STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: Declaring that “enough is enough”, President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday said it is time for India to wake up to the “perversion” of crimes against women and counter the mindset that sees women as “less powerful, less capable, less intelligent”.
“Those who share such views then go further and see the female as an object… We owe it to our daughters to remove the hurdles from their path of winning the freedom from fear,” Murmu said in an exclusive signed article for PTI.
Referring to the August 9 rape and murder of a junior doctor in a Kolkata hospital, a “dismayed and horrified” president said what is even more depressing is that it is part of a series of crimes against women.
Asks media to be fearless, stand with truth
NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday asked the media to do fearless reporting and stand with the truth as she saw the fourth estate playing a big role in shaping the country and society.
The president, who met PTI editors at Rashtrapati Bhavan on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the founding of the news agency, said everyone has a responsibility in taking the country forward and it was important how the country is presented.
“Media ko nirbhikta se kam karna chaiye (media should work fearlessly),” she commented. “Kabhi satya se hatna nahi chaiye (It should never deviate from the truth).”
Murmu has also penned an exclusive article for PTI on the recent incidents of sexual and physical assaults on women, which have led to widespread agitations.
“You are a journalist but you are also a citizen. I too am a citizen. What you are concerned about, I am equally concerned about,” she remarked on writing the article.
“The media can play a crucial role in improving the country and society,” the president said.
“I am sometimes anguished because on the one hand we worship women as goddesses but that does not get reflected in day to day behaviour,” Murmu said, recalling Rabindranath Tagore’s famous poem “Where The Mind Is Without Fear”.
She stated that the image of the media should not be tarnished. “Apni chhavi bhi kharab na ho (the image of media shouldnt get blemished). Logon ka vishwas jeetna chahiye (you have to win the confidence of the people).”
In her message to PTI on its 77th foundation day, the president said the Press Trust of India was established barely a few days after India won independence. “This news agency has been in the enviable position of chronicling the journey of the nation, right since its inception.”
PTI, she said, has been “one of the most indispensable parts of India’s journalism”.
“It (PTI) has upheld the highest standards of news writing and reporting. As a result, it enjoys high credibility, and remains an inspiring model,” she said.
The role of PTI in India has been crucial as timely dissemination of news in an impartial manner is crucial to the health of democracy, she said.
“I am sure that PTI will continue to raise the bar of excellence and serve the cause of democracy for decades to come. My hearty best wishes to all those associated with PTI,” she added.
Murmu said no civilised society can allow daughters and sisters to be subjected to such atrocities. “The nation is bound to be outraged, and so am I,” she wrote.
The hard-hitting and personalised article, titled “Women’s Safety: Enough is Enough”, is the first time the president has articulated her views on the August 9 Kolkata incident that has once again shaken the conscience of the nation and led to widespread, continuing protests. The president gave the article after a detailed conversation on topical issues with a team of PTI senior editors, who called on her at Rashtrapati Bhavan to mark the 77th anniversary of the news agency’s founding on August 27, 1947.
“Even as students, doctors and citizens were protesting in Kolkata, criminals remained on the prowl elsewhere. The victims include even kindergarten girls,” Murmu said.
During the interaction, she recalled her recent meeting with a group of schoolchildren on Raksha Bandhan. “They asked me innocently if they could be assured that there would be no recurrence of the Nirbhaya-type incident in future,” the president said, referring to the brutal rape and murder of a physiotherapy intern in Delhi in December 2012.
She noted that an outraged nation then made plans and devised strategies, and the initiatives did make some difference. In the 12 years since, there have been countless tragedies of similar nature though only few drew nationwide attention, Murmu said.
“Did we learn our lessons? As social protests petered out, these incidents got buried into a deep and inaccessible recess of social memory, to be recalled only when another heinous crime takes place,” she said.
Taking a macro view of the rights of women, she said they have had to fight for every inch of ground they have won. Social prejudices as well as some customs and practices have always opposed the expansion of women’s rights, Murmu added.
“This is a rather deplorable mindset… This mindset sees the female as a lesser human being, less powerful, less capable, less intelligent,” she wrote.
In her view, it is the objectification of women by a few that is behind the crimes against women.
“It is ingrained deeply in the minds of such people,” the president said, stressing that countering this mindset is a task for both the State and society.
Acknowledging that there have been laws and social campaigns, she said, “Yet, there is something that continues to come in the way and to torment us.”
History, the president said, “often hurts” and societies scared to face history resort to “collective amnesia” to bury their heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich.
“Now the time has come not only to face history squarely but also to search within our souls and probe the pathology of crimes against women,” she said in her impassioned appeal.
“Let us deal with this perversion in a comprehensive manner so as to curb it right at the beginning. We can do this only if we honour the memory of the victims by cultivating a social culture of remembering them to remind us of our failures in the past and prepare us to be more vigilant in future,” Murmu said.
The society needs honest, unbiased self-introspection, and ask itself some difficult questions, the president said.
“Where have we erred? And what can we do to remove the errors? Without finding out the answer to that question, the half of our population cannot live as freely as the other half,” she said.