Tuesday, August 22, 2006

why india needs caning

In Jaipur, a group of thugs reportedly grabbed a Sikh boy who had defended a classmate from sexual harassment and cut off his hair. (US readers: the tenets of the Sikh religion require them to refrain from cutting their hair or trimming their beards, wear turbans and carry a small dagger). Now the Jaipuris are calling for the arrest of the louts for what amounts to a hate crime.

My question is - Where is the outrage over garden variety sexual harassment? It happens every minute of every day in every Indian city.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

One of the biggest issues facing India.

When I was there, the Hindustan Times regularly ran stories on sexual abuse in Delhi. Clearly some people are trying to raise awareness of the problem.

Also, when I talked to people, there seemed to be a lot of claims that women are highly valued and prized in culture, despite the evidence to the contrary. There seemed to be a disconnect between the way men talked about women in their lives and the way they looked at women they did not know (and the problems with the way many women are treated).

Clearly the desecration of women is not as shameful as the descration of religious symbols, like this young man's hair. That won't change in a hurry.