Living in a patriarchal society, women undergo all sorts of scrutiny with people judging them at every step and trying to mould them into a living example of the ‘ideal woman’. A large part of that is ensuring a girl stays a virgin until she is married. Yes, there are still people in this world who believe that the morality of a girl lies between her legs.
Communities use various methods to determine whether a girl is a virgin or not. The most common among them is spreading a white sheet on the bed on the first night of marriage. If the girl bleeds she is accepted in the society, otherwise ostracised.
Fortunately, people have started realising how wrong it is and among them, are the Kanjarbhat youths who have started a WhatsApp group called “Stop the V-ritual”. However, their stand spelt trouble for them recently, when they were beaten up by 40 men in Pimpri on Sunday.
As reported by Times of India, the incident occurred when the members of the group protested against the virginity test. The members of the group including Prashant Tamchikar, Saurabh Machale and Prashant Indrekar were beaten up with chairs, kicked and punched.
Speaking to the Indian Express, Indrekar elaborated on the incident and said that he had visited the Zhulelal complex for the marriage ceremony as he and his family were invited there. He added,
According to a report in Midday, Indrekar said that once they saw people handing out cash to the community heads they started filming it, to protest against the ritual. But, this wasn’t the first altercation they had as they had previously asked community members to stop the tradition. After the attack, their parents were also threatened that they would be ousted from the community.
On being questioned, the groom, Keval Ghodage, denied the incident and justified the tradition saying,
“This is a part of our customs and needs to be followed. We want to be part of society.”
A few panch members also denied the incident and spoke against the members of “Stop the V-ritual”. They called them “notorious blackmailers” and said,
“They are filming such issues and posting them on social media without our consent. They have nothing to do with this and we did not even abuse or manhandle them. They are defaming us and trying to malign our community’s image through this publicity stunt.”
A complaint has been lodged with the Pimpri police following which they have arrested two people, and have identified five others.
It is shameful that people who are trying to do good in the society and are standing up for the right thing, are at the receiving end of such inhuman treatment. Have the traditions of the yesteryears, become more important than a person’s life?