Politics Bride Burning in India

[littlebirdy]

Has anyone actually sent this letter? I think is a very good idea to do it, and it doesn't take much of our time.

 

[Natalia]

This is about just one area in India.

Tuesday April 5, 3:05 PM
Rape and witchcraft cases go up in Jharkhand   
By Indo-Asian News Service


Ranchi, April 5 (IANS) Crimes against women in Jharkhand have been steadily increasing, be it rape, dowry deaths or incidents related to witchcraft.


Cases of witchcraft have gone up, a reminder that women continue to be tortured and ill treated in the name of superstition.


In 2001, cases related to witchcraft were lodged against 120 women. Three years later, the number was 155.


Besides, 42 women were killed in 2004 after being branded witches, up from 35 the year before.


"In rape cases, hardly 10 percent of the accused are convicted. In witchcraft cases, conviction is even lower," he said.


In the case of witchcraft torture and deaths, those responsible for branding the women in the first place often go free because people are too scared to name the person or because superstition runs too deep.

 

[xinli11]

I saw a program about bride burning a couple of weeks ago and it was really horrible to watch.. It's unbelievable how women have no value out there, though women's position need fixing pretty much everywhere...  But they have such a long history where women mean nothing and it's really hard to change it..

[post="1246600"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]​

Can't we get the international community to do something? impose trade embargos on them? I mean I'm all about national sovoreignty and respecting other cultures. but when those cultures have traditions that devalue human beings and set people afire, I don't care what kind of god you worship or what kind of culture you have, you just can't do that. There are some basic standards of being human that should apply to everyone.

Xin Li

 

[Natalia]

Can't we get the international community to do something? impose trade embargos on them?  I mean I'm all about national sovoreignty and respecting other cultures.  but when those cultures have traditions that devalue human beings and set people afire, I don't care what kind of god you worship or what kind of culture you have, you just can't do that.  There are some basic standards of being human that should apply to everyone.

Xin Li

[post="1290740"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]​

The problem is that everybody is completely focussed on the cheap labour and financial advantages they are getting out of association with India.

Everybody is aware of what goes on, but everybody is about furthering their own interests. Condoleezza Rice was there recently - a woman - and all she was intrested in was closer ties with the corrupt government.

I don't think it is the slightest bit disrespectful to India to say what you said. I have spent an enormous amount of time in the country, and the arrogance of the people who refuse to even consider stopping this justifies the kind of attitude you have. :angry:

 

[Natalia]

Here is a link to a watered-down version of what goes on (from Oprah's website :lol: !).

http://www.oprah.com/tows/slide/200401/200...040116_01.jhtml

But it basically says it all.

If you can't be bothered to visit the link, here is a lot of what is said:

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Host of National Geographic Ultimate Explorer Lisa Ling says that investigating dowry deaths in India was so disturbing, it's given her nightmares. Thousands of women are killed every year due to dowry-related issues. When families refuse or are late on dowry payments—money, property, and gifts promised upon marriage—often their daughters pay the price. Many times, when the money runs out, and the bride's family has no more to give, the husband's family wants to make way for a new bride—and a new dowry. "According to a billboard in the middle of Bangalore, India, 700 to 800 people die of traffic-related deaths each year," Lisa says. "Roughly 1200 women die every year of dowry-related deaths in Bangalore, but apparently, that's not worthy of a billboard."

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Lisa took her camera crew inside a burn ward to meet women who are victims of "bride burning." Women don't usually talk freely about being burned by their husbands when their families can't pay dowries, because they fear being killed. Many women say they are burned because of a stove burst, but that is usually far from the truth. On any given day, at least three or four women are admitted to this hospital with more than half of their bodies burned. Lisa said the stench of their flesh was overwhelming and the sound of their pain was heartbreaking. "From the second I walked into this room, I felt like I was in a place where a war had struck," Lisa says. "The fact is that many of them will not live to leave the hospital, and this happens everyday."

What happens to the survivors? Says Donna Fernandes, who works with the women's organization Vimochana that works with the burn victims, "You become a burden, you become a nuisance. You feel not accepted by the family, the husband, not by society."

Imagine a place where one way to get out of debt is selling body parts. During Lisa's recent trip to India, she made an appalling discovery in a poverty-stricken village. Lisa learned that people are illegally selling their kidneys to brokers. A broker can make thousands of dollars off of one kidney, but the donor doesn't usually see much money.

"The list for kidney donation is very long," Lisa says. "There are thousands of people waiting for kidneys all over the world. These people who sell their kidneys, on average for $800, fuel this market. ...A lot of these people are in debt for the same reasons we are all in debt. They think that by selling one kidney, because you can survive on one kidney, they can make some money. The problem is, when the money runs out, you can't sell your other kidney."

 

[Existentialist]

Recently, my Women in Society class finally ventured into a lecture/discussion on bride burning and other related abuse.

From my notes...

Bride burning is illegal, but not well enforced.

As well as bride burning, acid attacks are quite prevalent. It involves throwing acid onto a woman's face so she becomes so disfigured, no one will want her (for marriage or a job or anything). Rejected suitors often do this to the women who rejected them.

1 in 8,000 abortions in India are boys. It is supposedly illegal to find out the sex of the fetus before having an abortion, but obviously, there are ways around this.

 

[littlebirdy]

More people need to know about this (rather than debating their favourite kind of coffee in the Member Lounge).

 

[Natalia]

Recently, my Women in Society class finally ventured into a lecture/discussion on bride burning and other related abuse.

From my notes...

Bride burning is illegal, but not well enforced.

As well as bride burning, acid attacks are quite prevalent. It involves throwing acid onto a woman's face so she becomes so disfigured, no one will want her (for marriage or a job or anything). Rejected suitors often do this to the women who rejected them.

1 in 8,000 abortions in India are boys. It is supposedly illegal to find out the sex of the fetus before having an abortion, but obviously, there are ways around this.

[post="1314282"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]​

Whenever I raise the issue of women in India, people always talk about sati (when the wife is - usually unwillingly - burnt alive on her husband's funeral pyre). But this practice was pretty much ended by the British. There are much bigger problems people in the West know nothing about - bride burning/dowry deaths, acid attacks, female infanticide, child prostitution....

Also little-known is the fact India has a higher rate of AIDS than anywhere else in the world - it has overtaken anywhere in Africa.

Acid attacks are SO common in India. You read about them in the paper every day over there, and most of them don't even get reported.

 

[Hired-Goon]

I just thought I'd bump this to get a few more reads out of it. I'm ashambed to be male. It hurts so much to think of how lucky we are to live in such a civilised country, and that there is nothing a female born in that society can do.

Lets get this story out!