Vigilantism’ hits women hard
Sudipto MondalMANGALORE: Vigilantism in the district by self-appointed groups keen on enforcing a rigid moral code have left lasting scars on female victims.
For sometime now, these groups have been coming down hard on people who interact with people from a different community.
Sugandhi (18), a call centre worker and a victim of one such attack, says, “In five minutes I was turned into a living corpse.”
As per police records, she was meeting some male friends at a hotel in the heart of the city when Bajrang Dal activists arrived there with sections of local visual and print media in tow.
“Suddenly, I was surrounded by all these men who abused me while some clicked my photograph. The police just stood there and watched,” she said. She has now left home to avoid embarrassment for her parents.
Speaking to The Hindu on telephone from an undisclosed location, she said she was working in a local call centre because her mother was terminally ill.
Ms. Sugandhi said she and her friends paid off the police who threatened to book a case of immoral trafficking.
When this correspondent asked Superintendent of Police N. Sateesh Kumar about it, he said that the allegation “is extremely serious.”
Divya, who was assaulted by Bajrang Dal activists when she was visiting her friend Ayesha, also faces social isolation. “Everybody knew that Ms. Ayesha and I were friends. But after the incident it is as if I committed a grave offence.”
(Names of victims have been changed to protect their identity)
Courtesy: http://www.hindu.com/2008/09/08/stories/2008090861101000.htm
Date: Wednesday, September 10, 2008