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India: Citizens’ Statement on The Mangalore Assault

by Sumi Krishna, 29 January 2009

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Bangalore: 9.p.m. 29 January 2009

Dear friends,

Please see (below) the Joint Statement on the Barbaric Assault in Mangalore. It was signed, initially, by 300 individuals and groups and released on 29 Jan. 2009. However, we continue to take endorsements, which will be included in a supplementary list.

We represent a cross-section of women’s rights activists, human rights activists, home-makers, writers, film and media persons, health professionals, lawyers, bankers, academics (ranging from student to vice chancellor), scientists, information technologists, social workers, and others.

We are deeply anguished and angered by the spate of violent attacks on the human rights and civil liberties of people all over the country. The criminal assault on young women by the Sri Rama Sene in Mangalore last week is the most recent episode in a profoundly disturbing trend. No civilised and democratic society can condone such an assault in the name of religion, tradition and culture. Indeed, no religion, and no one with any kind of religious faith, would ever support such a barbaric act.

We strongly believe that the State and Union Governments must act promptly against all forms of criminal violence. All citizens, and especially those who serve the Government as policy makers, administrators and law enforcers, must actively and continuously uphold the Indian Constitution and its values, in letter and spirit.

Sumi Krishna, Bangalore; Ammu Joseph, Bangalore; Soma KP, New Delhi; Joy Ranadive, Ahmedabad; U.Vindhya, Hyderabad and over 300 others.

Enquiries by email to sumikr@gmail.com; anita@openspace.org.in;

To endorse, please go to the Ultra Violet website and write your name with affiliation/location in the Comment space.

http://youngfeminists.wordpress.com

JOINT STATEMENT ON THE BARBARIC ASSAULT IN MANGALORE

Bangalore: 9 p.m., 29 January 2009
We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the horrific and unprovoked assault by a group of 40 hooligans, reportedly members of the Sri Rama Sene, on young women in a pub in the coastal city of Mangalore, Karnataka, during the afternoon of Saturday, 24 January 2009. We are saddened by the inaction of the public who looked on as the brutal attack unfolded. But we appreciate the attitude and actions of the staff of the pub, who tried to intervene, and the young man who stood up to the attackers.

We are shocked by the tardy action of the State administration, police, and political leadership, some of whom have dismissed this is as a “minor incident†. We believe that violent threats to the democratic freedoms and human rights of citizens, whether women or religious minorities, cannot be trivialised as “unfortunate†.

We are deeply disturbed by the sharply escalating trend of political and social violence against women in public and private spaces as a means to enforce a particularly regressive interpretation of culture in the name of “religion and country†that has been seen in several parts of India. We condemn all such forms of gender-based violence against women and children and the attitudes that make such violence acceptable, whether in the family or in the social and public spheres.

We believe that the Mangalore assault was not an isolated episode by self-appointed “moral police†and their sympathisers who criminally took the law into their own hands, but that it is part of a pattern in the profoundly contested political struggle over what constitutes Indian traditions, religions and cultures. It is evident that in this instance the attackers were emboldened to carry out the unprovoked assault in a political environment that supports a particularly narrow and fanatical view of Indian culture as also a repressive attitude towards women.

We recognise the role of the media in bringing the assault to public notice and their unrelenting efforts to get the State to act against those immediately responsible for it. However, we are gravely concerned that those members of the media who had prior notice of the planned assault did not deem it their responsibility as citizens to inform the police.

We strongly believe that the State and democratically minded citizens must stand up to the violent targeting of women and re-affirm our commitment to the human rights and civil liberties of all people. There can and should be dialogues on what constitutes “Indian-ness†, but regardless of the interpretations of Indian culture and traditions, the beating and molesting women cannot be condoned.

  1. Sumi Krishna, Bangalore
  2. Ammu Joseph, Bangalore
  3. Soma K.P., New Delhi
  4. U. Vindhya, Hyderabad
  5. Joy Ranadive, Ahmedabad
  6. Mary E. John, New Delhi
  7. Gopa Samanta, Burdwan (West Bengal)
  8. Anuradha Prasad, Bangalore
  9. Sharad Lele, Bangalore
  10. Prajval Shastri, Bangalore
  11. Ajit Menon, Chennai
  12. Cynthia Stephen, Bangalore
  13. M. Indira, Mysore
  14. Meera Velayudhan, Ahmedabad
  15. S. Anandi, Chennai
  16. Kumkum Roy, New Delhi
  17. Jaya Bhattacharjee Rose, New Delhi
  18. Claire Noronha, New Delhi
  19. Anuradha De, New Delhi
  20. Meera Samson, New Delhi
  21. Hrangthan Chhungi, Bangalore
  22. Ratna Sudarshan, New Delhi
  23. Rukmini Sen, Kolkata
  24. Anomita Sen, New Delhi
  25. Pushpa Achanta, Bangalore
  26. Shobita Rajagopal, IDS, Jaipur
  27. Anita Ghai, New Delhi
  28. Samir Ghosh, Pune
  29. Leo Saldhana, Bangalore
  30. Padmini Swaminathan, Chennai
  31. Megha Shenoy, New Haven, US
  32. Fahim Kemal, Hyderabad
  33. Kiran Kamal Prasad, Bangalore
  34. Bharati Jagannathan, Faridabad, Haryana
  35. Uma Iyengar, New Delhi
  36. Deepa Dhanraj, Bangalore
  37. Anuradha Kapoor, Swayam, Kolkata
  38. Jayashri Murali, Bangalore
  39. George Pulikuthiyil, Kerala
  40. Mahesh Bhat, Bangalore
  41. Nagesh Hegde, Bangalore
  42. Lawrence Surendra, Mysore
  43. Chaman Pincha, Chennai
  44. Anupama Bijur, Bangalore
  45. Shampa Sengupta, Kolkata
  46. Joesph Xavier, Bangalore
  47. Apurba K. Baruah, NEHU, Shillong
  48. Mangai, Chennai
  49. Deepak, K. Mishra, JNU, New Delhi
  50. Abha Sur, MIT, Boston (US)
  51. Siddharth Narrain, ALF, Bangalore
  52. Chhaya Datar, Mumbai
  53. Ramesh Dodamani, Mysore
  54. Rashna Batliwala Singh, Colorado Springs, (US)
  55. Uma Chakravarti, New Delhi
  56. Sumantra Nag, New Delhi
  57. Madhu Sarin, Chandigarh
  58. L.C. Nagaraj, Bangalore
  59. Pritam Baruah, Kolkata
  60. Ishani Roy, Mumbai
  61. Shilpa Phadke, Mumbai
  62. Pradeep Esteves, Bangalore
  63. Sangeeta Dutta, London
  64. Anjali Monteiro, TISS, Mumbai
  65. K.P. Jayasankar, TISS, Mumbai
  66. Meena Gopal, Mumbai
  67. Shashi Deshpande, Bangalore
  68. Ramapriya Gopalakrishnan, Chennai
  69. Manisha Gupte, MASUM, Pune
  70. Ramesh Awaste, MASUM, Pune
  71. Kamala Ganesh, Mumbai
  72. Indira Pathak, Vikalp, Baroda
  73. Maya Sharma Parma, Baroda
  74. Manjula Padiyar, Nari Adalat, Baroda
  75. Jatin Joshi, Chotudepur (Gujarat)
  76. Sakhi Sanghatan, Thilakvada (Gujarat)
  77. Leela Fernandez, Rutgers Univ. New Brunswick (US)
  78. Ammel Sharon, TISS/ Samadhan, Mangalore
  79. Shakun, Vimochana, Bangalore
  80. Deepti Sharma, New Delhi
  81. Anita Mathew, Alto Porvorim,Goa.
  82. Chandita Mukherjee, Mumbai
  83. Kamayani Bali Mahabal, ARROW, Kuala Lumpur
  84. Jeanne Subramaniam, Bangalore
  85. Arun Subramaniam, Bangalore
  86. Wilfred Dcosta, INSAF, Ahmedabad
  87. Rebecca Abraham, Hongkong
  88. Maj. Gen. Sudhir Vombatkere, Mysore
  89. Fr. Joe Xavier, sj., ISI, Bangalore
  90. Vijayathilagam, ISI, Bangalore
  91. Lorraine Moreira, ISI, Bangalore
  92. Mercy Kappen, Visthaar, Bangalore
  93. Saswati Ghosh, Kolkata
  94. Molly Furtado, Mysore
  95. Sasi Kumar, New Delhi
  96. Lena Ganesh, Mumbai
  97. Saumya Uma, Mumbai
  98. Samita Sen, Kolkata
  99. Jashodhara Dasgupta, Health Watch Forum, Lucknow
  100. Saba Dewan, New Delhi
  101. Rahul Roy, New Delhi
  102. Vineeta Bal, Saheli, New Delhi
  103. Krishna Shukla, Hyderabad
  104. Cavery Bopiah
  105. Kathyayini Chamaraj, Bangalore
  106. Brinda Adige, GCI, Bangalore
  107. Rakhi Pande, Mumbai
  108. Christina Kantharaj, Mysore
  109. Ellora Puri, Jammu
  110. Sadhna Arya, Saheli, New Delhi
  111. Amrutha Valli, Bangalore
  112. Cheryll Pereira, Mumbai
  113. Kumkum Lal, New Delhi
  114. Ashok Lal, New Delhi
  115. Sunita Srinivasan, Bangalore
  116. Ritu Dewan, Bombay Univ, Mumbai
  117. Rini Ralte, Bangalore
  118. Tarshi (Radhika Chandiramani), New Delhi
  119. Natalie Pereira, Bangalore
  120. Amar Jesani, Mumbai
  121. Rajesh Ramakrishnan, New Delhi
  122. Monica Narula, New Delhi
  123. R. Sukanya, Bangalore
  124. Indu Agnihotri, New Delhi
  125. Nidhi Agarwal, New Delhi
  126. Manshi Agarwal, Himachal Pradesh
  127. Purnima McCutcheon, LEED AP, Chennai
  128. Dolphy D’souza, Bombay Catholic Sabha, Mumbai
  129. Alwyn D’Silva, Mumbai
  130. Biplab Mukherjee, Kolkata
  131. J. Devika, Thiruvanthapuram
  132. Sukla Sen, Ekta, Mumbai
  133. Wandana Sonalkar, BAmbedkar Marathwada Univ, Aurangabad
  134. Aftab Kamal Pasha, JNU, New Delhi
  135. Yoganandan Krishnan, Bangalore
  136. Anjula Gurtoo, IISC, Bangalore
  137. Jith Chacko, Ostersund, Sweden
  138. Shwetha Vachani, New Delhi
  139. Sudha Narasimhachar, Bangalore
  140. Arunesh Maiyar, Bangalore
  141. Jamila Verghese, New Delhi
  142. Gita Madhu, Kuala Lumpur
  143. Vijayshri Iyengar, Akshara, Bangalore
  144. Payal Dhar, Bangalore
  145. Vineetha Mokkil, New Delhi
  146. Utsav Banerjee, Hyderabad
  147. Sudeshna Mukherjee, Bangalore
  148. Malathi Velamuri, Wellington, Newzealand
  149. Harish Sadani (Men Against Violence and Abuse), Mumbai
  150. C. G. Manjula, Bangalore
  151. Markus Pfefferer, Bangalore
  152. Bonita Aleaz, Kolkata
  153. Sourindra Ghosh, New Delhi
  154. Sumati Surya, Bangalore
  155. Gita Chadha, Mumbai
  156. Javed Malick, New Delhi
  157. Neeraj Malik, New Delhi
  158. Mariola Menezes, Nigeria
  159. Sampreethi Aipanjiguly, Khatmandu
  160. Thomas Nielsen, Khatmandu
  161. Pramod A. Pullarkat, RRI, Bangalore
  162. Ponni Arasu, Bangalore
  163. Partners for Law in Development, New Delhi
  164. Nirantar, New Delhi
  165. Saheli, New Delhi
  166. Seema Siddique, London
  167. Walter Fernandes, NESRC, Guwahati
  168. Suresh Parekh, Mumbai
  169. Anagha Sarpotdar, Mumbai
  170. Mukul Dube, Delhi
  171. Nandini Manjrekar, Mumbai
  172. Aurina Chatterjee, Mumbai
  173. Anushree Banerjee, Mumbai
  174. Lina Krishna, Bangalore
  175. Harkant Mankad, Mumbai
  176. Niruj Mohan R., Bangalore
  177. Jayant Radhakrishnan, Chicago
  178. Swathi Sivanand, Mumbai
  179. Maithili Gupte, Mumbai
  180. Ammu Abraham, Mumbai
  181. Jagori, New Delhi
  182. Di Cooper
  183. Tanushree Gangopadhyay, Bangalore
  184. Gayatri Sunil Phadke, Mumbai
  185. Rajesh Ranjan, Hyderabad
  186. Sana Rizvi, New York
  187. Vikram Ahuja, Bangalore
  188. Renjini Varghese, Pune
  189. Sandeep Krishna, Copenhagen
  190. V. Uday Bhanu, San Francisco
  191. Reama Ramachandran, New York
  192. Roshan Suvarna, New York
  193. Aasha Ramesh, Bangalore
  194. Atuk Bhutia, New Delhi
  195. Agnel Pereira, Bahrain
  196. Lakshmi Lingam, Mumbai
  197. Subodh S. Gupta, Sewagram, Wardha
  198. Revathi Laul, New Delhi
  199. Subhashini Muthukrishnan
  200. Rajika Shukla, New Delhi
  201. Lynne Henry
  202. Renu Ramnath, Kochi
  203. Rakesh Sharma, Mumbai
  204. Sai Thakur, Mumbai
  205. N. Devadasan, Bangalore
  206. Kalpana Kannabiran, Asmita, Hyderabad
  207. Vasanth Kannabiran, Asmita, Hyderabad
  208. Volga, Asmita, Hyderabad
  209. Vanaja, Hyderabad
  210. Shyamala Shiveshwarkar, New Delhi
  211. Hartman de Souza
  212. J.M.K. Sekar, Chennai
  213. Rajeev Kalekar
  214. CEHAT (Sana Contractor), Pune
  215. Sheelu, Women’s Collective, Tamilnadu
  216. Sundari, TNRT, Chennai.
  217. V.Chandra, WEED, Chennai
  218. Sharmilee Nielsen, Chennai
  219. Klaus Nielsen, Chennai
  220. Shewli, Mumbai
  221. Naresh Fernandes, Mumbai
  222. Anita Cheria, Openspace, Bangalore
  223. Prafulla Mishra, Nairobi
  224. Sanjeeb Mukherjee, Kolkata
  225. Ravi Vasudevan, New Delhi
  226. Satnam Kaur, Saheli, New Delhi
  227. John Kurien, CLR, Pune
  228. Kumud Sharma, New Delhi
  229. Tilottama S. Misra, Guwahati
  230. Sapna Shahani, Mumbai
  231. Mohan Haridas, Nagpur
  232. Kumara Swamy H., Mysore
  233. Jason Keith Fernandes, Goa
  234. John Dayal, New Delhi
  235. Dileep Simeon, New Delhi
  236. Smitha S. Pendharkar, WUNRN Revere, MA (US)
  237. Pradeep Narayanan, New Delhi
  238. Citizens’ Inititiative for Peace (Jatin Desai), Mumbai
  239. Vrinda Grover, New Delhi
  240. Abhisheka, New Delhi
  241. M. Rajkumar
  242. Saraswati Raju, JNU, New Delhi
  243. Philomena Lydia Fernandes, Goa
  244. Aariz Mohammed, CSJ, Hyderabad
  245. Beena, [245-264, all Asmita, Hyderabad]
  246. Sharifa Siddiqui
  247. Pallavi Gupta
  248. Meera
  249. Vaishali
  250. Nagamma
  251. Rajyalakshmi
  252. Asha
  253. Santhi
  254. P. Anuradha
  255. T. Anuradha
  256. Padmalakshmi
  257. Nikhat
  258. Kranthi
  259. Padmini
  260. Subbalakshmi
  261. Sujatha
  262. Sarah
  263. Sudha
  264. Neela
  265. Nivedita Menon, JNU, Delhi
  266. Amrita Dhar, Kolkata
  267. Feroze Mithiborwala, Awami Bharat, Mumbai
  268. Kishore Jagtap, Ganai Sanskritik Andolan, Mumbai
  269. Jyoti Badekar, Marathi Bharti, Mumbai
  270. Varsha V V, Sameep Pratishthan, Mumbai
  271. Amol Madame, Sameep Pratishthan, Mumbai
  272. Sayeed Khan, Awami Bharat, Mumbai
  273. Arif Kapadia, Awami Bharat, Mumbai
  274. Gaurav Karia, Awami Bharat, Mumbai
  275. Jagdish Nagarkar, Phule-Ambedkar Vichar Manch, Mumbai
  276. Mulniwasi Mala, Indian Social Movement, Mumbai
  277. John Fernandes, Rajahmundry (Andhra)
  278. Rita D’Silva, Mumbai
  279. Sudha Rajagopalan, Univ of Utrecht, Netherlands
  280. Concerned for Working Children (Kavita Ratna), Bangalore
  281. Malini Gurbaxani, Pune
  282. Rohini Hensman, Mumbai
  283. Suma Embar, Mysore
  284. Rajani Konantambigi, Mumbai
  285. Aryakrishnan Ramakrishnan, Kochi
  286. Veena, Bangalore
  287. Anchita Ghatak, Kolkata
  288. Kirtiwan. D. Morarji, Mumbai
  289. Daya Varma, McGill Univ. Montreal
  290. Natasha Koshy, TISS, Mumba
  291. Navneeta Majumder, Mumbai
  292. Monika Mehta, TISS, Mumbai
  293. Shubhobrato Ghosh, AIM, Manila
  294. Paul Heron, Pune
  295. Farida Gazdar, Mumbai/Paris
  296. Vidya K.S., Mumbai
  297. Shruti Chakravarty, FAOW, Mumbai