'In India, Women Have The Right To Demand Justice'

'That is why an emotional appeal to the President.'
'There needs to be a strict law. The accused should be punished immediately.'
'All cases should be heard in fast-track courts.'
'In rural areas, women's cases are not even registered. There, political pressure stops them.'
'And if cases are not registered under political pressure, then their voices are completely silenced.'

Rohini Eknathrao Khadse, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar)'s women's wing, has written to President Droupadi Murmu to pardon women of one murder.

Why does she want the President to do so?

"This is about the dignity and safety of all Indian women, whether they be from Maharashtra or any other part of India. Don't women have the right to breathe freely and live their lives on their own terms and as freely as men do?", Khadse asks Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore in the first of a two part interview.

You made an emotional appeal to the President of India. What specific incidents made you make such an appeal?

Look at the recent cases -- there was a molestation case in Muktainagar involving Raksha Khadse's daughter, and there was also the horrifying rape case at Swargate bus station in Pune.

A political worker belonging to Ajit dada's party (Ajit Pawar's wing of the NCP) was (allegedly) involved in the Swargate case and in the Muktainagar (molestation) case (where Union Minister and BJP MP from Muktainagar Raksha Khadse's daughter was molested) workers from Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena are being named in these cases.

How can the government remain silent when its own people are implicated in such crimes? What kind of example are they setting?

Instead of protecting women, they are protecting the accused. This is why we are demanding strict laws and immediate action.

But my appeal to the President is not in reaction to one or two cases. This is about the dignity and safety of all Indian women, whether they be from Maharashtra or any other part of India.

Don't women have the right to breathe freely and live their lives on their own terms and as freely as men do?

If you look everywhere in Maharashtra today, every day in the media, whenever you turn on the TV, every time you will see incidents of atrocities against women in every district, every taluka.

If so many incidents are happening, then we, the women in the Opposition, are raising our voices. We are all speaking out. The government needs to make strict laws for this, and it needs to be done as soon as possible.

But the question is why is the government not bringing in a strict law that could stop such atrocities? What is stopping them from making a law?

During the Maha Vikas Aghadi government (in Maharashtra), the Shakti Act was passed and sent to the central government for approval. Why has it been stalled? We need an answer to that.

If a strict law existed or if the law and order system instilled some fear, then these crimes wouldn't happen, right?

If a 12 year old, 5-year-old girl, or even 55-year-old women are being raped, we should all feel ashamed.

We should be ashamed that we are living in a society where for perpetrators of such heinous acts age does not matter -- whether 12 years, 5 years, or 6 years old. That is why we are speaking out.

We, as leaders, all our leaders are also raising their voices, but I feel that the government is not listening.

If you saw yesterday's (March 8, 2025) statement, one of their ministers, Gulabrao Patil (Maharashtra's minister of water supply and sanitation), said, 'Keep a knife in your purse and carry chilli powder,' meaning protect yourself.

It sounds like they are saying, 'Sisters and mothers, we are not going to do anything for you. You protect yourself against such crimes. We have abdicated all our responsibility.'

But if a five-year-old girl is raped, how will she protect herself? How will a 12-year-old girl defend herself?
You said that every woman should have the right to commit one murder. If one were to take your assertions literally, how will a five year old or a 12-year-old girl defend themselves or commit murders?

So when you read my words -- 'Allow me one murder' -- I am saying this out of frustration while demanding justice.

If you are not going to do anything, then allow us to act. If a five-year-old girl is raped, what about the child and her mother? What kind of mental agony do they go through?

Think about that mother and the girl child. Put yourself in their places and see. You cannot understand their pain unless you are a mother and the girl child or women who have to go through such trauma.

What happens in such cases is that such cases go to court, we file cases, but years pass, and the child does not get justice.

Look at the mentality of our society today. Imagine a girl goes to the police station and says she was raped -- the first question is always raised against the girl, not the boy. The boy is never at fault. It is always the girl's fault.

If a case takes 12, 15 years to conclude, how is that justice?

In India, women have the right to demand justice. So why don't you take immediate action when you have evidence of rape?

Are you saying the legal system has failed to provide justice to women and prevent such crimes?

Yes, that is what I am conveying through my frustration and that is why an emotional appeal to the President. There needs to be a strict law. The accused should be punished immediately. All cases should be heard in fast-track courts.

In big cities, police stations are at least available to register cases, but in rural areas, women's cases are not even registered. There, political pressure stops them.

And if cases are not registered under political pressure, then their voices are completely silenced.

We need to set up a separate system in every neighbourhood, every taluka, every village, to listen to women's problems. If there is a complaint, there must be a mechanism to address it.

But just making strict laws is not enough.

Yesterday, I told the chief minister (Devendra Fadnavis) that we are not only demanding strict laws, but we also want changes in the education system.

Boys need to be taught to respect women from childhood. They need to be taught in schools that women are equal to them.

Women are just like their mothers. Whether she is someone's daughter, someone's mother, or someone's wife -- she is still a woman and a human being. She deserves respect. This should be taught.

Celebrating Navratri will not change anything. We celebrate Navratri, but the real purpose of Navratri -- respecting women -- is not being taught in schools. Whether she is a mother, sister, or anyone else, she is a woman and deserves respect.

Teach this. That is our demand. If you do not teach this, then give us the right -- we will take action.

We are ready to put an end to this mentality, even if it means going to jail.