Khusboo bothra
(University of Petroleum & Energy Studies)
The credit of the picture - https://www.flickr.com/photos/unwomen/6198350643
The history of women is often lost amidst the valor and glory of men. The unsung ‘heroines’ of the Indian Independence war remained on every path of freedom with their male counterparts yet they were left uncredited at the mercy of their fates. But who was supposed to free these women from the atrocities of society? Often left raped, assaulted, beaten, or burned, the woman of the Indian independence was constantly tagged as soiled, impure, tarnished, and polluted for crimes done by men, for crimes where women had no one to grieve for their traumatic experiences. As written by Yasmin Khan “Partition emerged from a cauldron of social disorder … Indians stood on the threshold of change and revolution, but, as yet, the shape of this change was unknown and frighteningly uncertain”.
The women of Bengal
To properly analyse the role women played during the freedom movement becomes arduous because there is very little information. Lack of documentation should not be the reason for crediting these women with their extraordinary sacrifices. These sacrifices often took the form of a brutal assaults by men. On Direct Action Day, the streets of Calcutta were set ablaze in the want of two separate nations. Islamists with weapons in their hands went on a killing spree; nearly 10,000 people were killed and up to 15,000 wounded in a span of 3 days. In seek of revenge men went on hanging butchered bodies of women from hooks at beef shops. Several women were raped and left to die on the streets. Girls studying in Kolkata’s Victoria College were raped and killed and their bodies were tied to hostel windows. Thousands of women, estimates range from 25,000 to 29,000 Hindu and Sikh women and 12,000 to 15,000 Muslim women, were abducted, raped, forced into marriage, forced to convert, and killed, on both sides of the border. Urvashi Butalia, who specializes in Partition violence against women, says that anywhere from 25,000 to 29,000 Hindu and Sikh women were concerned as compared to 12,000 to 15,000 Muslim women. Urvashi also mentions how the dead bodies of these injured women were then divided among the police as ‘maal’. The irony in all these attacks lies in the fact that men of Bengal sought the help of these very women during the freedom movement to present them as a symbol of strength and this strength was often seen as an extension of their domestic duties. One such instance of brutality was shared by GD Khosla in his book Stern Reckoning where a young girl whose relatives were made to stand in a circle and watch while she was raped by several men.
Hence women were often attacked on their honour, reducing them to their bodies, and leaving them dead and soulless. The nation was not prepared to re-integrate its lost and tainted daughters.
Cause of Violence
· To terrorise women and their families out of the contested territory, rendering it ethnically clean.
· To humiliate men and induce a breakdown in the social fabric.
· To effect pregnancy to “purge” the “inferior” race and propagate a “new race”.
All these goals seem to have been accomplished even during the Calcutta riots. When men of one community attack women, they often want to project their masculinity and show how these men from the other community have failed to protect their women. Now in the fight of proving this patriarchal notion, the blunt of humility and honour is faced by the women. sexual violence is seen as a weapon of war to weaken the arms of your enemy. It is also important to understand that women were seen as easy targets. They were uneducated and carried the reputation of their family upon their fragile backs. Any woman who was touched by other men was labeled impure. Hence this raises the question of whether these killings and assaults were systematic and pre-planned.
These women if left alive faced obvious trauma like marrying older, less qualified men, being banished from society, and probably living the rest of their life in solitude. They not only suffered during the armed conflict but even after the situation simmers down.
Response of the Government
The bloody riots during the partition eventually led to the enactment of The Abducted Persons (Recovery and Restoration) Act, of 1949. The government on both sides termed all those women as ‘abducted’ who went missing or living with men of other religions. After the partition, the estimated figures stated that around 33,000 Hindu and Sikh women were abducted in Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistan displayed the figure of Muslim women who were abducted in India to be around 21,000. In order to find these women, the act was put in force by the prime ministers of both countries. The massive rehabilitation operation by both States was marked as one of the major humanitarian operations.
“Both the Central Governments and the Governments of West and East Punjab wish to make it clear that forced conversions and marriages will not be recognized. Further, women and girls who have been abducted must be restored to their families, and every effort must be made by the Governments and their officers concerned to trace and recover such women and girls.”
There were also rehabilitation camps where the government accommodated and taught them skills to earn a livelihood for themselves.These rehabilitation camps were increasingly structured as territorially excised areas so as to create migration zones where the rights of asylum seekers are lessened or eliminated. A joint organisation of both territories would be established to carry out the rescue work, and later, in December of the same year, this joint appeal received executive strength through an Inter Dominion Treaty in which both nations resolved that all women who had been kidnapped or forced into marriage after March 1, 1947, should be recovered and restored.
Conclusion
As August 15 approached and Nehru uttered his famous speech ‘Tryst with Destiny’, the day when humanity suffered and a nation split into two as if it were a cake. With a heavy heart, people left one home in order to find another home, not knowing what the future held for them. Women were left assaulted and homeless. With only her domestic skill, she ventured into the unknown without any survival skills. The Bengali book, written by Debarti Mukhopadhyay ‘Narach’ which means weapon sums up the abuse of women in 19th century Bengal. Similar stories of agony and sacrifices are now reduced to literature only hoping that their scream for help is at least heard in some time
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