US news magazine Time has published an article titled "'I Cannot Be Intimidated. I Cannot Be Bought.' The Women Leading India's Farmers' Protests", which reports that "the Chief Justice of India (CJI) had asked lawyers to 'persuade elderly people and women to leave the protests". "In response, women farmers -- mostly from the rural states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh -- scrambled onto stages, took hold of microphones and roared back a unanimous 'No!', the story by Nilanjana Bhowmick reads." Supporters of the government are spreading all kinds of canards about the farmers' protest just as they did with the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) by Muslim women at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi. "Thousands of women protesters, some of them driving the tractors themselves, headed for Delhi from various districts of Punjab and Haryana to reach the national capital for a congregation at Delhi border protest sites to mark International Women's Day on Monday," reported India Today. The Chief Justice wants to protect women. A man accused of raping a minor "sought protection from arrest saying that as he is a government employee, he will be suspended automatically if he is arrested". "Will you marry her?" CJI Bobde reportedly asked the accused man." "If you want to marry, we can help you. If not, you lose your job and go to jail. You seduced the girl, raped her." Consensual sex with an underage girl is rape because her consent is considered invalid in law. Women are naturally furious as they rightly feel that judges in lower courts will be guided by the CJI's reasoning and put young girls in danger. "A court in India has granted bail to Nodeep Kaur, a 25-year-old labour rights activist who has been in prison for more than a month," reported BBC. "Her arrest led to global outrage given the circumstances in which she was picked up amid accusations of sexual assault and torture." Then there was the hounding of woman actor Rhea Chakraborty by various government agencies following suicide by a male actor. Now the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has filed a 12,000 page charge sheet alleging drug dealing against the lady. Dubai Princess Latifa was abducted from a boat in international waters by Indian special forces, tranquilised and put on a plane back to Dubai despite having committed no crime and asking for asylum in India. The human sacrifice apparently paid political dividends as India got Christian Michel in exchange and the friendship of the UAE. If actors and princesses are treated as dispensable, what about Dalit women? "On the last day of September, India woke up to the disturbing news that authorities had forcibly cremated the body of a 19-year-old Dalit (formerly untouchable) woman who had alleged gang rape and died a day earlier," reported BBC. "The police formed a human chain to keep the villagers and journalists from getting close." "There appear to be bruises on her neck, face and hand, and she seems to be in tremendous pain." "Since her death the state government has insisted that she was not raped at all." This was done to protect the rapists. Are they even human? "Dalit women across swathes of rural India have been victims of sexual violence for as long as anyone can remember," wrote Soutik Biswas. "Ten Dalit women were raped every day in India last year, according to official figures." Happy International Women's Day. They need to be indomitable. In India.
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