Rohit Mammen Alex comments : dear swapna, just read your article.its rather shocking to read that the incidences of rape and dowry deaths are so high or that they are even there in this day and age. what is most diqueting is that it is the woman aka the mother-in-law, who does a lot of the harassing in case of dowry deaths.also recently i happened to speak to a friend who is currently in the family way.she said that when she had conducted a scan, the doctors had informed her that the baby was a girl.she told us that she had not told her in laws.when she was leaving for her marital home,her in laws were blessing her saying that "may you bestow a good grandson on us"!!! apparently it is her mother-in-law who is most keen that a son be begotten or else the line will be extinct(as though they are a race of kings or lions). regarding rape,i suppose that the real figures must be higher still..as most people do not report it for fear of the stigma.its funny is it not that the lady who has been raped is stigmatised.what can one say of a society where a person who raped and killed a minor and who was awarded the death sentence which was confirmed..several times...managed to linger on for years together by resorting to courts and by filing various mery petitions to the president and who was practically lionised by the people of his village...when they should be bowing their heads in shame that such a man came from their midst.
Nandini Prakash comments : It is a shame to Indians that such things happen in the first place and it is shocking to read about the reactions of authoritities to such revolting and hedious crimes towards humanity.Since there is no or low hope of authorities doing anything for the victims, women should take it upon themselves to form a society that will teach other women self defence against molestors. But it is easily said than done. But it is something that can be done. Girls should be taught self defence right from school and it should be a " must take" program. I am sure most of the victims of dowry deaths are from very poor and lower middle class families.To empower them, constant support from other strong women and a knowledge of self defence can help them. Hope their support and strength will help them deal with situations where there is actual physical blows. They could also be given some scenariors from survivors so that they can keep a watch for signs of a plot to kill them from family memebers. All this may or may not be impractical.But one thing is for sure external help will be temporary. Help should come from within the individual, after she is exposed to all these defence mechanisms. Since dowry deaths happen only in India, we will have to ivolve our own method of supporting the potential victims and the method of survival. But rape happens everwhere and people have formed groups to try and overcome these incidents by councelling women to avoid situations. It would help if higher authorities can keep a vigil on streets to ensure the safety of women. If they cannot do it, we should not wait for them to keep our streets safe. we should take it upon ourselves the duty to do something to help them.
Savitri Jairam comments : Dear SAWF and Swapna, it was heartering to read ur article. well.... i have lived in delhi for quite some time before shifting to Boston. things were not bad at that time. This was really heartening and ur article wud really be an eye opener for all those who think that the national capital region is pretty safe.
