Representative image of a person being assaulted.
Credit: iStock Photo
The group attack on a woman in Haveri last week was a case of moral policing, sexual assault and communal intolerance, all combined into a horror. Seven men raided a hotel and assaulted a woman and her male partner, took her to an isolated spot, and allegedly gang raped her. The fact that the woman was married and the couple were from different faiths does not give anyone the right to attack them. The attackers shared videos of the incident on social media to shame the victims and warn others. The message is that individuals and their relationships are under watch, and those who fall below the social or communal benchmark will be punished. This is unacceptable.
The couple had the right to decide what to do with their lives and their personal relationships. As long as they did not violate any law, they had the freedom to conduct themselves in the way they wanted. Even if they violated any law, no one had the right to take the moral stick into their own hands to punish them. Increasing incidents are being reported of vigilante justice being enforced by self-appointed guardians of morality. A few days ago, a boy and a girl, cousins belonging to different communities, were attacked by a mob in Belagavi on the suspicion that they were in a relationship. Many shades of honour, ranging from personal to family to community, are cited for such attacks, and the punishment for the assumed dishonour is always intimidation and violence and sometimes murder and rape.
Political parties are selective in their responses, depending on which community the victims belong to and where the incidents take place. Politicians use such incidents to stoke communal sentiments and widen social divisions. Community organisations often favour vigilante action and shield the guilty. Some even make punishment of ‘straying’ members of the community mandatory. WhatsApp groups keep an eye out for interfaith couples and target them. It is a reflection of the patriarchal nature of society that moral policing and vigilante actions are mostly aimed at women. Communities are particularly offended when their women go away with men of other communities, and the assumption is that they have less right to act on their own than men. So there is little surprise that moral policing is more about women, and they are more hurt by it than men. The law should punish the vigilantes, and society should reorient its moral radar.