CPM demands action against increasing harassment of women

Local leaders and activists of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) staged a protest outside the taluk office on Friday deriding the increasing number of cases of harassment of women in the State and country.

The protester, who even locked the office, demanded immediate action to stop such incidents.
CPM leader C Gopinath said almost half the population in India consists of women, who are, however, treated as second-grade citizens, due to a failure on the part of the Union and State governments at providing even the basic levels of security.

“The cases of sexual and all other kinds of harassment on women continue, regardless of the area- whether villages or cities, there are hundreds of instances of crime against women. There are no proper and stringent legal measures taken against those accused of harassing women nor do we see any efforts taken to pass laws that help prevent such crimes. Women continue to live in an extremely dangerous environment,” he mocked.

‘Women blamed’

DYFI leader Krishna Reddy, who also spoke on the occasion, said, “On several occasions of sexual harassment of women, some people resort to blaming the women for instigating the crime. They do not bother to express any fury against the act or the guilty. There are no efforts to judge unbiased the seriousness and implication of the act- both on legal and humanitarian grounds.”

He blamed the government of failing to understand the psyche of the youth and to give them good employment opportunities or proper guidance on become responsible, respectable members of society.
“Preventing such inhuman acts is undoubtedly the responsibility of the governments,” he insisted.

The protesters also walked down from the Travellers Bungalow till the taluk office before settling down outside the taluk office.