Dear Reader,
The release of Bilkis Bano’s rapists and killers of her family continues to haunt. Mojo Story, which first set the agenda for the national media, when an MLA of the ruling party attempted to justify and legitimise the release of the 11 convicts because of their so-called ‘sanskar’, launched an online petition that garnered around 26,000 signatures to urge the Supreme Court to send these men back to the gaol.
The campaign for justice and closure to Bilkis Bano has seen Mojo Story go beyond the event into the larger issues of the seeming entrenchment of the ‘rape culture’ in India. As part of the coverage, they also spoke to Sohaila Abdulali, an author and a rape survivor herself, who has written one of the seminal works on sexual violence and gender justice ‘What we talk about when we talk about rape’.
The Bilkis Bano travesty has also rekindled the horrors and nightmares of the past. The Probe reached out to the victims of the 2002 riots at the Baria relief camp where the families from Randhikpur, a village in the Dahod district of Gujarat, are housed. Following the release of the convicts by the Gujarat government, the fears and nightmares of a repeat of what happened two decades ago are back.
Online gambling is increasingly becoming a dangerous game, taking young lives. Initially lured by ‘easy money’ and then addicted beyond reason to avarice, the downward spiral to debt, depression and then death is now a scenario that is increasingly being played out among online gamblers.
Adding to the fire is a ‘regulatory vacuum’, with the state and the courts taking contrasting positions. MediaNama, therefore argues that a policy is urgently needed which defines the legality of particular ‘gambling games’, enforces an oversight mechanism and protects citizens from harm.
The condition of the members of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) is perilous with abysmal support from the state. Main Bhi Bharat reports from the Sahibganj district in Jharkhand on the wretched state of the schools in the Pahariya Adivasi (a PVTG community) villages, where there are no regular teachers, toilets or even provision for something as basic as drinking water.
For more stories from the grantees this week, please read on.
Warmly,
Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF
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