Women in and around Bangalore are under serious attack from the self-appointed moral police.  We need to take a stand NOW.

Below is a draft letter along with a list of people/organisations this should be sent to as an email.  We request everyone to copy the text below and spread the word as far as possible. Please the adapt end as needed if coming from an individual.

Over the last one week, several women have been violently attacked in Bangalore.

28 Feb. 10.30 pm: Sanjana got hit by two men on a bike who slowed down, socked her on her jaw and fled away.
24 Feb. 9 pm: Lakshmi was attacked at around 9 pm by four men who punched her, hit her, and abused her for wearing jeans.
17 Feb. 1:30 p.m: Two men chased Geetanjali’s car at 1.30 pm. One chased her with a large stone as she ran to a friend’s house for refuge.
The same week, Jasmine was attacked by four middle-aged men at 11.30 am when her auto broke down. They physically assaulted and tried to disrobe her while yelling obscenities.

More than 80 attacks and cases of moral policing have been reported from all over Karnataka in the last six months. Two women have committed suicide after humiliation from right-wing forces. On 12 Feb, Vanita killed herself after Bajrang Dal activists attacked her. On 11 Feb, Ashwini killed herself after Venur Bajrang activists attacked her and her friend Salim.

The police have not taken meaningful steps to stop or prevent this violence, to arrest the perpetrators, or to ensure the safety of all women in Bangalore and Karnataka.

These attacks are crimes against women. They are legal offences. They are neither isolated events nor trivial incidents of ‘eve-teasing’. They are part of a series of attacks inflicted on women in the name of ‘morality’, attacks that are escalating as women resist and fight back.

It is the core responsibility of the state and city police to ensure that public spaces are kept safe for all. Women across class barriers – from powrakarmikas to garment factory workers to students and young professionals in the corporate sector – have today become vulnerable targets on the streets of Karnataka.

As an organization fighting for the rights of all women, we demand that the Bangalore and Karnataka state and city police immediately:
Take punitive action to ensure that the attackers are punished by the law;
Take preventive action to ensure that no more women are attacked in Bangalore and Karnataka;
Take enabling action to ensure that streets and public spaces in Bangalore and Karnataka are safe for all women to use and enjoy as a matter of right.

Sincerely,

Vimochana, a women’s group in Bangalore, has documented these cases from Sept 2009 from the following Kannada publications: Karavali Ale, Jaya Kirana and Vartha Bharathi.

• Dr. VS Acharya

Home Minister – Karnataka State
Room no. 315 & 315 A
Vidhan Soudha
Bangalore 560001
Tel: 080 22252536
Email: vsacharya@gmail.com

• P. Chidambaram

Ministry of Home Affairs, North Block
Central Secretariat
New Delhi – 110 001
Phone: 23092011, 23092161
Email: websitemhaweb@nic.in
or post on his website http://www.pchidambaram.org/AskMe.html

• Dr. Ajai Kumar Singh

DG & IGP
Karnataka State Police Headquarters
Nrupathunga Road
Bangalore
Tel: 080 22211803, 22942999

• Justice Subray Rama Nayak

Chair Person
Karnataka State Human Rights Commission
4th floor, 5th phase
Multistoreyed building, Bangalore 560 001.
Fax: 080-22392206, 22392207

• Rameshwar Thakur

Governor Of Karnataka
Raj Bhavan
Raj Bhavan Road
Bangalore 560 001 INDIA
Fax: +91-80-2225 8150
Email:  rbblr@vsnl.com OR http://rajbhavan.kar.nic.in/” \t “_blank

• B S Yeddyurappa

Chief Minister
Room No. 323
Vidhana Soudha,
Bangalore-560001
Email:  cm@kar.nic.in OR http://www.karnataka.com/watch/yedi

• Renuka Chowdhury

Minister for Women and Child Development
Email:  min-wcd@nic.in, renuka@sansad.nic.in.

• National Commission for Women

4, Deen Dayal Upadhayaya Marg,
New Delhi-110 002.
Tel: 91-11-23237166, 91-11-23236988
Fax : 91-11-23236154
Email:  ncw@nic.in

It’s about time we rang the bell against these barbaric assaults.