Girl commits suicide after humiliation

When Sri Ram Sene attacked a Mangalore pub on January 24, they were called the moral police of the worst kind. Then a school girl, Ashwini, committed suicide. She was publicly humiliated by suspected Bajrang Dal men for being friends with a Muslim man, Salim. The group had dragged her to a police station, summoned her parents and forced Salim to write a letter of apology. Ashwini was harassed before the police, but the men have not been arrested yet. Salim has been taken into police custody, now charged with possible rape of a minor. For the saffron police, women might seem the soft target but it goes beyond that. Writer and activist Prof Pattabhirama Somayaji says: ”I would say the people who feel insecure are Muslims. Of late, Christians. And then, As you say, women.” Daughter of a Kerala CPM MLA, who was pulled out of a bus and attacked, made no secret of what her attackers had told her. ”They told me you are a Hindu, why do you want speak to Muslims?” Two cases in a row — one leading to the death of a minor girl. A violent form of parallel policing by saffron groups. It is not just a cause of concern for our women in public spaces, it also seems to be panning out, with a communal edge.

source: http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20090083403&ch=2/13/2009%2012:20:00%20AM