Dehumanization and Control: The True Agenda Behind 'Saving Hindu Women'
The constant dehumanisation of muslims, especially muslim men by Indian media is abhorrent to say the least. Not only does it affects the whole Muslim community as a whole, if we dig deeper we would find that furthermore it could affect all indian women and their rights and choices. Now the question is how both the things are related? Let's start with coverage bias and sensationalism in the Indian media. The media as we all know has the power to influence how people view different communities and contribute to the construction of stereotypes and biases. There are lots of crimes done by muslim men to hindu women and no one with a sane mind would support the perpetrator here. The police and the lawmakers punishes them accordingly, as they should. But specifically choosing crimes done by muslim men on Hindu women and ignoring all the other violent crimes done by any other religious or non religious men on women and making those about muslim community being evil rather than going to the root of the problem i.e. patriarchy and Misogyny is quite barbaric. From shraddha-aftab case to Neha-Fayaz case , Indian media left no stone unturned to use these horrific crimes to dehumanise the Muslim community as a whole. Some of other horrific crimes which didn't gained attention from Indian media - 1. Sahil gehlot killed his gf nikki yadav and stuffed body in fridge.
2) Hardik shah killed megha and hided body of his live in partner in box and called scrap dealer.
3) vineet pawar killed his live in partner rohina naaz over interfaith difference. vineet was hindu and she was muslim.
4) pradeep kumar killed his gf ruksana.
All these despite being extremely horrific, the victims didn't receive 1% of the sympathy and outcry that shraddha and Neha received. Now this is not to say that the cases of shraddha and Neha shouldn't be discussed. This is to say every other victim should receive the same attention as these two girls. Those victims should not be ignored just because their murderer didn't belong to muslim community. These crimes should be about the victims not about the perpetrators.The media's selective reporting and sensationalism are nauseating. Men killing their girlfriends, live-in partners, or wives is rooted more in misogyny than in communal issues. The selective narrative of "saving Hindu women" is ultimately harmful to Hindu women themselves. This false concern is not about women’s safety but about hating Muslims and controlling Hindu women.
Conservatism will never favor women. Hindutva ideologies often attempt to control women, as evidenced by the actions of organizations like Bajrang Dal and VHP, which create chaos whenever a Hindu woman enters an interfaith marriage with a Muslim man. These groups actively work to take away women’s freedom to choose their own partners.
The implications are far-reaching. This trend of "saving Hindu women from love jihad" will ultimately limit Hindu women’s ability to enter into interfaith relationships. Over time, it could extend to preventing upper-caste Hindu women from marrying outside their caste and, eventually, to restricting women from making any relationship choices of their own. This pattern is deeply misogynistic and aims to strip women of their rights and autonomy. In the long run, Hindu women will lose the freedom to choose their own partners due to the actions of organizations like Bajrang Dal and VHP. The so-called "protection" of Hindu women is a dangerous trend that works against their interests and perpetuates systemic control over their lives.