Women find new ways to counter gender violence

Lucknow: Women in Uttar Pradesh are learning to make the right noises in order to assert their rights. Their groups no longer depend on political parties to protect their interests. They are now using colour and sound to make an impact.

Girls, from at least three prestigious women’s colleges in Lucknow, have hit upon a novel idea to deal with pranksters who try to throw them off balance while they drive two-wheelers.

“We have wrapped about half a dozen bangles in plastic and as soon as these boys try to come in our way, we stop our bikes and hand them a packet. We tell them that the bangles are for their mother/sister/bhabhi,” said Shehla Khan, a post-graduate student.

According to her, the ploy has worked so far.

“I had to do this thrice and I have stopped facing the problem now. The boys apparently have been shamed,” she said.

As the word spread, girls of her college and two other colleges joined in and even the cops are happy at the results.

 “These girls have come to be known as the ‘choodi gang’ (bangle gang) and the boys now try to stay away from girls on two-wheelers. The idea seems to have worked better than the anti-Romeo squads. Bangles seem to be a better way to shame the eve-teasers,” said a circle officer.

In Meerut last month, a group of girls formed what has come to be known as the ‘Thali gang’. A group of girls start beating on ‘thalis’ to assert their powers.

“Thalis are beaten as a symbol of celebration when a male child is born but we beat ‘thalis’ when a girl child is born in a family. We also beat ‘thalis’ in front of houses of rape accused.

The idea is to attract attention towards crime against women and pull down the anti-women mindset. We are also staging street plays to draw public attention”, said Rupal, one of the members of the group.

Girls from adjoining districts like Baghpat, Hapur, Bijnore and Muzaffarnagar have started contacting their counterparts in Meerut and want to replicate the Thali gang concept in their region.

Eve-teasing and the need for self-defence led to the formation of the Red Brigade in Lucknow in 2014. The Red Brigade, whose members dress in red shirts and black pants, was formed by Usha Vishwakarma who had survived a sexual assault by a colleague. The brigade now conducts workshops to train girls in self-defence.

“We are a group of survivors. In one workshop, we were aghast to find that 53 out of 55 members had faced sexual abuse in their own homes. Our group is becoming popular and more and more girls want to train in self-defence techniques,” said Sakshi, a member.

Even as these groups gain media attention, it was the Gulabi Gang of Bundelkhand that first caught the spotlight in 2006 when it formed a vigilante group in the Bundelkhand region.

The Gulabi Gang, with women dressed in pink saris and carrying lathis, came in response to widespread domestic violence and administrative corruption in the drought-hit Bundelkhand region.

Led by its feisty leader Sampat Pal, the Gulabi Gang initially intended to punish oppressive husbands, fathers and brothers.  The members of the gang would accost male offenders and prevail upon them to see reason. The more serious offenders were publicly shamed so that they do not dare to repeat their act of troubling women.