A shocking statistic has revealed that India is highly vulnerable to harassment towards women, with one woman molested every 26 minutes. The study by the South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring said one woman is raped every 34 minutes, while among 15 million girls born every year, one-fourth don’t get to celebrate their 15th birthday.
Many villages, despite dearth of basic amenities, have ultrasound machines to check the child’s gender before birth, it said. Dedicating a two-day long session for oppressed women, St Joseph’s College of Commerce, SICHREM and Stree Jagruthi Samiti (SJS) organised a session on ‘Women against violence: A way forward’.
Karnataka high court justice Nagmohan Das said, “Unfortunately, in India, all the laws and rules are laid by men and are set in a way to benefit men and not women.” Geetha Menon, secretary of Stree Jagruthi Samithi said, “Harassment need not just be sexual. Even gender discrimination, unequal power equation, etc, fall under the harassment category. Women from backward communities have continuously been oppressed. Such incidents will continue to happen unless they come out and fight. Men should support us in this cause.”
Victims of sexual harassments, domestic violence, and acid attacks shared their experiences. A book on Women’s Commission was also released at the event.
