Shabana Azmi questions ‘selective outrage’ over crimes against women

Says there is need to end patriarchal mindset of people as sexual assault cases have not decreased since 2012 Nirbhaya case

Pune: Veteran actor Shabana Azmi says outrage over cases of crimes against women should not be selective and the society needs to work on the root cause of the menace. Azmi said there is need to end the patriarchal mindset of the people as sexual assault cases have not decreased since the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case.

The actor attended the roundtable conference on ‘Creating a Safer World for Children’, organised by Pune-based Gravitas Foundation in association with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

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At the conference, the veteran was asked to comment on the rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata as well as the alleged sexual assault of two four-year-old girls at a school in Badlapur in Maharashtra.

“There has to be an outrage and not just today, the outrage should have taken place way back. And it should not be selective that in one case, it is political… All these incidents are extremely dangerous,” she said.

“If we continue looking (at these incidents) selectively, we won’t be able to go to the root. It is all very shameful,” Azmi said. Referring to the brutal gangrape of a physiotherapy intern in Delhi in 2012, the 73-year-old actor said the entire country came together to demand justice for her and after that, the Justice Verma Committee gave many recommendations but still the incidents have not reduced.

“There is a need to do away with patriarchy and treating women as commodities and think that they also have equal rights. There are strict protocols in such cases and the death penalty has also been awarded in some cases but still the incidents are not decreasing. We need to work on the root cause of these incidents. We need to work on the protocols given by the Justice Verma Committee,” Azmi said.

In Kolkata, the body of the postgraduate trainee doctor was found in the RG Kar Medical College on August 9. She was allegedly raped and murdered while on duty, an incident that has sparked protests by doctors and medical students across the country.

Similarly, the Badlapur town in Thane district has been rocked by the sexual abuse of two kindergarten girls by a male attendant at a private school. The incident led to a massive protest, following which the Maharashtra government set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the case.