This letter was first published in the print edition of Manushi Journal. (Issue-13, Nov-Dec 1982)
We reproduce here a letter written by Madhu Kishwar to Justice Bhagwati, chairman of the committee for the implementation of legal aid. It was admitted into the supreme court as a writ petition on August 20, 1982. It was followed by a formal writ petition jointly filed by Maki Bui, her daughter Sonamuni, and Madhu Kishwar. Maki Bui and Sona are Ho tribals who have challenged the validity of the law which has unconstitutionally usurped the right of Ho tribal women to inherit family land and other related assets. The state of Bihar, which upholds this law, is a respondent in this case.
IN December 1980, I went to Singhbhum as a member of the women’s enquiry committee sponsored by the All India People’s Union for Civil Liberties and by Manushi, a journal about women and society, of which I am the editor. The purpose of this committee was to conduct an enquiry into alleged atrocities against tribal women by the Bihar military police,following a clash between demonstrating tribals and the Bihar military police in Gua, Singlibhum district, which had resulted in police firing in which 14 tribals were killed.
The most frustrating problem faced by the committee was the difficulty in getting the victims to attest to having been raped, even though, in many cases, numerous tribal men from the areas where incidents had occurred, testified before the committee, giving full details about these rape cases. My initial puzzlement at this led me to try and find out the reasons for this imposed silence…