What does the wrestlers’ protest tell us about the reality of violence against women in India?
If mainstream media is to be believed, the protests by India’s award-winning wrestlers demanding action against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), have fizzled out. The reason being floated around is the late-night meeting on June 3 between the protesting wrestlers and Home Minister Amit Shah, India’s second most powerful man.
This is the kind of fake news perfected by some prominent television channels. Although the details of that meeting are still not known, Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik did reiterate that their protest would not end until Singh—accused of sexual harassment—is arrested.
That said, after the June 7 meeting with Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, the public phase of the protest has been suspended till June 15. The protestors were either persuaded, or bullied, into returning to their day jobs.
This, of course, suits this government perfectly. Its time-worn strategy to deal with protests that cause discomfort is to ignore them or use brute force to break them up. This was done in 2019-20 against those opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act. It was repeated during the protest by thousands of farmers demanding the withdrawal of the three farm acts. And it has been done now in the case of protesting women wrestlers.
This temporary pause, however, is an opportunity to reflect on what this particular protest, demanding action on charges of sexual harassment, tells us about our country, the current government, and the reality of violence against women in India.
First, it is evident that most people still do not understand that sexual harassment is a form of violence that impacts women deeply. It humiliates and scars the women at the receiving end of it. It is violence encased in silence. When some women dare to break the silence, they are ignored, disbelieved, belittled, and vilified.
Importantly, sexual harassment is about power, as in this case, where the alleged perpetrator is a politically powerful man, linked to the party in power. And even though the women accusing him are not powerless, they are still not heard.
Second, why has this protest failed to trigger a nationwide response and outrage on the scale we saw in 2012 after the gang rape of Jyoti Singh? After that incident, the protests spread in Delhi and beyond, to other cities. The difference between 2012 and 2023 is not just that then there was a different, more responsive government, but also a media that was critical of it and unafraid to amplify protests.
And finally, the main reason for a muted response this time is that our society fails to understand the nature of violence against women.
Rape, murder, dowry deaths—especially when these occur in big cities within the reach of the media—generate some interest and concern. This is especially so if the victim/survivor belongs to a higher class/caste and the perpetrators to a lower class/caste. Then there is public anger and demands for justice and exemplary punishment.
It is the other way around when the victim/survivor is of lower social status and the perpetrators are powerful by way of their class/caste, or political connections. In such cases, we hear a splutter of protest that soon subsides and disappears. Think of the rape and subsequent death of the Dalit woman in Hathras in 2020 and innumerable other similar cases that often go unreported.
The acts of violence that come into public view, and particularly those in a public space, loom larger than life. But the bigger arena of daily violence against women draws hardly any attention. These include acts of violence within the so-called “safe” spaces—homes, schools, colleges, workplaces. These go practically unnoticed, and unaddressed. Domestic violence, sexual harassment and child sexual abuse represent the largest percentage of incidents of sexual violence against women.
Looking back at the last month and more of the wrestlers’ protest, irrespective of whether this government finally acts against Singh or not, we must thank Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and others for reminding us about this hidden violence. Despite immense personal cost, they have shown the courage to hold the powerful to account.
(Views expressed are personal)
Kalpana Sharma is an independent journalist and author of "The silence and the Storm: Narratives of violence against women in India"