The Shiv Sena party, an
ally of the main opposition BJP, said it had handed out 21,000 knives
with three-inch blades to women in the city and surrounding areas and
plans to distribute 100,000.
Mumbai police said they were examining the knives and considering legal action.
"This is a symbolic
gesture," said Shiv Sena spokesman Rahul Narvekar, adding that a knife
shorter than six inches in length does not fit the definition of a
weapon. The party also handed out small bags of chili powder -
apparently to throw into an attacker's eyes.
"It's only to pass a
signal to eve-teasers, anti-social elements and perpetrators of crime
against women that women are empowered and they can take care of
themselves," Narvekar said.
Eve-teasing is a euphemism for molesting women.
"Don't be afraid of using
this knife if someone attacks you," Ajay Chaudhari, running the knife
campaign, was quoted by the party newspaper, Saamana, as saying.
"We have set up a team of nine advocates to protect you from any potential court cases that may arise."
A 23-year-old
physiotherapy student was raped and beaten on a moving bus in on
December 16 before being thrown bleeding on a expressway in New Delhi,
dubbed India's "rape capital". Mumbai is generally considered a safer
city for women.
The attack and the
student's death two weeks later caused public outrage at the failure of
the government and police to protect women from rising sexual offences
in a country where one rape is reported on average every 20 minutes.
In response, more women
are taking up self-defense classes and carrying pepper spray. A
government commission set up to recommend revisions to India's sex crime
laws this week said women who kill an attacker during a attempted rape
should be able to plead self-defense.
Source yahoo news.
4 comments:
I think it's nuts that the Indian government will to lengths to stop these women from protecting themselves instead of helping to decrease the number of rapes and other sexual crimes against them. Those women have a right to protect themselves. I'm glad some are also taking defense classes and carrying pepper spray.
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Women need to be able to protect themselves. I have taken one self-defense class and I learned so much. I need to take another one and brush up.
i dont think its a good idea giving out knife as it could be use against the woman. Much better is giving then free self defense classes
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