Polite Indian

Times Of India reports

In a virtual repeat of the Imrana case, a mother of four has been driven out of her village in Murshidabad district by a Muslim panchayat after being allegedly raped by a local man over three months ago.

The panchayat ruled her marriage stood annulled in the wake of the incident and neither could she live with her husband nor could she enter the predominantly Muslim village, about 200 km from Kolkata.

At least the husband has not disowned the victim here

“I want to keep my wife as it is not her fault, but people are not allowing me to keep her. Who will look after our four children?” her husband told reporters here.

His family was opposing his wife’s stay in the house after the incident and the matter was taken up by the panchayat of the village.

She was also not allowed to stay at her father’s house by her stepmother, and this left her virtually homeless.

It is shameful that women get mistreated for no fault of theirs. Instead of punishing the perpetrator the victim is being punished.

I agree with confused about the Uniform Civil Code. It is about time India adopted the UCC but so far I have not come across a sane discussion on the UCC in the desi-blogospehere. Maybe someone can point me to one.

Times of India reported a case of heinous crime committed against a Dalit family in Khairlanji, near Nagpur

There was always a gaping silence in this village, even before September 29 when an upper caste mob, according to eyewitnesses, paraded a mother and her 17-year-old daughter naked, raped and killed them. Two other members of the family, brothers aged 19 and 21 too were murdered. Their bodies were dumped in a canal.

I first read about it at greatbong. Thanks to him for bringing such a horrific incident to our attention. Later I read the same story at National Highway by Shivam. He had posted graphic images on his site that shook me. These images highlight the cruelty with which the crime was committed. I was hoping the desi-blogosphere will pick up this story and spread the awareness.

The Desi-Blogosphere did pick up this story but not in a way I had imagined. There was a flurry of posts after Shivam’s post. Bloggers took issue with the posting of a particular image. Some called it disgusting and made it an issue of the victim’s privacy. As a result others came out in defense of Shivam and now we see a fight over the manner in which the story was reported. The real issue seems to be lost upon the bloggers.

I see Shivam took out the picture after these posts. Some thought he shouldn’t have taken out the picture because that would be like imposing self censorship. While I agree that he should have kept the picture, I think it was a good move if it helps us focus on the real issue at hand instead of digressing.

While I respect everyone’s freedom of speech, I am amazed how bloggers lack the ability of decently registering a protest. The bloggers who chose to take up issue with Shivam, while having every right to do so, could have done in it in a manner that would not be so personal. Name calling and trying to read Shivam’s mind and what not! To me this doesn’t encourage healthy atmosphere. If the desi-blogosphere has to make any significant impact it needs to understand that we should not lose respect for each other even while differing on issues. It is important to talk about issues rather than personalities.

I believe Shivam would have still taken out the picture if the protest was made more appropriately.

At the end I would like to make a request to all the bloggers to focus more on the issue. It will help our cause greatly.