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Requiem
for Purity
By
SHOBHA SHUKLA 
The shocking news of the alleged gruesome death of Dr Iffat Kamal has
benumbed my senses. She, a doctor by profession, was allegedly assaulted
by her husband in her house at Dundee,
Scotland
on 10 December 2008, and after battling for ten days, succumbed to her
injuries. That she, a professionally qualified and financially
independent person became a prey of the brutality of her husband, has
once again put a question mark on all the so called shining progress
made by Indian women in recent times.
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It is a sad commentary on the way we, as parents, teachers and elders
are bringing up our children. Despite all the hoopla about the
progressive Indian- urban outlook, daughters are still expected to be
submissive and tolerant to marital injustices (to the extent of becoming
martyrs); while sons are brought up with the 'killer instinct'. The
macho man of the Indian subcontinent does not hesitate to bludgeon his
wife to death, or to derive sadistic pleasure in gang raping a
defenseless victim, or to avenge the humiliation of being rejected by a
woman he fancies, by throwing acid on her face or injecting her with HIV
infected blood. We teach our boys never to take NO for an answer. So
they, in later life, revel in acts of road rage, violence for fun and
jilted lover's revenge — all indicative of the grossly poor upbringing
of the future citizens of
India
.
Somewhere down the line, I hold myself responsible for the fate that
befell Iffat (which means purity/chastity). She had been one of my best
students at Loreto Convent,
Lucknow
, where I teach Physics. I remember her vividly as a very intelligent,
humble and sincere girl, who was always ready to help others with a
winsome smile. Apart from teaching my subject, I have always tried to
instill in my students a love for the dignity of womanhood and for the
sanctity of human life. Alas! I failed on both accounts. I failed to
convey to Iffat that though tolerance is a virtue, it cannot upstage
one's right to live. That enough is enough and the line of truce cannot
be converted to battle lines. I failed to impart life-saving skills to
her, which are so important to survive in this male dominated society.
Let all of us, women and men both, resolve to do whatever is in our
power to prevent such heinous crimes being repeated in future. Let our
ill-placed maternal instincts not blind us to bring up evil robots (in
the form of sons) and dumb dolls (in the form of daughters) instead of
caring and loving human beings.
The
author is the Editor of Citizen
News Service (CNS) and also teaches physics at Loreto Convent.
Email: shobha@citizen-news.org, website: www.citizen-news.org
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