The Power Move of Acid Attacks Against Women
Why does society assume that it’s their right to violate women who make choices for themselves?
I finally watched Deepika Padukone’s Chhapaak. It is a story inspired by Lakshmi Agarwal, an acid attack survivor, and a fighter. It was powerful and thought-provoking.
The movie shows the ugliness of the society and how we place the whole identity of a woman on her external appearance; because of which, some men assume that attacking that appearance scars their existence. The movie focuses on the gruesome reality of increasing acid attacks in the country.
There’s something unique about Chhapaak. It doesn’t begin and end with the struggles of Malti alone but also sheds light upon the stories of various women who were affected by acid attack.
In the movie, Malti is seen working in an NGO that is run by Alok (Vikranth Massey) for acid attack survivors. One thing that is always assumed about acid attacks is that it happens because of the refusal of a love interest by women but this movie highlights that there are many other reasons why people subject women to this brutality.
The ‘Chaya Team’ in the movie comes across various such cases, where women are attacked with acid for various reasons from the refusal of love interest to having dreams about their future against someone else’s wishes. It was a huge eye-opener about the society we live in when a survivor in the movie spoke about her attack where she, along with her sister was attacked with acid only because they wanted to study and excel in their lives despite belonging to a ‘lower caste’.
Though I am no film critic, I can say that this movie makes us think on a deeper level, about the brutality that women face from time to time. The screams of women attacked, their pain, their tears, their struggles to live with what happened to them each day, everything makes us question. Why would a human do this to another?
It is unimaginably painful and agonizing for a 16-year-old to go through such brutality and survive through the whole process of a trial and emerge as a ray of hope for a lot of women like her.
Don’t we all have stories where we were subjected to something that scarred our lives just because we dared to make a choice for ourselves?
Well, I have. At the age of 15, I was almost a victim of mob justice for something that I didn’t even understand.
Mob justice/instant justice occurs in various towns and cities in India. When someone is suspected to be a criminal or somehow disrespects the religious/social boundaries drawn by the society for them, a group of people does justice by beating that someone with stones, machetes, or anything they can lay their hands on. There are cases where these 'criminals' were set on fire, or just died due to the extremity of the punishment. Though it is illegal, it occurs on a large scale in the country.
I don’t talk about it because even today, it sends down chills through my spine. I was surrounded by people who claimed to be the ‘moral guardians’ and they wanted to point out that I was wrong in trying to make a decision for myself. Well, how bright do you expect a 15-year-old’s decisions are?
The fear that I felt when those huge groups of people surrounded me with anger and wanted to ‘punish’ me, still resides in my heart.
I carry it everywhere and ever since I have been extra paranoid about everything. After I moved to a city from a small town, for work, I was scared of pretty much everything. I was even scared of enjoying basic things, like hanging out with friends, going for a girls’ night, or just loitering about in the street. Even after many years, I still have that fear.
What if, I offend someone? What if, someone sees something wrong in an otherwise, absolutely normal thing that I’m doing? What if, my dressing makes me stand out? and What if, it gives someone the wrong signal? What if, someone gropes me in public transport? What if, calling them out provokes them? What if,….?
The questions are never-ending.
There are so many questions we women ask ourselves before doing or saying anything.
For a change, why don’t you answer a few questions for us today?
- Is it so wrong for a woman to choose a partner for herself?
- Is it so wrong for women to ask for equal rights?
- Why is it that society assumes that it is in its right to violate women who make choices for themselves?
- Why is it that girls are needed to be taught how to sit, stand, walk and even laugh?
- Why does one ‘wrong’ choice often cost a woman her life?
- Why do women have to fight battles at a different level for being treated as humans?
- Why would someone think that it is okay for them to abuse, attack and violate women just because they did not live up to someone’s unrealistic expectations?
- After so many years of independence, why do women still burn in cages in our country?
- Why are there still 1,00,000 per year, women who die because of dowry harassment in India?
- Why do we still wake up to news where minor children and women are raped brutally?
- Why does India still rank the 4th in acid attacks?
- Why can’t a woman afford to say ‘NO’ in this society?
With all these questions left unanswered, what difference does celebrating women’s day make for an average modern woman? It did not make any difference for me other than just a few sale offers and an awkward women’s get together at work and of course, men pointing fingers at us asking why there’s no Men’s Day.
Many try to tell me the situation for women is better than maybe in the past centuries.
If you think that this world where women are still silenced, abused, raped, and killed for honour and other silly reasons, every minute, is BETTER, then maybe it’s time for you to understand your privileges and rethink your sanity.
