Moral policing by Court

Two college students,studying in the same class, 20 years of age, fall in love. They decide to live together. They leave the college hostel and live in a rented room. The college authorities come to know about it. A five member committee of senior faculty members is formed for a detailed enquiry. The students are summoned. They admit before the committee that they are living together. The committee decides to take disciplinary action against the couple. Both are expelled from the college.

The girl approaches the court asking to quash the expulsion order.

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“If you do not like a book, throw it away” – Madras High Court

On January 13, 2015, a well known Tamil writer,  Professor Perumal Murugan announced his decision to stop writing in a Facebook post.

Perumal Murugan

Perumal Murugan

He was under tremendous pressure from Hindutva organisations and caste groups. He came under attack for his novel Madhurobhagan in 2014, though the novel was first published in 2010.

Madhorubhagan is a fictional account of a poor, childless couple, and how the wife, who wants to conceive, takes part in an ancient Hindu chariot festival where, on one night, consensual sex between any man and woman is allowed.

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Indian Church refuses to heed the last wish of a believer

Mary John Akhouri, a Christian Catholic lady died the other day in Mumbai, India. She was 94. Her last wish was to be buried in the premises of a church in which she was baptised at  her native place in Kerala next to her father’s grave.

But when her body was brought for burial the church authorities refused permission. Their objection was she had married a Hindu man.  They said that those who do not follow the Christian way of life will not get buried in the church.

Normally this issue might not have got much publicity,,but for the fact that the lady was the grandmother of a celebrity, the Bollywood film star Priyanka Chopra.

The actress Priyanka Chopra with her granny Mary John Akhouri

The actress Priyanka Chopra with her granny Mary John Akhouri

Church trustee Abraham PV told NDTV, “We could not bury her because after her marriage she lived like a non Christian – like a Hindu. After that she never came back to join us again. If she had given us a petition while she was alive, we would have done everything we could.”

The family was shocked. They insisted she was always a Christian.

 They insist that she was a regular church-goer and had even gone for confession and partaken of the Holy Eucharist just a couple of years ago in the very same church which refused to bury her next to her father, as per her last wish.

No amount of pleading could change the heart of the clergy. The family was about to go back to Mumbai with the body. Hearing their sorry plight, a Bishop arranged for burial at another church some distance away. Thus the funeral happened, not as per the wish of the deceased , but still in a church premise.

But then came a shocker. The kind hearted Bishop was suspended from his duties, allegedly for facilitating the burial.

Then the final twist. Fearing a backlash of bad publicity the church head reinstated the Bishop the very next day.

And still some people will say religions are humane !

 

Hindu outfit leader arrested for Indian rationalist’s murder

In India many ‘well meaning’ followers of Hinduism believe that Hindus will never involve in religion inspired terrorism. Even today a friend talking about Orlando massacre mentioned such a naive belief. He repeated the Hindutva propaganda saying “though all Muslims are not terrorists all terrorists are Muslims”.

“Aren’t you aware of the arrest of a Hindu outfit leader for the cold-blooded murder of the famous rationalist Dabholkar two days ago ? And did you forget the most infamous of all terrorist action in India, the Mahatma Gandhi assassination? “I had to ask.

The question got the expected excuses as reply. Usually such excuses ranges from “that is a fringe group” to “it has nothing to do with ‘real’ Hinduism” and “why should they hurt religious sentiments and provoke believers”.

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Mob leaders let off in Gujarat massacre case verdict

February 28, 2002, Ahmedabad, India

A mob of thousands of Hindus led by leaders of Hindutva organisations including the ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, attacked Gulberg housing society in which mainly Muslims lived. They brutally murdered around 70 persons, gang raped 10-12 women and burnt down scores of houses as handful of policemen watched. Among those killed was a former member of Indian Parliament,

After the massacre- Indian Express archive photo

After the massacre- Indian Express archive photo

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12 million Indians had married before 10 years of age

Marrying before getting into double figures in age ?

May sound cruel and absurd. But not at all uncommon in India.

Latest analysis of 2011 census data reveals that 12 million Indians had married before they had reached double figures in age. Also around 120 million Indians had married before reaching the age of 18.

Reuters / Amit Dave

 

Many in India wrongly believe child marriages mostly happen among Muslim community. The data actually shows  Hindus has an edge over Muslims in child marriages. 84% of under 10 marriages are from among the Hindus (80% of the population) while 11% are from the Muslims (13.5% of population).

Women from urban areas, on average, marry more than two years later than their rural counterparts..

The report also noted that the level of teenage pregnancy and motherhood is nine times higher among women with no education than among women with 12 or more years of education.

As many as 5.4 million (44%) married children under 10 were illiterate–80% of them female–indicating how lower levels of education correlate with early marriage.

A silver lining in these bleak statistics is there is a trend of decrease in child marriages.

As many as 102 million girls (30% of female population) were married before 18 in 2011; the number was 119 million in 2001 (44% of female population), a decrease of 14 percentage points over the decade.

Among boys, 125 million were married before 21 years of age (42% of male population) in 2011; the number was 120 million in 2001 (49% of male population), a decrease of 7 percentage points over the decade.

The legal age for marriage in India is a respectable 18 for girls and 21 for boys. Unfortunately the Muslim personal law gives an exception for girls. They can marry under that law on reaching 15.

From UNICEF India

From UNICEF India

Child marriages are a violation of child rights. It has a negative impact on physical growth, health, mental and emotional development, and education opportunities. It also affects society as a whole since child marriage reinforces a cycle of poverty and perpetuates gender discrimination, illiteracy and malnutrition as well as high infant and maternal mortality rates

According to UNICEF there are many challenges in eliminating child marriages.

There are many causes of child marriage in India and multiple barriers to its elimination. Poverty, weak enforcement of laws, patriarchal social norms intended to ensure family honour are significant factors that increase the risk of girl being married off while still a child. Also, girls from poor households are more likely to marry as children, since marriage becomes a solution to reduce the size of the family. The cost of marriage plays a big role in families sliding further into poverty, and these high costs contribute to girls being forced to marry when other ceremonies are taking place in the family or when older siblings are being married.

India, especially the rural areas, need huge development, both economically and socially, in a much more equitable way, to completely eliminate this curse of child marriage.

 

Health budget cuts and bureaucratic delays threaten AIDS control program

Doctor, we are not getting the  anti AIDS drugs from government hospital. Can you somehow help?

I was asked this question in my clinic the other day.

Though I was surprised by that question, I was expecting such a situation ever since the Indian government announced big cuts in budgetary allocations for health in December 2014. Situation is becoming bad not only for AIDS program but many other public health programs.

Volunteers of National Service Scheme (NSS) pose with HIV/AIDS awareness messages on their faces during a face painting competition ahead of the World AIDS Day in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh November 29, 2014. World AIDS Day is observed on December 1 every year. REUTERS/Ajay Verma (INDIA - Tags: HEALTH SOCIETY)

Volunteers of National Service Scheme (NSS) pose with HIV/AIDS awareness messages on their faces during a face painting competition ahead of the World AIDS Day in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh November 29, 2014. REUTERS/Ajay Verma

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She drove in with a 30 tonne cargo

People in my conservative town seldom see women drivers , except may be on two wheelers. If they see one, there is always a tendency by men on the road to bully them and pass bad comments on their driving.

The other day they had a huge surprise. They had their eyes jutting out of their sockets in astonishment as a lady drove into our town on a 14 wheel truck with a cargo weighing 30 tonnes ( around 66000 pounds).

She was Yogita Raghuvanshi, the first woman truck driver of India.

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