Written By: Shraddha Rupavate | Updated : December 3, 2014 9:56 AM IST
At the grand finale of popular television reality show 'India's Raw Star', Bollywood actress Gauahar Khan was slapped by a 24-year old youth, who was present at the shoot. He was immediately taken into police custody and was produced in Borivali court on Monday.
Akil Malik, the accused, alleged Gauhar Khan of disrespecting religion with her outfits. He claimed that he slapped her because she was wearing short skirts throughout the shoots, which according to him is against their religion. He mentioned that he tried to explain Gauhar why she should not wear such outfits but was infuriated when she refused to do so. According to Malik, wearing short skirts 'damage the brains' of youngsters, provoking them to commit more crimes. He believes that actresses should stop wearing such outfits, to decrease the crime rate in the country. (Read: Crimes against women: Understanding offender s perspective)
The entire Bollywood fraternity has extended supported to Gauhar.
So how does wearing a short skirt provoke or damage the brains of a man? Is it even a valid reason to commit such a heinous act of assaulting a woman because of her clothes. Are we not teaching our men better? When the Indian woman has reached the moon and back should a man be telling her what to and what not to wear?
Where is the mental set up going wrong?Are we still teaching our boys to limit our women to the kitchen and view them as some object created for a man's pleasure? The answer seems to lie in the patriarchal set up of our society where women have been dominated and not allowed to have a voice.(Read: India no country for women)
The question finally arises are men threatened by the successful women in the society? Does the increasing crime rate against women signify that men still look at women as an object and not as someone who's an equal in the society and has a voice that actually matters?
It clearly looks like Gauahar Khan paid the price to being a free and an independent woman, who's successful and has a voice!
Image source: india.com
For more on women s health, visit our women s health section. For daily free health tips, sign up for our newsletter.
