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Friday, July 6, 2012

Does Pinki Pramanik deserve to be treated like this?

Pinki, at the podium
Image Source: India Today
It was 10th of April, 1986. In a remote area Tilkodi of Baghmundi village of Purulia district in West Bengal, Durgacharan Pramanik and his wife, Pushpa, became the proud parents of a daughterThe family named the baby daughter Pinki. They did not know that in due course of time, this daughter would become a champion athlete, winning medals for the country. Neither they could imagine that after 26 years, they would be facing questions on the gender of their daughter. Theirs was a poor family, like most others in the village, and being from Paramanik clan (traditionally barbers), they fall under the Scheduled Caste (SC) under the Indian law.
pinki pramanik mms misbehave arrest jail gap
Baghmundi, which borders the state of Jharkhand, is one of the backward villages in West Bengal and lacks even the very basic amenities. Pinki was a natural in athletics and for her, practicing in the early years meant running about 10 km per day by the riverside. She was spotted in her early teens, while participating in an inter-district meet and brought to Calcutta (Kolkata) in the year 2002. In the same yer, Pinki set four state records in her age group. This prompted the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to take her under their fold. In SAI, she was initially trained by Geeta Zutshi, who herself was a champion runner and ex-national record holder.
pinki pramanik mms misbehave arrest jail gap
In a career, which effectively ran between 2002 and 2006, Pinki won a number of international medals for India, including 2 Gold medals from Asian competitions and a further 3 from the South Asian Games. She also won a team Silver in the Commonwealth Games at Melbourne. After 2006, she has hardly taken part in any competitive events, either due to injuries or as some speculate, due to a hormone imbalance in her body.
pinki pramanik mms misbehave arrest jail gap
In the recent years, Pinki has been in the news, always for the wrong reasons, be it for carrying an improvised firearm in her bag, for leaving training center without informing anyone or for her reckless lifestyle.
pinki pramanik mms misbehave arrest jail gap
Whatever may be the reasons for being in the headline, it is well understood that Pinki Pramanik has been a well known person and cannot be considered as equivalent of the helpless and hapless wronged women, without any formal education. Even then, the treatment meted out to her, over the period of last one month or so, has come as a shocker to the most. The episode also raises the question, "If an India international is subjected to such inhuman torture, what would be the fate that would befall an ordinary woman in similar circumstances?"
pinki pramanik gender test man woman boy girl
Many of you might be thinking as to how Pinki managed to land in such a tight spot in the first place! To understand that, let's go back to the day when Pinki was arrested.
pinki pramanik gender test man woman boy girl
On 14 June 2012, Pinki was arrested by the Kolkata Police, after her female partner for the last couple of years, a divorcee and a mother of one, filed rape charges against her. She also claimed that Pinki is actually male. The police took Pinki for a check up to a private nursing home in Baguihati, where she was declared to be a male by the attending doctors. And, from here, her ordeal really started.
pinki pramanik gender test man woman boy girl
Since her arrest, she has been remanded in judicial custody by the Barasat Sessions Court. The court also asked that Pinki should undergo gender determination test, in order to be certain about her sex. Since her arrest, she has been lodged at Dum Dum Central Jail. It has been claimed that Pinki has had to tolerate "inhuman torture", both mental, as well as physical, during her stay at the jail.
pinki pramanik sex gender determination test male female organ
As the court could not be certain about Pinki's gender, the police kept Pinki at a separate cell as per the court's directive. However, it has been alleged that Pinki's cell is located within the male ward, thereby causing her considerable mental trauma. As her lawyer rightly pointed out, Indian law demands that an under-trial is presumed innocent till proven guilty. Based on this, Pinki's cell should not have been allotted within the male wards.
pinki pramanik sex gender determination test male female organ
Although, the private nursing home at Baguihati, where police had taken Pinki for getting a gender determination test done, had identified Pinki as male, the court did not accept this. Under the court's directive, Pinki had to undergo further rounds of tests, first at Barasat State Hospital and then at SSKM Hospital. Unfortunately, in both the cases, the teams of doctors could not arrive at a definite conclusion. The one test, which could have solved the riddle - the chromosome and hormone test - could not be conducted at Calcutta and so, her blood samples have been sent to institutes outside of West Bengal.
The gathering at SSKM for a glimpse of Pinki.
Picture Source: The Telegraph, Calcutta.
pinki partner
During multiple rounds of gender determination tests, Pinki has been treated like a caged animal, put up for show in a zoo. Human rights activists have strongly criticized the “insensitive” handling of the case, resulting in the arrested athlete being repeatedly subjected to insult and public ridicule. The venue and the timings of the tests, have always been publicized beforehand, resulting in huge crowd gatherings at the designated hospitals to catch a glimpse of her. These crowds, at several points of time, have derided Pinki openly.
pinki pramanik sex gender determination test male female organ
"Man"handling of Pinki by the police
Picture Source: BBC World
Rights activists have also criticized the manner in which Pinki has been forced to expose herself repeatedly before male doctors. They further alleged that only male constables were escorting her and even they were behaving inappropriately at time, as the picture on the left side suggests.
pinki molested
Even worse, a 29 seconds MMS clip, showing the athlete completely nude and undergoing gender determination tests at the private Baguihati clinic has been uploaded over the Internet, and has gone viral in no time. Till I write this, police officials haven't even bothered to investigate this issue. Official statements from the department of police have pointed out that till a formal complaint is filed, they cannot do anything on their own. However, critics point out that police could have taken suo moto cognizance in the case and should have started an official investigation to nab the culprits responsible for recording and circulating the MMS.
pinki pramanik sex gender determination test male female organ
Pinki herself, told The Telegraph while coming out of SSKM, “I have never been harassed like this in my life. I feel so embarrassed... I can’t express my feeling!”
pinki pramanik sex gender determination test male female organ
Her father, Durgacharan Pramanik, also told The Telegraph, “People are gathering to watch her as if she is a caged animal. Even lawyers and policemen are making fun of my daughter. She has done so much for the nation. Does she deserve to be treated like this?”
pinki pramanik sex gender determination test male female organ
Activists and social workers have theorized that Pinki's rural family background and the lack of monetary resources, have emboldened the perpetrators in to believing that they will get away with impunity. They further contend that as Pinki's parents or direct family members are not in a position to strongly object to the inhuman treatment being dished out or as they are unable to take up cudgels on her behalf, the concerned persons have taken Pinki for a free ride. They also point out the social status of the so called "lower caste" Pramaniks as another contributing factor to Pinki's ordeal.
pinki pramanik sex gender determination test male female organ
Some people on the know of things related to the whole incident, have expressed their reservation over the original allegation of rape itself. It has been variously speculated that Pinki's troubles started when she refused to pay her female partner a specified amount, which the partner had demanded in return for vacating Pinki's flat. This refusal prompted the partner to file the charges against Pinki. They have also pointed out to the passage of more than two years of time, during which, the alleged victim did not raise the issue at all.
pinki pramanik sex gender determination test male female organ
Whatever may be the reason behind the complaint, the entire episode has highlighted that even in the twenty first century, the mentality of our people and society as a whole and even the protectors and upholders of law, i.e. the police force, are yet to change. It seems that we are caught in a time warp, and it will take more time and effort to leave our nineteenth century ideas and ideals behind us.
pinki pramanik sex gender determination test male female organ
The episode has also highlighted another dangerous trend, that of the treatment meted out to single woman, who would want to live life on their own terms. It shows the entire conservative society in a poor light and emphasizes that the society is yet to accept women as  equal to men.
pinki pramanik sex gender determination test male female organ
Lastly, the episode has sounded a very timely alarm bell, that even today, the caste and clout matter a lot. Had Pinki been from a so called upper class background or had a wealthy family backing with urban upbringing, probably her ordeals would have been considerably lesser. That I have to write this in 2012, pains me a lot, but unfortunately, this is how the Indian system functions.
pinki pramanik sex gender determination test male female organ
No amount of legislation or fear of punishment can change the way Indian society treats its women members. Only a sustained effort at changing the perception of the society, which should start at the grassroots level and gradually move upwards, may bring about the positive change, that is so desired by the rights activists and victims alike. Till that happens, we may see many more Durgacharan Pramaniks asking helplessly, and with tear in their eyes, 
"Does she deserve to be treated like this?"

2 comments:

  1. What a chaos & ungentlemanly handling by Government & police of a state to a women. That's also caring honour to our country. Shame to all. We jump to any allegation without taking to psychology of any victims. Thats where our Indian policing & law looses merit in comparison to other Nation.

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    Replies
    1. Agree with you, Rahul. Unfortunately, that's the way, our systems function. Most importantly, even after the medical board's assessment that Pinki is incapable of establishing sexual relation of any type, why hasn't any action been taken on Anamika Acharjee, the woman who had leveled the false allegations? Why is her face still being protected from the camera? She is nothing but a cheat! It seems that she is well connected with powers to be and that's why roaming free.

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