Tired of the moral policing and brutal attacks, where do women in Karnataka go to find some respite? Certainly not to the women’s commission! The commission has come out with its report on the Mangalore attack and it is shocking to see it slip into the role of another preacher. When you blame the victim, you, actively or passively, support the attacker and his cause. Is that what the state wants? Team DC reports.

It’s hard to believe that a state that has Bengaluru with its global lifestyle for its capital, has a moral police brigade terrorising its young people. While the saffron outfits, taking the high moral ground on how people should live their lives, are trying to force their beliefs down their throats, the official report on the latest instance of their high-handedness has left most gasping in disbelief.
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While ‘strongly condemning’ the attack on young men and women at a home stay party, the Karnataka State Women’s Commission has swiftly moved the needle of suspicion to the male victims and the home stay owner. Giving an immoral trafficking twist to the story, the report’s extensive mention of youth going astray, seems to convey that it is not above moral policing too.

Skirting the real issue of activists of a saffron outfit barging into a private party and manhandling the young girls and boys present, the report instead recommends investigation into whether the 'boys who organised the birthday party had misled the girls'. It also seeks transfer of the father of one of the guests at the party, who happens to be a police officer.

The male victims of the attack at the home stay are also accused of using marijuana although the police had found no evidence of its use at the party. In fact it had mentioned that in the absence of drugs there was nothing to suggest the youngsters were at a rave party as alleged.

But the commission ignores this to dwell on how the drug mafia is active in colleges in Mangalore and even appeals to the state to constitute a special team to deal with the problem. While a good recommendation in itself , it has nothing to do with the incident that the report was meant to deal with.
It doesnt stop here, however, but proceeds to throw more mud on the victims of the attack, by raising the issue of immoral tafficking.

"The police should have a separate cell to deal with cases of missing women and immoral trafficking. As Dakshina Kannada borders Kerala, which has direct international links, cases of missing women must be given top priority,” it says.

The commission’s concern about the misuse of home stays and clubs may be real, but hardly relevant in the present case, where young people were at the receiving end of an unprovoked attack.

Digressing from the issue at hand, the commission goes on to recommend that the Home Department should make it mandatory for all police stations to have a list of clubs, home stays and people involved in such businesses who are suspected of involvement in illegal acts.

It compares the list to the one on rowdysheeters that police stations have and recommends that the police summon the owners of these businesses periodically and keep a check on their properties in Bengaluru, Mysore and the coast. The report doesnt fail to find fault with the media too, suggesting that it should opt for some form of self-regulation.

What the Karnataka women’s commission says

* Appoint a senior police officer to investigate the homestay attack

* Arrest all accused whose names figure in the FIR

* Take steps to punish the attackers

* Take action against the local police inspector who did not stop the attack

* Look into why Subhash and his team were not under watch despite their involvement in similar cases in the past

* Investigate the role of Morning Mist Homestay owner and the owner of Just Casual shop

* Why did the police not conduct a medical test on the male victims, who had consumed marijuana?

* Constitute a special team to eradicate the drug mafia that is active in Mangalore colleges

* Investigate whether young boys who had organised the birthday party had misled the girls

* Transfer one of the victim’s father, who is a police official

* Find out if there was a reason why all the footage shown on TV channels showed only girls and no boys.

* The media requires self regulation as the publicity has traumatised the girls and their families.

* The government should call a meeting of all editors to ensure regulation.

* The police should have a separate cell to deal with cases of missing women and immoral trafficking.

* As Dakshina Kannada borders Kerala, which has direct international links, cases of missing women and immoral trafficking should be given top priority

* Every police station must have a list of clubs, home stays and people involved in such businesses and crimes, just like rowdysheeter lists.

* The police must summon owners of these businesses periodically

* The police must keep a check on such properties in Bengaluru, Mysore and the coast, raid them and take action.

* The Home Department should come out with a law in this regard.

'It was not a rave party’

Contrary to the Karnataka State Women’s Commission’s claim that the July 28 party at the Morning Mist Homestay in Padil on the outskirts of Mangalore was a rave party and drugs were found at the spot, senior police officers insist it was nothing of the sort and there was no evidence of drug use.

“The partygoers were victims of assault. We did not put them through any medical examination to verify traces of drugs or alcohol in their blood because it was not a rave party. We found some beer bottles but no drugs. We had to protect them from the group of men, reportedly from the Hindu Jagran Vedike, who had barged into the party and assaulted them,” said a senior police officer, adding, “Even if it was a rave party, nobody has the right to take law into their hands and attack people. The police had to protect the victims and arrest the accused.”

Meanwhile the police are continuing with their investigation into the incident.

“Until now 22 arrests have been made and we are looking into whether they have had cases
registered against them in the past. We are also studying the nature of such cases so that we can invoke the Goonda Act against them,” Mangalore city police commissioner, Seemanth Kumar Singh said.

‘Chairperson is only toeing party line’

The report of the state women’s commission on the Mangalore home stay attack, shifting the blame to the victims, seems part of a bigger malaise in our society. Be it the police, politicians or so called government agencies set up to protect women’s rights, they usually find a way to blame the women of an attack for 'provoking it' in some way.

Executive director of Sichrem, Mathews Philip, feels that the women’s commission clearly has a political agenda to fulfill in the present case.

“There was no need for the commission to go beyond the mandate given to it of protecting women’s interests. Its job is not to investigate. I am not sure whether the chairperson of the commission went to Mangalore to protect the victims and support them or to pass a judgement on their conduct. She has blamed some of the victims, which is unacceptable,” he underlines.

“It is evident that Ms C. Manjula is toeing the party line here. One section of the government is saying the right things, and another is blaming the victims which does not help the situation. A third section even conveys that the attacks should continue. This kind of multi-speak is a major setback. We have witnessed it frequently and in more cases during BJP rule,” says Ms Shagun D., a member of the Vimochana Forum for Women’s Rights, a city NGO.

Many voluntary groups fighting for women’s rights now see the judiciary as their last hope and are considering approaching the Karnataka High Court. One individual has already filed a PIL seeking identification of the attackers in the Padil incident and action against them.

“Considering the state’s inaction, the judiciary seems our only hope. We, as a human rights group, are considering going to the high court as it can intervene in such cases,” says a member of the People’s Union For Civil Liberties, Bengaluru, Ramdas Rao.

'Ridiculous report'

M.C. Nanaiah, JD(S) leader in the Karnataka Legislative Council

The report is absolutely ridiculous and clearly outside the mandate of the commission. I saw the press conference of the chairperson of the women’s commission ,C. Manjula on TV. It gave me the impression that she was asked to give such a statement.

Ms Manjula is a BJP member and her appointment as the chairperson of the commission was a purely political decision. So its clear whose line she is toeing.

But as the chairperson of the women’s commission, she must think about the interests of women as a whole. Ms Manjula visited the home stay and made several recommendations about their operation in general. Her report talks about irregularities at home stays, girls being lured or misled by boys, use of drugs and so on.

That is not the job that was assigned to her. Investigation into the incident is the job of the police. The government had sent a senior police officer, Bipin Gopalakrishnan to visit the spot and investigate the incident. Based on the extensive investigation done by the police, Mr Gopalakrishnan made a categorical statement that the youngsters were at a birthday party and nothing else.

He made it clear that the boys and girls knew each other and worked together. He also said that there was no use of drugs or any other illegal material at the party and the group of youngsters wanted to leave the home stay by 7:30 pm.

Isn't it absurd for the women’s commission, which is not an investigating agency, to contradict the police's findings? Ms Manjula’s mandate was to find out the reason for the attack on the women at the party and figure out how best they could be helped to deal with the trauma. But she has partly shifted the blame to the victims.

I suggest the government throw the women's commission report into the trash bin and consider only the report submitted by the police into the incident.