Are all Rohingya terrorists?

On May 22 the Amnesty International released a report provingRohingya militants – ArakanRohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) –had indeedkilled as many as 99 Hindu civilians in a single day of carnage on August 25, 2017 – sparing only eight women and eight children who they abducted and forced them to convert to Islam.The report has brought different reactions from several quarters of the political thinkers and leaders. While some critiques questioned the authenticity and timing of the report, for others this report served as ‘perfect’ excuse to blame and despise the whole Rohingya community.

The ArakanRohingya Salvation Army, better known as ARSA, operate in northern Myanmar, where the Rohingya have since several decades faced persecution from the hands of its own country’s government. Last year the ARSA attacked police posts in Rakhine state, thus, killing about 12 people, according to then released reports. Post this attack the military with the government launched large scale retaliation on the community. This retaliation led to lakhs of Rohingyaflee their homes, cross dangerous forests and minefields and water in rickety boats to seek safety in Bangladesh. While this mass exodus led to countries competing against each other on who condemns the incident first, UN called it as ‘textbook example of ethnic cleansing’.

Last month the Amnesty International brought out a new disturbing fact. It highlighted that the ARSA is also guilty of killingcivilians. The group was responsible for killing 99 Hindu civilians in a single day last year.  This new finding stirred a whole new topic of discussion – Should all Rohingya be counted as a threat?

Though this new finding’s authenticity is under scanner, this report has been hailed by both the Myanmar government as well as some of reputed political organizations of India. ZawHtay, a Myanmar government spokesman, welcomed the Amnesty report’s conclusions.

This report’s release has led to an outburst of statements and articles by some of India’s eminent personalities. Recently PrashantBhushan, a senior lawyer who has been fighting the Indian government’s plan to deport 40,000 Rohingya refugees said, “Horrendous and unforgivable. Rohingya militants have massacred hundreds of Hindus in Myanmar. Rohingya in Myanmar have been victims of a terrible genocide. But that is no justification for attacking innocent people. Rohingya will lose public sympathy if this happens.”

In a recent editorial piece ‘Rohingya shadow over Myanmar Hindus’ in a reputed English daily by Sandhya Jain, a Senior Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, questioned logic of rehabilitation even when the role of Rohingya militants having massacred Hindus have been proven. She also cited some reports of intelligence agencies that have commented on Rohingya militants having ties with groups like Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, Lashkar-Tayyeba and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). She, through her article, tried to pull the attention of the world from Rohingya to the plight of Hindus in Myanmar which was being ignored by the world while the Rohingya got sympathy.

Recently even the Indian Government in fear Rohingyamuslims being a security threat to the country issued certain directives like confining them to pre-identified places and not issuing them id proofs but maintaining biometric details of all illegal Rohingya. This ‘fear’ is ironical as till now much to the surprise of the government the Rohingya preferred Jammu over Kashmir. Also till now such fear have never seem to exist towards illegal Hindus and Muslims who have been entering India from Bangaldesh since past many decades.

Though the attack on Hindus by Rohingya and the plight of Hindus living in Myanmar is unthinkable and the fear of Rohingya militants seeping into India scares every citizen yet both these statements and article have missed out or rather ignored the essential facts. Both have included the whole Rohingya community into the Rohingya militant group. Also the fact that MsSandhya Jain seems to miss is that there is huge wide difference between the plight of Rohingya and plight of Hindus in Myanmar. The difference merely lies in the constitutional status that the Myanmar government has granted to both these ethnic minorities.

Once Dr MaungZarni, a Human Rights activist and scholar, had said, “In Myanmar, we have taken up a Nazi frame of mind. If anyone would understand what if happening to Rohingya, it would be you, the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, the survivors and their families.”

Loose words not enough solve Rohingya crisis

In 2016, the world witnessed massive exodus of Syrians and in 2017 Rohingya are fleeing to escape rape and death from the hands of their own country’s military and Buddhists chauvinists. Soon in response to this, world political leaders and stalwarts joined the chorus of outrage at Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung san suu kyi. While all are busy criticising Suu kyi - the Nobel laureate and erstwhile champion of the oppressed - for refusing to condemn the army and its actions, US seems have hit the bull’s eye.

The Rohingya community has been facing persecution since 1970s. When the junta Government finally accepted Aung san suu kyi’s NLD party’s victory in 2015 polls, a ray of hope to finally see the end of decade long persecution shone in the eyes of Rohingya people. Everyone hailed her heroic resistance to the junta Government for democracy and the cause of humanity.

Yet Suu kyi refuses to call the country’s main Muslim community by its name. She has diligently refused to condemn atrocities by the military Government. And when after ten weeks of the ruthless crackdown by the Myanmar's army that drove more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims from their homes, the country's de facto leader finally visited the scene, telling people not to "quarrel".

While the world opted to walk in a singular fashion of condemning and snatching away honorary degrees from suu kyi, US, however, has stopped short in calling the atrocities as textbook example of ethnic cleansing, and called for putting sanctions on Myanmar’s military government as under the Myanmar constitution the military and not the civilian government holds three key ministries – Defence, Border and Home Affairs. According to many, US not calling the atrocities on Rohingya as - textbook example of ethnic cleansing or such similar synonymous words - is highly inappropriate. But US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says, “What's most important to us is the world can't just stand idly by and be witness to the atrocities that are being reported in that area." “We really hold the military leadership accountable for what's happening with the Rakhine area," Tillerson said on October 18.

Recently, Washington announced that it will end military aid to some Myanmar units involved in the forced displacement of the Rohingya minority. Some weeks ago US senator Edward John Markey called on the administration to put Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the Myanmar military, on the “SDN list” — the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List — which blocks assets of the person in question and curtails their travel. “Putting Gen. Min on the SDN list,” Markey said, “would send a clear signal to those responsible for these atrocities that they cannot act with impunity.”

Recently, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the United States will not permit units and officers involved in operations in Myanmar’s Rakhine State to receive or participate in any US assistance programmes. The United States has even rescinded invitations for senior Burmese security forces to attend U.S.-sponsored events and urged Myanmar to grant the international observers and media unrestricted access to the sites of alleged abuses. The state department has also halted its consideration of travel waivers for senior Myanmar military leaders and is now considering to target economic measures against individuals, along with targeted sanctions, like freezing assets of senior Burmese military officials and suspending all business with the military and its affiliates. “We are assessing authorities under the JADE Act to consider economic options available to target individuals associated with atrocities,” Nauert said, referring to the 2008 Block Burmese JADE (Junta’s Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act.

According to many experts, the recent visit by Aung san suu kyi (though a hoax) with one of Myanmar’s wealthiest businessmen was in response to the proposed sanctions and travel restrictions on Myanmar military officers accused of orchestrating atrocities that human rights group say amount to crimes against humanity.

In a recent chat with me, Rafiq Dossani, Director, RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy, said that targeting sanctions, even if in a limited way, would have a large effect since it would signal that the US is placing humanitarianism on the agenda and that more sanctions will follow.

Well, while we, and especially the Rohingya, wait in desperation of some action and not loose words against the Myanmar’s military government from our esteemed political leaders and UN, right now all beseeching eyes are looking forward the upcoming visit to Myanmar by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson where he will to push for an end to the violence that has plagued the country's northern Rakhine state in recent months. He will visit the country's capital, Naypyidaw, where he will meet with senior leaders and officials on actions to address the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine State.

Olympics go for change!!

Vladimir Zworykin after inventing television had said, “I didn’t even dream it would be so good. But I would never let my children come close to the thing”. Though these words were intended to mean something else, however, they do speak the emotions of refugees who will be participating in upcoming Olympics.

While the world organisations are lending helping hands to refugees, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will be providing some refugees a chance to participate in the upcoming 2016 Games. “I think we are all touched and moved by the magnitude of the current worldwide refugee crisis. The Olympic Games are the time when the values of tolerance, solidarity and peace are brought to life. This is the time when the international community comes together for peaceful competition,” IOC President Thomas Bachsaid.This plan was first announced last year the IOC in United Nations General Assembly.

This time the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro has drifted from its age old tradition of torch relay of athletes marching in under the flags of the nations they're representing. For the first time there will be a new team that will have no flag to call its own and no country to call their own – Refugee Olympic Athletes (ROA).

The torch relay for the Olympic Games, that will be held in August, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro will also have a stop at a refugee camp in the Greek capital, Athens, where a refugee will carry the torch, the IOC announced.

The IOC has earlier this yearpublicilyidentified three refugee athletes. They are: RahelehAsemani (Iran) – Taekwondo (proposed by the Belgian NOC (National Olympic committee)); MisengaPopole (Democratic Republic of the Congo) – Judo (proposed by the Brazilian NOC); Yusra Mardini (Syria) – Swimming (proposed by the German NOC). Recently a press conference in Berlin was held wherein one of the atheletes – Yusra Mardini recounted her treacherous journey and how she got selected by\ the Olympics committee.

Like many others Syrians, Yusra Mardini and several members of her family travelled across Lebanon and Turkey, and then endured a potentially life-threatening passage to the Greek Island of Lesbos before beginning their travels across numerous European borders before arriving at the German capital.

Soon after arriving in Germany, Yusra was introduced to Wasserfreunde Spandau 04, a swimming club based near her refugee centre. She also mentioned her days of training as a swimmer. “The war was hard; sometimes we couldn’t train because of the war. Or sometimes you had training but there was a bomb in the swimming pool,” she said.

Bach says, "Having no national team to belong to, having no flag to march behind, having no national anthem to be played, these refugee athletes will be welcomed to the Olympic Games with the Olympic flag and with the Olympic Anthem. They will have a home together with all the other 11,000 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees in the Olympic village."

This new team, ROA, as the committee say “will be treated at the Olympic Games like all other teams”. “By welcoming the team of Refugee Olympic Athletes to the Olympic Games Rio 2016, we want to send a message of hope for all refugees in our world,” Bach said. 

“In the Olympic Village we see tolerance and solidarity in their purest form. Athletes from all 206 National Olympic Committees live together in harmony and without any kind of discrimination,” he said while adding “We want to give the refugees the opportunity to mix with each other. Here you saw refugees from Syria, from Mali, from Sierra Leone, from Iran, from Iraq, all playing together with us and really showing a small Olympic community here in this camp”.

The team will get an entourage, including Chef de Mission, coaches and technical officials, by the IOC to meet all the required technical needs. The uniforms will also be provided by the IOC.

To what drove them to this step, Bach recollected his visit to the refugee camp in Athenswhere he played soccer with a group of young men, and met potential candidates who could compete for the first time as refugee athletes at the Rio Games.

“At present none of these athletes would have the chance to participate in the Olympic Games even if qualified from the sports point of view because, with their refugee status, they are left without a home country and National Olympic Committee to represent.

The ROA team is expected to number between 5-10 athletes. The full list of the participating athletes will be announced by the IOC Executive Board in June.

Bach had also announced that the Hellenic Olympic Committee  would receive an additional sum for the regeneration of the Moria Football Stadium on Lesbos (it is a prime landing spot for those fleeing conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan) island for use by the thousands of refugees there.

At a time when the lakhs of people from Syria are struggling to enter their new phase of life while their hearts are weeping for their old homes, this news definitely needs a thumbs up and salute to the Olympic Committee.Jacques Rogge, IOC's honorary president, who is also the UN's Special Envoy for Youth Refugees and Sport, rightly says "Sport can heal many wounds. Sport can bring them hope; can help to forge their ideas and to integrate in society.”

Are the refugees truly at fault??

The morning of March 22 began like any other morning when sudden explosions tore through the Brussels subwaysystem and the departures hall of the city’s airport in an attack claimed by ISIS. With these blasts the hope and future of thousands of stranded Muslim refugees also become bleak.

While the world was rocked to the core, a

21-year-old refugee from Damascus had a different reaction. Sitting in his tent in the centre of the camp his face became all tensed when he saw the newson the screen of his Sony Ericsson mobile phone. He started sending messages about it to his friends. “God knows what will happen tomorrow,” he typed in one text, even as another took shape in his head: “For us it will get worse.”

Some months back when the same kind of attack was seen by the France citizens, while the world mourned the attacks,the consequences were faced by the innocent refugees.After a group of terrorists struck in Paris on November 13, leaving 130 people dead, it only took a few days for the backlash to reach the asylum seekers on Greece’s northern border. Before the Paris attacks, about 5,000 a day were crossing that frontier into Macedonia on their way to Western Europe. These numbers began to shrink after the attack as that pathway began to close.

From the eyes of these refugees, who with reason see themselves as victims of terror too, this reaction was perverse as many of them had to leave the comfort of their homes because of the same terrorist group now targeting European capitals. Yet those refugees have found themselves punished for the atrocities that ISIS committed in Europe.

The punishment often takes the form of new fences and increased border guards, out of concerns over security and fears that a terrorist might slip in among the migrants. For example, after the Brussels attack the immediate response of the Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo was - Poland cannot take part in the EU’s migrant relocation scheme. “Twenty eight EU countries agreed to solve the issue through relocation. But I will say it very clearly: I do not see it possible to allow migrants in Poland at the moment,” Szydlo told the Superstacja TV broadcaster.

She even went on criticising German chancellor Angela Merkel for having “invited migrants to Europe.” “This carefree attitude led to the problems that we have today,” she said by adding “We cannot agree that thousands of migrants, who come to improve their lives, flow into Europe. There are also terrorists among them.”

All these statements go against the prescribed International laws on refugees. Under Article 33 of the 1951 Refugee Convention the countries have an obligation that they cannot return a refugee to a country of territory where h/she would be at risk of persecution. It clearly states, “No Contracting State shall expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”

Besides the law the fact that several political observers and both Paris and Brussel’s citizens have pointed out is that there was clear lax in security in both the cases. In the case of Paris attack, The Washington Postreported “Poor information sharing among intelligence agencies, a threadbare system for tracking suspects across open borders and an unmanageable long list of home-grown extremists to monitor all gave the Paris plotters an opening to carry out the deadliest attack on French soil in more than half a century.” Similarly in Brussel’s attack, Time had said “Even as Belgians absorb From Tuesday’s bloodbath, there is a clear and unsettling sense that intelligence and security services have been caught badly short in confronting the lethal dangers closing in their small country.”

However, as the psychologists sayduring grave situations all senses of what is right and factual and what is wrong and impractical go obscure. Hence, one can say that these responses are very much natural. After the attacks in Brussels, as after those in Paris, the Europeans were bound to face the temptation to put reasoning aside and conflate the foreign victims of terror with its homegrown perpetrators. Now even in Greece, who figured in the list of countries welcoming migrants from the Muslim world, some are expecting a turn toward religious and racial profiling after the bombings in Brussels. “Given the religion of the overwhelming majority of those coming or attempting to come to Europe, many will hasten to connect Islamist terrorism with the immigration issue,” the liberal Greek newspaper Kathimerini said in an editorial.

“It created a domino effect,” says Emilias Dounias, the chief of logistics at the Idomeni camp for the international charity Doctors Without Borders. After the Paris attacks, they closed the border for all nationalities except Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who were trying to travel north from Greece to claim asylum in Western Europe. “They blocked Moroccans, Libyans, African people,” he says. “It was a wave.” And in the months that followed, this wave of border closures created the squalid camp at Idomeni, as thousands of migrants were bottlenecked in northern Greece.

Hence, for these refugees each attack is going to cost their future. As every time an attack happens the future is again and again going to be thrown into question.

FIRST HUMAN HEAD TRANSPLANT IN 2017: THE RISKS AND RESERVATIONS

The surgery — which will take 100 surgeons 36 hours, and cost $12.6 million — will be performed on a computer scientist from Russia who suffers from muscular dystrophy, says Ranu Joardar

Imagine that it’s the 1970s or 80s and top neuroscientists declared that human head transplant is possible. Everybody would have laughed it off. Here we are knocking at 2016, and human head transplant looks possible with a project code-named HEAVEN/GEMINI.

For several years we have limited our dreams to see xenotransplantation (replacing a human organ/body part with an animal’s part) become a success. Mythology has stories where God breathed life into a dead body by doing xenotransplantation, like in the case of Lord Ganesha and King Daksha.

In 1996, the dream of transposing one’s head with another was depicted in Tim Burton directed American comic science movie Mars Attacks! The film has a scene where Mars inhabitants transpose a journalist’s head with her pet’s body. Of course, this scene made many laugh their heads off! Some scientists, in fact, dared to make it possible by conducting such operations — all of which failed.

Well now we can let go of xenotransplantation as come 2017 and we may see head transplantation. Recently a Chinese professor of Harbin Medical University, Ren Xiaoping, along with Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero, announced that they will be conducting a surgery wherein they will put a person’s head onto another person’s body in December 2017.

Head transplants, or body transplants depending on how you look at them, are not just a thing of quirky horror movies. In as little as two years’ time, a new chapter may be added to the medical history if the human head transplant becomes a success.

Xiaoping and Canavero have started working hard toward making the seemingly impossible thing possible. With the declaration of this mind blowing surgery, Canavero  has also earned the name of Dr Frankenstein.

The surgical procedure is called Allogeneic Head and Body Reconstruction. It involves transplanting a healthy human body, most likely donated by a brain dead person, to a person with a healthy brain and damaged body. However, many researchers are apprehensive about the success of this surgery.

Dr Li Wei, a transplant surgeon at the General Hospital of Armed Police Forces in Beijing, has been quotes as saying that this surgery is too good to be true. He said a number of technical problems arise with such a procedure. Li claims that at present it is impossible to do the necessary repairs on damaged spinal nerves. The transplant also has to deal with a conjunction of neurons, blood vessels and muscles.

There are also ethical issues to deal with, such as the identities of patients. “Who will the person be after receiving the body of another?” pointed out Li Wei.

Like other doctors, Dr P Sarat Chandra, professor of AIIMS neurosurgery, also feels that head transplant in the present situation seems impossible. But he says some ideas seem crazy at first but ultimately work out, and the head transplant might also become possible some day. “At present there is no known technology that can join the central nervous system. Spinal cord has two parts — an outer covering and a cord inside. Joining the cord is going to be a big issue. I would say it is not a challenge but there are a lot of question marks,” he said.

Dr Chandra adds, “Even if the surgery is successful and the patient is able to get off life support system, how long will he survive and will he regain the function of his hands and legs? The sense in the head may happen but the question is of the body.”

“If the patient, after getting the head, is able to get off the ventilator and lives for just four or five months, then also it will be a huge success as then further research will be done and more progress will be seen in future. But if the patient survives the period like any normal human being, then it won’t be less than a miracle, but I don’t expect that. However, even if it doesn’t work, it means we have started looking in that direction.”

The Allogeneic Head and Body Reconstruction surgery will be conducted on Valery Spiridonov. Spiridonov, a computer scientist from Russia suffering from muscular dystrophy, has agreed to become the first patient to undergo the surgery. The young man was diagnosed with a genetic muscle-wasting condition called Werdnig-Hoffman disease at an early age. Despite knowing the extreme risks of undergoing such a procedure, he has agreed as he is eager for a new, functioning body.

Speaking publicly about his decision, Valery was quoted as saying: “When I realised that I could participate in something really big and important, I had no doubt left in my mind and started to work in this direction... The only thing I feel is the sense of pleasant impatience, like I have been preparing for something important all my life and it is starting to happen.”

However, Xiaoping has stressed that the project is still at least two years away. It is crucial to assure proper funding and backing of technology and expert teams. “It is impossible to give an exact date as the conditions are not yet ready for clinical trials for the operation,” he said.

According to reports, the procedure would take 100 surgeons 36 hours, and would cost around $12.6 million.

According to a news report by AFP, in China, many do not donate organs due to belief in reincarnation, and has reached an impasse with its simultaneously high demand for and chronic shortages of organs — a void that death row inmates have controversially filled.

Contrary to these problems, China hugely supports the pathbreaking surgery. “China wants to do it because they want to win the Nobel Prize,” says Canavero. They want to prove themselves as a scientific powerhouse. So it’s the new space race.

Xiaoping says, “Right now, China wants to go to the top.” He adds that if there is a great benefit in research, China will put resources into it. If successful, the procedure would bring significant changes to humankind, and save patients whose bodies are in critical condition, he adds.

“If a man with an aging body can replace his body with a young and healthy body, his aging brain will become younger with the new body, meaning longer life for the man,” he said.

Canavero has said the procedure (head anastomosis venture) might be feasible — with improved technology and accurate ability to keep neural tissue perfused — before the end of 2017, which is when he and his team intend to perform the procedure either in the US or China.

Amid all these speculations, Spiridonov seems composed.

According to Canavero’s calculations, if everything goes according to the plan, two years is the timeframe needed to verify all scientific calculations and plan the procedure’s details. “It isn’t a race. No doubt, the surgery will be done once the doctor and the experts are 99 per cent sure of its success,” he said. 

Well for now we can only wish the surgeons luck and hope that Spiridonov’s head gets a matching donor. Dr Chandra says this would be the most challenging thing — as in cases of organ donation, doctors can do trials, but in this case there is no time for trials — or else both the body and the head are going to get wasted and this surgery will stop for at least a few years.

Has India forgotten about the others in the 'Others' community?

The year 2015 has given the Indians many things to boast on. The most recent one is our age-old yoga becoming an international event and then entering the 2016 Guinese book of World records because of the massive turnout last week on 21^st June – The International Yoga Day. It is the first time that a trans gender stepping onto a Principal’s chair of a college and trans gender students getting enrolled into University of Delhi’s courses not under the categories of male or female but as ‘Others’. 

The Narendra Modi’s government has indeed been able to add new chapters to our history books. In this year the trans genders got their separate identity as ‘Others’ in academic field that will surely help them to come over the social stigma that they have to face daily. However, Modi seem to have forgotten to put the other groups who comprise the LGBT group.

While the Modi’s government have got enough achievements to put in their next election manifesto to win the next election, however,some groups of Indian citizens -the lesbians and Gay communities - have nothing to feel happy. They remain to their negligible status and recognition.

We have just heard of ‘corrective rape’ on the lesbians and gay people - which was coined in South Africa –in Hyderabad after a shocking revelation by an NGO that this act has found its way to India.

What is Corrective Rape?

It is a case whereinrape is used as a tool to correct the sexual orientation of lesbian and gay people with the objective of getting them to toe the societal norms. It is a practise to rape the gays and lesbian to ‘cure’ them of their sexual orientation.

The term was coined in S. Africa where such crimes are rampant. This criminal act has mostly, according to various research reports, been reported in five countries – Thailand, Zimbabwe, Ecuador, Uganda and South Africa.  Often it is the family members of the victim who facilitate it.

As per the statistics of Crisis intervention team of LGBT Collective in Telangana, there have been 15 instances of 'corrective rapes' that have been reported in the group in the last five years. "We are sure there are many more cases, but they go unreported, says VyjayantiMogli, a member of crisis intervention. “We came across such cases not because they reported the rape, but because they sought help to flee their homes."

In most cases of corrective rape, the perpetrators are family members because of which the victims refrain from seeking legal recourse. "Victims find it traumatising to speak of their brothers/ cousins turning rapists and prefer to delete the incident from their memories and cut off ties with their families. Which is why such cases almost never get reported," Vyjayanti says.

Here parents request the youths of their relatives to have sex and 'straighten' the sexual orientation of their gay children, girls in most cases. They being parents want their children to become a ‘normal’ human like others. According to a report, a gay boy was forced to have sex with his mother to 'cure' their homosexuality.

What's more alarming about this dangerous practice is that as many as 15 cases have already been reported and many homosexuals are silently bearing the pain, fearing to report against their own parents. Those who approached the NGO through the city based LGBT communities preferred to run away from their homes and take shelter with their partners.

Film on corrective rape

Hyderabadi filmmaker DeepthiTadanki's upcoming film, Satyavati deals with the subject of corrective rape. The film is based on some "shocking real life instances" that took place in Bangalore. She said,"When I was researching on this subject for my film, I came across two gut wrenching stories of corrective rape — one, where a gay girl was raped by her cousin so that she could be "cured" of homosexuality; and another, where family members forced a gay boy to have sex with his mother, in a bid to turn him 'straight'. I tried reaching out to these victims, but they refused to talk".

Explaining how difficult it is to find statistics for a topic so taboo, Deepthi says, "I wrote to NGOs who work with victims of such hate crimes seeking help with statistics. but to my surprise, not one organisation got back. Many rapes go unreported in India, and it will take years before something like corrective rape even gets talked about. That's why I wanted to tell this story. I knew it is a sensitive subject, something that has never been dealt with before. I didn't even have any statistics, but I had the conviction."

Satyavati talks about a lesbian couple and their straight friend. "When the family members of the 'straight' girl visits her, they doubt that she is in an 'unnatural' relationship with one of the lesbian girls. And so, they plot a 'corrective rape' on their daughter as well as the gay girl," reveals the 27-year-old Guntur native, who has turned to crowdsourcing to raise funds for the film. "Forty per cent of the film is now complete, but I am facing a financial crunch. I have been trying to crowd source money to complete the rest of the film," she says, adding, "While lot of people said 'kudos' and 'hats off', very few are willing to make monetary contribution. But I won't give up because a discussion on corrective rape needs to be initiated."

Advertisement

Recently a well-known online fashion portal, Myntra came up with an advertisement titled – The Visit -featuring two lesbians. ‘The Visit ‘ an advertisement though promoting the brand Anouk showed the beautiful and pure love shared between a lesbian couple. The two lovers supported each other as they were going along the dark road, innocently giving utterance to words of happiness which rose to their lips like the refrain from a forgotten song. 

The advertisement showing a couple preparing to meet their parents has gone viral and has become the country’s latest social media phenomenon.

The advert was made for an ethnic wear collection for a leading fashion portal. It got over 2 lakh hits on YouTube in over 10 days.Ethnic wear brand Anouk, retailed on fashion portal Myntra, released India’s first lesbian ad. “The ad has got 3 million views across social media like Facebook, YouTube etc,” says Manish Aggarwal, VP (marketing) at Myntra Fashion which is promoting the ad the visit - BOLD IS BEAUTIFUL.

So India may feel proud of having trans gender students under the special category and even a trans gender principal. However, the smiles on the faces of the lesbians and Gay group will only come when the Supreme court recognizes them and government makes advertisements to make people aware (like they did to eradicate polio and myths about HIV) that – People who are Gay and Lesbian deserve to be treated as what they are and they are also part of our community. But for them it is ‘Dilliabhibahaut door’.

Are our B-town celebrities biased?

Bollywood movies have a history of showing villain getting killed by the hero. These movies have given birth to immense faith on the hero coming to save the country and people. The fan followers not only copy the style of their favourite heroes but also believe that their heroes can never do anything wrong. The movie when Tere Naam and Ghajni released the hair salons did a good business in styling their client’s hair in the same way.

In Kolkata, Sanjay Austa, one of the fans of Amitabh Bachchan, has even built “Amitabh Bachchan temple”. He bought a chair from the set of one of Bachchan’s movies. The shoes that Amitabh wore in one of his movie sits on the chair (just like in Ramayana Bharat placed his elder brother Ram’s paduka on the throne). There is also a portrait of the superstar on the chair. Sanjay and his son worship Amitabh Bachchan in this temple. The yellow shawl has ‘Jai Shree Amitabh’ emblazoned on it. Sanjay has even prepared a special prayer or ‘Amitabh Chalisa’ for Big B. He says Amitabh is a living breathing god in their midst.

While stardom is a fickle kingdom wherein not many stars survive for a long period of time, yet the stardom of a handful of them remain unchanged. They are the idol of many Indian households and dialogues of their films are quoted again and again. Amongst them feature the Big B – Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and not to forget our Sallu Bhai aka Salman Khan. However, over the years these superstars have indeed fallen into bad light like when Shah Rukh Khan got into the controversy of accusing and manhandling a security guard in Wankhede stadium.

The year 2015 has made the Bollywood celebrities burn the midnight oil because of Salman Khan’s hit and run case. As the day of final verdict by the lower court neared dua for Salman went up. A wait of about 13 years Salman Khan got 5 year jail term in the famous hit and run case and soon the fan followers and the Bollywood celebrities took up the task of protesting and praying for his release.

Some Bollywood stars like SRK, David Dhawan and Sajid Nadiadwala rushed to back the actor. Upon sentencing, actor Arjun Kapoor tweeted: “It doesn’t matter what anyone or any court says he doesn’t deserve this at any level.” Member of Parliament and former actress Hema Malini said: “I am feeling bad about it. I am very sad. My sympathies are with Salman. I will pray that he gets less punishment.” Another MP and Bollywood singer Babul Supriyo said, “Heart-wrenching, but law takes its course. But in the past judges reduced punishment keeping in mind humanitarian work”.

Actor Sonakshi Sinha said it was “terrible news”. “Don’t know what to say except that will stand by [Khan] no matter what. He’s a good man and no one can take that away from him,” she tweeted. Parineeti Chopra added: “Hurts to think of what could happen. We will always be with you. Hope the judge sees the beauty of a human being that Salman Khan is.”The film industry supports him not only as a friend but like a family member.

After hundreds of tweets and prayers for Khan, god finally answered the prayers with Bombay High Court suspending the order of the lower court. To this, like many other actors, Daisy Shah, co-actor of Movie Jai Ho, tweeted “The kindness of a man has been judged by the god himself... Good deeds never go in vain. Thank you 1 n all for the prayers n love.”

In this case the thing that popped up regularly or rather it was mentioned frequently was his setting up of NGO - Being Human - and through it helping many underprivileged children. Being Human was intiated by Salman Khan to support the underprivileged by giving portion of sales of its branded T-shirts and other products online. The Foundation focuses on two things – Education and Healthcare.

However, it will be wrong to say that all actors supported him while overlooking his hit and run case. It is because Alia Bhatt was the only one who said that Salman was wrong and how she felt sad to know that “their own” is punished. “It hurts when your own are punished, even if they are in the wrong. We love you and are standing by you,” she tweeted.

The confusion between Salman the superstar and Salman the citizen gets reflected when his fans overlook the hit and run case. His supporters defended him vehemently by either shifting the blame for the accident to government for failing to help homeless people or citing the Salman’s contribution in Being Human. Salman’s work for his Being Human charity is offered by his followers and flatterers as if it were some sort of penance for youthful misdemeanours (he was 37 at the time of the accident). Though Khan’s work for underprivileged children cannot be denied but after the hit and run case he seems to be a part of those people who do illegitimate things and then visits Vaishno Devi or holds Jagaran as a part of their penance to god.

However, amidst all these tweets and debates people seem to have forgotten the victims and their economic conditions. Many speculate that this 13-year-long case can easily get stretched to 13 more years to come. After all these years those victims had to live their life in poverty while simultaneously fighting case against Salman Khan. And here is the irony – the owner of Being Human and a ‘bhai’ of all people not once thought to support those victims.