India Bihar rapes ’caused by lack of toilets’ #Vaw

By Amarnath TewaryPatna, Bihar, BBC

More than half-a-billion Indians lack access to basic sanitation

 

Most of the cases of rape of women and girls in India’s Bihar state occur when they go out to defecate in the open, police and social activists say.

Some 85% of the rural households in the state, one of India’s poorest, have no access to a toilet, a study says.

The police reported more than 870 cases of rape in Bihar last year.

More than half-a-billion Indians lack access to basic sanitation. Many do not have access to flush toilets or other latrines.

The issue of sexual violence against women and girls in India has been under intense scrutiny since the gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus in December led to widespread protests.

In March, India passed a new bill containing harsher punishments, including the death penalty, for rapists.

‘Worrisome trend’

There have been a number of recent cases where women and girls have been raped in Bihar after they stepped out of their homes to defecate:

• On 5 May, an 11-year-old girl was raped in Mai village in Jehanabad district when she was going to the field at night

• On 28 April, a young girl was abducted and raped when she had gone out to defecate in an open field in Kalapur village in Naubatpur, 35km (21 miles) from the state capital, Patna

• On 24 April, another girl was raped in similar circumstances on a farm in Chaunniya village in Sheikhpura district. She told the police that two villagers had followed and raped her. One of them has been arrested.

Senior police official Arvind Pandey told the BBC that such cases happen every month in Bihar.

“They take place when women step out to defecate early in the morning and late evening. It is a very worrisome trend.”

Mr Pandey said that about 400 women would have “escaped” rape last year if they had toilets in their homes.

A recent study by global health organisation Population Service International (PSI) and Monitor Delloitte, done in collaboration with Water for People, said that Bihar had India’s poorest sanitation indicators with 85% rural households having no access to toilets.

The report added that 49% of the households that did not have a toilet wanted one for “safety and security”.

Some 45% wanted a toilet for “convenience”, while 4% wanted one for “privacy”.

“Surprisingly, only 1% indicated health as a motivator for having a toilet,” the report said.

The Bihar government says it plans to provide toilets to more than 10 million households in the state by 2022 under a federal scheme.

A law making toilets mandatory has been introduced in several states as part of the “sanitation for all” drive by the Indian government.

Special funds are made available for people to construct toilets to promote hygiene and eradicate the practice of faeces collection – or scavenging – which is mainly carried out by low-caste people.

Related articles

• Two minors raped in Bihar, one arrested (vancouverdesi.com)

Land acquisition for Posco starts again #WTFnews

Ten betel vine plantations were dismantled in the first few hours without any resistance from locals, official sources said, adding that payments would be made soon

File Photo

Paradip (Odisha), Apr 22 (PTI): After remaining suspended for about two and a half months, land acquisition today resumed for Posco Steel’s Rs 52,000 crore mega project in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district.

Ten betel vine plantations were dismantled in the first few hours without any resistance from locals, official sources said, adding that payments would be made soon.

Meanwhile, anti-Posco members belonging to Dhinkia, Patna and Gobindpur villages took out a procession to Phulkhai temple in Dhinkia where they held a meeting leading to simmering tension.

Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samittee leader Abhay Sahoo, who is spearheading the agitation against the mega project, was away at Bolangir taking part in a protest against setting up of the Lower Suktel project there.

“We have re-started land acquisition involving dismantling of betel vines this morning. The villagers are cooperating in the work undertaken by the administration,” Jagatsinghpur Collector S K Mallick said.

Two teams were dismantling betel vine plantations of consenting farmers in Gobindpur village, Additional District Magistrate (Paradip), Surjeet Das said.

The work, with the use of machines, was being carried out smoothly in groups separately led by tehsildars of Kujanga and Ersama, Das said.

Another team was making a survey of trees and horticultural plants in the area, he added.

Earlier about 250 acre land had been acquired before work was suspended on February 11 ahead of the Budget Session of the Assembly.

The land acquisition had witnessed a nude protest by women at Dhinkia, while a bomb blast led to the death of three persons.

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Supreme court -Police Brutality is gross Human Rights violations #Vaw

SC castigates Punjab, Bihar cops for violation of rights

Dhananjay Mahapatra, TNN | Mar 7, 2013,

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognizance of Punjab police assaulting a woman in Tarn Taran and Bihar police caning contractual teachers in Patna saying the governments had failed to safeguard people’s right to life and dignity from “wholly unwarranted” police action

 

Initiating proceedings on its own in discharge of its mandate to protect fundamental rights of citizens, particularly women and weaker sections, a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and Ranjana P Desai said, “We feel that it is proper for this court to take cognizance of the gross violation of human rights as well as the constitutional rights of the people.”

On February 4, television channels showed two Punjab policemen abusing, slapping and caning a 25-year-old dalit woman and her ex-serviceman father in Tarn Taran. The woman was complaining to police against some taxi drivers who allegedly molested her. Though Punjab government ordered a magisterial inquiry, state police chief Sumedh Singh Saini defended non-registration of FIR against the two cops involved in the incident.

The other incident related to lathi-charge and tear gas firing by Bihar police on February 5 against contractual teachers who were demanding wages. Referring to news reports, the bench said, “Contents of the news items revealed that members of Punjab police and Patna police have mercilessly beaten an unarmed woman and teachers. Both the incidents have shocked the conscience of the entire nation.”

The bench faulted the Prakash Singh Badal and the Nitish Kumar governments for failure to take “adequate steps for protecting the people against the wholly unwarranted action taken by the police at Tarn Taran and Patna”.

“These incidents raise important constitutional issues relating to Article 21 (right to life) of the Constitution and dignity of individual,” the bench said and sought assistance of attorney general G E Vahanvati and senior advocates Harish Salve and U U Lalit to help the court as amicus curiae in the matter. It posted further hearing for March 11.

Long before the Justice J S Verma panel, appointed in the aftermath of Nirbhaya’s gang-rape, suggested that judiciary must initiate suo motu action against blatant violations of fundamental rights of citizens, the Supreme Court and high courts have from time to time initiated proceedings on their own, taking cognizance of reports of gross violation of human rights.

The Supreme Court of India may not match its counterpart in Pakistan, which has in the last five years initiated 86 suo motu actions, but it did not remain a mute spectator when citizens’ rights were targeted by those tasked to protect it.

Justice Verma panel had in its January 23 report to the government said, “The judiciary has the primary responsibility of enforcing fundamental rights through constitutional remedies. The judiciary can take suo motu cognizance of such issues being deeply concerned with them both in the Supreme Court and the high courts. An all-India strategy to deal with this issue would be advisable.”

Last year, the Supreme Court had initiated suo motu proceedings in a number of cases, including VVIPs flaunting red beacons on their vehicles and travelling with a large security detail, inconveniencing citizens.

On November 21, the court had taken suo motu cognizance of private guards using firearms, as was alleged in the shootout at a farmhouse killing liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his brother, and asked the Union government to frame a regulatory mechanism for private security agencies.

In another PIL which sought an end to discrimination of women and their protection by police, the apex court had on January 2 suo motu made all states a party to the petition and sought response in four weeks.

 

Anti-POSCO agitation: Village women to hold naked protest #Vaw #stateterror

Anti POSCO rally in Delhi (Photo credit: Joe Athialy)

 

 

 

By Newzfirst Correspondent 3/6/13

Bhubaneswar – Distressed over Odisha Government’s act of forcible land acquisition, women from Gobindpur village Wednesday decided to stage a naked demonstration before the Police force, demanding complete stoppage to the forcible land acquisition.

“Left with no other option, women from the village have decided to get naked before the Policemen tomorrow,” Prashant Paikray, spokesperson of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), told Newzfirst.

The Government has no respect for democratic values; despite utmost opposition by the people it is continuing with land acquisition. People are left with no other option than to resist this way, he added.

He also said that villagers will approach the Court to get the FIR on bomb-attack registered. According to Paikray, the local police refused to register the complaint of bomb-attack on anti-POSCO activists despite repeated requests.

Four people died last Saturday in a bomb explosion at Patna village of Jagatsingpur. While villagers accused pro-POSCO leaders for the attack, Police claimed that the deceased were involved in bomb-making and that the bomb exploded while they were preparing it.

The land acquisition for POSCO steel plant continued for fourth day on Wednesday under the tight security of Police force.

Villagers of Jagatsingpur district have been protesting against the land acquisition for POSCO’s $12 billion steel plant since a long time. The proposed steel plant, which will produce 12 million tonnes per annum, is the largest foreign investment in India.

 

Related articles

 

• Police action against anti-Posco villagers leaves scores injured (kractivist.wordpress.com)
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• #India-Betel vineyards destroyed for #Posco #Vaw (kractivist.wordpress.com)

 

Horrific Images of Bombing Anti Posco Villagers #stateterror

State and corporate terrorism: horrific and depressing images of the recent killing of the anti POSCO villagers which the media won’t show

We Received Horrific Images of  Bombing anti posco villagers .
We are not publishing/attaching it considering the nature of those images.
But You can access them from this facebook album
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151376037908347.1073741825.292093318346&type=1

If anybody need images (print quality) , please contact  anivar.aravind@gmail.com

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Bombing in POSCO Area:When we don’t question #humanrights #stateterror

It is not even a month old when armed police force invaded Govindapur
to forcibly acquire land for POSCO. Since February 3, 2013 this area
has been turned in to an armed police camp. Excepting pro-posco goons
no one can enter the village and no one can get out.Police patrolling
continues for 24 hours. Even cats and dogs can’t enter without police
approval. Suddenly there was a bomb attack in the village in the
evening of March 2, 2013. Police were informed immediately. They did
not respond for 15 hours. But within an hour they could call media to
inform them that it was an accident involving bomb making.No media
person questioned the SP how could he know it without reaching the
spot. 3 important leaders of the anti-posco agitation died on the
spot. Two would have survived had they received medical help. One was
taken to the hospital by people themselves. One of them had filed a
FIR against a very powerful Idco officer who had attacked villagers on
February 3, 2013. Our team was among the few people to reach the spot
within hours.The images will make any one think and raise questions.
When we don’t question, truth is crushed and untruth prevails.

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Death of Anti POSCO activists. State is Sponsoring and Promoting Violence not the PPSS

State is Sponsoring and Promoting Violence not the PPSS

Punish the Criminals Halt Land Acquisition

New Delhi, March 3 : In the continuing saga of state violence and oppression, when nearly 6 platoons of police were present in the area for starting the forceful land acquisition procedure, bombs were hurled at around 6:30 pm on a meeting room of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, at Patna Village, Dhinkia, Jagatsinghpur, killing Manas Jena – Age 32 died on the spot. Two others Nabanu Mandal – 35 and Narahari Sahoo – 52 succumbed to their injuries, since police didn’t respond to their call for ambulances on time. Mr. Laxman Paramanik was critically injured and is undergoing treatment at the moment.

This act of terror is extremely condemnable and will not deter the spirit of resistance. It is also unfortunate that rather than taking action against the company sponsored goons, who have attacked in past too, the district administration has been spreading canards that the people died while making bombs. The history of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti shows that the movement has been non-violent and peaceful even when the the state forces and goons have attacked them with ferocity on many occasions latest being on February 3^rd.

It need to be mentioned that the movement has faced several instances of state repression, document in a recently release fact finding report titled, “Captive Democracy”. The report says that “230 cases had been filed implicating about 1500- 2000 villagers resisting POSCO between 2006 and 2012. Most of the complaints have left the number of accused open-ended, which allows the police to implicate any person in any case, despite not being specifically named therein. A large number of these cases have been filed by government officials during times of peaceful demonstrations by the members of the PPSS.”

Shri Abhaya Sahoo, the President of the PPSS was arrested on two occasions and has over 50 cases registered against him, including cases when he wasn’t present in the villages on the day of the alleged offence. Manorama Kathua, President Women’s Wing of the PPSS, aged about 29 years has several cases filed against her and has been unable to apply for bail due to financial constraints and has not left the village in 6-7 years. These are just few instances of arbitrary actions of the police and the impacts of the same.

Hence, it is unfortunate that the state is again trying to criminalise the movement and forcefully acquire the land. The sacrifices made by the activists to save their land and right to earn a dignified living must be respected. The actions of Orissa government is in complete violation of democratic norms and principles of justice. As of now the environmental clearance given by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on January 31, 2011 stands suspended by the order of National Green Tribunal (NGT) dt March 30 2012. The project does not even have a memorandum of understanding with the state government now, with one signed on July 22, 2005 having lapsed. So what is the basis on which the state is acquiring land for the project ?

The nation needs an answer for this continued brutality and loss of life and livelihood and constant harassment and complete disruption of normal life. People’s movements from across the country stand in solidarity with the struggle of villagers of Jagatsinghpur and condemn this barbaric action of the state government and company sponsored goons.

Medha Patkar, Dr. Sunilam, Prafulla Samantra, Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey, P Chennaiah, Ramakrishna Raju, Sister Celia, Suniti S R, Gabriele Dietrich, Maj Gen S.G.Vombatkere (Retd), Anand Mazgaonkar, Gautam Bandopadhyay, Vimal Bhai, Mukta Srivastava, Suhas Kolhekar, Rajendra Ravi, Bhupender Singh Rawat, Seela Mahapatra, Madhuresh Kumar

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Join People’s Watch Over Parliament Demanding Implementation of Verma Report @21Feb

1st Day of the Budget Session

 

21 February, Thursday, 12 Noon,

 

Jantar Mantar,

 

 Join PEOPLE’S WATCH OVER PARLIAMENT  

• NO to Eyewash Ordinance !
  

• For An Effective Law Against Sexual Violence Based on Justice Verma Recommendations !!

• Budgetary Allocations for Rape Crisis Centres, Safe Houses for Women, More judges and courts, Forensic Examination facilities, compensations for survivors of rape and acid attacks, etc 
  

Speakers and Cultural Performances:

Shabana Azmi, Vrinda Grover, Madhu Mehra, Nilanjana Roy, Gautam Bhan, Rebecca John, Binalakshmi Nepram, Karuna Nundy, Kamal Chenoy, Maitreyee Pushpa, Anand Pradhan, Bimol Akoijam, and many other scholars, activists of the women’s and students’ movement and the JNUSU.

Street play called ‘Bekhauf Azaadi’ by Hirawal from Patna;
Performance by Maya Krishna Rao
Play by Asmita Theatre Group
Manzil Mystic Band
Mandala Circle (Lokesh Jain)
Artists Creative Theatre from Manipur
Poster exhibitions on the theme of women’s and people’s freedom 

 

Freedom Without Fear- Bekhauf Azadi,

Campaign Against Sexual Violence and Gender Discrimination

Contact:  9560756628, 9868383692 ,  9868033425 ,  9213974505

 

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#India- Politician blames item songs in films for #Rape #Vaw #WTFnews

GIRIDHAR JHA   |   MAIL TODAY  |   PATNA, JANUARY 15, 2013 | UPDATED 19:42 IST

JDU leader Shivanand Tiwari puts foot in his mouth, blames items songs in films for the rise in crime such as rape against women in recent times

TAGS: Shivanand Tiwari |Mohan Bhagwat | Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh | Item girls | Item songs |Sambhavna Seth

Is it right to blame item songs for reason behind crime like rape?

Veteran Janata Dal-United leader Shivanand Tiwari is at it again.After raising the hackles of the leaders of his party’s coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party over his remarks on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat recently, the Rajya Sabha MP has blamed the items songs in films for the rise in crime such as rape against women in recent times.”Item songs in today’s films are extremely titillating,” he said in Patna on Monday. “Who will not get carried away after watching them?”

Bhojpuri superstar Ravi Kishan with item girl Sambhavna Seth.

The 70-year-old leader, who is the national spokesman of JD-U, said that one had heard of mythological tales about the dances of the apsaras (celestial beauties) who were sent on earth to interrupt the meditation of the sages. “I think their dances must have been something like today’s item songs in films,” he stated.

Tiwari said that women were being blatantly projected as a commodity in films and advertisements in the post-liberalisation era which was casting a bad impression on the minds of the youngsters. He said that the projection of women as an object of desire and the double meaning dialogues in the films provoked men to commit crimes such as rape. He said that concerted efforts should be made by all in society to check such tendencies. “It is a very serious matter,” he said.

The Rajya Sabha MP’s statement, however, irked the item girls from the film industry. Sambhavna Seth, the highest paid item girl from the Bhojpuri cinema, said that Tiwari’s views were nothing but a bundle of rubbish. “I think his comments do not even deserve any comments,” she said. “He must be having some problems in his mind to think like that. He needs help.”
Seth, often called the “Helen of Bhojpuri cinema”, said that item songs were not a new phenomenon. “Hindi movies have had so many item numbers by Helen in the past,” she said. “Why did they not lead to rape cases earlier?.”

Janata Dal-United leader Shivanand Tiwari (right) with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.

Seth said that crime against women was a serious issue and it should not be trivilaised by linking it to item songs.

Another item song specialist Seema Singh said that it was silly to single out item songs in the films as being responsible for the rape and other crime cases against women. “I have performed more than 250 item songs in 170 Bhojpuri films and I can tell you that I have never received any lewd remark from any of my fans,” she said.

Singh said that she was popular as an ‘item girl’ among cine-goers in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and it was not a stigma to her image as a film actress. “I get a lot of love and adulation from the family audience wherever I go,” she said. “I am rather proud of my item songs which have made me popular among my fans.”

Singh, who has performed the maximum number of item songs in the films of any language, said that some people had tried to look down upon Rakhi Sawant as an item girl in Bollywood but she fought against all prejudices to attain a respectable position in the film industry. “It is high time the politicians stopped blaming the item songs for something as serious as rape,” she said.

Read more at:http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/shivanand-tiwari-jdu-leader-item-songs-item-girls/1/242365.html

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‘You are a Mahadalit. Where did you get Rs. 1 lakh cheque from?’ #WTFnews #caste

Prasun K Mishra, Hindustan Times, Ramgarh, Kaimur, Bihar, January 08, 2013

 

The reward of Rs. 1 lakh by Hindustan Times in recognition of his outstanding community service has brought more misery than joy to Banwasi alias Banarasi Musahar. A change of fortune still awaits the 58-year-old brick kiln labourer, who overcame all odds in his Akrohi Mahadalit Basti,

 

about 40 km from Kaimur district headquarters town of Bhabua, opened a school near his thatched roof house and changed the destiny of scores of members of his Musahar community.

Banwasi was on cloud nine when he was handed over the cheque for Rs. 1 lakh by Buxar MP Jagadanand Singh at Ramgarh in the presence of HT deputy executive editor Rajesh Kumar Mahapatra, HT (Patna) senior resident editor Mammen Matthew, Kaimur district magistrate Jai Singh and superintendent of police Uma Shankar Sudhanshu, on October 17 last year.

 

His happiness was, however, shortlived.

 

Banwasi’s trouble started the moment he went to the Ramgarh branch of Bank of India to deposit the cheque. The bank manager allegedly not only refused to accept the cheque, but also passed casteist remarks against Banwasi.

 

“Tum apane ko Mahadalit kahte ho, garibi rekha se niche batakar zero balance par khata khulwate ho. Ek lakh ka cheque kahan se aa gaya (You call yourself Mahadalit. You have opened a zero balance account claiming to be the member of a below poverty line family. From where did you manage a cheque of Rs. 1 lakh)?” the manager is reported to have asked Banwasi.

 

After visiting the bank almost everyday since October 18, Banwasi managed to get the cheque deposited on December 12, but only after a local photo journalist, Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal, intervened.

 

The branch manager, however, said the amount would be credited to Banwasi’s account only after he submitted details of his Permanent Account Number (PAN).

 

Finding no other way, Banwasi applied for a PAN card, which he received on January 7, 2013. But when he reached the bank with the newly acquired identity proof, he was in for another shock.

 

Despite showing the pay-in slip for the cheque, the bank branch manager asked him to produce a photocopy of the cheque he had deposited on December 12.
The photo journalist again came to Banwasi’s rescue. When Jaiswal enquired about the status of the cheque from the manager, he was told that it had been sent to the service branch of the bank in Mumbai and a clearance from there was awaited.

 

The manager, however, refused to consult the Mumbai service centre branch.

 

When asked for a complaint book and telephone numbers of senior bank officers, the branch manager said he had none.

 

Lead bank manager (LDM) M S Tuly told HT that a complaint book and a board displaying the names, addresses and phone numbers of senior officers were a must at every branch of banks governed by RBI rules.