Safoora Zargar, a name which has been made famous due to the atrocities caused to the 27-year-old student pursuing M. Phil from the renowned Jamia Milia Islamia which is at present thought to be an institution filled with ‘anti-nationals’.
Well, Safoora Zargar, who is pregnant, has been in jail since April 10, 2020, for protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Safoora, the media coordinator of the Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC), played a central role in leading the protests from the University, since December. According to a report by The Hindu, Zargar who was 14-weeks pregnant at that time, was arrested and sent to judicial custody on April 10, based on an FIR which accused her of participating in anti-CAA and NRC protests at the Jaffrabad metro station, prior to riots breaking out in the area.
Bail was granted on the grounds of her pregnancy, and other medical conditions on April 13. But in the meantime, she was remanded under another FIR, which slapped her with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Under this act, she has been charged with 18 criminal activities including rioting, possession of arms, attempt to murder, incitement of violence, sedition, murder, and promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion.
A pregnant lady is in Tihar jail for something which is not proven yet. Her bail has been cancelled. And yet the hate mongers tend to question her integrity, her personal life. To get admitted into such an esteemed university is not easy. Many people have tried hard but those who had in them, go ahead to join it. And pursuing a postgraduation degree isn’t for everyone. She is not some sadist who will take pleasure by creating ruckus while pregnant.
Safoora graduated from Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University, where she was associated with the Women’s Development Cell and also ran a campus magazine. She pursued a career in marketing and then went on to do her Master’s in Sociology from Jamia University.
She knew all the consequences and stood up for what she thought was right but she couldn’t have thought about the brutalities waiting for her and. The ‘seditious behaviour’ about which the FIR talks doesn’t make sense. Because according to speeches made by some politicians, they should be among the people to be prisoned on the basis of the charges of sedition.
This incident has attracted both national and international attention with several human rights activists, and even politicians seeking her demand on humanitarian grounds. This ‘witch-hunt’ of minorities being conducted by investigating authorities against anti-CAA protesters, and the students who are questioning the government are treated like threats to national security under the draconian UAPA Act. All this is getting lots of criticism from all over the globe.
This matter is heartbreaking and also thought-provoking but, here also, some people failed to show empathy and went ahead to troll her on social media.
Even BJP leader Kapil Mishra commented on her pregnancy. It was thereafter that social media goons got the courage to pass derogatory comments. Many sexist and bigoted trolls have been spreading rumours about her pregnancy, raising questions on her dignity and the identity of the father, and even accusing her of using the pregnancy as a shield to get away from the legal proceedings.
A number of obscene memes and posts are getting viral. Because at the end of the day the society still believes that by questioning a women’s character they get the full right to punish her even before being proven as guilty. That’s the mentality which is creating all this online ruckus.
Safoora’s husband is clearly disturbed by all the unverified and false information about her being spread to malign and defame her. He didn’t even want to comment on all this nonsense and just said: “I don’t even want to dignify these trolls by responding to them, they will do what they have to.”
Even though we talk about feminism and all but still the thought process is limited to talking about the ‘legitimacy’ of someone’s child. The problem here is not Safoora’s child, but her arrest and the inhumanity which is making her suffer even in times of such crisis.
Her family is upset and appalled by all of this, but they still have faith in the judiciary. But it really doesn’t bother the trolls who keep talking of the DNA of the unborn child, and constantly raising a finger at her marital status. If we couldn’t do anything good for anyone shouldn’t we keep mum and not gossip about it rancorously. But still, we did, and hence, it can be clearly concluded that: We as Indians failed. We as humans failed.