>Opinion column by Kavita Srivastava

Srivastava

• Column discussing the ugly role played by caste in justice
• Small win for Bahveri - bigger win for India

1. Outcome of the fight
2. Recap into incident + personal involvement with Bahveri Devi - transformation from her old thought process to one of a progressive activist (relationship of mentor)
3. Describe problems - quote rape statistics for India at large.
4. Its significance - empowering women, judgement protecting people
5. Saathins - their role is promoted
6. 
   

1. 1-2 line introduction of the incident (quick overview)
2. Background
3. Kavitha's background - why she got involved into the saathin movement
4. Bahveri Devi's transformation into a saathin - maybe imagine dialogue
5. Her strengths as a saathin - why she's a good one - character testimony
6. 'She was in no doubt that a woman of Bahveri's honesty and integrity would be quite incapable of making up a false rape allegation'
7. First person account of the case - how she heard it from bahveri devi
8. Her actions having received the news

TRANSITION: Describe the reaction of her village and the dismissiveness of the police, and say that this is quite typical and a wider problem in India

1. Statistics - rape of rural women (lower caste) - indicate how common
2. Police - behaviour - she could bring in the idea of justice - how this is a wider social problem - inspector general - she is a slut
3. Further into detail about reception of crimes specifically with lower-caste women - both social and judicial
4. BADRI GUJJAR - POWERFUL FIGURE - Connected to police etc. Talk about Gujjar specifically; talk about male power more widely
5. Larger change in society - people will respect saathins - govt actions had slowed down movement but this is an opportunity for it to get back on track
6. How once the crime is proved in court - people's behaviour changes and they start respecting her once again -
7. While one would think that these attitudes are engrained when they are actually pliable

Rationale

• Text that it is from - positioning the extract you're dealing with within a text
• Kavitha as a progressive social reformer and feminist
• Rational, intelligent woman who has been educated in England
• Has other articles - talks about #MeToo and Harvey Weinstein - engaged with international feminist contexts
• Op-ed: a mixture of her personal experience and opinions more widely
• Rhetorical questions - sense of questioning the system
• Language to do with what is right and just - motivated by a sense of illuminating these issues
• The audience is probably relatively in tune with these debates because there's a wider media movement concerning it
• Persuasive
• Academic language

Feature of an Op-Ed:

• Bold heading, possibly stating opinion outright - to grab attention
• Byline
• Creating a dialogue of opinions
• Figurative language - similes metaphors etc.
• "Sorry, boys. The answer here is obvious." - more conversational, appears to address the reader directly
• "not just Trump but any man, whether Biden or Beto or Buttigieg or Bernie." - a sense of personal flair above and beyond what you might expect from hard news
• An assumed readership - NYT readers mostly Democrats - here we can write from the urban Times of India - mostly progressive base. Rural scenes would be described as if the audience were unfamiliar - reflect her personal surprise
• Perhaps adding legitimacy to her argument by referencing other bodies with credibility
• A final sentence acting as a further call to action

The fight is far from over: Two decades since we won the first battle on sexual harassment, it is now time to think afresh and arrive at new approaches to challenge the power dynamics at the workplace in fighting sexual violence against women.

Purpose: To inform and persuade in a feminist sense + enlighten people in the urban population about inequalities that exist in rural areas. Promoting the saathins.

I don't think I have to spell it out,' replied the Inspector General. Ask anyone in the village about that woman's reputation.' 'So are you trying to imply that Bahveri Devi is not only a liar, she is also a slut?' 'Those are your words,' said the Inspector General. 'Not mine.'

 the Inspector General's claim to have scientific evidence that Badri Gujjar could not possibly have raped her, I dropped the story and put my notebooks in a bottom drawer. Initially there had been a wave of support for Bahveri Devi among Indian women's groups, but following the publication of the Jaipur police report, the marches, the lobbying of MPs and the campaign all dried up.

• Misconduct in evidence collection - tests were performed late

Kavitha Srivastava returned from a year's sabbatical in England. Kavitha was a social worker with the Jaipur Institute of Development Studies, and had known Bahveri Devi well since she first came to Jaipur to be trained as a sathin five years previously. She was in no doubt that a woman of Bahveri's honesty and integrity would be quite incapable of making up a false rape allegation. As far as she was concerned, the whole case stank of caste and gender prejudice. 'You see, rape is actually very common in Indian villages,' she explained, 'particularly the rape of lower-caste women. But because of the shame and stigma it goes largely unreported: in all of India, astonishingly, only four or five cases are reported each year. The victim knows she will be labelled for life; moreover, everyone around will encourage her to hush it up, as the stigma will be attached not only to her, but also to her family and to her village.

They are all terrified of the Gujjars

the local MP is Rajesh Pilot, who is not only a Gujjar but also a cabinet minister in the Central Government. In 1993 a state election was due, and no party could win seats in the area if they alienated the Gujjar vote. I have absolutely no doubt that political pressure was put on the police both to delay the medical and to clear Badri.

Kavitha believed that if Bahveri was not cleared, no sathin would ever be able to work in Rajasthan again, nor would any Rajasthani rape victim ever again dare to come out in the open and seek justice. It was no longer just a matter of clearing the name of one woman: the stakes were now far higher.