Row over report on rape

NEW DELHI, AUG. 6. An official report on rape presented to the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, recently has touched off a controversy even as the National Commission for Women (NCW) sought an explanation from the author about the source.

Ironically, the author of the 160-page report, Ms. Poornima Advani, is a member of the NCW and the report ``Rape - A Legal Study'' is a publication of the Commission. The report was presented to Mr. Vajpayee on June 15.

``I have sought an explanation from the member about the sourcing. The Commission is awaiting the response and it will decide on its further course of action after receiving the explanation,'' the NCW chairperson, Ms. Vibha Parthasarathi, said.

Asked if the portion of the prologue, which various women's organisations have taken strong exception to, will be deleted, Ms. Parthasarathi said, ``I cannot say anything at this moment. Let me get the explanation; only then the Commission will decide.''

Various women's organisations including the All-India Democratic Women's Association, the Young Women's Christian Association and the Indian Association for Women's Studies, strongly protested the prologue of the report and demanded its deletion to restore the credibility of an otherwise painstaking document representing the considered views of the Commission.

The prologue, in its historical evaluation, said, ``An able position in the household... unfortunately constant invasion by foreign elements from about the 8th century changed the scenario to the detriment of women.''

``This is not history but its distortion. Setting aside recent scholarship on women's studies, scholars on the origins of patriarchy and oppression of women in ancient India acknowledged the decline in women's status several centuries before the compilation of Manusmriti,'' they said.

On the controversy, Ms. Parthasarathi said, ``I had asked for the explanation much before the controversy started but the member has been out of town most of the month because of personal problems.'' Criticising the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) for writing a ``very ill-worded and belligerent'' letter on the issue, she said, ``This kind of letter is very uncharacteristic of a women's organisation.'' ``In their letter to the Commission, the NFIW has described the whole study as a document of extremely dubious informative worth. How can they write something like this about a report on such a sensitive issue such as rape,'' she said.

The author of the report, Ms. Advani, said, ``I have been asked by the NCW to substantiate with the sources of the report and most probably I will be able to do it by next weekend.'' Expressing anguish, she said, ``The crux of the report was the legal aspect of rape and three lines of the prologue have diverted the issue to a direction which was not meant.''

- PTI

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