Panchayat decision or Taliban Diktat…

Another case of suppress women’s rights cropped up in news. The Baghpat panchayat has passed on a diktat stating that women under the age of 40 are not supposed to use mobile phones and has asked them to visit markets only with a male companion. Besides, the panchayat has also boycotted love marriages in the village.

What kind of justice is that and on what basis did the government pass on any such rule? Above all why are only women victimized to such strict and baseless rules?

The village, Asara, is Muslim dominated and people from all castes and communities participate in the panchayat to talk about the existing social evils in the society. When asked to the villagers they say that they totally agree with the panchayat’s words and consider the use of mobile phones responsible for various enduring social evils. If this was the case then mobile phone use must be banned for males and females alike of that age group. Why only women are held responsible for any social evil? As “there cannot be fume without fire”, considering only women responsible for any such act is completely unjust.

It is agreed that at such rural levels, Panchayat is considered as the supreme most power but that doesn’t mean they can simply impose any restrictions on the village, especially the ones that suppress someone’s rights. This is not the first time any such events are taking place, previously the Basaud’s panchayat had barred unmarried girls from mobile phone use and the Gauspur’s panchayat banned loud playing of music on mobile phones or arrange DJs during marriages.

If this continues then one day we will also be no different from Taliban. Do you think suppressing and preventing women from doing such things would bring a social decorum, obviously not? However, the culprits are men who hover around a women try to outrage her modesty and it is a woman who is blamed for it? Why so? Are we blind enough to ignore the facts around us or are we so obsessed with the male oriented society that we just simply don’t want to blame them for anything.