'It's Time Women Said Enough Is Enough'

'We have been threatened. We have felt violated.'
'Everything is in danger if you don't give safe spaces to women.'

Priyanka Chaturvedi, the Rajya Sabha MP from the Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray party, wrote to President Droupadi Murmu on August 19 to expedite her assent to the Shakti Bill [Shakti Criminal Laws (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Special Court & Machinery for Implementation of Maharashtra Shakti Criminal Law, 2020], so that it becomes a law.

Chaturvedi explains to Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com why she wrote to the President and why she believes that once the Shakti Bill becomes law it may deter rapists from indulging in sexual violence against women.

Why did you write to President Droupadi Murmu asking her to give her assent to the Shakti Bill passed by the Maharashtra government then led by Uddhav Thackeray?

I wrote this letter out of concern with regards to the growing crimes against women in Maharashtra and considering it was Uddhav Balasaheb Thackerayji's dream and the Mahavikas Aghadi government's commitment to the women of Maharashtra to prioritise their safety and security.

The Shakti Bill [Shakti Criminal Laws (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Special Court & Machinery for Implementation of Maharashtra Shakti Criminal Law, 2020], which was enacted after a joint committee comprising elected representatives from across political parties, had come up with stringent laws that would safeguard the interests of women and it was discussed, deliberated and debated thoroughly in the Maharashtra legislature.

After the clearance, Bhagat Singh Koshyari as the then governor of the state, handed it over to the President of India and it was to return back to Maharashtra.

This Bill ensures separate police investigating teams, focused investigation teams, separate fast track courts, and a commitment from the state government that the investigation would take place within 15 days and within 30 days the case would go into a trial.

As far as prosecution is concerned, the Shakti Bill introduces hefty fines regards to acid attack victims, social media trolling, etc, and also ensures stringent punishment with regards to crimes against women and children, taking it up to the death penalty.

In the context of what we are witnessing currently, I thought it is imperative that such a stringent law which has been pending for a long time only for a basic Constitutional nod from the President should get that assent.

It is simply a reminder to this (Maharashtra) government that despite Devendra Fadnavis's express commitment as Maharashtra's home minister to ensure to get the President's assent speedily, none of them took it on a priority because they fear probably the political mileage would be taken by the Mahavikas Aghadi government (led by Uddhav Thackeray which enacted this law).

Unfortunately, the collateral damage has been the women of Maharashtra and we are seeing this in what happened in Badlapur (where two girls, aged 4, were sexually molested by a member of the cleaning staff of a school); the public outcry came a day after I wrote this letter because I knew that we are not doing anything with regards to women's safety.

I had written out of concern that as a woman, and being the first woman tribal President, maybe she would understand where I'm coming from and give her speedy assent.

Has the President taken cognisance of your letter? What was the response from her office?

Unfortunately, I haven't received any response from her office. Because the President's office is a Constitutional body, I don't want to comment on that. But I have observed in the past as a parliamentarian that this (Modi) government, whether we write to the ministers on various issues if we do not get a chance to take it up in the Zero Hour, I personally make it a point to communicate with the concerned minister via a letter to bring the issues to the minister's notice.

I haven't seen any response coming from any minister or even acknowledgement of receiving the letter which I have written to even the Chairman of the House, the honourable Vice President (Jagdeep Dhankhar) without getting any response).

In terms of Rashtrapati Bhavan, I hoped that they would take cognisance of this issue, and considering what happened the day after (the Badlapur sexual molestation case came to light on August 20, A day after Chaturvedi WROTE to the President) my writing a letter and the spontaneous public outcry led by women, I'm hoping that this Bill would come into action (soon after getting the Presidential assent the Shakti law would become effective).

What has been surprising to me is that I heard an argument coming from the Mindhe Sena (the Shiv Sena after its takeover by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has been referred to as Mindhe [meaning slaves] Sena by members of the Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray party) that all the provisions of the Shakti Bill had been incorporated in the BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita which came into force from July 1, 2024, and which was enacted by the Narendra Modi government) Act.

Such claims are incorrect, rubbish, ridiculous, and baseless. This is no excuse to defend this government's inability to get a very stringent law in place.

I challenge spokespersons from the Mindhe Sena to show me one provision that has been incorporated (in the BNS Act) that came from Shakti. So the spirit of federal structure is totally shattered by defense like this.

The Shakti Criminal (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Special Court & Machinery for Implementation of Maharashtra Shakti Criminal Law, 2020, on crimes against women and children were passed by both Houses of the Maharashtra legislature in December 2021.
What efforts were made by the then MVA government and later the Mahayuti government to get the President's assent since then?
The MVA led by Uddhav Thackeray was in power in the state till June 2022, a full six months after the passage of the law in the Maharashtra legislature before it was toppled by the BJP and Eknath Shinde.

We were embattled by a very hostile governor (Koshyari), about which we have spoken multiple times from every fora. The governor should have willingly cooperated and ensured that the President gave her prompt nod to something as important as this.

The Supreme Court has taken cognisance of how Mr Bhagat Singh Koshyari played an active role in bringing down our government. Those were the issues why we could not get the Presidential nod because there was no cooperation coming from the governor.

We thought we would be able to complete our term and we'll be able to bring it as soon as possible and were trying to navigate the entire constitutionally-mandated positions via the governor, via the President.

But then our government was pulled down with active connivance of the governor. I have no qualms in saying this because the Supreme Court has said it. Mr Devendra Fadnavis, who went on to become the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra and as home minister, publicly stated that their Double Engine Sarkar (BJP government in the state and BJP government at the Centre is often described as Double Engine Sarkar) will speedily work to get the President's assent (for the Shakti Bill).

I have asked the home minister (Fadnavis) now after this entire outreach, how many letters did he write to the President of India to get this law passed?

How many letters has Eknath Shinde written to get this law passed?

How many people have pursued it through the governor to get it passed?

How many times was the governor approached to expedite the approval from the President?

These questions are now lying in their domain and they are obligated to answer them. That it is already in the BNS and the good provisions have been taken into account is a shameless defence.

After the Badlapur sexual molestation incident came to light Maharashtra Home Minister Fadnavis appealed to all the political parties to refrain from politicising the sexual molestation of the children.
And yet, the Opposition MVA has called for a state bandh on August 24. Is not the MVA politicising this issue to gain votes in the forthcoming assembly election?

Why has no one from the state government spoken a word about it? It was only when the women and people of Badlapur spontaneously came out in the streets that the government took cognisance of it.

My simple point here is that people led protest needs a voice to articulate it. It needs a voice to emphasise to the government to act. It (the protesters) cannot be lathi-charged into submission, which we saw (on August 20).

FIRs are filed against citizens (protesters staged a rail roko at Badlapur for the whole day on August 20 disrupting rail services) who came out of concern.

It's a clear tactic to instill fear in the minds of the residents that if you come and outrage, we will go after you. So it becomes the bounden duty of the Opposition to raise their voices and say we need to prioritise women safety in the country and in the state. These are four year old girls (who were sexually molested).

See what happened in Akola: Six minor girls were sexually assaulted by a professor (this case came to light a day after the Badlapur case).

This is not politicisation; politics also engages in policy-making. Politics also engages in decision making. Politics is seeking votes in the name of the Ladki Bahin Yojana (a scheme launched by the Maharashtra government in which poor women in the state get Rs 1,500 per month if they fulfill certain criteria); politics is when the chief minister (Eknath Shinde) calls the Badlapur public outrage a political protest to derail the Ladki Bahin Yojana. Isn't that shameful?

The Opposition's job is to hold the government accountable, and we are doing just that so that we can provide a voice to the people who have been wronged.

As far as the Maharashtra bandh is concerned, let me tell you something.

Over the years women have been conditioned to believe that 'Your silence is important. What will outrage do? If you want to talk about your safety, you do it in a particular fashion'.

If women don't follow such patriarchal diktats they are called aggressive, assertive and various other names. Our (women's) characters have been assassinated.

We have been mocked. We have been questioned. We have been threatened. We have felt violated. It is time women said enough is enough. Everything else comes later.

Everything is in danger if you don't give safe spaces to women. Every time you say if you don't empower women you lose 2 per cent of your GDP and they you pay such lip service to women empowerment.

So shouldn't we prioritise and say 'Yes, let's shut down Maharashtra and send out a message to this government that you will have to prioritise women's safety and security'?

• Part 2 of the interview: 'The Only Way We Can Stop Rapes...'