Violence against women during the partition of India

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During the Partition of India violence against women was an extensive issue.[1] It is estimated that during the partition between 75,000[2] and 100,000 women were kidnapped and raped.[3]

Contents

Crimes against women [edit]

The rape of Muslim women by Hindu and Sikh males during this period is well documented,[4] with women also being complicit in these attacks.[5] Also notable was the rape of Hindu and Sikh women by Muslim males.[4] According to Ritu Menon one of the reasons for these rapes was "an overt assertion of their identity and a simultaneous humiliation of the other by 'dishonouring' their women."[6] In some cases, women were stripped naked and were forced to parade in the market.[6][7] Some had their heads cracked open.[7] Women from the respectable families were not spared either.[6]

Women committed suicide and some were forced to commit suicide in order to avoid capture and the rape or the forced religious conversions.[8] During the partition riots in Rawalpindi numerous Hindu and Sikh women committed self immolation and threw themselves into wells and committed suicide after killing their female children, as this was the only method left for them to save their honour.[9] In 1947 in Rawalpindi some ninety Sikh women jumped into a well to avoid capture following an attack by Muslims.[8][9]

Although many women were 'martyred' by own kin[10][11][8], some families were willing to give up one young girl or more in exchange for the family's security.[12] There are also examples where entire families converted from Sikhism to Islam, where Muslim attackers had the families under threat;[8][13] in some of these cases, women were made to feel ashamed because of their "cowardice" in the face of death.[8][14]

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Žarkov, Dubravka (2007). The Body of War: Media, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Break-Up of Yugoslavia. Duke University Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-0822339663. 
  2. ^ Aftab, Tahera (30). Inscribing South Asian Muslim Women: An Annotated Bibliogaphy & Research Guide (Annotated ed.). Brill. p. 224. ISBN 978-9004158498. 
  3. ^ Butalia, Urvashi. Harsh Dobhal, ed. Writings on Human Rights, Law and Society in India: A Combat Law Anthology. Human Rights Law Network. p. 598. ISBN 81-89479-78-4. 
  4. ^ a b Kabir, Ananya Jahanara (25). Sorcha Gunne, Zoe Brigley Brigley Thompson, ed. Feminism, Literature and Rape Narratives: Violence and Violation (1st ed.). Routledge. p. 149. ISBN 978-0415806084. 
  5. ^ Chowdhry, Geeta (2000). Sita Ranchod-Nilsson, Mary Ann Tétreaul, ed. Women, States, and Nationalism: At Home in the Nation? (1st ed.). Routledge. pp. 107–110. ISBN 978-0415221726. 
  6. ^ a b c Borders & boundaries : women in India's partition 1998, p. 41.
  7. ^ a b "Literary Detail". The Legacy Project. Retrieved 2013-03-01. 
  8. ^ a b c d e David Lester. [1] Suicide and the Partition of India: A Need for Further Investigation.
  9. ^ a b Jain, Jagdish Chandra (1987). Gandhi, the Forgotten Mahatma. Mittal Publications. p. 206. ISBN 9788170990376. 
  10. ^ Remembering partition : violence, nationalism, and history in India 2001.
  11. ^ Borders & boundaries : women in India's partition 1998.
  12. ^ Remembering partition : violence, nationalism, and history in India 2001, p. 194-195.
  13. ^ Remembering partition : violence, nationalism, and history in India 2001, p. 195.
  14. ^ Borders & boundaries : women in India's partition 1998, p. 54.

Citations [edit]

Further reading [edit]

  • Daiya, Kavita. Violent belongings : partition, gender and postcolonial nationalism in India. Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press. ISBN 159213744X. 
  • Khan, Yasmin (2008). The great Partition : the making of India and Pakistan. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300143338. 
  • Kakar, Sudhir (1996). The colors of violence : cultural identities, religion, and conflict. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226422852. 
  • Butalia, Urvashi (2000). The other side of silence : voices from the partition of India. London: Hurst. ISBN 1850655332. 
  • Whitehead, Andrew Women victims of partition -- Brutalised and humiliated
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