The curious case of the Saleli-Sattari lady, accused of kidnapping a one-month child from Goa Medical College, on one hand, has thrown open insecurities at Goa's premier hospital premises, while on the other, has opened Pandora's box on the ugly truths that ail society but lay buried in the sands of time.
The 37-year-old lady from Saleli Sattari, already a mother of 4 daughters, has shown extreme courage to single-handedly mastermind a plot right out from the movies. To fake a pregnancy at home, spend days within the hospital campus on the premise of delivering a child, withstanding the fears of Covid lurking around at the hospital, and preying upon a boy from the arms of the mother with precision speaks volumes of her determination as much as it reflects the inner battles she was fighting.
It is reported that she was driven to a point of desperation by her family because of a failure to yield a boy child. The ordeal that she went through highlights the agony and pain that she was willing to endure to resolve the gender dilemma. This wider question of gender bias and inequality that the society has conveniently hidden from public glare lay open. The much-propagated neutrality over gender and all the bold talk of women empowerment stand exposed in the wake of such horrifying episodes. The boy is still seen as privileged and considered as a torch-bearer of the family. The positive relationship between son preference and female child deprivation may not be straightforward, but it exists, especially in rural Goa, and the Saleli kidnap incident amplifies that.
The discrimination against the girl-child has deep social and cultural roots and relates to the family organization norm. Along with gender bias against females, there are other evils like dowry, wife abuse and alcoholism that have been rampant in Goa but haven’t been part of the larger discourse. Society, while trying to ape the western world has only shielded these iniquities from public glare. The question now is who’s responsible?
Changing social outlooks and perspectives are not easy. Three is a composite failure of the society as a whole, and we can even include the failure of Goenkarponn in this. Social activism is reduced to fighting political battles, not addressing the real issues that plague society. Goa will have rare social groups which take up issues like gender biases and dowry harassment or women abuse because there is no mileage there. No amount of Laadli Laxmi Schemes or other financial doles towards a girl child are going to help if there is no effort made to change mindsets.
So when Law Minister Nilesh Cabral shows concern about the rise of divorce cases in the State and even plans a white paper to prove his point, there is a greater need to expand the scope of counselling. The only way to bring about a change is via a positive and consistent engagement of people on these issues. We don’t need a kidnapping incident to open our eyes every time. The dark underbelly is showing all the time, and so is the failure of the citizenry.
