700 new brides in the Indian state of Madya Pradesh have been empowered
to defend themselves against domestic violence by state minister Gopal
Bhargava. At a mass wedding organised by the government, he gave the
brides long wooden paddles to use as weapons in case their husbands turn
abusive after taking alcohol.
The paddles are the first of 10000 which he plans to
dole out to women. On each of the paddles is a message which reads: 'For
beating drunkards' and 'Police won't intervene'.
Bhargava told the brides to reason with their husbands first, adding
that they should 'let the wooden paddles do the talking' if their
spouses refuse to listen.
Bhargava said he wanted to draw attention to the plight of rural women who face domestic abuse from their alcoholic husbands.
He said:
'Women say whenever their husbands get drunk they become violent. Their savings are taken away and splurged on liquor.'There is no intent to provoke women or instigate them to violence but the bat is to prevent violence.'
No comments:
Post a Comment