As a group of women walked towards Jantar Mantar, the Delhi police profiled and detained only the women wearing hijabs and loaded them on a bus, while letting the others leave. They even tried to take away their phones but as the media gathered and questioned the basis of detention, they retreated.
This is a first-hand account of an Instagram user who was present at the protest site. He further added that the bus carried only hijab-wearing women. This incident took place amid mass detentions across Delhi ahead of the proposed October 10 protest by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). The focus of demand of the protestors ranging from the CJP, student activists, civil society groups and opposition parties was the removal of Chief Election Commissioner of India Gyanesh Kumar, an immediate halt to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and end of police repression against democratic dissent. The fear of disenfranchisement due to irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls is the reason that brought the detained women to the protest site.
Why Participation of Muslim Women Matters
The participation of Muslim women in the CJP’s vote chori (vote theft) demonstration has been marked by mixed public responses, community warnings and isolated high-profile incidents. Prominent Muslim religious leaders and organisations have advised the youth and community members to stay away from the protests. Observers and political commentators noted that mobilisation of Muslim women in large numbers, seen earlier in protests like Shaheen Bagh, was largely absent from the CJP’s voter roll protests largely due to fears of crackdown and state action. While the 2019 Shaheen Bagh protests drew women from all age groups, the participation of women in the recent protests remained largely limited to young Gen-Z protestors comprising of students and student activists.
Young women participating in these protests see them as an avenue for bringing about social change. They see deletion of voter names on a largescale as a cause of great concern. Sana, a student of Delhi University says, “The voter-roll controversy is a huge community concern. While vote theft in itself is a big problem, the deletion of names on a largescale of marginalised communities like Muslims and Dalits has created an alarming situation for a democracy like India.”
Muslim women are among the prominent participants despite community warnings and repeated police action. Throughout the protest, women in hijab have been regularly targeted and detained. The shutting down of metro stations has made commuting difficult for the protestors. Nazia, another DU student says, “I travel by Rapido as they have shut down the metro stations. I usually travel with a group of four to five people as the Delhi police can detain you any time. Travelling alone isn’t safe at the moment.” She further adds that since her participation at the protest, she has been at the receiving end of online hate and abuse. Her inbox is filled with communal and sexist slurs since she started uploading photos of herself at the protest site. Her family is concerned about her safety. She is an independent journalist and it is her love for sharing stories that motivates her to show up at the protest site every day. Mehreen, a young Kashmiri student who is also a CJP member is a regular at the protest site. During the protest, while she was standing on a barricade, one of her male friends grabbed her in an attempt to protect her from falling. The clip of the duo was cropped and shared online. The video went viral. Mehreen was slut-shamed and became a victim of targeted online abuse by right-wing trolls.
Journalist Nafisa Khan of 4PM has alleged that she was physically assaulted by a Delhi Police officer while she was carrying out her journalistic duties, claiming that she was hit with a stick and slapped. In a video message after the alleged incident, Khan displayed marks on her hand and said that she would not remain silent about what had happened. Speaking about the incident, Khan said she wanted to make her identity clear, stating, “My name is Khan. Khan comes in my name.” She went on to identify herself as a Muslim and alleged that her religious identity was a factor in the treatment meted out to her by the police. “I am Muhammad, I am a Muslim. And that is why today, a Delhi police officer has hit me with a stick,” Khan said, alleging that the officer struck her with a stick and slapped her. Khan also showed her hand in the video, pointing towards what she described as marks resulting from the alleged assault. She said she wanted to show people how she had been beaten and specifically drew attention to the condition of her hand.
For women participating in public life, democracy isn’t confined to simply casting a vote. It is also about establishing their autonomy, questioning the establishment, expressing dissent and participating in decision making. While removal of Gyanesh Kumar and halting the SIR remain the focus of the protests, Sania, a member of AISA, believes that removal of one corrupt man will not change anything when the system is corrupt to the core. She says, “No real change will happen unless there is a leadership that addresses the concerns of the most marginalised sections of the society, be they Muslims, Dalits, women or the tribals. There should be a platform for the most underprivileged where they can raise their voices and share their concerns without the fear of being harmed. Their right to dignity is protected and they feel fairly represented.” It is aspirations like these that have compelled women like Sania to be a part of this movement.
(The names of the correspondents have been changed to conceal their identity.)
[The author is a freelance writer.]