The Observer
An IIJNM publication
Christians demand probe into Muthalik’s claim of forced conversions and vandalism by them | P 2 Top court puts sedition law on hold till govt takes call By Shristi Achar
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he Supreme Court has ordered that the 152-year old sedition law —IPC’s Sedition 124A — be stayed until the Centre reconsiders the provisions of the law. In an interim order on Wednesday, a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana directed that all pending trials, appeals and proceedings with respect to charges framed under Section 124A should be kept in abeyance. It asked the Centre to refrain from registering any further FIRs until the matter is resolved. The opposition accused BJP of misusing the 1870 law to silence its critics. The order further stated: “In addition to the above, the Union of India shall be at liberty to issue the Directive as proposed and placed before us, to the State Governments/Union Territories to prevent any misuse of Section 124A of IPC.”Law minister Kiren Rijiju reminded the court of a “Lakshman rekha” “We’ve made our positions very clear and also informed the court about intention of prime minister Narendra Modi. We respect the court & its independence. But there’s a ‘Lakshman Rekha’ (line) that must be respected by all organs of the state in letter & spirit,” he tweeted. Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan tweeted: “Salute to the SC for this much needed historic order effectively plugging the rampant misuse of the #Sedition law by various govts and their police forces.” Mahesh Jethmalani, a Rajya Sabha member and senior Supreme Court advocate. In a tweet, he said: “PM’s statement that GOI will review the sedition law is welcome. LM Rijuju’s gloss that repeal is ruled out but review is to prevent abuse is important. A modern State needs a sedition law to maintain its integrity; but the law must deter autocrats who believe they are the State.” The Observer had, in its May 10 edition, reported differing views of parties on the sedition law. shristi.a@iijnm.org
Vol. 21, Issue 30
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
https://facebook.com/ iijnmbangalore https://twitter.com/ observer_weekly Epaper: https://issu.com/ theweeklyobserver/docs Website: http://www. theweeklyobserver.in
Fans mourn the demise of Shivkumar Sharma; Satish Vyas says maestro changed his life | P 4
Sexual abuse of boys remains unacknowledged, unaddressed Society thinks only girls are victims of abuse
By Chhavi Vohra
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akesh Sharma (name changed), now 49, was 18 years old when he was first sexually abused. Rakesh forgot to take his quilt on a train journey to Ludhiana with his brother. An old man, in an army uniform, offered Rakesh his quilt as he was feeling cold. Rakesh agreed. A few minutes later, Rakesh felt the man push one of his legs between his legs. This continued for a minute. He stood up, understanding the intentions of the older man. “I was aghast. I told him I’m not like that. He didn’t utter a word,” Rakesh said. According to a report in the Deccan Herald, a study conducted in India, Nepal, Cambo-
There is a dominant perception in society that only girls can face sexual abuse, reveals a four-nation study | Courtesy: Pexels dia and Philippines has revealed that 1 in 6 boys experienced sexual abuse. But the abuse of boys remains unacknowledged and unaddressed due to the perception that they cannot be abused. The study was conducted by partner NGOs in the four countries, which are part of the UKbased Family for Every Child. In India, the study was conducted by the NGO Butterflies. The study revealed the dominant perception in society that sexual abuse happens to girls; if boys are abused, it’s an aberration.
Ranjani K. Murthy, a researcher and consultant on gender, poverty and development, said the number of sexual abuse cases are the same among girls and boys in India, but sexual abuse of boys isn’t talked about. “Some think girls are more vulnerable…. However, homosexuality is prevalent. Sexual abuse can be seen in large, non-nuclear families where even the mother can be the perpetrator in rare instances. In army areas and hostels too, this is prevalent. “Protection is required in ju-
venile homes They are abused and later grow up to be abusers. There are schemes, but for adolescent girls. For boys, there are sessions in schools, but they only talk about what boys can do to girls, but not what they can do to their own kind,” Murthy added. Surupa Gupta, director, women and gender studies at University of Mary Washington, explained the lack of acknowledgement has to do with patriarchy, which is about power and domination. Boys and men are taught not to cry as it’s considered “wimpy and feminine under patriarchal norms”, she said. Asked about complaints of sexual abuse against boys, IPS officer Prashant Anand, who has handled such cases, said: “The police do get such complaints, but not frequently. Generally, such crime gets reported at schools, juvenile homes etc. Sexual abuse of girls is more frequent, and even that doesn’t get reported every time.” ►Continued on page 4
Most waste pickers have Will obey loudspeaker no access to education order: Hindus, Muslims By Ayndrila Banerjee
T In 2011,BBMP launched an initiative to register informal ragpickers and provide them with identity cards | Credit: Namrata Sindwani By Simran Sharma
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allikarjun, a 14-year-old boy from a Banashankari slum, feels sad when he sees his friends missing school as they have to stand in lines to collect water. “There have been days when we did not get water for two to three
days so children stood in lines to get it and missed out on school.” Children from his slum have dropped out of school. Some are still involved in ragpicking in his village. “The situation was the same before Covid; later it has been worse,’’ Mallikarjun informed The Observer. ►Continued on page 5
he Karnataka government on Tuesday issued a circular that said users of loudspeakers have to obtain written permission from designated authorities “within 15 days” to continue using them. Reacting to this, Mohammad Firoz, a maulvi in Bengaluru, said: “We will obey any order that comes from the government. We have interpreted this rule as not something that is made just for one community (Muslims). The government has made this rule for all communities, be it Hindus or Muslims or Christians. We can’t go against the law and we trust the government so we’ll go by whatever ruling it gives. We have accepted this order.” Communal disharmony has been around for long, but he nev-
er thought of a community any different from his own. “I have always considered people from different religions as my brothers and sisters. What is happening today is due to the acts of some miscreants who want to create a divide between Hindus and Muslims,” he informed The Observer. ►Continued on page 5