Pratyusha Banerjee Commits Suicide - ALL DISCUSSIONS HERE ONLY - Page 37

Originally posted by: Stephi

Perhaps this kind of questions may be the real reason why millions of abused women around the world do not dare to speak out about abuse. People will rather blame the victim than the abuser.
Victim-blaming attitudes marginalize the victim and make it harder to come forward and report the abuse.

''Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the United States, more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined. ("Violence Against Women, A Majority Staff Report," Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 102nd Congress, October 1992, p.3.)

There are 1,500 shelters for battered women in the United States. There are 3,800 animal shelters. (Schneider, 1990).

Three to four million women in the United States are beaten in their homes each year by their husbands, ex-husbands, or male lovers. ("Women and Violence," Hearings before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, August 29 and December 11, 1990, Senate Hearing 101-939, pt. 1, p. 12.)

One woman is beaten by her husband or partner every 15 seconds in the United States. (Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1991).

One in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.

Domestic violence and abuse are used for one purpose and one purpose only: to gain and maintain total control over you. An abuser doesn't "play fair." Abusers use fear, guilt, shame, and intimidation to wear you down and keep you under his or her thumb. Your abuser may also threaten you, hurt you, or hurt those around you.

It is through fear that men are able to control women's behaviour, movements and freedom.

And so on...

Pratyusha Banerjee had decided to get out of this relationship, to file a case against her abuser. Next day she was found dead.

Originally posted by: SPuja

Why would an independent, working lady agree to distance herself from all? Rahul was not even her husband. If he was such a bad person - where was the need to agree to his irrational demands?

Originally posted by: SPuja

I am not blaming Prats - I am just saying that every one in this was guilty. And this case happened in India - there is no tradition of live-in relationship here. If Rahul was her husband - everyone here would have understood that she was majboor. Live-in happens with the consent of both the partners - at least my understanding of live-in relationship is like this. It is not victim blaming - it is questioning the judgement of the persons involved. In India - divorce still is not considered normal ( though there are numerous divorce cases), so the wife is kind of trapped in marriage for the sake of reputation of family. This is not so in case of live-in where the woman herself decided to live with a man without marriage.

Almost one and a half months after Pratyusha Banerjee's controversial demise, Kamya Punjabi's 'Justice for Pratyusha' mission remains unswerving. At the same time, the TV actress is hardly affected by allegations that the deceased actress' boyfriend, Rahul Raj Singh, has been making against her every other day.

Kamya Punjabi

Claiming that there has been adverse consequences of speaking up, Kamya says, "Yes, I am getting threat calls. But I am Kamya Punjabi, I am not scared of anyone. Rahul is targetting me. You think I care? He knows that I will not give up easily. He knows that I am fearless and what I am saying is on behalf of several others in the industry. There are many out there who do not want to come out in the open, so they are telling me. I am their voice too."

The actress still can't digest the fact that Pratyusha is no more and Rahul is roaming free. "A girl has lost her life and he has not spent a single night in jail. Pratyusha's parents are going from pillar to post to get justice for her. In our country, there is no jaan ki keemat (value of life). Who forced her to take this extreme step? There were marks on Pratyusha's face. There has to be some punishment so that it acts as a deterrent for others. Any man will think 50 times before raising his hand on a woman," she adds.

Recounting TV actress Kuljeet Randhawa's suicide in 2006, Kamya says, "She had left a note behind that no one was responsible for her death, yet her beau Bhanu Uday went through hell and in so many other cases the guys were in the dock, but I am surprised that in Pratyusha's case, things are moving at a snail's pace. We had to fight even for the FIR to be filed. Rahul claimed that he wanted to jump off from the hospital where he was admitted, but the hospital was a single storey building! He did not come for the last rites of Pratyusha as he felt that her parents would beat him up. They were not in a frame of mind to do anything. That was the last time he was going to see her. If only he had come forward, things would have been different."

Kamya on Rahul's allegations:
That she was not as close to Pratyusha as she claims
I got to know Pratyusha during our 'Bigg Boss stint'. Of late, I had lost touch with her. She was a woman in love and given the situation, I felt it was better to stay away. There were people who would keep telling me to make Pratyusha see sense, but when you are in love, you can't see many things. So, I let her be. She had taken a decision to not stay in touch with anyone.

In August last year, Kamya gave Pratyusha's birthday party a skip
I did not go because I did not know Rahul and he had thrown the bash for Pratyusha. I did not even know that there was a Raj Singh after Rahul to his name. I do not party with people I do not know. I had met him only once in January this year briefly during an event for Manish Raisinghani and Barkha Bisht's short film, 'Ankahee Baatein'. He was there with Pratyusha. She introduced me to him and told me that she was getting married and that I should keep myself free for her wedding.

That Kamya had taken Rs 2.5 lakh from Pratyusha
Pratyusha's parents are so upset about this allegation that they have told me to file a defamation case against him for making such a statement. As I owned a box cricket league team, Pratyusha was keen that her dad's NGO be promoted through our team. She had given me Rs 2.5 lakh as the sponsorship amount. Her parents are aware of it. Moreover, this happened three years ago when Rahul was not on the scene. Pratyusha did not even know him at that time. There is big money riding on the box cricket league teams; Rs 2.5 lakh is too small an amount and Rahul should know this.

That Kamya had called Pratyusha a day before she died
The call records will prove it. He can go and find out who had called her. If only Pratyusha had told me what she was going through, I would have brought her to my house.

That Kamya said Rahul has a nine-year-old son from his previous marriage
I stated this during a media meet outside the Malad police station where Pratyusha's parents were present. I said there was an article which says that he was married earlier and has a nine-year-old son. I had clearly said that it was "reported". He needs to go and read the article.

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