Former NCW member Charu Wali Khanna joins Asianet News English to expose the harsh realities of kangaroo courts and the impact on victims. Watch this exclusive interview that challenges the narrative and questions the truth behind dowry death cases in India.
#NoidaDowryDeath #CharuWaliKhanna #AsianetNews #DowryDeathCase #KangarooCourts #JusticeInIndia #NCW #IndianNews #India
0:00 – Introduction
0:45 – Charu Wali Khanna’s background and role in NCW
2:30 – Overview of kangaroo courts in India
5:15 – Impact of kangaroo courts on victims
7:50 – Case study: Noida dowry death case
10:40 – Challenges in the justice system related to dowry death cases
13:25 – Charu’s views on the narrative around dowry deaths
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#NoidaDowryDeath #CharuWaliKhanna #AsianetNews #DowryDeathCase #KangarooCourts #JusticeInIndia #NCW #IndianNews #India
0:00 – Introduction
0:45 – Charu Wali Khanna’s background and role in NCW
2:30 – Overview of kangaroo courts in India
5:15 – Impact of kangaroo courts on victims
7:50 – Case study: Noida dowry death case
10:40 – Challenges in the justice system related to dowry death cases
13:25 – Charu’s views on the narrative around dowry deaths
🔊 LIKE ➡ SHARE ➡ SUBSCRIBE
For More Updates:
English: https://newsable.asianetnews.com/
Hindi: https://hindi.asianetnews.com/
Malayalam: https://www.asianetnews.com/
Kannada: https://kannada.asianetnews.com/
Tamil: https://tamil.asianetnews.com/
Telugu: https://telugu.asianetnews.com/
Bengali: https://bangla.asianetnews.com/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AsianetNewsa...
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AsianetNewsEN
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ann.newsable/
➡ If you like our video, give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel to get the daily dosage of news, entertainment, sports and more.
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NewsTranscript
00:00So viewers, today I have with me Charu Vali Khanna Ma'am.
00:13She is a human rights activist and she is also a former member of NCW Natural Commission for Women.
00:19Ma'am, thank you so much for speaking with Asianate News.
00:22You know, I'm speaking with you at a time when we have seen the horrific incident which took place in Noida.
00:29You know, first of all, because you are someone who have advocated for women's rights for so many years.
00:34What goes into your mind and heart when you see such kind of cases emerge again and again?
00:41See, the fact is that at one point of time, we say that we are supposed to be following the constitution of India and we are in 2025.
00:51But there is a whole large section of our society which is really living in medieval times.
00:57And the law has absolutely no meaning for them.
01:00They have total disregard for the law.
01:02So to implement the law and to follow the law is a big challenge.
01:08But this challenge has to be undertaken by one, the police who is the implementing agency and secondly by the judiciary.
01:17But both are miserably failing in their task.
01:21Neither does the police arrest the culprit.
01:24It's so difficult for a girl who would, you know, how much difficulty for her to speak out.
01:29Whether it's a case of sexual abuse, whether it's rape, there's always a stigma.
01:35Or, you know, this kind of allegations of dowry.
01:38There's always a stigma.
01:39And for the girl to speak up and go to the police station, what do the police do?
01:43They do not register her.
01:47They do not register her complaint.
01:49And even with great difficulty, the complaint does get registered.
01:54The whole trial is so slow that it's very, all the witnesses start turning hostile.
02:00And the judiciary is totally collapsing because there's no, the laws may say time-bound trial,
02:07but there is no time-bound trial and judgments are reserved and delayed for months.
02:12So, I mean, this is a very, very sad reflection of her time of what is happening.
02:18You know what, ma'am?
02:18You're talking about the judicial system and how crammed it is.
02:22Crores of crores of cases pending in our judiciary.
02:25Gram Panchayat members fail immensely.
02:28I mean, they do not even forget about listening.
02:31They do not even pay heed to and actually try to dig in deep what exactly is happening in her house.
02:38Was she severely beaten earlier?
02:41What steps need to be taken earlier?
02:42What do you think?
02:43I mean, how are these Gram Panchayats even functioning in India?
02:48Absolutely.
02:49I think it's really shameful because the girl was begging and pleading to her father.
02:55It was not that they were poor.
02:56They had the wherewithal.
02:58She was earning money.
03:00She was, she and her sister-in-law were running a parlor,
03:02but she was being brutally beaten.
03:05And she went back to her parents, not once, but twice.
03:09And what is the, what would a normal person who's concerned for the daughter?
03:14They would take the process of law, go to the police to file a complaint.
03:20Because even in cases like this in family disputes, the police does not register an FIR.
03:25They have mediation proceedings, which sometimes go on for six months.
03:29Even the courts, they ask for the parties to go for mediation.
03:34But these mediations are done within the purview of the law.
03:37And these mediation and counselling is done by professionals.
03:41But what did these people do?
03:43They went to the so-called kangaroo courts.
03:45You know, these honor crimes and these panchayats you tell.
03:50The problem is a problem of hierarchy and patriarchy.
03:53Patriarchy is shaking.
03:55And the girls and youngsters are no longer willing to listen to the elders.
04:00So what do they do?
04:01How do they impose their youth?
04:03They say girls should not have mobile phones.
04:06It corrupts them.
04:07Girls should not wear jeans.
04:08So they are trying to retain their power.
04:11And this is what they do.
04:13And according to, I heard one of the interviews of the father,
04:18he said on the 17th, that is like barely a week ago,
04:21the girl pleaded with him and said,
04:23Mujjit panaha bedu.
04:25Pana means give me shelter.
04:27I am willing to work.
04:28I am earning and doing everything.
04:30Because they were even taking away the earnings.
04:32But what did he do?
04:34He did nothing.
04:36And sending that girl back in that hellhole to be beaten,
04:40I think it's the worst form of cruelty.
04:42In fact, I have consistently said in all the channels
04:46and whenever my opinion has been asked,
04:48because if you say dowry, giving and taking is a crime,
04:51the parents who are indulging in this kind of crime,
04:54sending the girl back not, you know,
04:57heedful of her emotions, her sentiments,
05:00they should be arrested.
05:01And what about these illegal kangaroo courts
05:04who are under the name of panchaya?
05:06You see, they're misleading people.
05:08They are not the gramata-chayats which are under the
05:10panchayati raj act, which is a constitutional body.
05:15And they should also, those persons who gave this order,
05:19that she should be sent back, let them be arrested.
05:22And then only will there be a fear and these things.
05:25Otherwise, these things will just continue.
05:27Continues the tradition.
05:28And you know, this is just one case which happened in Noida.
05:31There are so many thousands of cases.
05:33I mean, I can, I'm pretty sure because you have worked for so many years in NCW,
05:37you yourself know the data is quite big.
05:41The data is staggering because the dowry prohibition act was made in 1961.
05:46It was a very noble intent.
05:48We were in a different society today.
05:51And according to that, the giving and taking of dowry is an offense
05:55in relation to marriage, except for gifts.
05:57And the gifts have to be registered.
05:59Now the word dowry is somehow giving it a cultural sanction.
06:03And in today's consumer world, I mean, can you stop people from giving things on their,
06:09they want to show off their wealth.
06:10Girls say, I want this car, I want that car.
06:13In India, if you see the vehicle sales,
06:15the two-wheeler and the four-weeker vehicle sales,
06:19the maximum during the period where their weddings.
06:22Tell me one wedding in Delhi for itself, in the five-star hotels,
06:27there's a special space allocated for the car to be wrapped in a ribbon.
06:31And if the wedding is held in a banquet hall,
06:34then a big car, a key, car key is made and brought in the train.
06:38So we are living, we can't stop this giving and taking.
06:42But what we can stop is extortion and violence.
06:46That's why I feel that this act needs to be renamed into married women,
06:50cruelty and extortion.
06:52The Dowry Prohibition Act, because the word dowry,
06:56somehow, you know, you feel it's a cultural sanction.
06:59And even in the BNS, the new criminal law,
07:05it is in section 84 and 85, cruelty has been punished and defined.
07:11And you know, but who's bothered?
07:15That is the tragedy.
07:17For them, the law doesn't matter.
07:18If you've heard this girl's father's interviews,
07:21because he's giving left and right interviews everywhere,
07:24he's a very weak witness, very, very weak witness.
07:28And the only person who saw the child or the girl burning is the small child,
07:35who said that my father set her ablaze with a lighter.
07:40But you know, when the matter goes to court, we're all in this patriarchal mindset.
07:45And the boy himself has said that, you know, small mia vidi, that is husband, wife,
07:52fights are trivial issues.
07:53Why are you making a big deal about it?
07:55So the same thing the police say, when you go to the police station, they say,
07:59why are you making a big deal?
08:00They're small husband, but the high court says that it's a wear and tear of marriage.
08:07And I've got cases not only from Delhi, Madras, Supreme Court.
08:11They say these are trivial matters.
08:14No, violence against women, beating, abuse is normalized,
08:21is being normalized.
08:22And that is why it is being repeated and repeated.
08:25And if you will see that soon they'll say that the girl was three.
08:29She couldn't take the normal way of life and she committed suicide.
08:33And he'll be acquitted.
08:34He's going to get out, let me tell you, in the next two years, he'll be out and remarried
08:40and repeating the same thing.
08:43I think even during his interview, I could not see even the slightest of remorse on his face.
08:51He was clearly just, you know, fumbling, maybe because of fear that he'll have to go to jail
08:56for a couple of years.
08:57But apart from that, no remorse I could see on his face.
09:00It's as if he was like waiting for that moment to arrive.
09:02And okay, but I want to know from you, ma'am, do you think that we need to reduce the gap
09:06between these victims and those people who are actually working on ground to tackle this issue?
09:12Because, you know, as a woman myself, I may get feared because I'm a journalist.
09:16I'm pretty aware about things around me.
09:18But, you know, normal women in household, they don't generally, you know, walk up to police station
09:24to register their complaints.
09:26Do you think that there has to be some sort of an infrastructure in place so that these
09:29people can actually go ahead and register their complaints?
09:32Because this girl was crying in front of her father and he could not do anything.
09:39In India, we have the best laws.
09:41That's what I said, but we sadly lack in their implementation.
09:45If you see the Dowry Prohibition Act in Section 8B, it has a provision for dowry prohibition
09:51officers because the legislatures are cognizant of the fact that there are some periods,
09:59you know, when marriages take place, which are considered auspicious periods
10:03like akshay teach or child marriages take place.
10:06So there's a provision in the law for a dowry prohibition officer who is to be in the area,
10:14who is to see what is happening, who is to collect evidence, who is to help in the registering.
10:19But unfortunately, there's no dowry prohibition, independent dowry prohibition officer designated.
10:26Like there's no child marriage prohibition officer independent.
10:31Maybe there's some person, one officer who's got 50 charges.
10:35He's a domestic violence protection officer.
10:37He's the child marriage.
10:39I mean, it's impossible for him to work.
10:41So it's very important because it's only the ground level.
10:44Like you rightly said, at the ground level, if there's a person whom I can reach out to,
10:49it will be better and easier for me rather than going to the police station.
10:53Because there's certain fear about the police station and, you know, exploitation, etc, etc.
10:59In a country like India, we often talk about that, you know, women are going in space,
11:04doing this in, you know, a STEM field.
11:07But, you know, every now and then we face something which takes us back to so many years.
11:13So what do we actually do about it?
11:15Because this particular issue, I think it is more prevalent in rural areas.
11:20Do you not think that there has to be some sort of enforcement?
11:23Because, you know, child marriages, these child marriages are happening openly in villages.
11:29Why can't there be a proper enforcement?
11:32I mean, ED is there. ED goes and raids, you know.
11:36Why can't there be a team which can actually enforce these laws on ground, go to villages,
11:42visit there, arrest these people who are actually taking part, you know,
11:46making these small children get married to each other.
11:49Why can't we do anything to enforce it?
11:52Definitely, there is a political will and the system is in place.
11:56As per the law, there's nothing stopping them.
11:59But everyone has become so lax because I said violence against women is normalized.
12:05And they are there as vote banks.
12:08They are there as vote banks when, you know, you need to, as symbolic kind of,
12:14like we had two army officers were women who led the, you know, campaign against Pakistan.
12:22But what did some of the MLEs do?
12:24They were abusive.
12:26And even the Supreme Court had to take cognizance for them to apologize.
12:30So this is the kind of, you know, absolutely crude medieval mindset these people have.
12:35And unfortunately, our education system has totally failed us.
12:39Because rather than educate people, break the shackles of patriarchy, gender sensitization,
12:48concept of consent, these things, rather than teaching the children these things,
12:54they teach them, you know, very advanced concepts of maybe math, science, physics,
13:00and children aren't able to pass.
13:02So what happens?
13:03They fail.
13:04We have two, I mean, of course, you have the 10th class and the 12th class,
13:07but we have two other levels, fourth fail and eighth fail.
13:10And if you go on the road, you'll see what do these boys who are fourth fail and eighth fail do?
13:17They aimless, jobless, and they're just watching porn on the mobiles.
13:23If you see the statistics, the maximum number of pornographic sites,
13:30googled, searched are from India.
13:33So what is that?
13:35From four to 14 is the very time when you need to teach the child that what is right,
13:40what is wrong, and still the values, which our education system unfortunately has failed to do.
13:45So the mindset, the pro women mindset also gets nurtured at an early age,
13:50with the help of parents and people around you.
13:52I think we are failing big time because, you know,
13:55one generation becomes another and this tragedy will continue.
13:58Like this lucky boy who's been seeing his mother and aunt being beaten daily,
14:03and then his mother burned, I mean, when he grows up, what is he going to do?
14:08He thinks it's wrong.
14:10Like his father said, it's okay.
14:11It's a trivial matter between husband and wife.
14:14Everyone is saying it.
14:15So they think there's nothing wrong.
14:17And the shocking part is this happened after so many years of the marriage.
14:21I mean, had it happened, I mean, definitely the crime could not have been more graver.
14:26But my point is, I mean, this happened after so many years of marriage.
14:30I mean, consistently this monster was living with her and maybe constantly, you know, pressurizing her.
14:36That's exactly what I'm saying.
14:38It's not about Dowling because you will not be able to link this case to Dowling.
14:41The prosecution will have a very weak case.
14:44It's about extortion.
14:45Yes.
14:46You've got your Scorpio.
14:47You've got your money.
14:48But that greed of wanting more and more, if someone is getting free money,
14:53these greedy monsters need to be, you know, set right.
14:58And rather than the parents of the girls saying that this is how it happens in our society,
15:02there's no answer.
15:03There's no answer.
15:04So we need to have proper dowry prohibition officers in the rural areas, in the villages,
15:11in the municipalities, who spread the message, create the awareness.
15:16And then only will girls' lives be saved.
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