PUNJABI ANTENNA
By
Randeep Wadehra
Punjab’s women are facing untold perils. The state’s record in fighting female foeticide has been rather shameful. However, tokenism prevails, viz., every episode of the ongoing Miss PTC Punjabi dedicates itself to fighting bhroon hatya. Again, on Face to Face Harsimrat Kaur Badal underscored the need for protecting Punjab’s girl-child. Realizing the state’s dismal record vis-à-vis environmental degradation, gender ratio and female foeticide, Punjab Government and SGPC have intertwined the issues by launching a campaign throughout the state whereby gurdwaras distribute saplings as symbols of protection for trees as well as girls. Harsimrat appeared upbeat about the campaign’s success. But what about those females who are born and living in the state?
Government teachers in Punjab’s villages have to take their salaries from the local panchayats. This puts women teachers in a near-the-knuckle situation as they are often asked by the concerned panchs to meet them at the tubewell to collect their salaries (Adhyapak Diwas…adyapak bebas – PTC News). Often the panchs are drunk. Situation in private institutions is no better. Teachers – majority of them women – are forced to sign on salary registers showing government prescribed amounts, but are paid a pittance ranging from Rs. 1400 to 1800 – trifling, even by a peon’s standards. The attitude of Punjab School Education Board Chairman as well as of the state’s education minister was callous to say the least. Both wanted written complaints and “proof” to initiate investigations!
Can legislated rules, procedures and laws be flouted? Punjab’s cops do it with impunity. You learn this while watching Police tuhaddi sewa ch hamesha hazir, a bloodcurdling expose on atrocities perpetrated by Punjab Police personnel – innocents are picked up from their homes and given the third-degree only to be released in a crippled and half-dead condition later on, casually remarking that it was all a mistake; a SHO mercilessly whips a lad with pata in public on a mere suspicion of having stolen ashes/body parts from burning pyres; a five-month pregnant woman is punched and kicked in the stomach, till her baby is aborted, by cops right inside a thana – it takes great effort to keep watching as the camera pans on her traumatized face; even as TV cameras are rolling policemen mercilessly beat up three women, suspected of theft, in public; cops enter a shopkeeper’s house in his absence and thrash the household’s women, killing one of them on the spot. As per law and Supreme Court directives only women police personnel are to arrest/interrogate female suspects. But Punjab’s cops clearly hold a different view. Official response? Mealy mouthed justifications by the minister and DGP Aulakh’s very “understanding” attitude (of police actions, not of the wronged citizens’ plight). The fact that poor men, women and children are being increasingly exploited and brutalized brings the entire system of governance under scanner. The expose reveals that the force has 1388 policemen – right from constables to DGPs – on its rolls, doing active duty, who are facing criminal charges ranging from smuggling to rape and murder (perhaps extortion and bribery are too mundane to be mentioned). Such a situation needs much more than perfunctory inquiries and eyewash investigations. It needs systemic overhaul, pronto.
Will such TV shows usher in the required transformation? Your guess is as good as mine.
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