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THEY
HANG: Twelve Women
in My
Portrait Gallery
Syeda
S. Hameed
Rs. 275 Pb 2006
81-88965-26-X
(Japanese rights sold. All others available)
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Women
who were revenge gang-raped, honour-killed,
sexually harassed, branded as witches, burnt for
dowry, abused as children. Their stories appeared
in newspapers, triggered shock waves, evoked
protests,
dharnas and gheraos—and died down. But
who were they? Maimun from Nuh in Haryana, Gudiya
from Haria ki Garhi in Mathura, Sajoni from
Jamtara in Jharkhand, Jahanara from Reshampura
in Gwalior, Bela from Karvi in Banda…and
countless others.
Here are the real-life
stories of those women whom the author encountered
as Member of the National Commission for Women,
poignantly and shockingly presented by her as
fact-cum-fiction. Each of the women is someone
we recognize, yet she remains faceless. Each of
them cries out for justice, yet justice is elusive.
Each of them embodies the predicament of the majority
of Indian women, but only a few have the courage to
speak out. Read their lives in this extraordinary
document, which is also an indictment of a society
that claims to worship its women.
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Syeda S. Hameed
is currently Member, Planning Commission of India,
and was formerly Member, National Commission for
Women. She has edited the four centenary volumes
of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad,India's Maulana;
her most recent translation is of Hali's
Musaddas.
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