Tehelka case: Molested reporter's statement // Siddharth Varadarajan: Politicians, please take your fights elsewhere
The young reporter who has accused Tehelka founder Tarun Tejpal of sexually assaulting her in Goa earlier this month today refuted allegations that the case against him is politically motivated. Here is her statement:
I am heartened by the broad support I have received over the past fortnight. However, I am deeply concerned and very disturbed by insinuations that my complaint is part of a pre-election political conspiracy. I categorically refute such insinuations and put forward the following arguments:
The struggle for women to assert control over their lives and their bodies is most certainly a political one, but feminist politics and its concerns are wider than the narrow universe of our political parties. Thus, I call upon our political parties to resist the temptation to turn a very important discussion about gender, power and violence into a conversation about themselves.
Suggestions that I am acting on someone else's behest are only the latest depressing indications that sections of our public discourse are unwilling to acknowledge that women are capable to making decisions about themselves for themselves.
In this past week, television commentators who should know better, have questioned my motivations and my actions during and after Mr. Tejpal molested me. Some have questioned the time it took for me to file my complaint, more inquisitive commentators have questioned the use of the word "sexual molestation" versus words like "rape."
Perhaps the hardest part of this unrelentingly painful experience has been my struggle with taxonomy. I don't know if I am ready to see myself as a "rape victim", for my colleagues, friends, supporters and critics to see me thus. It is not the victim that categorizes crimes: it is the law. And in this case, the law is clear: what Mr. Tejpal did to me falls within the legal definition of rape.
Now that we have a new law that broadens the definition of rape, we should stand by what we fought for. We have spoken, time and again, about how rape is not about lust or sex, but about power, privilege and entitlement. Thus this new law should be applicable to everybody - the wealthy, the powerful, and the well connected - and not just to faceless strangers.
As seen by some of the responses to this case, instances of familial and custodial rape present doughty challenges to even the most adamantine feminists.
Unlike Mr. Tejpal, I am not a person of immense means. I have been raised singlehandedly by my mother's single income. My father's health has been very fragile for many years now.
Unlike Mr. Tejpal, who is fighting to protect his wealth, his influence and his privilege, I am fighting to preserve nothing except for my integrity and my right to assert that my body is my own and not the plaything of my employer. By filing my complaint, I have lost not just a job that I loved, but much-needed financial security and the independence of my salary. I have also opened myself to personal and slanderous attack. This will not be an easy battle.
In my life, and my writings, I have always urged women to speak out and break the collusive silence that surrounds sexual crime. This crisis has only confirmed the myriad difficulties faced by survivors. First, our utterances are questioned, then our motivations, and finally our strength is turned against us: a politician will issue a statement claiming that speaking out against sexual violence will hurt our professional prospects; an application filed in the Delhi High Court will question why the victim remained "normal".
Had I chosen silence in this instance, I would not have been able to face either myself or the feminist movement that is forged and renewed afresh by generations of strong women.
Finally, an array of men of privilege have expressed sorrow that Tehelka, the institution, has suffered in this crisis. I remind them that this crisis was caused by the abusive violence of the magazine's Editor-in-Chief, and not by an employee who chose to speak out.
Thank you everyone for your support.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/tehelka-case-what-tejpal-did-to-me-is-legally-rape-she-says-in-this-statement-452394?pfrom=home-lateststories
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Siddharth Varadarajan: Politicians, please take your fights elsewhere
Just as bad money drives out the good, the public sphere has seen its own version of Gresham's Law in recent days with bad politics casting a grotesque shadow over the genuine outpouring of public support for the young woman journalist who has accused Tehelka's Editor-in-Chief of rape.
Driven initially by outrage on social media over the way Tehelka tried to make light of the alleged crime and then quickly taken forward by the mainstream media, the debate over sexual harassment and assault at the workplace has raised the level of public awareness about the need for institutional mechanisms within companies to deal promptly and fairly with complaints from female employees.
There is also another important lesson to be learned. As the woman journalist has herself noted in a poignant and sharp response to the innuendo, subterfuge and diversionary bilge Tarun Tejpal and his supporters have let loose,
"Rape is not about lust or sex, but about power, privilege and entitlement."
Power and privilege operate both before and after the crime. It is not uncommon for well-connected men accused of sexual crimes - politicians, religious leaders, persons in uniform, and now editors -- to seek refuge within a wider collective in those rare cases where the women they attack refused to be cowed down or silent. Once in the dock, such men shamelessly play on their affiliations of caste, religion, politics or ideology in order to claim that they are being targeted because of that shared identity. In extreme cases - during a war or a communal massacre - mass sexual violence is even dressed up as affirmation of that identity.
In India today, the last refuge of the scoundrel is his political affiliation. For example, when details emerged in the media of the manner in which the Gujarat government had misused the state machinery to stalk a young woman known to Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party promptly accused the Congress of "dirty tricks" and said Modi was being targeted for "political" reasons.
In similar fashion, Tarun Tejpal promptly sought to hide behind his political beliefs after his initial attempt to write his way out of an indictment collapsed. In a shameless attempt to confuse the issue, he has claimed that he is being victimized for being an opponent of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its sectarian politics and for standing up for secularism.
While his strategy is cynical and self-serving the fact is that both the BJP and the Congress have actively encouraged him to play politics.
First off the block was Arun Jaitley, with his blog post about "secular philandering." Leaving aside his inappropriate and even offensive use of the word "philandering" to describe a series of acts that the senior BJP leader himself said met the legal definition of rape, pointing to Tejpal's "secular" politics was nothing but an attempt to score political points by linking the Tehelka editor to the Congress.
On its part, the Congress has prevaricated in a way that it never would have had the editor accused of rape been someone associated with the BJP.
In recent days, the political grandstanding has continued unabated with Sushma Swaraj accusing an unnamed senior Congress minister of "shielding Tejpal." A low point was touched on Thursday when a BJP leader in Delhi, Vijay Jolly, staged a noisy protest outside the residence of former Tehelka managing editor Shoma Chaudhury, attempted to block her exit and then vandalized the outside of her building.
Instead of seeking to extract political mileage from the Tejpal issue and attacking one another, the BJP and the Congress need to realize this case is not about them. This is not about UPA vs NDA. This is not about who can use the cleverest words to score a point over a political rival. This case is about a young woman journalist who has charged her editor with sexual molestation. This case is about a woman working in an organization that sought help and justice within and was rebuffed. This case is about the hidden epidemic of sexual harassment in workplaces all across India. This case is about our willingness to shame all those men (and women) who make light of sexual violence, who question or blame the woman who was targeted, who make excuses for her attacker. This case is about our willingness to support the woman till she gets justice.
(The author is a senior journalist and a former Editor of The Hindu)
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/tehelka-case-politicians-please-take-your-fights-elsewhere-452576?pfrom=home-topstories
I am heartened by the broad support I have received over the past fortnight. However, I am deeply concerned and very disturbed by insinuations that my complaint is part of a pre-election political conspiracy. I categorically refute such insinuations and put forward the following arguments:
The struggle for women to assert control over their lives and their bodies is most certainly a political one, but feminist politics and its concerns are wider than the narrow universe of our political parties. Thus, I call upon our political parties to resist the temptation to turn a very important discussion about gender, power and violence into a conversation about themselves.
Suggestions that I am acting on someone else's behest are only the latest depressing indications that sections of our public discourse are unwilling to acknowledge that women are capable to making decisions about themselves for themselves.
In this past week, television commentators who should know better, have questioned my motivations and my actions during and after Mr. Tejpal molested me. Some have questioned the time it took for me to file my complaint, more inquisitive commentators have questioned the use of the word "sexual molestation" versus words like "rape."
Perhaps the hardest part of this unrelentingly painful experience has been my struggle with taxonomy. I don't know if I am ready to see myself as a "rape victim", for my colleagues, friends, supporters and critics to see me thus. It is not the victim that categorizes crimes: it is the law. And in this case, the law is clear: what Mr. Tejpal did to me falls within the legal definition of rape.
Now that we have a new law that broadens the definition of rape, we should stand by what we fought for. We have spoken, time and again, about how rape is not about lust or sex, but about power, privilege and entitlement. Thus this new law should be applicable to everybody - the wealthy, the powerful, and the well connected - and not just to faceless strangers.
As seen by some of the responses to this case, instances of familial and custodial rape present doughty challenges to even the most adamantine feminists.
Unlike Mr. Tejpal, I am not a person of immense means. I have been raised singlehandedly by my mother's single income. My father's health has been very fragile for many years now.
Unlike Mr. Tejpal, who is fighting to protect his wealth, his influence and his privilege, I am fighting to preserve nothing except for my integrity and my right to assert that my body is my own and not the plaything of my employer. By filing my complaint, I have lost not just a job that I loved, but much-needed financial security and the independence of my salary. I have also opened myself to personal and slanderous attack. This will not be an easy battle.
In my life, and my writings, I have always urged women to speak out and break the collusive silence that surrounds sexual crime. This crisis has only confirmed the myriad difficulties faced by survivors. First, our utterances are questioned, then our motivations, and finally our strength is turned against us: a politician will issue a statement claiming that speaking out against sexual violence will hurt our professional prospects; an application filed in the Delhi High Court will question why the victim remained "normal".
Had I chosen silence in this instance, I would not have been able to face either myself or the feminist movement that is forged and renewed afresh by generations of strong women.
Finally, an array of men of privilege have expressed sorrow that Tehelka, the institution, has suffered in this crisis. I remind them that this crisis was caused by the abusive violence of the magazine's Editor-in-Chief, and not by an employee who chose to speak out.
Thank you everyone for your support.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/tehelka-case-what-tejpal-did-to-me-is-legally-rape-she-says-in-this-statement-452394?pfrom=home-lateststories
*********************
Siddharth Varadarajan: Politicians, please take your fights elsewhere
Just as bad money drives out the good, the public sphere has seen its own version of Gresham's Law in recent days with bad politics casting a grotesque shadow over the genuine outpouring of public support for the young woman journalist who has accused Tehelka's Editor-in-Chief of rape.
Driven initially by outrage on social media over the way Tehelka tried to make light of the alleged crime and then quickly taken forward by the mainstream media, the debate over sexual harassment and assault at the workplace has raised the level of public awareness about the need for institutional mechanisms within companies to deal promptly and fairly with complaints from female employees.
There is also another important lesson to be learned. As the woman journalist has herself noted in a poignant and sharp response to the innuendo, subterfuge and diversionary bilge Tarun Tejpal and his supporters have let loose,
"Rape is not about lust or sex, but about power, privilege and entitlement."
Power and privilege operate both before and after the crime. It is not uncommon for well-connected men accused of sexual crimes - politicians, religious leaders, persons in uniform, and now editors -- to seek refuge within a wider collective in those rare cases where the women they attack refused to be cowed down or silent. Once in the dock, such men shamelessly play on their affiliations of caste, religion, politics or ideology in order to claim that they are being targeted because of that shared identity. In extreme cases - during a war or a communal massacre - mass sexual violence is even dressed up as affirmation of that identity.
In India today, the last refuge of the scoundrel is his political affiliation. For example, when details emerged in the media of the manner in which the Gujarat government had misused the state machinery to stalk a young woman known to Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party promptly accused the Congress of "dirty tricks" and said Modi was being targeted for "political" reasons.
In similar fashion, Tarun Tejpal promptly sought to hide behind his political beliefs after his initial attempt to write his way out of an indictment collapsed. In a shameless attempt to confuse the issue, he has claimed that he is being victimized for being an opponent of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its sectarian politics and for standing up for secularism.
While his strategy is cynical and self-serving the fact is that both the BJP and the Congress have actively encouraged him to play politics.
First off the block was Arun Jaitley, with his blog post about "secular philandering." Leaving aside his inappropriate and even offensive use of the word "philandering" to describe a series of acts that the senior BJP leader himself said met the legal definition of rape, pointing to Tejpal's "secular" politics was nothing but an attempt to score political points by linking the Tehelka editor to the Congress.
On its part, the Congress has prevaricated in a way that it never would have had the editor accused of rape been someone associated with the BJP.
In recent days, the political grandstanding has continued unabated with Sushma Swaraj accusing an unnamed senior Congress minister of "shielding Tejpal." A low point was touched on Thursday when a BJP leader in Delhi, Vijay Jolly, staged a noisy protest outside the residence of former Tehelka managing editor Shoma Chaudhury, attempted to block her exit and then vandalized the outside of her building.
Instead of seeking to extract political mileage from the Tejpal issue and attacking one another, the BJP and the Congress need to realize this case is not about them. This is not about UPA vs NDA. This is not about who can use the cleverest words to score a point over a political rival. This case is about a young woman journalist who has charged her editor with sexual molestation. This case is about a woman working in an organization that sought help and justice within and was rebuffed. This case is about the hidden epidemic of sexual harassment in workplaces all across India. This case is about our willingness to shame all those men (and women) who make light of sexual violence, who question or blame the woman who was targeted, who make excuses for her attacker. This case is about our willingness to support the woman till she gets justice.
(The author is a senior journalist and a former Editor of The Hindu)
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/tehelka-case-politicians-please-take-your-fights-elsewhere-452576?pfrom=home-topstories
