What Radhika’s death reveals about patriarchy

EVEN as girls are breaking the glass ceiling in all spheres of life, the institution of patriarchy continues to rule the roost and take a heavy toll in Haryana and much of the Hindi belt. How this paradoxical social phenomenon is unfolding in present times needs to be analysed and understood in all its dimensions.

The recent incident that demands reflection is the gruesome murder of distinguished tennis player Radhika Yadav (25) by her father Deepak Yadav in Gurugram. The horrific episode has stirred the conscience of sports lovers, civil society and women’s organisations alike.

Radhika was shot dead on July 11 in a posh Sushant Lok apartment in Gurugram, a city dubbed as the Millennium City. She had outstanding rankings and had played in several national and international tennis tournaments, earning laurels for herself, her family and the country. Following a shoulder injury that hampered her playing career, she was running a private tennis academy to train budding players.

Her father’s version, as revealed by the police, is that he took this extreme step due to the “taunts" he used to receive from people of his village Wazirabad for being “dependent" on his daughter’s earnings. He reportedly felt “humiliated" and asked Radhika to shut down her tennis academy, which she declined to do despite repeated pleas.

What a pity that the father purportedly found such taunts a stigma on his family honour. Instead of facing these jibes with strength, he fired five times from behind at his daughter — possibly fearing that, as a sportsperson, she might have resisted and survived the attack.

If one accepts the police’s preliminary finding that “taunts" from villagers were the motive, it still seems utterly unconvincing. Medal winners in India are often given grand receptions on their return and are honoured and rewarded both monetarily and socially. Parents and in-laws feel proud of the accolades and jobs their daughters receive under the sports quota.

Another ridiculous narrative doing the rounds is that Radhika was fond of making reels and posting them on social media — an act her father reportedly found disgraceful. Be that as it may, she has become yet another victim of an honour killing — a scourge that continues to haunt Indian society in the 21st century.

Both these supposed irritants — village taunts and social media reels — are trivial and flimsy when weighed against the ultimate outcome: a daughter murdered by her own father. This is the worst kind of punishment that can be inflicted on adult daughters choosing a life of their own.

The fundamental question this case raises is about the persistence of honour-related violence in our society. Patriarchal and feudal mindsets continue to dominate even under a modern constitutional system. Half the population remains vulnerable, often at the mercy of male domination, even for their very survival.

What a predicament! That a man feels dishonoured by taunts from villagers, but not by cowardly shooting his daughter while she was cooking!

Such honour crimes remain a blot on our society and must be eradicated to safeguard every citizen’s right to live with dignity, regardless of gender, caste or creed. Just imagine what would have happened if the fathers of our women wrestlers had cared about the taunts of some neighbours and abandoned their daughters’ pursuit of sports.

In recent decades, sports academies in various disciplines have flourished in Haryana. Today, stadiums swarmed by boys and girls are a common sight. There is a perceptible change in attitudes, thanks to the assertion by women and girls as independent citizens. Women’s participation in sports has helped reinforce their sense of agency and contributed to a broader, slow transformation of a society long considered culturally backward.

The courageous fight of women wrestlers against sexual exploitation by the powerful ruling party MP, Brij Bhushan Singh, shows how far this assertion has come. So too does the example of a junior coach and woman athlete who forced a Haryana Sports Minister to face the law over sexual harassment charges.

Equally important is the participation of a huge number of rural women from Haryana, along with their counterparts from Punjab, in the historic farmers’ movement of 2020-21. It was a powerful display of political agency by rural women.

Yet, this transformation has not come without resistance. A fierce churning is underway due to the clash of contradictory forces. Women striving for equality often find themselves caught between the neo-rich culture of blind consumerism and the outdated value systems of patriarchy and obscurantism. The result is tragic: promising lives like Radhika’s being cut short.

Looking into Deepak Yadav’s background is not irrelevant. He belongs to the neo-rich class that emerged after the Green Revolution in north-western India. He owns multiple properties in Gurugram, drawing in good rental income. His licensed revolver likely served more as a status symbol than a security tool.

This neo-rich class, especially those enriched further by the real estate boom during the neoliberal era, has seen upward mobility but often lacks a democratic or modern outlook. Many have been drawn to identity politics rooted in caste, religion and patriarchal rituals, consolidating their economic privileges with the silent approval of ruling regimes.

Family structures, even in cities, continue to be male-dominated, steeped in a feudal mindset overlaid with a decadent, market-driven value system. In such settings, any assertion by the vulnerable and marginalised, particularly women, is often met with hostility. Such forces are desperately seeking to contain and push back forward mobility.

At this juncture, it becomes the duty of progressive sections of society to stand by the persecuted and deprived.

This reprehensible episode has brought the issue of women’s safety back into focus. Women are not safe even in their own homes, let alone in public spaces or workplaces. Let us raise our voice not only for justice to Radhika but also for the right of all women to a life of dignity.

Radhika’s brutal murder must be thoroughly probed from every angle. The entire truth must be brought out. Investigations into honour killings often suffer from a lack of credible evidence as family members are themselves the culprits and the victims do not survive to speak.

Back in 2015, women’s organisations, including this author, drafted a proposed law to deal specifically with honour crimes and submitted it to the then Union Law Minister. Unfortunately, the move was blocked by political interests. These efforts must be revived, alongside social reform movements, to effectively curb crimes against women.

Let Radhika’s death not fade into silence. Let it ignite outrage and action.

Jagmati Sangwan is women’s rights activist & ex-international volleyball player.

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