Karnataka: Women MLAs take on men during rape debate

At least four women legislators jumped into the well of the Assembly on Wednesday when a debate on the Mysuru gang-rape turned political as Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai traded charges.

MLAs Anjali Nimbalkar, Roopakala M, Sowmya Reddy, Kusuma Shivalli (all Congress) and Anglo-Indian MLA Vinisha Nero stormed into the well, outraged, when Bommai began reading out statistics on the number of rapes that were reported when the Congress was in power.

“We’re talking about rape here. It doesn’t matter under whose government it happened,” Anjali screamed, backed by Sowmya.

Before this, Siddaramaiah accused the government of negligence despite the learnings from the Nirbhaya case, saying: “I’ve never seen a government like this.” Bommai did not take this lying down. “The highest number of rapes happened between 2013 and 2016. And, you speak of Nirbhaya,” he said. Their exchange triggered the women MLAs.

The Assembly listened as the women poured their hearts out.

Also read: Govt will ensure death penalty in Mysuru rape case: Bommai

Later, Roopakala delivered an emotional speech on crimes against women. “As a mother, a sense of insecurity is hounding me,” she said. “We worship Devi (goddess) as Shakti. Will she be pleased when we treat women this way,” she asked with reference to a video that went viral in which a woman was stripped naked and tortured in Yadgir.

Sowmya said Bengaluru stood second in the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics. “After the lockdown, domestic abuse has increased and so have cyber crimes against women,” she said.

Anjali, too, got emotional. “As a gynecologist, I have examined several rape survivors. Men used the word ‘rape’ casually. But, no man can understand what a woman goes through mentally and physically,” she said. “I want to say this to every man in the Assembly and outside: Your testosterone doesn’t determine your manliness. You can be a gentleman by using other hormones.”

BJP’s K Poornima lamented that no man is ever talked about for his dress. “But I know the kinds of things spoken about a woman wearing shorts or sleeveless tops.”

“A man exposes himself everyday to urinating in public. But, have you ever heard of him getting molested,” Vinisha asked rhetorically. “Instead of controlling girls, we should lock up the boys. The way we view both genders needs to change. We need an awareness workshop for the police and the medical fraternity,” she said.

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