Three politicians in India, all of whom were from a very morally conservative party, have resigned today after they were caught viewing pornography on a cell phone. The incident occurred during a state parliament session. Video clips of the three men viewing the pornography were broadcast across the country. The three politicians: Krishna Palemar, who was the minister for Ports, Science, and Technology, Laxman Savadi, who was the minister for cooperation in Karnataka, and C.C. Patil, who was the minister for women and child development. The phone belonged to Palemar.
All three men have denied the charges, saying that they were not looking at the pornographic images deliberately. However, they said they resigned because they did not want to put the Bharatiya Janata Party through any embarrassment. It is the nationalist Hindu party and is the opposition at the national level.
There has been considerable anger and criticism over what happened. It hasn’t come just from right Hindu groups or rights activists, either. The ruling Congress party has called for the dissolution of the assembly. One of the former federal ministers for women’s development, Renuka Chowdhary, who is a member of the Congress Party, said that India already has a mindset where women are nothing more than disposable commodities. She said that people in such positions as the three men were in a position of power. She said that the men apparently have the same views on women when they are sitting in a parliamentary session and viewing porn.
Women and young girls are frequently threatened in India, a largely patriarchal society. Those threats are often of dowry-related murder, rape, domestic violence, honor killings, forced marriages, and human trafficking. Many rights groups fight continuous battles to help women and girls out of situations like those mentioned above, but it is often difficult because the laws do not offer females protection.
