Hindutva and Violence Against Women
In this monograph, one of India's leading, most committed political and
human rights activists examines how women's safety, dignity and security have
been undermined in the decade since the Hindu right rose to near-absolute
power. Hindutva-the guiding philosophy of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak
Sangh (RSS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the rest of the Sangh
Parivar-is at its core a majoritarian, militant and regressive thought system
that draws inspiration from casteist, communal and misogynistic texts and
ideologues. While injustice in cases of violence against women is not new in
India, writes Brinda Karat, the political supremacy of Hindutva since 2014
has changed the nature and extent of this injustice. The religious identities of
the victims and the perpetrators determine the approach of powerful leaders
and their governments, the police, and, increasingly, the courts. This creates
new rape cultures that ultimately affect the processes of justice for all women.
Examining some of the most horrific instances of majoritarian violence against
women and the official response (or lack of it) to them-the release of Bilkis
Bano's rapists; campaigns in favour of the men who brutalized little Asifa
Bano; the covert cremation of the body of the Hathras victim; the rape and
murder of Kuki women in Manipur-Karat shows how, when sexual crimes
are communalized, women of oppressed castes are denied justice just as
women of religious and ethnic minorities are.
Impassioned, rigorous and forthright, this is a necessary book for our times.
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