The Communal Violence Bill: Womens Bodies as Repositories of Communal Honour

No. Panggil :	eja-21-0743
Nama Orang :	Ismail, Zara






Penerbitan :	[Place of publication not identified] : Proquest - Crime Justice and Cyber Criminology, 2020

Info Lainnya

Abstrak	This article examines the measures taken under the various iterations of Indias Communal Violence Bill to tackle sexual violence in communally charged areas. It focuses on the 2002 violence in Gujarat to illustrate sexual impunity in India, the workings of izzat (honour) within the discourse around communal violence, and to argue that citizens of India are not always equal before the law. Using decolonial, feminist and postcolonial theory, the author builds on a rich history of activism and scholarship to argue that not only are the measures proposed under the governments draft of the Communal Violence Bill inadequate, but also that they buy into problematic oversimplifications reliant on ideas of communal honour, thus neatly sidestepping institutional complicity in communal violence and foreclosing any potential for efficacy. When women are reduced to keepers of communal honour their bodies the battlefields upon which party and communal politics play out justice is put out of reach. The author argues that the policing of communal lines through the logic of izzat also results in a very peculiar construct of the concept of rapists in times of communal violence, resulting in a distinction between men who rape and men who are rapists. Rape is very much a politico-legal issue in India. It has a history and a context. The sexual impunity that runs rampant in the country today is a result of both. The author argues that there is a need to deeply interrogate who matters in Indian politics and, more importantly, who does not. Justice, in cases of sexual violence is heavily influenced by the rapists position vis-à-vis the victim/survivor, and Gujarat has shown us that to be sidelined in Indian politics can often mean a denial of justice. This article seeks to trouble the divide between state and society, calling for a recognition and interrogation of state complicity and for the decentering of honour as the central paradigm of communal violence. It is only through the deconstruction of this façade that the underlying causes and contributors can be addressed, allowing us to move towards a more equitable and just system.
Entri Tambahan Nama Orang
001 Hak Akses (open/membership)	membership
Kata Kunci	India, coloniality, gender, human rights, sexual violence, communal honour
ISSN
Tahun Terbit	2020
No. Induk	eja-21-0743
Entri Sumber Data	Proquest - Crime Justice and Cyber Criminology
Entri Utama Nama orang	Ismail, Zara
Volume, Nomor, Tahun dan Hlm.	vol. 21, no. 3, p. 50-63
Entri Utama Nama Badan
Barcode	eja-21-0743
Subjek Topik
Judul Utama	The Communal Violence Bill: Womens Bodies as Repositories of Communal Honour
Kode Bahasa	eng
Sumber Koleksi	Perpustakaan Nasional