Bangalore mass molestation: Time to declare misogyny a hate crime

As 2017 dawned upon us, India continued to grope in the dark.

In a nation with more than 1.3 billion people, it’s shameful to see such a freewheeling misogynistic culture thrive.

For far too long, we have tolerated the sexist comments of netas across party lines; netas who have shamed the nation, the most recent example being the odious statement by Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi saying “women are like sugar who will attract ants”.

Not too long ago, the embattled SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had opposed capital punishment for rape saying “boys will be boys”.

The list of netas spewing patriarchal “gems” is unending. Even political parties with women at the helm have incorrigible sexist motormouths.

In 2012, President Pranab Mukherjee’s son and Congress leader, Abhijit Mukherjee, sparked a controversy when he called Nirbhaya protesters “dented and painted women chasing two minutes of fame”. Then came along the coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal who compared cricket victories to wives, saying "as time passes, both get old and become not as much fun as they used to be”.

Mamata Banerjee was cornered after her own party MP Tapas Pal was caught on video, openly threatening to rape women members of the opposition in 2014.

BJP too has its share of sexist netas. In 2015, BJP Goa CM Laxmikant Parsekar told protesting nurses to not stage a hunger strike in the sun as it can “ruin their marital prospects”. Union minister Giriraj Singh crossed the political morality line when he targeted the Congress president saying, “If Rajiv Gandhi had married a Nigerian lady and not a white-skinned woman, then would the Congress have accepted her leadership?”

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav didn’t bat an eyelid while comparing Bihar roads to Bollywood-actor-turned-politician Hema Malini’s cheeks. And what’s worse, JDU MP Sharad Yadav, while opposing the Women’s Reservation Bill, said it would only benefit the well-off women or “par-kati auratein”.

With netas unrepentant, and their parties failing to tackle them, how can we rein in these misogynist motormouths?

Last year, the Supreme Court while hearing the Bulandshahr rape case, took suo motu cognisance of the infamous comment made by SP leader Azam Khan calling the rape incident a “political conspiracy”. The court decided to settle the law on whether politicians, public officials or public officers, are allowed to make remarks about a pending rape investigation.

But nothing has changed. Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara, while calling the mass molestation a political conspiracy, has clearly demonstrated that netas continue to be above scrutiny, apology and law.

So, is it time to give more teeth to law that can counter the widespread misogyny and bias by lawmakers themselves?

“We should not just leave it to the political parties to punish such netas who make shameful comments. There should be a law in India to punish such misogynist netas. We should make them accountable”, said Swati Malliwal, the DCW chief.

In fact, India can take a cue from the UK which has declared misogyny a hate crime. Nottinghamshire police came out with an executive order last year, which makes any physical or verbal harassment - that is “uninvited engagement” (be it cat-calls or text messages or lewd public comments) - a punishable offence with a jail term of up to seven years.

Now the chorus is growing to extend the policy into England and Wales. But will India follow suit?

“We will take a look at any such policy framework that comes to our notice. We are committed to women’s empowerment,” Union minister Anupriya Patel, told India Today.

Also read: Indian men have a disease, that explains why they're sex offenders