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A burning problem
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Seema Sirohi's book, Sita's Curse, is an effort to refocus public attention on dowry-related violence and death. Launched at the Oxford Bookstore, it talks about the trauma of the victims and the support they received from their family and fri ends.
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Seema Sirohi: `Women should be emotionally independent.'
DO THE hurriedly written words of a journalist stick in public mind? Do media reports on social atrocities make an impact on society? These were just some of the doubts that made senior journalist Seema Sirohi take a sabbatical to write the book, Sita's Curse.
"India seems to be leaping breathlessly into the future, and yet, a menace like dowry remains a scourge, an infection, that won't go away. My book is an effort to refocus public attention on dowry-related violence and death," said the diminutive author at the launch of the book at Oxford Bookstore last week. As Washington correspondent for Ananda Bazar Patrika and contributor to Outlook, Seema enjoys the pace of journalism, but chronicling the real life stories of six dowry victims has been equally satisfying for her.
Donna Fernandes, founder member of Vimochana, the NGO helping women in distress, released the book at the plush bookstore at The Leela Galleria, Airport Road. Speaking from her long association with women in distress, Ms. Fernandes said levels of violence had increased drastically with the increase in consumerism. "If women are not emotionally independent, then they cannot be economically independent — and violence against women will continue," she added.
The recent incidents involving young brides — Vidya of Chennai and Nisha Sharma of New Delhi — spurning their grooms at the altar have given the anti-dowry movement an unexpected impetus, but Seema Sirohi's book started a long time ago. "While covering the uprising against dowry deaths in Delhi in the early '90s, the idea of writing something more substantial than a quickly forgotten newspaper article did come to my mind. But it was only now that I could meet all the six families, and write this book," revealed the journalist who covered complex geo-political and economic ties between India and the US for The Telegraph. Later, based in Bratislava, Slovakia, she wrote about subjects like the break-up of Czechoslovakia and the developments at the U.N. Human Rights Commission.
"Women aren't even treated as human beings in so many households in India," said Ms. Sirohi. She was talking about the Bangalore doctor, Archana, who fell prey to her NRI husband's greed. More than 9,000 women are killed in dowry-related crimes in India every year, according to official statistics. Sita's Curse presents the cases of some who were killed, some who were lucky enough to start a new life.
Young Shasikala was pregnant with her first child when her parents-in-law decided to kill her. Shashikala's mother, Satyarani Chaddha fought for 22 years in the courts to send her daughter's murderers to jail. Her son-in-law finally got seven years, but was out on bail in just two months!
According to All India Democratic Women's Association, two Mahila Courts and several fast track courts have been set up. "But trial in a dowry harassment or death case is long-drawn. More attention must be paid to evidence gathering and framing of charges," said a representative of the National Federation of Women recently.
Ms. Sirohi pointed out that there has been a backlash by the male-dominated establishment. "The myth that women misuse the anti-dowry laws has been carried forward successfully by some men, but the truth is that both men and women need to help to remove this problem," she said.
Ms. Sirohi lives with her husband Christopher Sandrolini, a diplomat with the U.S. Foreign Service, and two children, and was outspoken about the American media lapping up all the stories fed to them by government officials during the Iraq war. An alumnus of St. Stephen's College and Jawaharlal Nehru University, she studied journalism at the University of Kansas.
At the launch of Sita's Curse, the newly opened Oxford Bookstore drew a big crowd of articulate activists, concerned citizens, and the media. The book was earlier released in the Mumbai and Kolkota branches of the bookstore. Activist and film personality Nandita Das launched the book in the Delhi store recently. Promoted by the Apeejay Surrendra Group, Oxford is a completely integrated online and offline bookstore and can be accessed throughout the world through the site www.oxfordbookstore.com.
Apart from the trauma of the victims, the book also brings out the support from family and friends, men and women that fighters always get. And any inspiration is welcome at a time when all of us are afraid to look at problems and tend to look the other way.
MALA KUMAR
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