Exit Veerappan

Veerappan8217;s slaying by the police has ended one of the most gruesome episodes in the prolonged hunt for the most dreaded and heartless ...

Veerappan8217;s slaying by the police has ended one of the most gruesome episodes in the prolonged hunt for the most dreaded and heartless criminal. For years the bandit had successfully defied the combined police force of the two states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. This was an impossibility without political patronage and police collusion. This fact was perceptively highlighted by Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta in his column in The Indian Express on August 12, 2000. Veerappan8217;s extinction should not lead to the curtain being drawn on this sordid episode. The public has a right to know the reasons for state inaction to bring him to book. The information will be useful for devising measures to prevent the rise of potential Veerappans and to swiftly eliminate them. Righteous indignation against the brigand, however, should not lead to inhuman treatment of his widow and his daughters. Guilt by association is unacceptable in a civilised system. It is heartening that the National Commission for Women8217;s protest on the expulsion of his children from school has been fruitful. Veerappan8217;s exit has prompted a treasure hunt by some villagers who are scurrying the forest areas to lay hands on the bandit8217;s supposed hidden wealth. If his buried loot is discovered, a part of it should be given to the families of the forest and police officials whom he heartlessly murdered. And there should be total exemption from all taxes in respect of these acts. The most wanted and feared terrorist Osama bin Laden is still at large, despite huge bounties for his capture. There was speculation about his capture before the US elections in November. Clearly that is wishful thinking. His ability to roam at large is a standing sore and an insult to the mighty superpower, with all its resources and intelligence capabilities.

Women8217;s rights

During the last two decades, there has been a sea change in women8217;s rights. The World Conference on Human Rights at Vienna in 1993 had declared the human rights of women and the girl child to be 8216;8216;an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights8217;8217;. In the following year, women8217;s reproductive rights were guaranteed at Cairo. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women CEDAW, 1979, is the United Nations8217; landmark treaty in the struggle for women8217;s rights. At present it is the second most widely ratified human rights treaty. Its enforcement mechanisms have been enhanced by the coming into force in December 2000 of the Optional Protocol, which establishes an individual complaints mechanism for violations of CEDAW and empowers the CEDAW Committee to commence an inquiry procedure where there is reliable information of 8216;8216;grave or systematic violations8217;8217;. The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples8217; Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa was adopted in July 2003. Unlike the equality paradigm of CEDAW, the Protocol is a rights-based treaty and covers all aspects of women8217;s human rights. It is the first international treaty to seek to protect women8217;s reproductive rights through the authorisation of medical abortion Article 142c.

In our Constitution, there are provisions for affirmative action in favour of women. Preferential treatment is accorded to women in election to municipal bodies and local councils. One strange consequence of preferential treatment is that women continue to enjoy immunity from prosecution for adultery under the Indian Penal Code whereas men can be imprisoned for this offence. This incongruous state of law needs to be remedied.

The unfortunate part is that despite these encouraging developments, widespread violations of women8217;s rights persist. Women8217;s human rights today are challenged by the forces of globalisation and extremism, including religious and nationalist extremism and by the unwillingness of the major players to observe the restraints of human rights law, especially in the context of what are hysterically perceived as national security concerns. Moreover, structural inequalities and power imbalances facilitate violations. Legal norms and new legal instruments must be accompanied by the development and internationalisation of a human rights culture within the particular contexts of diverse societies. What is most needed is the evolution of a mindset that rejects the different forms of adverse treatment meted out to women worldwide. A stupendous task, but the struggle must go on.

One is also glad to witness domestic empowerment of women, which is exhibited in their refusal to have conjugal relations with their husbands who are habitually drunk or refuse to do any work. But there are limits. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger8217;s much-praised speech to the Republican Party convention prompted his fiercely Democratic wife to deny him sex for a fortnight. This is thoroughly unacceptable because of the chilling effect of sexual abstinence on freedom of8212;expression, so precious in a democracy. Apparently Mrs Schwarzenegger does not care for the First Amendment.