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this is the firstpost version with some edits. http://www.firstpost.com/india/patriarchys-rise-in-kerala-from-smarta-vicharam-to-suryanelli-629118.html
Patriarchy on the ascendant in Kerala: from Smarta Vicharam to Suryanelli
Rajeev Srinivasan on women’s rights diminishing as we progress
The Suryanelli case is in the news again: a 16-year old girl was abducted and raped by 42 men in forty days in 1996, and most of the accused were acquitted by the High Court. It is often trumpeted that Kerala (with justification) is an exemplar in the issue of womens’ rights. But Suryanelli tells me otherwise: the woman is being tortured afresh: first, the rapes and now, an inquisition by media, including accusations of being a prostitute as well as of financial impropriety at her workplace.
If you look at a historical parallel, you can see how, in the space of a century, womens’ rights have evolved. For, there was the sensational case of the Smarta Vicharam (trial) and subsequent excommunication of Kuriyedath Tatrikutty (Savitri) Antarjanam in 1905, a Nambudiri woman accused and convicted of, and punished for, extra-marital sexual relations. This is the subject of a remarkable book, Bhrasht (Excommunication) by Madamp Kunjukuttan; a Malayalam film, Parinayam, has fictionalized the same theme too.
It is instructive to compare this to the treatment of the unnamed victim in the current Suryanelli case, which had been in and out of courts for years, until the Supreme Court overturned the High Court’s decision. A highly-placed politician, deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, is accused of being one of the rapists. Many establishment politicians have rallied to his side.
In the Smarta Vicharam in 1905, sixty-four highly placed men were accused, found guilty, and punished. Finally, the local rajah, the King of Cochin, intervened, and cried, “Enough!”.
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