your luck.

Shifa Maitra is a media professional based in Mumbai.

(Picture courtesy Joshi Daniel)

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