A 12-Year-Old Partially Clothed Girl, In Ujjain, India, Seeks Help After Rape, Goes From Door To Door, Shooed Away Everywhere
New Age
Islam News Bureau
28 September 2023
·
A 12-Year-Old
Partially Clothed Girl, In Ujjain, India, Seeks Help After Rape, Goes From Door
To Door, Shooed Away Everywhere
·
Harsh
Dress Code Imposed in Iran’s Medical Schools
·
Displaced
Afghan Women Athletes Defy Taliban At Asian Games In The Chinese City Of
Hangzhou
·
Pakistani
Vocational School Helps Afghan Women Refugees Build Businesses
·
‘Khan
Chachi’ Learns To Read At 92, Inspires A Village
·
UN Meeting
Presses Taliban For Violating Women's Rights In Afghanistan
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/girl-rape-ujjain-shooed/d/130778
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A 12-Year-Old Partially Clothed Girl, In
Ujjain, India, Seeks Help After Rape, Goes From Door To Door, Shooed Away Everywhere
Photo: Iran Wire
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By Shruti Tomar
Sep 28, 2023
Bhopal: A 12-year-old girl, partially
clothed, who was injured after allegedly being raped, went door to door for
help for hours earlier this week but was seemingly refused any assistance and
even shooed away by a local resident in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain city, police
said on Wednesday, as CCTV footage of the heart-wrenching incident went viral
and triggered political outrage.
The minor, police added, was ultimately
rescued by a local ashram official who took her to a private hospital and where
a medical examination confirmed she was raped.
According to state home minister
Narottam Mishra, a suspect in the crime was detained and a special
investigation team (SIT) has been formed for a thorough investigation.
According to superintendent of police Sachin Sharma, the suspect is a 40-year-old
auto-rickshaw driver from Ujjain. In the CCtv footages, the auto driver was
seen interacting with the girl. When police seized his auto, blood stains were
found on passenger seat, said the SP.
Police said the minor, whose identity is
yet to be ascertained, is out of danger and undergoing treatment at a hospital
in Indore.
“The girl, aged around 12 years, was
found bleeding on Badnagar road under Mahakal police station area in Ujjain on
Monday. The administrator of Dandi Ashram Rahul Sharma in the area rescued her
and took her to a private hospital where an initial medical examination
confirmed that she was raped. The ashram official informed the police,” Ujjain
superintendent of police (SP) Sachin Sharma said.
“The girl was in a critical condition and
was subsequently referred to a government hospital in Indore. She is unable to
talk properly and provide any details but a language expert said she might
belong to Prayagraj,” he added.
Doctors at the Ujjain hospital who
attended to the minor said it appeared as though she was raped 24-36 hours
before she was admitted to the hospital and had to be operated due to grievous
injuries in her private parts, the officer said.
The doctor at the private hospital Dr
Sumitra Yadav said, “The condition of the girl is stable after surgery, but she
is not sharing anything...”
CCTV footage of the areas where the girl
was spotted wandering for help suggested she walked for eight kilometres before
being rescued, the SP said. At one point, she was seen being shooed away by a
man after she went to his house for help. She was also seen talking to a woman,
seemingly seeking assistance, but in vain, he added.
However, a police officer, who did not
wish to be identified, said when questioned, both the man and woman who reportedly
refused help said they could not understand the minor’s language.
A case has been registered at Mahakal
police station against unidentified people under section 376 (rape) of Indian
Penal Code and relevant sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offence
(Pocso) Act, the SP said. An SIT has also been formed to probe the matter, he
added.
Mishra also told reporters in Indore
that an SIT has been constituted and a suspect has been detained and is being
interrogated. He said the treatment of the rape survivor is underway and she is
out of danger. “The girl seems to be from some area outside Ujjain. Since she
is not able to respond properly (regarding the incident), efforts are being
made to talk to her with the help of experts and counsellors,” he said.
The incident triggered a political row
as the Congress accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state of
being incapable of protecting the dignity of women and girls.
“(Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji is
travelling from place to place showing the dream of women’s reservation and
trying to garner applause. The reality is that a very painful incident of
brutality has come to light against a 12-year-old minor from BJP-ruled Madhya
Pradesh,” Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“If Modiji and his chief minister
Shivraj Singhji get some time off election campaigning, they will probably be
able to hear the screams of the women of Madhya Pradesh,” he added.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the
horrific crime is “an assault on the soul of Bharat Mata”. “There is no
justice, no law and order and no rights – today, the entire country is ashamed
of the condition of the daughters of Madhya Pradesh. But the chief minister of
the state and the Prime Minister of the country have no shame at all - they
have suppressed the screams of their daughters amidst election speeches, hollow
promises and false slogans,” he wrote on the micro-blogging site.
Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath
demanded a financial assistance of ₹1 crore for the survivor and stringent
punishment for the accused.
“It is heart-wrenching to see the case
of extremely cruel rape of a little girl in Ujjain. The kind of heinous crime
committed against the 12-year-old daughter and the way she ran around in many
areas of the city in a semi-nude condition and before falling unconscious on
the road, puts humanity to shame,” Nath said on X.
Mishra, however, dismissed the
Congress’s criticisms. “Will you need a certificate from the Congress?” he
said.
The Trinamool Congress said although the
issue of women empowerment finds special mention in speeches by leaders of the
BJP, cases of violence against women continue to haunt the country. “While
‘Nari Shakti’ finds a special mention in PM @narendramodi’s speeches, the reality
shows how spine-chilling cases of VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN continue to haunt our
country. CM @ChouhanShivraj’s INABILITY to secure the lives of our women speaks
volumes about his priorities!” the party posted on X.
National Commission for Protection of
Child Rights president PriyankKanoongo said, “The incident has come to my
knowledge...We are writing to DM regarding the condition of this girl and are
asking for her medical report. We have also written to the SP and have asked
for a copy of the FIR, a copy of the girl’s statement and details of the
incident from the SP.”
Source: hindustantimes.com
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/ujjain-shocker-12-yr-old-seeks-help-after-rape-turned-away-101695841169146.html
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Harsh Dress Code Imposed in Iran’s Medical
Schools
Image for
representation. | Amit Dave/ Reuters
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September 27, 2023
The release of new guidelines for the
Iranian universities of medical sciences, which include rules on how students
should dress, has sparked a flurry of reactions among local media outlets and
social media users.
The Ministry of Health has recently
unveiled a "code of conduct” which students and assistants of medical
sciences faculties and universities are required to adhere to in both the
academic and medical environments.
Among its provisions, the text mandates
that universities secure written commitments from students confirming their
compliance with the new regulations and keep a disciplinary record of
"attire and conduct" to gauge adherence.
"Academic staff members are tasked
with assessing students and medical assistants based on their adherence to
hijab standards and clothing,” according to an article in Etemad newspaper.
“Furthermore, this policy introduces a separate evaluation called the
'Professional Attire and Behavior Report,' which specifically evaluates a student
or medical assistant's hijab and conduct."
Social media users brought attention to
restrictions such as the prohibition of chewing gum in medical facilities and
curly hair for men, as well as a ban on the use of cologne and cosmetics.
The policy also bars women from using
nail extensions and eyelash enhancements for women.
Pursuing Social Uniformity
In an interview with IranWire,
sociologist MehrdadDarvishpour pointed out that one of the tactics employed by
totalitarian systems to homogenize society and mold it to their preferences
involves extensive intrusion into the private lives of individuals in order to
control their personal choices and values.
According to Darvishpour, the government
has not been successful in reshaping society according to its vision, despite
more than four decades of efforts to do so.
"To compensate, it is now
attempting to exert control over various aspects of life. This control extends
beyond the mere issuance of guidelines in universities, including students'
compliance, the expulsion and removal of professors and the arrest of
students," he said.
"It also extends to police
intervention and invasion into personal privacy, infringing on the smallest
expressions of human dignity," he added.
In the view of this sociologist, the
government seeks to introduce in universities a deeply religious atmosphere
that is heavily influenced by the system's totalitarian values.
Resisting the "Women, Life,
Freedom" Lifestyle
Darvishpour highlighted another factor
for the government's pressure on universities, a factor rooted in the
government's decades-long struggle to purge the university of the concept of
freedom.
"Today, it's evident that students
not only continue to be staunch defenders of the university's freedom but also
serve as vanguards in challenging the Islamic government's values," he
said.
Darvishpour said that the government
seeks to foster a new generation of young individuals who are unwaveringly
obedient to the system by imposing control over matters such as the hijab.
Last but not least, the government's
actions can be seen as an attempt to control and suppress the lifestyle
advocated by the "Free Life Woman" protest movement, he said.
Targeting Students and the Medical
Community
Sahar Motalebi, a doctor and researcher,
said that medical students and healthcare professionals are being targeted
because of their active roles during last year’s anti-government protests.
"They responded to repressive
measures with peaceful, civilian participation and they decried the use of ambulances
in oppressive actions. They protested Mahsa [Amini's] death and the chemical
attacks on girls' schools," Motalebi said.
Members of the medical and nursing
communities also lent crucial assistance to those injured in the protests.
Because of their role in the protests, a
significant number of university professors have been detained or dismissed
from their positions, Motalebi emphasized.
Fueling Emigration
According to Motalebi, the government
primarily seeks to push dissenting groups to emigrate, which in the medical
sector led to “a rise in diabetes cases, an uptick in cardiovascular diseases,
and a surge in suicides, all of which collectively imperil public health."
Motalebi also noted that the
government's actions, which involve favoring individuals with connections and
lowering the quality of medical education, have contributed to a decline in the
quality of health programs.
The issuance of a code of conduct for
medical students comes at a time when university officials' actions have
already led to the humiliation and suppression of students.
A female medical student described to
IranWire how students, particularly women, are often met with derogatory
comments when they enter university premises.
Security guards make remarks on their
attire, question the appropriateness of their clothing, makeup and headscarves.
Female students are subjected to degrading questions such as "Do you want
men to admire your curves?"
The student explained that the constant
barrage of judgments and humiliations erodes medical students' motivation and
enthusiasm for learning.
However, this is just part of the story.
For instance, if students want to eat with their classmates outside the
cafeteria, security personnel insist that they have no right to have lunch with
members of the opposite sex.
Security officers also interfere when
students engage in recreational activities, like playing in the snow.
Students who resist pressures face the
risk of expulsion, suspension or legal action.
Meanwhile, professors are informed that
failing to adhere to the guidelines may impede their academic advancement and
the extension of their contracts.
Consequently, many highly qualified
individuals either avoid becoming faculty members or quit their job, leading to
irreparable losses for the students' academic development.
Source: iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/women/120950-harsh-dress-code-imposed-in-irans-medical-schools/
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Displaced Afghan Women Athletes Defy
Taliban At Asian Games In The Chinese City Of Hangzhou
Wed 27 Sep 2023
On a pristine volleyball court on the
seventh floor of a massive training centre in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, a
team of Afghanistan women prepare for their first Asian Games in defiance of
the Taliban government's antipathy toward female sport.
Though separated from families and
scattered across Asia, the volleyballers have assembled at the multi-sport
event with the support of Olympic officials and the sport's global federation.
Some fled Afghanistan when the Taliban
came to power in the wake of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, fearing persecution
from a government that has effectively banned women's sport.
With little prospect of returning home,
they have rebuilt their lives in Pakistan, Iran and other countries, playing
sport in effective exile.
Now in Hangzhou, they yearn to give hope
to the hopeless - the women athletes left behind in their homeland.
"Nowadays, they are looking for
hope," MursalKhedri, a Pakistan-based, 24-year-old member of the
volleyball team, told Reuters.
"By seeing us here they can find
hope that we (women) can also participate in sports."
The Taliban administration say they
respect women's rights in line with Afghan custom and that they have declared a
"general amnesty" against their former foes under the previous
foreign backed government.
Wearing lycra leggings and shirts with
the traditional Afghanistan colours of red, black and green, the team all train
in hijabs under the watch of veteran Iranian coach Nasrin Khazani.
They play their first group match
against Kazakhstan when the women's volleyball tournament starts on Saturday.
They are unlikely to get near the
knockout rounds and claiming a single win would be a big achievement for a team
of exiles up against rival nations with organised programmes and government
funding.
However, just their mere recognition by
the Games is a boost for women in the country, says KhushalMalakzai, the
secretary general of the Afghanistan volleyball federation.
"Actually the important thing for
us and also the girls is that participation in such kind of matches and coming
here, they give them hope for the future," he told Reuters.
"And for those girls who are inside
Afghanistan and outside Afghanistan, that they should understand that there are
people that are still supporting them."
The team's organiser and fund-raising
champion, Malakzai has been based in Melbourne, Australia, for just over a
year, having first fled to Pakistan after fearing for his safety in
Afghanistan.
He said he left the country on the
advice of Afghanistan's volleyball federation and after receiving multiple
threats from Taliban representatives by phone and in writing due to his support
for women's sport.
A spokesman for the Taliban
administration did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Though initially composed and
enthusiastic when talking about the women's team, Malakzai burst into tears
when he saw the players form a circle on the volleyball court, join hands and
cry "Afghanistan!" at the end of their training session.
"I am so happy they can be here.
But for the girls at home in Afghanistan, it is hopeless," he said.
For the Afghanistan women in Hangzhou,
it is a thrill to compete at a high level but there are also nerves.
There are 17 in total, competing in
volleyball, cycling and athletics.
Australia-based Kimia Yousofi, who will
compete in the women's 100 metres and carried the Afghanistan flag at the
Hangzhou opening ceremony last Saturday with a male team mate, declined to be
interviewed.
Her Australia-based coach John Quinn
said she did not want attention in case of reprisals against her connections in
Afghanistan.
The Afghan women and men marched as one
team at the opening ceremony, behind the traditional tri-colour national flag and
not the white one used by the Taliban government.
The delegation includes male athletes
and sport officials based in Afghanistan.
They are unlikely to attend competition
venues to cheer on the women's volleyball team or other Afghan women athletes
due to the sensitivity of the situation.
Malakzai saw little prospect of things
changing in the short-term.
"So we hope that everything will
change and the Taliban even accepts the women," he said.
"But it will take time."
Source: khaleejtimes.com
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/sports/displaced-afghan-women-athletes-defy-taliban-at-asian-games
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Pakistani vocational school helps Afghan
women refugees build businesses
September 28, 2023
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: In a small workshop
in the bustling northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, a dozen Afghan women
sit watching a teacher show them how to make clothes on a sewing machine.
The skills center was set up last year
by Peshawar resident Mahra Basheer, 37, after seeing the steady influx of
people from neighboring Afghanistan where they face an economic crisis and
growing restrictions on women since the Taliban took over in 2021.
Trying to create options for women to
become financially independent, she opened the workshop to teach tailoring as
well as digital skills and beauty treatments. Basheer quickly found hundreds of
women enrolling and has a long wait list.
“If we get assistance, I think we will
be able to train between 250 and 500 students at one time, empowering women who
can play an important role in the community,” Basheer said.
Officials say hundreds of thousands of
Afghans have traveled to Pakistan since foreign forces left and the Taliban
took over in 2021. Even before then, Pakistan hosted some 1.5 million
registered refugees, one of the largest such populations in the world,
according to the United Nations refugee agency.
More than a million others are estimated
to live there unregistered. Grappling with an economic crisis of its own,
Pakistan’s government is increasingly anxious about the number of Afghans
arriving, officials say. Lawyers and officials have said scores of Afghans have
been arrested in recent months on allegations they don’t have the correct legal
documents to live in Pakistan.
Basheer said that her main focus was
expanding operations for Afghan women and she has also included some Pakistani
women in the program to boost their opportunities in the conservative area.
Once graduating from the three-month course, the women are focused on earning a
modest but meaningful income, often starting their own businesses.
Nineteen-year-old Afghan citizen Fatima
who had undertaken training at the center, said she now wanted to open a beauty
parlour in Peshawar – currently banned in her home country just a few hours
away.
“Right now my plan is to start a salon
at home. Then to work very professionally so that I can eventually open a very
big salon for myself,” she said.
Source: arabnews.com
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2381796/world
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‘Khan Chachi’ Learns To Read At 92,
Inspires A Village
Sep 27, 2023
MEERUT: A five-metre-wide lane separated
92-year-old Salima Khan from the world of education for decades. Then one day
she decided to walk across.
“Every day, I would wake up to the
joyful screams of students entering the government primary school in front of
my house in Chawli village, Bulandshahr, yet I never stepped inside though I
kept burning with the desire to study all along,” she said Tuesday, two days
after she took an exam whose results will declare her “literate”.
“What is the harm in learning?” she
asked, little children crowding around her who are now used to the sight of the
old woman tottering into class, sitting with them, breaking into a toothless
grin at their pranks. Some of them are her great grandkids.
Salima has completed six months of
education and is able to read and write. Her video, counting from one to 100,
is making waves on social media. Of course, she needs a family member to take
her to school and bring her back. But that’s a small thing. “It doesn't
matter,” she said, “I can sign my name. That’s important. Earlier, my grandkids
used to trick me into giving them extra money as I couldn’t count currency
notes. Those days are gone.”
About the literacy test that she took on
Sunday under the central government’s Saakshar Bharat Abhiyan for non-literates
of 15 years and above — she was the centre of attraction in the exam hall — she
said she’s not worried. “I've done well”.
Headmistress of the primary school, Dr
Pratibha Sharma, said, “Salima came to us around eight months ago and requested
that she be allowed to sit in the classroom. It’s a difficult task to educate
such an elderly person, so we were a bit hesitant initially. However, her
passion to study in the autumn of her life made us change our mind. We didn’t
have the heart to refuse her.”
As if that was what many others like her
were waiting for, an incredible change came in the village after that. Sharma
added, “Seeing Salima’s zeal, 25 women from the village, including two of her
daughters-in-law, came forward to join classes. Now, we have started separate
sessions for them.”
Salima’s grand daughter-in-law Firdaus,
who accompanies her to school every day, said, “Such dedication at her age is
truly inspiring. She’s frail and needs assistance while walking but that
doesn’t stop her from getting up in the morning to get ready for school. Just
watching her go about it fills us with such hope.”
Salima is matter-of-fact about it. “I
remember my first day when the headmistress gave me a book. My hands were
shaking. I didn’t know how to hold a pen. Although I was nervous, my happiness
knew no bounds. I was married at the age of 14 and there were no schools in our
village at the time. Then I became a mother and life took its course, but
better late than never.”
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/meerut/khan-chachi-learns-to-read-at-92-inspires-a-village/articleshow/103970281.cms
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UN meeting presses Taliban for violating
women's rights in Afghanistan
Sep 28, 2023
KABUL: As many as 11 countries have put
pressure on the Taliban government for violating women's rights in Afghanistan
during the United Nations (UN) meeting, reported Khaama Press.
Countries including the United States,
France, Britain, Japan, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Ecuador,
Albania, and Malta, referred the treatment of Afghan women and girls by the
Taliban government as "gender-based violence", according to a joint
statement.
The Women's Rights Council
representative further called for global support to define "gender
apartheid" in international law.
The statement also stated that
systematic violations of women's rights have taken away their freedom and
forced gender segragtaion, constituting instances of gender-based violence,
Khaama Press reported.
Moreover, these 11 countries called on
the Taliban to revoke all restrictive policies on womens;' education and work.
Representatives from these countries and
the UN are pressing the Kabul administration to recognize gender apartheid in
Afghanistan officially, as women in Afghanistan have been engaging in protests,
including hunger strikes.
Afghanistan is also a member of the
United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW).
SimaBahous, the Executive Director of
the UN Women's Division, during the meeting said, "Systematic and
organized attacks on women by the Taliban create a pattern, and international
law should define it as 'gender apartheid."
Moreover, women's rights have
predominantly been an agenda in United Nations' discussions.
These reactions and statements came
after the Taliban issued over 50 decrees on the lives of Afghan women and girls
in the past two years.
However, the Taliban officials responded
to the meeting and said that women's education and employment are minor and
internal matters, deflecting the focus of the meeting, Khaama Press reported.
The Head of the United Nations
Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Razia Othmanbayeva, presented her quarterly
report in the meeting.
She noted that the Taliban
administration continues to violate human rights, especially women's rights,
and further expressed that she is affected by these policies.
Meanwhile, a former UN rapporteur Karima
Bennoune urged the international community to hold the Taliban accountable for
the international community to hold the current regime of the Taliban
accountable for implementing gender apartheid in Afghanistan, reported Khaama
Press.
Earlier on Wednesday, India's permanent
representative to the United Nations, Ruchira Kamboj had reiterated the
country's steadfast dedication to peace, stability and humanitarian support for
Afghanistan.
India's permanent representative to the
UN also underscored India's commitment to helping Afghan people through
educational scholarships and collaborations with UN agencies.
The Taliban regime imposed increasingly
draconian restrictions on women's rights, stifled media freedom, and curtailed
freedom of expression. Institutions dedicated to safeguarding human rights were
either severely restricted or completely shuttered.
Women's rights suffered relentless
attacks, severely limiting their participation in public life. Shockingly,
Afghanistan stood alone as the only country where girls were forbidden from
attending secondary school.
However, the Taliban believes that
women's rights are preserved within the confines of Islamic law, according to
Khaama Press.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/un-meeting-presses-taliban-for-violating-womens-rights-in-afghanistan/articleshowprint/104006798.cms?val=3728
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/girl-rape-ujjain-shooed/d/130778