The women were fleeing discrimination and more importantly, what they call a rape crisis in their home country.
In the first incident of its kind 750 women migrants from India were rescued from three boats by the Iranian coast guard on Sunday. Most of them urban women in their 20's and 30's. Iranian coast guard official Kareem Abbas told reporters "When they saw us they all shouted with joy and relief. We then took them to custody where they will soon be put up in refugee camps"
The women were fleeing discrimination and more importantly, an apparent rape crisis in their own country. Anita (name changed), one of the migrants said "Our biggest fear, as we traveled was that we were so close to Pakistan, and their coast guard would fire upon us. (Though we would be more than happy if they rescued us. We could live a more dignified life in Pakistan, where it's not acceptable for a woman to even laugh in public.) But nevertheless, we were willing to take that risk. We would rather die at sea than live in that god forsaken country where we come from."
When asked why exactly they fled India, she said "In search of a better life. India is the worst place to be a woman. Anywhere is better than India for us." When asked how exactly it is bad to women she went on to explain "India allocates several crore Rupees for women empowerment each year. There are more than 84 laws to protect women altogether (adding the clauses) which are very poorly enforced. It's as good as not having them at all. Because when a woman files a complaint against a man he is imprisoned straight away. Even if the complaint is found to be false, the authorities don't take any action against the women. (What CAN they legally do to us, anyway?)." She added,"Also, slow as the judicial system is, they have deliberately made it even slower for women, as there are bodies called Fast Track Courts (which are much faster than HC's and SC), exclusively to deal with crimes against women."
Purnima (name changed) who was sitting nearby added "Our major fear was rape. It's not that we faced any problems personally. But we could not go a single day without reading about an alleged rape in the newspaper, or seeing a story about alleged rape on TV news.This is precisely the reason we say there is a rape crisis in India, and rape is the single largest problem India faces. Not poverty, not hunger, not corruption, not Naxalism. I'm surprised why India is not in a state of emergency, nor is it declared as an unstable country. Because of this we thought, enough is enough. We are leaving."
She added, "There's no need to question whether the allegations are true or not. If on TV and in the papers it's saying that a woman was raped, then it MUST be true. We trust ALL Indian journalists. Whatever they say is the gospel truth, they are prophets. Because they are so objective and anything they say is said after thorough research and with more than one reliable source. Let me prove to you how suppressed we were. Many of us have looted and cheated men in our lives, and we walked free. No action was taken against us. While others here have beaten up men and robbed them of their money in front of packed streets, and no one uttered a word. That's how we got money to pay the smugglers. That's just how frustratingly oppressive India was. We would prosper using men's hard-earned money."
A third migrant who wished not to be named, said, "The reason we fled is simply because, we hate Indian men. The media told us to hate men of our country, so we did as they say. Our approach is monkey-see-money-do. We are proud to say that we are a bunch of pampered, whiny, hateful bigots."
More to come
One of the migrants told the officials that there was a new smuggling system set up and more women were waiting to flee, and that this group was the first of a very large exodus of women from India, in search of what they think of as greener pastures. They will merely get on the boats and push off aimlessly. Their boat may land at Iran, Yemen, Turkey or Somalia, where the smugglers are known to treat women with a lot of respect, as they cross the border, so they will be safe wherever they go.
In the first incident of its kind 750 women migrants from India were rescued from three boats by the Iranian coast guard on Sunday. Most of them urban women in their 20's and 30's. Iranian coast guard official Kareem Abbas told reporters "When they saw us they all shouted with joy and relief. We then took them to custody where they will soon be put up in refugee camps"
The women were fleeing discrimination and more importantly, an apparent rape crisis in their own country. Anita (name changed), one of the migrants said "Our biggest fear, as we traveled was that we were so close to Pakistan, and their coast guard would fire upon us. (Though we would be more than happy if they rescued us. We could live a more dignified life in Pakistan, where it's not acceptable for a woman to even laugh in public.) But nevertheless, we were willing to take that risk. We would rather die at sea than live in that god forsaken country where we come from."
When asked why exactly they fled India, she said "In search of a better life. India is the worst place to be a woman. Anywhere is better than India for us." When asked how exactly it is bad to women she went on to explain "India allocates several crore Rupees for women empowerment each year. There are more than 84 laws to protect women altogether (adding the clauses) which are very poorly enforced. It's as good as not having them at all. Because when a woman files a complaint against a man he is imprisoned straight away. Even if the complaint is found to be false, the authorities don't take any action against the women. (What CAN they legally do to us, anyway?)." She added,"Also, slow as the judicial system is, they have deliberately made it even slower for women, as there are bodies called Fast Track Courts (which are much faster than HC's and SC), exclusively to deal with crimes against women."
Purnima (name changed) who was sitting nearby added "Our major fear was rape. It's not that we faced any problems personally. But we could not go a single day without reading about an alleged rape in the newspaper, or seeing a story about alleged rape on TV news.This is precisely the reason we say there is a rape crisis in India, and rape is the single largest problem India faces. Not poverty, not hunger, not corruption, not Naxalism. I'm surprised why India is not in a state of emergency, nor is it declared as an unstable country. Because of this we thought, enough is enough. We are leaving."
She added, "There's no need to question whether the allegations are true or not. If on TV and in the papers it's saying that a woman was raped, then it MUST be true. We trust ALL Indian journalists. Whatever they say is the gospel truth, they are prophets. Because they are so objective and anything they say is said after thorough research and with more than one reliable source. Let me prove to you how suppressed we were. Many of us have looted and cheated men in our lives, and we walked free. No action was taken against us. While others here have beaten up men and robbed them of their money in front of packed streets, and no one uttered a word. That's how we got money to pay the smugglers. That's just how frustratingly oppressive India was. We would prosper using men's hard-earned money."
A third migrant who wished not to be named, said, "The reason we fled is simply because, we hate Indian men. The media told us to hate men of our country, so we did as they say. Our approach is monkey-see-money-do. We are proud to say that we are a bunch of pampered, whiny, hateful bigots."
More to come
One of the migrants told the officials that there was a new smuggling system set up and more women were waiting to flee, and that this group was the first of a very large exodus of women from India, in search of what they think of as greener pastures. They will merely get on the boats and push off aimlessly. Their boat may land at Iran, Yemen, Turkey or Somalia, where the smugglers are known to treat women with a lot of respect, as they cross the border, so they will be safe wherever they go.
**All articles on this blog are satires**
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