Movements - Our true heroine

Is it OK, aunty?

Samata Vedike, Mysore was involved in creating awareness regarding ‘work place harassment’ through participatory technique using visual media of enacting a short drama, ‘Nyayakkagi Bhawri’ (Bhawri for Justice). We members of Samata Vedike – Meera Nayak, Lata Bidappa, Sridevi, PN, Roopa Rao, Sumathi and I, visited a slum next to DC office at Mandya on 08-06-2015 evening. The programme was organized by activists of ‘Mahila Munnede’ at local level. The activists Mallige, Jyothi & Chaitra had taken a lead in organizing the event.

The inhabitants of this sleepy slum in a very casual manner interacted with us over a cup of tea and biscuits and a make shift dais was quickly made available for us. About 40 to 50 crowd mostly women and children in open air sat around to participate in the event. The atmosphere was very casual, small children running around in playful mood and parents trying to stop them…This was a different kind of experience for us. Yet we enacted the play ‘Nyayakkagi Bhawri’ for about 20 minutes.

We then started interacting with the audience. After some time a child of about 8- 9 yrs old studying in 3^rd standard came to us very close and asked ‘Aunty! Can I say something?’ We encouraged the child! She said ‘Aunty a Xerox shop uncle near our school is showing dirty photos to us. Is it O.K.? We were flabbergasted! We said ‘No, it is not OK’. But why do you go to him?’ By then many children flocked together and said they go there for Xerox (photocopy) the notes.  The child was questioning us if the adult behavior was normal. It had doubts but was not clear if this amounts to bad behavior!

Immediately we took note of the situation and told the local organizers Mallige and other activists to approach the SP, Mandya regarding the matter. We later pursued the issue with Women’s commission Chairperson to take up the issue at higher level, all along keeping the child’s identity a secret. Later the police summoned the owner of the shop and enquired for which he denied the charges. A police raid was conducted on his premises and his computers and the shop itself was seized. I am hereby attaching the paper cutting on the issue.

The SP praised the child for alerting the public on the issue. Later Mallige told us that the school Principal and other teachers were very grateful for alerting the police. They said not only this child but another three children had collaborated on her statement. They were relieved that nothing untoward incident had happened which would have definitely given a bad name to the school. Our day was made. Our heroine was the child!

 Now we the members of Samata felt very happy that the social message we were trying to spread does touch the most vulnerable section of society. We usually address these issues to college students and don’t touch such young public. The necessity to reorient our programmes so that our outreach is inclusive of young and old is very clear from this episode.

These awareness campaigns must be taken up in a larger scale so that women and children have a safe work environment which is the basic right of every citizen.

Let us also look at this issue in the recent protests over blocking the porn sites.

Porn site ban debate;

Awareness campaigns for safe work place and the recent blocking of porn sites, do they have direct linkages with human / child trafficking? The recent protests against blocking porn sites by internet service providers seem to be having an upper hand. They argue that it is an infringement on their right to view porn videos in their private confines. The anger and disappointment among citizen (netizens) was evident by the way they were comparing porn to vegetable / fruits…thus trivializing the issue (see attachment).

 On the other hand saving children from human trafficker’s mafia is a larger fight. One example is the way the children are lured into these trades is our experience at Mandya. Write up of odanadi touches on the evolution of cinema industry to the global sex trade/ industry (attachment). After all, unless the children are lured, how else do you get these child porn sites on internet? When the Sex Industry looks for raw materials the entire human body of the trafficked child/ women is at stake. It is the sex industry that produces porn as one of the products. After all Industry needs capital and capital needs workers. When we talk of industry the rights of children/women is at stake. Debate is unequally posed Culture vs Industry. Has the debate gone too far?...

- Dr. Rati.E.R.