A retrospective study: Lucknow cab driver’s incident
Opinion
Recently, a disturbing video has gone viral where a woman is seen to be assaulting a cab driver by repeatedly slapping him for ‘breaking the signal and endangering her life’.
The driver filed an FIR with the police and has threatened suicide if she is not arrested. Subsequently, hundreds of Instagram profiles cropped up in the woman’s name with her images being flooded with rape threats.
Some facts backed by CCTV footage of the incident:
The woman crosses the road despite the signal being green.
The cab driver hits the brakes to avoid injuring her.
Unprovoked, she proceeds to damage his car, hit him multiple times and shatter his phone.
She also is aggressive to all the bystanders who try to stop her.
Throughout the incident, the man does not hit her back.
This incident has led to netizens calling for the protection of men by the law in such incidents and bringing to light important topics like the bleak situation of assault survivors who are men above 18. This also led to a debate of whether this is a result of feminism or rather, imperfect feminists, propagating a culture of hatred for men.
What can a man do when in a similar situation?
According to the Indian Penal Code, it looks like nothing prevents the driver from using force to block or defend himself from the woman. This is because there was an imminent threat to his and his property’s safety and no time to get a suitable recourse from the public authorities.
While we should never police how people in traumatic situations respond to the perpetrators and should empower the victim to protect themselves in any way possible, the goal always has to be self-defence.
Is feminism to blame?
While feminism does NOT advocate hatred for men, the general narrative whenever a woman is in the wrong, especially with crimes against men, is that it is no longer valid because not only are women no longer victims, they are shaping out to be the very perpetrators of crime. (Case in point is also the Zomato incident)
There are many statistics to highlight the fact that women are still systematically being assaulted and oppressed but this is not a simple case of men vs women.
Privilege at play
There have been claims that this woman has an array of mental health issues and that this case needs to be treated as an isolated incident. We need to disagree with this stance as well.
Both the Lucknow and the Zomato incidents see ‘privileged’ women assaulting men from ‘lower economic/social classes’. These are not isolated incidents when you flag them with the multitude of atrocities faced by the oppressed and marginalized classes from various working classes, religions, tribes and castes.
Self-defence vs Revenge
So yes, if we find ourselves relating to the man in the Lucknow incident, we need to think of why we would find ourselves in a similar situation with perspective. Yes, you can hit a woman back or use force to restrain/restrict her, but think of why you would want to do it.
If it is purely an act of self-defence, sure. But if there’s a component of anger against women or feminists, where it is more of an act of revenge against a larger group, an evaluation of our stance is required.
While the driver has filed an FIR, the woman is yet to face material consequences for her actions. This, however, does not warrant rape threats and fake accounts leaking her images online. Also, the man should in no way be emasculated because of this incident.
Educating ourselves on the structures of power and privilege is paramount today to triage any such incidents in the future. If this case angers you, there are multiple movements led by various marginalised communities seeking to end systemic violence where we can contribute to social change by joining them.
What is happening in India’s neighbourhood?
Current Affairs
Bangladesh floods displace thousands of Rohingya refugees
On Friday, thousands of Rohingya Muslims’ refugee camps were displaced as heavy monsoon rains wreaked havoc and caused landslides as per the UN and other latest official reports. The flooding in Cox’s Bazar caused more than 2 lakh Bangladeshis stranded while 6 died in a landslide and 15 died of drowning in the floods.
Bhutan vaccinates 90% of adults against Covid-19 in a week
In an impressive feat and being called “arguably the fastest vaccination campaign to be executed during a pandemic” by UNICEF, the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has successfully vaccinated 90% of its adult population in just 7 days. The country’s health ministry clarified this in a statement as it received the vaccination doses as a part of foreign donations.
With a population of about 8 lakh, it also started giving out the second doses on July 20 in a mass vaccination drive.
Troops deployed in Pakistan town after mob attacked Hindu temple
Pakistan has deployed paramilitary troops in a town in the country’s eastern Punjab province a day after a Muslim mob attacked and damaged a Hindu temple there. Wednesday’s attack took place in Bhong in Rahim Yar Khan district after a court granted bail to an eight-year-old Hindu boy who was accused of desecrating a Muslim religious school earlier this week.
Min Aung Hlaing says no Myanmar elections until 2023
Six months after the February 1 power grab by the military in Myanmar, the nation’s military general announced lifting up the state of emergency and promising multi-party elections by August 2023. This televised notice would put the country under military control for nearly two and a half years, as opposed to the initial one year time period that was previously decided during the coup.
Taliban captures three more Afghan provincial capitals in a day
In an overwhelmingly lightning offensive, the Taliban has seized 3 more provincial capitals in Afghanistan, moving their forces towards capturing cities after capturing much of the countryside in recent months. The cities of Kunduz, Sar-e-Pul and Taloqan were the ones that fell within hours of each other. A statement issued by the Taliban stated that it has captured the police headquarters, the governor’s compound and the prison in the strategic northeastern city of Kunduz.
Didi mulls ceding control of valuable data amid China’s tech crackdown
The ride-hailing giant Didi Global Inc. is planning to resolve the control of its most valuable data to appease a Chinese regulatory probe. To handle the aftermath of the company’s controversial initial U.S. public offering, the corporation has brought up significant proposals, including the one that surrenders management of its data to a private third-party.
Olympics host Tokyo reports another record high of Covid cases
Tokyo has reported 5,042 new coronavirus cases on August 5 as Covid-19 infections surge in the Japanese capital hosting the Olympics, hitting a record since the pandemic began.
The additional cases announced on Thursday brought the total for Tokyo to 2,36,138. Nationwide, Japan has so far registered a total of 9,80,728 cases and 15,247 deaths.
Thailand reports daily record of more than 20,000 Covid-19 cases
Since the start of the pandemic last year, Thailand, on August 4, has reported 20,200 new Covid cases and 188 additional deaths making the total number of cases to 6,72,385 and deaths to 5,503.
This probably makes it more likely that the virus-related restrictions may be extended in the near future. The country recorded its previous high of daily Covid-19 cases at 18,912 and record-high daily fatalities at 178 just last Saturday.
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