Measures, Not Tempers

On Thursday a 21-year-old law student was injured in an acid attack by unidentified car borne assailants outside her college in Nowshehra Srinagar. The attack has left her blind in one eye and with marks on her entire face. This is the second acid attack in last two years that happened in Srinagar. Last time it was 30-year-old private school teacher who was attacked in Barzulla on the outskirts of Srinagar city. In last two years nothing has been done to make women folk feel safe while going about their daily routine. No measures were taken to highlight the need of safeguarding our women folks. The government and the administration only know how to react rather than acting beforehand. They sit tight till something untoward happens. There is no policy that ensures safety of women at workplaces or in colleges and institutions. They are virtually at the mercy of their male counterparts for their safety and wellbeing. There is no way a women can enjoy her life freely as men do in a society that is proud of its religious upbringing. And to top it all, it is the women (almost always) who has to prove her innocence before men regardless of her being the victim. Why this disparity? Why cannot we think of women as equals contributors in our society? Why should a jealous lover or for that matter a lunatic get away with his deeds just because he is a male and the victim is a female? How can we justify something as heinous as acid attack that leaves not only physical scars on a victim but also ruins her future forever! It (acid attack) is more criminal than murder as it is there forever; reminding the victim every single day of her life that her only fault was that she was born a woman in a male obsessed society, like ours.

But unless we don’t try correct our society’s thinking right from the grass-root i.e. family, schools, colleges, religious institutes, work places etc, there will be no stop to such crimes against women.

Chanting hymns in mosques or speaking highly of one’s religious heritage or past is not going to correct the rot that has infested our society. It needs lot more than lip service to curb male ego that still considers women as their personal properties and not as equal humans.

Unless we don’t give women equal opportunities, space, and respect their rights – including right to say no to any unwanted male advances – such incidents will reoccur every now and then.

Let us hope that the culprits are brought to justice soon and punished severely so that nobody dares to take women for granted and ruin their beautiful lives just for the sake for fun. After all, right to a decent and free life is not exclusive to men only. Or is it?