It's been a terrible weekend. The cough persists. The voice has undergone transformation. Have been having a tough time convincing callers that it's me and not my son and not a man on the line. I have lost my voice. For a woman used to voicing her opinion on every matter—significant and insignificant, this is a distressing development. As I write this, the parliament is debating over the Women's Bill. As a woman, I must exult but I am totally against reservations of any kind and I've seen enough of their misuse to know that they just don't work except to divide a fragmented society even further. This may sound cynical, pessimistic but given the dismal political scenario, I can't but think of how men will misuse this new weapon to field their wives, mothers, aunts, daughters and continue ruling the roost.
I was quite shocked to read the Chief Justic of India, K G Balakrishnan's statement that a rape victim's autonomy to marry her rapist or have his child should be respected. Just when women are rooting for more severe punishments for rapists, the CJ had to make an irresponsible, shocker of a statement. Are rape victims in the right frame of mind to take decisions? If the victim marries the one that perpetrated the crime against her, there will be no room left for justice. The crime will go unpunished, as the victim will be forced to withdraw the complaint, once she takes him for her husband. It will give a lot of opportunities to a lot of men to rape and then marry, to drop the wife, rape again and remarry once more. It's crazy how a wise gentleman sitting in a position of power, makes loose statements that can have a huge impact on those not given to rational thinking. Need to raise my voice against this. Croakkkk...When I find it.
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