Apropos Kanika Datta's column "Women's rights? Who cares!" (Swot, September 12), not only politicians and the government but the society at large is also oblivious of its responsibility towards women in India. This is evident by how the laws enacted to protect the rights of women are flouted in practice. Despite the Child Marriage Restraint Act, such marriages are rampant - according to a study cited in The Times of India, 40 per cent of child brides in the world live in India and 46 per cent women got married before the age of 18. The law pertaining to domestic violence has not reduced the abuses at home. The cases of Yukta Mookhey and Nandita Puri who have complained against the ill-treatment by their respective husbands - industrialist Prince Tuli and actor Om Puri, show that such atrocities are not confined to rural areas or illiterate families.
Apart from the paternalistic pattern of our society, child rearing practices have also contributed to the subservient behaviour of women. Girls are made to believe that their lives depend on other members of the family and they should measure their self-esteem by how others perceive them. A lack of opportunity to make their own living increases the sense of dependence. A solution has to come from women and those well-placed in life should pioneer the revolution to change the society's mindset.
Y G Chouksey, Pune
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