| Username |
Post |
| Hari |
Posted
on 24-Apr-01 09:26 PM
I don't know how many here have had the chance to go through "Govinda" reported in the Nepali Times by none other than Kunda Dixit himself.
With due cognizance to the true violation of human rights that this poor man from a poor country is facing in a foreign land, one thing struck me as incomplete.
There is a little blurb at the end of that story about Govinda's family and describes how his family is anticipating the return of Govinda back to his home.
Here's the interesting part that is perhaps lacking (and again, with due regard to the most important story at hand, of the miscarriage of justice, of human rights violations, and so forth that Kunda so eloquently describes for us.):
This is the man that left his wife and kids to earn a better life, apparently for himself as his wife contemplates that he really had no "need" to go to Japan to earn; that they had enough to live "well". So, my first question is this: what was the wife's reaction to this seemingly selfish deed? How did she feel about her husband leaving a pregnant wife at home apparently away to pursue his self-fulfillment? What about the wife's needs or the children's needs?
I don't pretend to know everything about this man, so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he really left to provide a (relatively) better lifestyle for his family. Fine.
Now, what about the fact that this man, who apparently left his wife and kids to presumably make their lifestyle better, is engaged in soliciting (on multiple occasions) a prostitute? What does the wife think about that? Does she know? Does she await him with equal eagerness? Does her forgiveness involve her regard for her children? Would she be willing to forgive her husband if they had no children?
I realize that these questions are distractions in the principal case, which is to restore the human rights that this man deserves. But, living away from Japan, and being outside of the circle of people actually devoted (and at present faced with a different goal: that of getting him free), we can discuss such hypothetical scenarios. And forgive me if this is offensive and out of context for some people.
It just struck me that there is not a mention of the wife's perspective, her involvement in this matter. And the flaws of this man are quietly brushed aside. Perhaps understatement is the best statement; perhaps not. I am again not trying to deny that there has been a grave injustice. Neither am I saying that Kunda's article itself should be the place for this part-journalistic, part-sociological observations. It would have satisfied me if that blurb at the end contained answers to the questions I have asked.
Hari
for the article and the accompanying blurb:
http://www.nepalnews.com.np/ntimes/apr20-2001/nation.htm#GOVINDA
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 24-Apr-01 10:45 PM
Hariji:
I guess Mr Dixit was unnecessariliy mixing up family story in the
open and shut case of human right violation and police coercion.
It was an unwarranted digression, done with goodwill.His writing
could have been as forceful had he not broached the family story.
I think the victim's pervert behavior made him target of the
police set up.However, that matter is not really relevant here
either.We generally don't think that a (nondescript) person's
sexual misconduct should be debated or mentioned in media with
as equal prominence as the matter of flagrant violation of
human right by a responsible regime.
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| ashu |
Posted
on 24-Apr-01 11:16 PM
Hi Hari,
I think you raise a valid point.
May I urge you to email your comment to
Kunda himself so that he can print it
for publication?
The address is: editor@nepalitimes.com
Subject: Write "Attention: Binod Bhattarai or Salil Subedi"
Let's share ideas with a larger group too.
oohi
ashu
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| Hari |
Posted
on 24-Apr-01 11:18 PM
My point was not to challenge the crux of that article: to restore the human rights of an individual wrongly sentenced.
I was just wondering why, aside from the human-rights violation perspective, the Nepalitimes people were not willing to pursue a more sociological investigation of this particular situation.
I guess indirectly I was trying to ask them (and this discussion group here) of how a Nepali woman would go about answering such questions. And how others in the community would take such answers.
And by that, I was surely hinting at whether our "purush-pradhan" culture had anything to do with it. Would we accept quietly this perverted, morally decrepit man back into our society without the necessary condemnation?
And, at the same time, ostracize, condemn and disown those countless women that have been forcefully sold into sex-slavery abroad? This apparently is a major problem as the returnees of this slavery, who are often HIV-positive and/or have other medical and emotional trauma, are denied a healing place by our society and are left to rot away.
Hari
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