Time to be ashamed

Last Sunday, India was blessed with a new Parliament building — a development that filled the entire nation with overwhelming pride. Call it absolute irony, on the same day, another incident of equal or more magnitude pushed the nation into a horrible darkness of shame. Visuals of manhandling of protestors by the Delhi Police circulated widely on social media and news outlets. The treatment meted out to the medal-winning grapplers has raised critical questions about the status of dissent in Indian democracy. Indeed, the law should remain equal to everyone, and the police had its own rationale behind evicting the protestors from the protest site and detaining them. The police were convinced that the protestors “violated the law despite all requests made to them”. But the “violation” of law in the present case is a contested issue because protesting wrestlers claim the contrary. As per them they did not riot or damage any public property. Claims and counterclaims apart, what unfolded on Sunday was an extremely ugly optics that attracted international notoriety. The inauguration of the new Parliament building was meant to be a spectacle, and the march of the protesting wrestlers to the building was an act that could potentially lend a blot to what was meant to be projected as a sanctimonious event. Nevertheless, the blocking of their march and quelling of the protest proved to be an equally notorious act, evincing sharp condemnation from former athletes, opposition parties and socio-political commentators. The gravity of the incident may be highlighted in different layers. First and foremost, in the background lies the charges of sexual harassment by seven female athletes, including a minor. Political leaders in India never fail in highlighting the severity of Indian laws in dealing with the accused persons of sexual harassment. Particularly, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in case of minors is considered an unforgiving legislation. The lack of seriousness shown by the State in the present case has made it clear why the cases of sexual harassment against women and girls in India are on the rise. The laws, however stringent they might be, cannot create much deterrence unless there is an implementation process that is completely devoid of external influences. If the high-profile case like the present one has not sensitised the State machinery adequately, then there is very little that could be expected in numerous cases of rape and sexual misconduct that resurface in media on a daily basis. The hostility, or at least ignorance, shown towards the female athletes completely explains why an “ordinary” woman or girl is mostly reluctant about getting the cases of sexual misconduct registered. The State response in the present case has laid bare the patriarchal indent of Indian society and administration. The second aspect that lends paramount seriousness to the Sunday incident, making it a global issue, is that the wrestlers who have staged the protest are by no means ordinary folks. While there is no doubt that the law shall treat everyone equally, prominence is one of the several factors that defines how serious a news item or agenda is. Setting aside the stardom enjoyed by Indian cricketers, particularly males, one would realise that the achievements of the protesting wrestlers are simply incomparable in the largely skewed sports world of India. It is no mystery how rare it has been for India to win an Olympic medal. We have, for decades, celebrated the athletes who were fourth finishes, and justifiably so. Now we have an Olympic medallist sitting at, and evicted ruthlessly from the protest site, with her demands falling on deaf years. And of course, her voice is echoed by many wrestlers at the site who are recognised for the glory they have brought to India at a level that was unheard of in the last century. It is an irony that they are being defeated in their own country whose flag they have held high across the globe. The third critical aspect is the political affiliation of the main accused. Ideally, his affiliation should have served as a caution for the government to serve in the most transparent and accountable way possible. Sadly, that has not been the case. The government must retrospect whether it is crumbling under the influence of a self-styled “Bahubali.” While some may argue that the protestors erred in continuing the march to the new Parliament building after failing to get a permission, it will not be out of place to assess the sequence of events that culminated into their decision.

The glaring inaction of Delhi Police in taking strict action against Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI’s) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh even after four months of the initial public allegations of sexual harassment has left the protestors in a very narrow space. Recent updates suggest that Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat say they’ll throw medals in Ganga and go on fast unto death. The question that should haunt one and all is whether a demand for fair probe into the grave allegations of sexual abuse against the best (if there were any comparisons) daughters of India is so hard to fulfil! The entire world is watching. Let’s show some shame.