Televised trauma

The live telecast of a `panchayat' that decided the fate of a woman caught between two husbands raises questions about the media's role and women's rights.

in Meerut

IN a bizarre drama that was televised live on Zee News, Gudiya, an eight-month pregnant woman, was made to decide whether she would live with Arif, her first husband who had gone missing and later returned, or Taufiq, her second husband, whose child she is expecting. In what was described as a "historical intervention" by Zee News, the channel broadcast the proceedings of the "live Panchayat", where the fate of the people concerned was decided in slightly more than an hour. They had to spell out their life decisions in front of an audience, and seen by probably thousands of viewers and any choices that were made was done in a situation resembling a community panchayat, where the scope for dissent is limited.

By the media assuming the role of the arbiter of justice and professing to be objective, a gross injustice has been meted out to all concerned, primarily Gudiya. The event was publicised on all the major news channels. Even the newspapers carried the story of Gudiya's return to Arif.

The story began with the return in August of Mohammad Arif, a former Prisoner of War (PoW), from a Pakistani jail, to his village, Mundali, in Meerut district in Uttar Pradesh (U.P.). Arif, who was serving in the Army as a Sapper, went missing from Kargil in September 1999, the year he got married to Gudiya. For five years, he was presumed dead, his whereabouts unknown. Gudiya then left Arif's village of Mundali en route Garh Mukteswar in U.P. and moved to her parents' village near Noida (also in U.P.). She was married off to Taufiq, of Pataudi village in Haryana.

In August this year, when she was in a fairly advanced stage of pregnancy, she heard of Arif's return. Sections of the media, reporting the release of some PoWs from Pakistan, then proceeded to bring in yet another angle - Gudiya's apparent quandry. The question of whether she was in a quandry or not in the first place is debatable, but facing a constant barrage of questions, Gudiya contradicted herself repeatedly.

It was also suggested publicly by some quarters that her second marriage was illegal - and by consequence her unborn child would be illegitimate as well - as her first marriage had not been annulled according to customary law. Her fate was a foregone conclusion. The question of her making an informed choice, in a conducive environment, did not arise at all. When Frontline met her, Gudiya was irritable with the media attention and wished to be left alone. She seemed to have accepted the choice that she made of going back to Arif. The irony of the whole situation was that it was supposed to be her choice, but the manner in which the choice was effected raised doubts about whether this has been a blow for women's rights or a blow against.

ON September 20, the programme was conducted live on the studio sets of Zee Television, which was dominated by men, mostly clerics and senior religious heads, with a handful of women including Gudiya and the anchor, thrown in. Among the women present were members of the All India Muslim Women's Forum. The programme was titled "Kiski Gudiya?" (Whose Gudiya?) and "Yeh kaisa bandhan" (What kind of a bond is this?).

The panchayat was conducted under the framework of the Shariat (Islamic Law) and the anchor constantly reminded the viewers that any decision had to be taken within this framework. This was surprising, as in the beginning of the programme, there was no indication that a decision would be taken. There were doubts if all the options under the Shariat were explained to Gudiya or not, or if the anchor herself was aware of them. Naheed Taban, a core member of the Muslim Women's Forum who was present at the panchayat, said that she had raised the issue of the alternative where Arif could have given Gudiya a divorce, and after the period of Iddat was observed, Gudiya could return to her husband by her second marriage. This option was not mentioned at all on the programme. Even the fact that Gudiya could, under Islam and the Shariat, opt for "Khula", a separation sought by the wife, was not made clear to her at any point of time. In fact, no women's organisation was even allowed to come near her in the course of this entire drama.

When Frontline spoke to some of the Forum members, they said that despite their request to the programme managers as well as the anchor, they were not allowed to speak to Gudiya in private. The Forum, which was set up in 2001, has been campaigning on issues of education for Muslim women as well as their rights under Islam. Towards the end of the programme, when it became evident that a decision was being arrived at, the Forum members decided to speak their minds as they felt that this was not a place to take a decision. The anchor literally asked them to shut up. The Forum later sent a protest letter to the TV channel.

The TV programme ended with the anchor telling Gudiya that now "she had to tell everybody what her decision was". Gudiya, who had been quiet all along, muttered that she could not go against the Shariat and that she would stay with Arif. Later, she replied that there was no point repeatedly asking the question (by making a film and summoning a panchayat) as she had stated her mind and that everyone had heard what she had to say. The anchor triumphantly declared that they were reaching a decision. "Isi majlis mein faisla hoga", (the decision will be taken in this gathering), she said, adding that now a decision had to be made about the unborn child as well. Arif said that if Taufiq did not want to take care of the child, he would do so.

When some members of the Forum raised objections to the manner in which the decision had been arrived at - keeping in mind Gudiya's advanced stage of pregnancy - the anchor told them no decision could be arrived at if there was a commotion. "Everything has a positive end," she asserted. "This is not a debate. We are here for a decision," the anchor said firmly. Naheed said that for the channel, it was only a programme. "It was absolutely wrong to conduct a panchayat like this. No one in the audience objected to this. Everyone said `Gudiya ki marzi' (Gudiya's wish), but I wonder if it was so," she said. It was significant that in a meeting to decide an issue concerning a woman, there were hardly any women present. Religious heads from Deoband were present, but no woman from Gudiya's or Arif's family, or Taufiq's village. Naheed Taban recalled that Gudiya had given a statement earlier about marriage not being child's play and that if she had now agreed to go back to her first husband, she was doing so under pressure.

Laxminarayan Goyal, Director, Zee News Group, told Frontline that it was not that the channel had considered it important to telecast such a panchayat, but that "people" had found it important. He said that there had been a lot of positive feedback from viewers, including several religious heads of the Muslim community.

Asked about the objective of the programme, he said: "Here was a soldier returning from Pakistan. Our reporters, like others, took a sound bite. Then they learnt about the situation. The village panchayat was also in a dilemma and no decision had been arrived at as yet, even though some of the Ulema had taken a decision. On September 21, we called Gudiya, Arif and their relatives and there was a debate. They said that they were unable to arrive at a decision and wanted help from us. We put them up in a guesthouse and then contacted the Ulema at Deoband, and they were ready to come. We tried to give the unborn child a name. The decision was theirs and we only facilitated the same."

Refuting the charge that the programme was aimed at increasing the channel's popularity and viewership, he said: "It was an issue concerning a woman. If there had been a decision against her will, would the women in this country have accepted it? Who are we to criticise her decision?"

Momin, the elected sarpanch of Mundali told Frontline that village residents had greeted Arif with garlands. He also claimed to know what Gudiya felt about the situation. Incidentally, Momin too was present at the panchayat, but preferred not to say anything. And no one in the village suggested that Arif had the option of divorcing Gudiya and marrying someone else. According to Arif, had he done so, he would be a "zero" after returning as a "hero".

Maimoona Mollah, activist of the All India Democratic Women's Association said that in any case involving customary law in any religion, it was often seen that people were pressured into supporting the views of those who wielded clout and influence. She said that it was very rare for illiterate Muslim women to know about all that was there in the Shariat.

Around 15,000 people live in Mundali, the majority of them are Muslims. Their main occupation is agriculture. Most of the homes do not have electricity and the question of cable television does not arise at all. The only government school in the village offers education only up to class eight.

A young girl from the village said that if there had been some provision for secondary and higher education within a reasonable distance, the chances of girls not preferring education would be very slim. "Our parents do not send us far, fearing for our security," she said, and expressed a wish to study further.