India’s Many Chauvinists

By Margherita Stancati

Last year, we looked at the many instances in which high-ranking Indian officials offended women by making chauvinist remarks.

Now is a good time to update that list, as several Indian officials have come under fire for their offensive comments in recent months.

The latest offender is coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, who on Sunday said that “as time passes” wives are “not as fun as [they] used to be.” Speaking on news channel NDTV, Mr. Jaiswal apologized and said his words had been taken out of context. (You can read more about this here.) Mr. Jaiswal could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for the ruling Congress party declined to elaborate, saying “the matter should be rested.”

Then there’s K. Bhakthavatsala, a high court judge who was sharply criticized for several comments he made in court in recent months.

On one occasion, he told a female lawyer she was not suitable to argue family cases since she was not married. “Family matters should be argued only by married people, not spinsters. You should only watch,” he told her during an August hearing, the Indian Express reported.

A few weeks later, in a separate case, he advised a woman who accused her husband of beating her “to adjust” to her family situation. “Women suffer in all marriages,” Mr. Bhakthavatsala explained, “Why are you still talking about his beatings?”

As these comments went viral, with a group and a petition calling for his removal, family matters were later removed from Mr. Bhaktavatsala’s competency.

Mr. Bhakthavatsala could not be reached for comment. He has earlier defended himself, saying he had been misinterpreted and that he did not approve of domestic violence.

“I asked couples to forget their past and live their life peacefully,” he said, according to the Press Trust of India.

A minister in the state government of West Bengal, Madan Mitra, in questioning the veracity of a recent rape allegation, asked why the woman –  a mother –  was at a nightclub before she was allegedly raped. This upset the alleged victim and was widely condemned. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also went on the recordsaying the rape allegation was fabricated, and aimed at tarnishing her government’s reputation, a comment she got plenty of flack for. Spokesmen for the government of West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress party could not be reached by phone and did not reply to written requests for comment.

This attitude is also common among law enforcement authorities. An investigation by the magazine Tehelka published earlier this year revealed an alarming degree of prejudgment against alleged rape victims among police in the Delhi area.

“Girls from Darjeeling and Nepal have come here for business purposes. They go with men for money, but if the money isn’t enough, it becomes rape,” one police officer was quoted as saying. A spokesman for Delhi police said he was not able to comment on the report and hung up the phone.