Muskan Sethi
Sexual Violence and the New Nation[1]
During the first half of the 20th century the historical moments in the Indian context enabled public speech about the sexual violence. But this phase did not address the sexual violence faced by the disenfranchised and underprivileged woman. This is because of the social order to which they belong. They daily experience sexual discrimination and humiliation because they were considered low in the hierarchy, even marriage structure and property-lessness contributed to it. Even the criminal law punishes the individuated crime (like rape addressing violence) but it did not take note of the social structure which was responsible for placing the socially and economically weak and vulnerable women at the sexual service of dominant caste men.
Dr. Ambedkar also believed that the social reform in the past has only benefited the upper caste Hindu women. Therefore the need of the hour is to transform the whole caste system. The caste structure according to him is the root cause of the inequalities prevailing in the society. The law of endogamy leads to the apartness as it ensured that marriages across castes don’t happen. The Constitution of India and the Hindu law provided the right to woman to be free to exit unhappy marriage. Caste at least from the law’s notion became irrelevant which was believed by Ambedkar to be assisting in challenging the unreasonable and rigid caste hierarchy. However Ambedkar was aware of the fact that law alone cannot bring about a social change and thus what is required is social persuasion, movement, protest, argument. The law gives these socially oppressed the right to claim justice. For securing the social and political ends of the democracy what is required is the realization of freedom and equality. This can only be achieved by transforming the caste structure.
Sexual hurt was recognised only of the Upper class and Hindu caste women and not of the lower class/caste women. Even for law Individual woman was the subject of reform irrespective of the caste/class. The determination of the women’s status was left to States own devices. It failed to take note of the context in which the woman was situated. It was believed by the State that by enacting laws related to marriage, divorce and property etc. they have settled the women’s problems. This reduced the issues of caste, class, family as matters of law and thus it was not debated in the public space. This completely ignored the sexual crimes committed against the adivasi, poor, lower caste and dalit women.
In this chapter two contexts are taken by V. Geetha– one relates to the response taken by the State of the sexual violence and the other is the response taken by the social and political movements of the subordinate caste and underclass of the sexual violence. When India became independent it was not merely a normative entity but had an institutional life. It carried the colonial legacy till date. The majority of the reformers were socially privileged. The government employees and other department officers because of the social privilege and State power commit evil deeds with impunity. It was clear that the State in its daily functioning mirrors or hides the violence and inequality prevailing in the society.
In 1957 a case took place which shows that how State officers escape accountability even for grave offences like rape, murder by resorting to their professional and caste status. In this case[2] gang rape was committed by three men- Harnarain Singh (APP, Gurgaon), Mauji Ram (Deputy Superintendent of Jail, Gurgaon), Balbir Singh. The facts of the case are these three were partying and coerced Kalu Ram (servant) to bring his wife (19 year old) for entertaining the guests. She was eventually raped and murdered. Her dead body was cremated with haste. The defence lawyer gave the perverse arguments that she consented and was willing party during the sexual intercourse. She died due to heart failure and that these men are of respectable status. Justice Tek Chand refused the arguments given by the defence counsel. The solicitation of the lower class girl and the manner they treated her when she died shows the psyche of these officers and their contempt towards a person placed lower in caste/class hierarchy. Sexual violence even today is dealt as an individuated crime by the law. But class dominance, caste empowered masculine and hegemonic structures remain outside the purview of law which reinforces sexual violence and humiliation to maintain itself.
In another case of 1963 a dalit women (Sirsagaonvillage, Aurangabad district, Maharashtra) were dragged out of their houses, beaten, stripped and paraded naked. The accused was arrested and punished for illegal trespass, molestation and violence. It was said that the accused punished these women for drawing water from the common well but the truth was that one of them refused the sexual advances made by the dominant caste man. This forced the kin of the dalit woman to visit the wife of the dominant caste man and this was not taken well by the accused. Thus they tried to punish these women by doing the above acts. The sad part is the wife of the accused was the witness of this event and she was relishing the humiliation caused to these dalit women. This shows that her sexual and caste identity is such that she is not able to perceive the sexual vulnerabilities as that of dalit women. Sexual humiliation is done in order to affirm the caste dominance and control. It became really difficult for these women to speak of the nature of the crimes committed against them because the perpetrator has shamed their intimate selves and this has shamed/stigmatize these women thus leading to the limits on free speech.
V.Geetha talked about two movements- one before the attaining of independence and the other originating in late colonial India. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar initiated the campaigns since late 1920s which brought to the fore the oppression and humiliation faced by the lower dalit women. Their roles of prostitution, entertainers for the upper caste and class people created a perception that they are always sexually available. It compromised one’s personhood and thus resulted in denying of respect and dignity to the women. Right to enter temples, respectable conjugality were important rights but what was more important was to be counted as equal human in every sense. However community hurt took precedence in the honour discourse. To tackle this, dalit women’s speech became important and this call attention to not only caste hurt but also sexual one. Shivubaistated that dalit men must acknowledge their role in creating this institution of muralis. Many dalit girls in order to escape this convert into Christianity and Islam. In 1930s and 1940s the dalit agricultural workers and lower caste radical peasant movements were very active. Lower caste dalit women were not merely labourers but also chattel slaves for the landlords. Sexual servitude was expected of them. In case of clash between the landlords and workers the worst effected people were the women. They were raped, attacked and brutally humiliated. The violence became gendered.
Even in Pakistan and Sri Lanka initially women got rights in marriage, divorce, education and other matters but gradually when the State became powerful, the debates became less. It is only when the rights were asserted or claimed before the State, the women rights were recognised. Lower caste and class women have always suffered. Even in Sri Lanka the middle class women and Sinhala women got benefitted from the education and employment policies of the government. But the labouring plantation Tamils suffered continuously from the low pay, denial of civil rights and sexual exploitation. In Pakistan the All Pakistan Women’s Association brought about the legal reform and during the presidency of Ayub Khan the Family Law Ordinance was passed in 1961 which provided for divorce rights, compulsory registration of marriages, and prevention of arbitrary contracting of polygamous marriage.
Conclusion
What the researcher inferred from the above chapter is that cultural attitudes towards the sexuality determine or best explains the sexual violence and the impunity it claims for itself. It’s the social, legal and psychological state that instigates the perpetrator to act without any fear of guilt. Law is an instrument of change in the society but alone it cannot change the rigid social structure. It is none the less an important initial step to curb the menace of social evil. The caste dominance and stereotypical orthodox mentality is so imbedded in our culture that law alone cannot tackle this issue. The State is mirroring the violence caused by its agents and is continuously neglecting the pain/loss suffered by the dalit women. This is so because law is not taking into consideration the aspect of hegemonic caste structure which is reinforcing violence in order to affirm its superiority. Public debates related to this has reduced and even where different political, social movements have become less effective in dealing with the chaos. The stereotypes and stigma attached to the victim and the looking down of the dalit women as someone who ‘asked for it’ shows the orthodox psyche thus contributing to the strengthening of the rigid caste structure.
The two case laws show the disgusting side of our own people. There were no inhibitions among the accused who buried the dead body of the dalit women after raping her. The defence counsel despite the acts committed by the accused term these accused as ‘respectable people’. They had no compassion or feeling of guilt as to what they did. The high caste woman in one of the case was seeking pleasure while the naked dalit women were parading. This shows that she was not aware of the vulnerabilities of the dalit women despite the fact she herself was a female. Caste prejudices and class interests troubled the new nation which just got independent. The nation building years were however hopeful even if they cause certain trouble. No matter State acted as an arbiter for addressing the evils of deprivation and cruelty still it allowed only certain sorts of speech about violence, equality and justice. To avoid the question of its legitimacy the State hides the violence its officials perpetrate and thus deal with them with impunity. This limit to speech is against the very democratic ideal and is constantly weakening the base of the liberal democracy. Rape happens but why dalit women is the worst affected is because of the social, economic and sexual vulnerability of them by the dominant upper caste and class men.
Challenging Class and State[3]
In 1960s India saw war, class wars, famines, breaking of the unitary model. It was a decade full of troubles. Though this decade also proved important in policy making and nation-building. 5 year plans, Green Revolution, expansion of heavy industry, power, road building and infrastructure got improved in this phase. Due to expanding development the economic patterns got changed and it affected the rural way of living thus leading to migration, displacement and formation of Left ideology. National sovereignty was challenged by many developments like military government’s success in Pakistan, rise of Bangla Nationalism in East Pakistan, Kashmir dispute leading to disastrous war and the rise of anti-State opinion in within the Sinhala Leftists and Tamil Nationalists in Sri Lanka. Radical movement challenges caste and class structure since it is what is actually sustaining the sexual violence.
Militant Left movements proved beneficial in 1960 for bringing to light the question of women’s bodily integrity and dignity. In the Srikakulum struggle, AP (1968) the hill adivasi labourers (girijans) formed themselves against the entrenched land and state interests. This brought to the fore the issue of sexual servitude that dalit women were expected to provide in addition to the labour. The violence she suffered at the hands of landlords, labour contractors and State officials was addressed through this movement. West Bengal and Bihar also saw such movements. In 1967 the Naxalbaris rose to power. It was basically a militant peasant struggle. It began in West Bengal keeping in mind the memory of great Tebhaga agrarian struggle of 1940s. This in the long run led to the birth of Left-Wing militant group. These radical Left Naxals provoked and forced the Indian State to indulge in unprecedented and brutal attack on male activists as well as female political persons. The State violence targeted the body of Naxalite in a manner that posed serious and pertinent questions of the very meaning of the term bodily integrity and dignity. Gendered bodily humiliation, suffering, bodily and sexual violence was faced by both men and women. It became impossible to separate sexual abuse from that of others which complicated or created new problems for the public speech about impunity. Both state torture and sexual violence as understood in the movement can be expressed in some ways and it is very difficult to express them in other ways.
The analysis of Naxalbari struggle shows the gendered boundaries that male/female comrades cross when they join the militancy as well as what limitations they face. Gradually these armed peasants (Naxals) were directed by urban middle class leaders. In Bengal, the adivasis and lower caste peasants violently acquired land from the landlords thereby challenging the social control and humiliation they suffer despite they are the ones who cultivated the crops. It attracted many middle and lower middle class, intellectuals, politically charges youths, women etc. The movement however shifted to killing of those opposing the movement (class enemies) from that of mobilisation of peasants and labourers thus glorifying the culture of brutal political violence.
Even the peasant and adivasi women were active in the struggle. They faced police violence, took part in land/grain appropriation claims, worked as couriers and also provided shelter to many urban activists. They also killed many tyrants and were inspired by the memories of Tebhaga. However the sad part is their valour has not been sufficiently acknowledged. Even the urban male leaders asserted that women’s participation was very meagre and even if they do participate it is only for providing food, shelter and courier services. Their participation according to them was one of practical concerns advancing the movement and not that of political consciousness. According to them the urban middle class women became activists since they admire and hero-worship young men who were working for the movement. The stereotypical notions of women’s position in the minds of male comrades forced them to think of women killing other as one of personal vendetta than that for the movement. This shows that according to them the women are not conscious political actors as they did not have sufficient political sensitivity and linguistic means. They were not as determined as male comrades were in the struggle. But there were few peasant leaders such as KanuSanyalwho acknowledge the contribution made by female comrades. The narrative however generally was that impassioned male intellectual activists were the ones who were in majority and the females only take part as a follower or admirer of male comrades (even in such cases the number is minimal). However Sinha Roy states that the old women used to mentor the young female comrades and helping them by their previous experiences of old struggles. They took active part in wage increments, better working conditions, better roads and right over cultivable land. This was done by fighting against the everyday sexual humiliation and violence faced by them in the name of gender, caste and class.
The middle and lower middle class women of the cities had very less roles in the movement as that of peasant ones. They indulge in message bearers, propagandists and mobilisation of the people in order to convince them to join the movement. Many of them due to such factors gave up their caste/class privilege and took residence in slums/countryside. Some also joined the factory. They however left later on since the male comrades were not able to ensure sexual safety of these urban women activists. These women in the interviews have stated the problems that they faced during their stay in the villages. Even the instances of sexual harassment and rape of these women were taken as something for which the upper class women were responsible. This shows that the Naxalite male was disembodied in such cases and the matter was taken as that of class. The narrative was that it is easier for the upper class woman to complain of a lower class man. But such was not the case when the matter was of such nature that hampers or affects the Naxals public identity. In such cases the stern action was taken. But the death sentence to the rapist in order to secure women’s honour reveals the masculine ideal of undeniable violence.
The sexual vulnerabilities were offset by the comradeship. The urban class women made ties with the rural lower adivasi women. This however did not bridge the gap that they had because of the class and caste structure. Different social locations made it impossible to uniform the gender norms. The urban caste/class women working in factories realised that the lower class/caste women responding to sexual advances by the male superiors is not what she imagined. These lower class women take these sexual advances as part of their work and take it as an opportunity for improving one’s material prospects.
Marriage was allowed but it was more of a testament to comradeship than that of conjugality. Everything was seen as part of revolution and there was no scope of romanticism, desire, kin obligations, family etc. Living together was allowed however the brunt of shame is to be faced by the women largely. Marriages were not stable and divorces, separations were flexible. The women whose husband died in the revolution acquired the status of a martyr. This shows her political/emotional choices are subjugated to a mere symbol (keeper of revolutionary’s memory). Even child care was highly problematic. She had to take care of the child on her own with minimum care facilities. Undue concern of her child out of love labels her as individualistic bourgeoisie. This shows that that even these people treat the women as property of peasant males. This shows the same treatment of women as male patriarchal property. Gender stereotypes were not challenged even among these movements and women were highly restricted to motherhood roles when the child was born.
The wives of peasants do not view themselves as being protected by their husbands. Their sense of sexual victimhood is not what the urban male activists imagined about. Even a woman who was sexually exploited did not take revenge from the oppressor. They give priority to capturing land than sexual honour. But that does not mean that sexual honour was not important to them, it was but not more than the movement’s objectives. They consider it as a condition of existence that needs to be challenged.
The women’s roles, work and political understanding was however even in such movements were defined in the terms of dependency, victimhood and supplementary status. Their feminine character was so imbibed in the mentality of even the male comrades that they were seldom trusted with political tasks. This does not mean that they were not politically insensitive to gender issues but they did not consider it worth raising a political issue. The changing character of the movement from mass mobilization to individual annihilation reduced the women’s participation since it was very difficult for the orthodox male imagination to accept that the women could actually indulge in killing.
Femininity was taken as a norm, habit and custom thus leading to diminishing the very personhood of the women. However in few cases the women when arrested, tortured and humiliated by the police (agency of State) became the political subject. They were recognised as martyrs in AP and Chattisgarh. The question that V.Geethabrought to the fore is the sexual politics of the armed struggle. This means the sexuality and sexual difference shapes everyday life and renders female sexuality to the care/protection of the male. Their contribution in this case gave them revolutionary status but it did not helped in undoing of the gender roles or sexual differences.ArchanaGuha case[4] saw the brunt of State violence. She, her friend, her sister in law and her brother were arrested and tortured by the police. They were accused of being Naxalites. Though the officer was sentenced to 1 year imprisonment but she lost her lower limbs. The State through this sort of extreme violence made it difficult for the victims to separate themselves from the pain and torture. The trauma that such incidents have on the minds of the survivors does not heal swiftly. It takes time. Sometime one’s whole life falls short to forget the tremors of the past, the violence, torture and humiliation one faced without any fault on their part. The Feminist Movements are haunted by the question that how much justice can be achieved by just way of healing. They have to deal with not only non-State actors but also violence perpetrated by the State actors.
Conclusion
The sexual politics is reinforced not only in the matters which are dealt by the State but also in the armed resistance movements against the State. The unhappy marriage between the Marxism and Feminism is said to take place. But its sustenance depends upon the objectives it wishes to achieve. Even the Left radicals have ignored the gender issue and it has defeated the feminists worldwide. The patriarchal notion of women being treated as the property of the men is not challenged by the Left and they have also fallen into the same trap where women’s potential/role is restricted to dependent, victimhood and supplementary ones. Even when women participate in the movement they were not given credits per se but their contribution is recognised in association with the admiration they have for their male partners. Even when they sacrifice their lives or kill someone it is seen as a trait of masculinity within them. This stereotypical notion and orthodox mentality has never benefited the women in the past and the same will not benefit in the future. The male psyche and imagination makes it difficult to break the narrative that is being propagated or carried since long. The women peasant killing the enemy is seen as she had some personal vendetta with the enemy especially of the sexual hurt and generally her contribution is not recognised as that of male comrades.
Therefore the need of the hour is to sensitize the people that gender, sexuality and sex is something not natural but only a construct to satisfy the contextual myths. Who produces knowledge must also be questioned. The sexual politics renders the women always under the care and protection of the men. This shows that inherently women are weak. Thus there is a need to challenge this narrative by addressing the context of the various literatures and the source of knowledge production. State violence and torture affects women the most. Even in the riots women of lower caste/class gets affected the most. They are more vulnerable not because they are weak but because we as a society place honour in them. Once they lose their honour which the community has placed on them they face stigmatization and victimization thus leading to loss of self-confidence.
Bibliography
- Geetha, Undoing Impunity (Zubaan, New Delhi, 1stedn. 2016).
- Rao Harnarain Singh Sheoji Singh The State, 1958 CriLJ 563.
- Archana Guha Ranjit @ Runu Guha Neogi and Ors., 1990 CrLJ 2012.
- Most Crimes Against Dalits Are Against SC Women: NCRB Data, available at: https://thewire.in/caste/ncrb-crimes-against-dalits-women (last visited on May 7, 2018).
[1] V. Geetha, Undoing Impunity 79-97 (Zubaan, New Delhi, 1stedn. 2016).
[2] RaoHarnarain Singh Sheoji Singh v.The State, 1958 CriLJ 563.
[3] Supra note 1 at 98-112.
[4] ArchanaGuha v. Ranjit alias RunuGuhaNeogi and ors., 1990 CrLJ 2012.
