In the last few months, we have heard a lot about Triple Talaq, Muslim women and how to save them and mainstream media has ignored Hindu women.  Is it another political stunt by BJP and Modi government?

Earlier PM Modi was reported saying he cannot see lives of Muslim women getting ruined because of Triple Talaq, is that his real concern or votes? Does government care about Hindu women the same way it interferes in the matters of Muslims?

Facts and figures tell a different story that who are really in danger and whose lives are really getting ruined, Hindu women or Muslim women.

We will look into the stats but before that, it should not be forgotten that so-called Hindutva organizations and fanatic Hindus had stopped Dr. Ambedkar’s Hindu Code Bill which was for the betterment of women. Why so suddenly the same fanatic Hindutva organizations started to care about women and that also particularly about Muslim women?

The Statistics of Triple Talaq

There are 17 crore Muslims in India.

Half of them are women = 8.5 crore women

43% of Muslim women are married = 3.6 crore

Divorce rate is 5 for every 1000 marriages = 2 lakh

Out of that 2 lakh divorced Muslim women

1. Not all Muslims believe in Triple Talaq
2. Not all Talaqs are initiated by men (the procedure of Khula)
3. Not all Talaqs are instant (which is where the problem is)

Let us assume half of them are instant Triple Talaqs = 1 lakh

Now, Let’s Look at the Stats for the Hindu Community

There are 100 crore Hindus in India

Half of them are women = 50 crore women

43% of Hindu women are married = 21.5 crores

Separation rate is 5.5 for every 1000 marriages = 12 lakh

Unsettled separation rate: 3.7 for every 1000 marriages = 8 lakh

Out of the 8 lakh unsettled separation for Hindu women

1. There are cases of divorces pending with courts
2. The separation could be initiated by the woman
3. Not all unsettled separations indicate wife abandonment

Let us assume half of them are cases of wife abandonment (similar to PM Modi) = 4 lakh cases.

For every 1 Muslim woman suffering from instant Triple Talaq, there are 4 Hindu women who are suffering the same fate as Jashodaben, Mr. Modi’s wife whom he left without divorce.

Facts v/s Brahmin-Bania Media Fiction

The Census of 2011 had put the divorce rate among Muslims at 0.56% and 0.76% among Hindus.

Further according to the Census of 2011, among divorced Indian women, 68 per cent are Hindus whereas just 23.3 percent are Muslims.

Among divorced men, Hindus account for 76 percent, and Muslims 12.7 percent. Both Christian women and men cover 4.1 percent of their gender-respective divorced groups.

The percentage of women staying in the marriage is highest amongst Muslims (87.8%) compared to Hindus (86.2%), Christians (83.7%) and other religious minorities (85.8%).

The percentage of widowed women is least amongst Muslims (11.1%) compared to Hindus (12.9%), Christians (14.6%) and other religious Minorities (13.3%). It is likely that the culture of widow remarriages provides a higher level of family protection to Muslim women compared to women from other religious communities.

The percentage of separated and abandoned women is also least amongst the Muslims (0.67%) compared to Hindus (0.69%), Christians (1.19%) and other religious Minorities (0.68%).

The issues relating to separated and abandoned women is much more serious than that of triple talaq. As per the last census, they are 2.3 million separated and abandoned women in India; in absolute terms, that is more than two times the number of divorced women. There are close to two million Hindu women who are abandoned and separated; this number is 2.8 lakh for Muslims, 0.9 lakh for Christians and 0.8 lakh for other religions.

Anyone trying to improve the conditions of Muslim women by talking of the red herring of triple talaq should know the depth of sufferings of 2.4 million deserted women. [Read]

So, who is trying to create fiction and distorting the reality? Why is Brahmin-Bania media distorting the facts and presenting half-truths to Indians? Whom they are trying to please and why so much hatred against Muslim community?

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Child Marriage Among Hindu Society

Nearly 12 million Indian children were married before the age of 10 years, 84% of them Hindu and 11% Muslim according to IndiaSpend.

Who will speak for them?

Dowry in Hindu Society

Dowry system in Hindu society is so rampant that many times women are burnt alive for bringing fewer items in dowry. The Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961, amended in 1984 and 1986, made dowry a recognizable and non-bailable offense. But despite being illegal, dowry is becoming more rampant and entrenched. In 2010, 8,391 dowry deaths were reported. According to government figures, Delhi alone records a few hundred dowry deaths each year. But women’s rights groups estimate deaths in the capital at 900 per year. Moreover, there has been a phenomenal increase in such deaths since the 1990s when they numbered at around 300 per year. India’s economic liberalization in the 1990s has seen a proportionate rise in levels of greed, and a bride is perceived by her in-laws as a potential cash cow. [Read]

Self-immolation, Sati, on a husband’s pyre may have been banned in India, but life for many widows in India is still disheartening as they are shunned by their communities and abandoned by their families.

Ignored Pain of Hindu Women

Why no one in India wants to discuss the pain of Manglik Hindu girls? They suffer worse that divorce. In Hindu astrology, Mangal Dosha is an astrological combination and person born in the presence of this condition is termed as Manglik. Among Hindus it is believed to be unfavorable for marriages, causing discomfort and tension in the relationship, leading to severe disharmony among the spouses.

Many Brahmins try to take advantage of such situations and sexually exploit Hindu women. Why do Hindus not get offended by this superstition?

News about Brahmin asking to sleep with Brahmin to get rid of Manglik doshas

Even the famous Hindi movie actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan married a Peepal Tree in Varanasi to get rid of “Manglik Dosh”!

Many times, Manglik Hindu girls are forced to marry tree, dog or cat. What can be more inhuman than this Brahminical practice?

Among Hindus, girls are sometimes forced to marry a dog to avoid evil forces!

Uncounted numbers of Hindu boys and girls are forced to marry dogs, trees or what not to avoid evil spirits!

The pain of Hindu women in various Hindu temples such as at Vrindavan etc is ignored and not talked about in Indian society. Many Hindus families (mainly upper castes) throw women out of their homes if their husband dies and women are left to survive on their own. Many turn into begging and other try to find a place at Vrindavan ashrams or at Varanasi ashrams but they are many times sexually exploited by the so-called Hindu gurus running those ashrams.

Why there is no protest against such practice of throwing women out of their family after husband’s death? Why don’t so-called Hindus get offended by that?

Vrindavan, no doubt the place associated with the mischievous Hindu god Krishna, who used to play with goppies (young girls), is considered sacred by Hindus but condition as pathetic as it is elsewhere in India. Ashrams in the Raman Reti area of Vrindavan are used by sex-workers to rent the room via bribing the managers of Ashrams and get their work done under the shadow of beloved God!

Many of the sex-workers believe Ashrams are the safest place to work out with clients. Young girls coming to Vrindavan after being abandoned by their husbands from a large source of prostitution in the city. Many foreigners from America and Russia can also been seen in the Mathura and Vrindavan areas, working as prostitutes. Many other women who come here at Ashrams for the last days of life also end up as beggars and remain vulnerable to always unsatisfied balls!

The practice of Devadasi is still prevalent in many states of India. Mostly lower caste women from Hindu society are dedicated to temples and they are forced to work at temples and many times as sex slaves to temple priests. According to the 2015 commission report, there were around 80,000 Devadasi in just 2 states – Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Actually, numbers would be much higher as the report doesn’t cover the hub states of Devadasi such as Karnataka and Maharashtra. On 13th June 1936 at Mumbai, Dr. Ambedkar had raised voice against Devadasi system and had asked to end this practice but fanatic Hindus have kept this practice alive for their own benefits, exploiting innocent women as young as 5-6 years old. Devadasi system is not only alive but there are upper castes organizations those conduct programs to glorify Devidasi system!

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An invitation – Hindu organization celebrating Devadasi system!

Devadasi practice is simply unethical, horrible practice and exploitation of women in the name of god. Organizers of such events, glorifying it, should be booked.

In fact, the fate of the Hindu woman is worse. The Muslim woman can marry again, and find a better husband, but the Hindu woman gets stuck in a limbo, she cannot marry again, she cannot have a normal life again. She is a half-widow.

But you do not hear much about these Hindu women. Perhaps, this will make you wonder, if the media is really serious about the welfare of women, or are they just peddling a political agenda? An agenda of de-humanizing all Muslims, under the subtle pretext of social reform!

We believe everyone deserves a life with dignity and bright future without selling flesh as promised in the Article 21 of Indian Constitution.

– With inputs from the Priyanka’s Facebook post

(Feature Image: ScoopWhoop)

Read also – Making Laws Symmetrical – The Case of Triple Talaq