Cpt. Rishwat
T20I Captain
- Joined
- May 8, 2010
- Runs
- 43,365
Indian brides given wooden paddles to hit drunken, abusive husbands by leading politician
Gopal Bargava says he wants to draw attention to the problems of domestic violence in India with the bats, which come with slogans such as 'Police won't intervene'
An Indian state has handed out hundreds of wooden bats to newly married women to use as a weapon if their husbands become abusive.
Gopal Bargava, a Minister in the state of Madhya Pradesh, handed out the paddles, traditionally used to get dirt out of clothes in old-fashioned laundries, to around 700 brides at a mass wedding.
The nearly foot-long paddles have messages on them that read “For beating drunkards” and “Police won’t intervene”.
Mr Bhargava told Agence France Presse he wanted to draw attention to the domestic abuse of rural women receive from their alcoholic husbands.
He said: "Women say whenever their husbands get drunk they become violent. Their savings are taken away and splurged on liquor.
"There is no intent to provoke women or instigate them to violence but the bat is to prevent violence."
He has ordered nearly 10,000 bats to distribute to newly wed women.
The governor said he decided on the move after a woman asked him if she should beat her husband with a bat to stop him drinking.
In the state a group of feminist vigilantes called the Gulabi Gangs, who wear pink saris and carry wooden sticks, have started a campaign to stop vendors selling alcohol and to shut down illegal moonshine operations, the Daily Telegraph reported.
While I'm all for women being able to protect themselves from abusive and violent husbands, is this really going to help? What would happen if the husband died after being struck on a pressure point? What if he overpowered her and used it on the woman instead?
If this guy is a leading politician then you have to wonder what does it take to become a leader in India? He doesn't seem to have thought this through at all.
