I endorse
Kareem
Oman
On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 7:58 PM, bharadwaj reshma <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
I endorse
Reshma Bharadwaj
Dept of Social Work
sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit
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*From:* jenny rowena <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
*To:* [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>;
[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
*Sent:* Mon, 25 January, 2010 11:14:24 AM
*Subject:* [GreenYouth] Urgently Endorse : Petition for Chithralekha
We a group of concerned academicians and activists belonging to
the Kerala Feminist Network have come to know that Chithralekha, a
Dalit woman who is making a living as an auto driver, has been
harassed by the CITU and the police in Payyanur, Kannur District,
Kerala, on 20^th January 2010. It is also extremely disconcerting
to note that while the general apathy of the police continue, the
trade unions of the CPI (M) has resorted to other ways of
demoralizing the struggle of a woman for just and equal, civil,
political and human rights.
*BACKGROUND*
Chithralekha, a Dalit woman, from Payyanur in Kannur, Kerala, was
one of the first woman auto drivers to enter a workplace dominated
by men from higher castes. Right from the beginning there was a
strong resistance to her and there was a three month delay in
giving her a membership of the union. Later, when she went on to
become an efficient and extremely popular auto rickshaw driver,
the resistance against her took a violent turn. Soon she was
subject to many acts of workplace harassment by her fellow auto
drivers. On one occasion, the hood of her auto was torn off, she
was called derogatory caste names, and a fellow driver even tried
to run her over with his vehicle. Chithralekha protested against
this, lodging complaints with the police and even managing to get
one of the workers arrested with the help of a local Dalit
activist. In the course of her protest, she also brought to light
the fact that her district and locality still practiced
untouchability, albeit in modern forms. Once the issue went
outside the purview of the local auto stand, the CITU and the
local CPI (M) goons adopted a new tactic and started tarnishing
her image with wide spread poster campaigns. Through these
posters, Chithralekha was branded as a sexually loose woman, a
woman who drinks, whose mother was a sex worker, who talks like a
man, who does not listen and who does not know how to behave. With
such a campaign, Chithralekha lost all support in the locality.
On December 30th, 2005, they burned down her auto, depriving her
of her only source of livelihood. However, Chithralekha continued
with her struggle and managed to procure a new auto through her
association with various Dalit, Feminists and Citizen’s
initiatives in June 2008. Chithralekha had been slowly trying to
get on with her life, though she and her husband were often being
attacked in various ways by the local CITU. It was at this point
that the current incident occurred.
* *
*THE CURRENT INCIDENT*
On the morning of 20^th January 2010, Chithralekha (along with her
husband Shreeshanth) who was about to park her auto rickshaw in
front of a medical shop, was asked to move her vehicle from the
parking spot by one Mr Ramachandran who is an office bearer of the
CITU auto rickshaw Union in Payyanur. When Chithralekha protested,
an altercation followed between them and the CITU workers started
beating her up. Soon, a police jeep arrived and bundled the couple
into the vehicle. They were taken to the police station and
severely beaten up. Later she was allowed to go without even
registering a case!! She has visible wounds all over her body and
has had to go to the hospital twice after the incident. Moreover,
she is unable to move out of her house or drive her auto as she is
afraid of further violence. Shockingly there is very little media
coverage of this issue and no local support available to her in
defending against the attack.
In this context, we strongly demand the State Government to:
* *
Ø *Take immediate steps to ensure the fundamental rights of
Chithralekha to be able to work and live in her own native place,
free of mental and physical torture. *
* *
Ø *Implement the provisions of the Vishakha Guidelines on
Sexual Harassment at the Workplace for Chithralekha, an auto
rickshaw driver.*
* *
* *
Ø *Take stringent actions against the CITU workers and police
officers on duty who inflicted violence on Chithralekha during the
incident.*
* *
Ø *Constitute an Independent Judicial Commission to conduct
thorough investigation into the whole issue*
Chithralekha Solidarity,
Kerala Feminist Network
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