This is how the story unfolded. Union New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah was asked to comment on former Supreme Court judge AK Ganguly's sexual harassment case. His response was nothing short of flippant.
"I'm scared to talk to a woman these days. I don't even want to keep a female secretary. Who knows, I might end up in jail because of a complaint," Abdullah said. Understandably, his son and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is more attuned to the mood on the ground, tried to limit the bloodbath by explaining his father's insensitive statement as misplaced attempt at humour. He hoped his father would apologise.
But there was no stopping the senior Abdullah. In a rant that can only be termed as crude, he told waiting reporters "kahe ko mujhe phasa rahe ho? Tumhari media toh aur kuchh nahi kar sakta hai, kabhi Modi ko pakad lete ho, kabhi mujhko. Saare mardon ko jail mein daal do. (Why are you implicating me? Your media is of no use. You sometimes harass [Narendra] Modi, sometimes me. Why don't you put all the males in jail?"
An apology followed. Well, sort of. A gruff Abdullah angrily reacted "if there is something which has gone wrong (in what I said), I'm sorry, it wasn't meant that way."
When told that his son has tweeted that he apologise for his misplaced attempt at humour, he lashed out: "He is as misinformed as everyone else. That is the problem."
When criticized for his insensitive comment, Abdullah's immediate reaction was to pile on more insults.
'Why don't you imprison all men and get it over with?'
This is the problem. This casual attitude towards addressing issues that are life and death for women trying to get a toehold in patriarchal setups at home and workplaces pushes back the gender fight by a decade. Each time a lawmaker entrusted with the responsibility of keeping women safe makes flippant references to their rights they notch up another crime against victims of sexual assault.
It's more disappointing coming from Abdullah since he is pushing for the Women's Reservation Bill. When a woman lodges a sexual harassment complaint and a man in the position of power and influence states that men have to be cautious in their interaction with women henceforth, it's a gross travesty of fair play.
All laws are subject to misinterpretation and abuse. Many women have abused the anti-dowry law for settling personal scores. That does not make the entire sex guilty of pinning a crime on hapless men.
Perhaps it hasn't occurred to the men who complain that they constantly fear claims of harassment - there's a fairly simple solution to counter this. Don't molest women. Don't take undue advantage of your position. Don't say or do anything that can be construed as inappropriate. You'll be safe.
This isn't a gender war as men like Abdullah and SP leader Naresh Aggarwal would have you believe. Companies aren't "afraid of hiring women", at least openly. Isolating women who voice their fears or mocking those that make complaints against their aggressors will ensure that cases of sexual abuse never come out. A career politician like Abdullah should have known that and apologised better.
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