SOCIETY
Violence within the home
MAITREYEE SAHA GANAPATHY
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A painstakingly reconstructed account of a landmark case.
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Provoked; Kiranjit Ahluwalia and Rahila Gupta, Harper Collins, £8.99.
TEN years after it was first published as Circle of Light, Kiranjit Ahluwalia's story co-authored by Rahila Gupta has been reprinted and is back on the bookstores with the altered name Provoked. Although meant to coincide with the film based on the book, which was released in April this year, it also comes soon after the Indian Government passed the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act.
Well known facts
The film's publicity has ensured that at least the facts of the story become well known. Kiranjit Ahluwalia who spent her early years in India migrated to Britain and was married to Deepak Ahluwalia. In the 10 years of her married life during which she also bore two sons, Kiranjit was frequently beaten and tortured by her husband. The beatings were severe and Kiranjit always feared for her life. Although she had a supportive family, when it came to the question of separating from her husband, she was advised to do nothing that would undermine the family's izzat or dignity.
In May 1989, Kiranjit was accused of deliberately causing fire to kill her husband. Deepak was hospitalised with 40 per cent burns and died soon after. Kiranjit was sentenced to life imprisonment. The crime had typically hogged headlines and Kiranjit was dubbed as the "fireball mum" by the media. Southall Black Sisters, a women's group in Britain, took up her cause and campaigned vigorously. The activists highlighted the abuse she had undergone. The campaign evoked widespread sympathy and attracted important supporters. The court granted an appeal and the sentence was quashed in 1992 after her guilty plea to a manslaughter charge was accepted.
Kiranjit's story not only brought focus on the issue of domestic violence, it also made legal history in the United Kingdom by pushing the legal frontiers that defined `provocation' and appealing the courts to take into account the `battered woman syndrome'. As the facts came to light, there was also a perceptible change of attitude in the media. By the time of her release, the reality of domestic violence had finally sunk in. Says Kiranjit in her book, "Newspapers that had called me `Fireball Mum' and `Killer Wife' when I was convicted now had headlines reading `Battered Woman Wins Campaign'.
Meticulous detail
Kiranjit's narration is meticulously detailed. Whether it is her life in prison or her younger days or her life with Deepak, the story is painstakingly reconstructed. The gaps in memory are filled in through interviews of relatives and acquaintances. Many parts in Kiranjit's narration, especially what happened in her house with Deepak, too are corroborated through interviews of family members from both sides.
In revealing her life with Deepak, Kiranjit's reconstruction looks at all the complexities of the relationship. She had wanted to be a `good wife' and a `good daughter-in-law' and; although she hated Deepak for his violent temper, aggression and what he did to her, she wanted to please him. She wants to leave him but cannot do so. She pleads with Deepak like a slave when she fears he might abandon her for another woman. These seemingly contradictory emotions, as studies have revealed, are typical of abused women. The book refers to the psychiatrists' statement about "diminished perception of alternatives".
It is 10 years since the book was first published. Kiranjit's case remains a landmark, and not just in the United Kingdom, in exposing domestic violence. Kiranjit refers to her background, upbringing and the social and cultural values that influenced and bound her, forcing her to stay in a perilous situation. Surveys and studies carried out since have revealed that women, even in seemingly more liberal societies and in countries where resources for abused women were available, found options outside a marriage just as difficult. Fear, stigma, and the threat of losing their children stopped many women from seeking help.
The enormity of the problem was revealed by a World Health Organisation a multi-country study on "Women's Health and Domestic Violence against Women" in 2005. Women from 15 countries as diverse as Bangladesh, Japan, Serbia and Montenegro, Thailand and Brazil were interviewed. It found that the lifetime prevalence of physical or sexual violence or both by an intimate partner ranged from 15 per cent to 75 per cent in the different sites.
The survey pointed to the "culture of silence" that prevailed in the matter of domestic violence. In all countries the interviewer was the first person many of the abused women had ever talked to about their partner's physical violence. In some cases, the victims felt that some of the violence was justified. Countering attitudes, beliefs and values that condone partner violence as normal was strongly recommended.
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