KANPUR: Eve teasing, rape,
dowry deaths and what have you. Women are being harassed and tortured no end.
Incidentally, the fair sex of the city are being subjected to a new kind of
suffering __ acid attacks.
Over the last seven months, there were half a dozen such cases, but only two
have been registered with the police. Another social stigma. The victims are
either mortally scared of the consequences or do not want publicity of any kind.
They are helpless. And their helplessness is being taken note of by the UP
Mahila Manch which has decided to launch a helpline for the victims. “The
groundwork is complete and our activist teams are ready for action soon after we
launch the helpline in the first week of August,“ said Neelam Chaturvedi,
president of the manch.
In the opinion of the Manch, consumerism has distorted the thinking of men and
they have started taking women as a consumer product. Chaturvedi said we still
have a male dominated society where any refusal for marriage or friendship hurts
the ego of the chauvinist male. She added: “They can go up to any extent to
satisfy their id”.
Last week, in Colonel area, a man threw acid on his wife when she failed to
fulfill his demand for dowry. On June 8 in Sutarkhana area, a boy barged into
the house of a girl and threw acid on her when she was asleep. Her fault: she
did not want to marry him. In Unnao also there was a similar case two months ago
when a frustrated lover poured acid on his cousin who had refused to marry him.
In fact, the city’s first ever case of acid being used to take revenge was
reported on January 20, 2000 when a college boy Abhinav had attacked Arti
Srivastava with acid in Civil Lines area. Art’s fault was that she had refused
to accept his friendship. Abhinav considered it an insult and took the drastic
step. The case is still in progress.
After this gruesome attack, several colleges imposed dress code for the
girls.“It is ridiculous to hold girls responsible for the crime against them.
“See all the acid victims, they all are very simple girls. None of them was
wearing jeans or mini skirt,” said Savita Mishra, Jwala Devi college principal.
A psychiatrist says that the psyche of the boys is to destroy the physical
beauty of the girls so that they cant’ marry another boy.