WHEREAS the Indo Canadian community has come under microscope once again following another brutal murder of a woman in Surrey Thursday, in a daredevil act a Punjabi press photographer risked his life by trying to save the victim from fatal stabbing.
Narinder Nayar also got injured while trying to overpower the assailant who walked into the office of Sach Di Awaaz, a Punjabi news weekly and stabbed Ravinder Kaur Bhangu to death. Her estranged husband, Manmeet Singh has been charged in connection with the incident. Since the setting of the murder was inside the predominantly Punjabi community and both the victim and the suspect were Punjabis too, the latest act of violence has brought the Punjabi community into focus for wrong reasons. A spate of murders of Punjabi women in the Greater Vancouver area in the past too has created sensation a number of times. This has left many outside the Indo Canadian community wondering whether violence against women is too common in the male dominated Punjabi society.
However, Nayar, who received injuries while trying to grapple with the attacker who was reportedly armed with sharp edged weapons has set a good example. The publishers of Sach Di Awaaz who are not forthcoming about the details of the event because of legal reasons revealed that Nayar tried to save the deceased. He however is not returning calls or talking to the media at this time. A short heighted and an average looking man who risked his life not only deserves appreciation for bravery but must also become a role model for others to stand up instead of being mute spectators.
His action also shamed those within the Indo Canadian community who not only mistreat women but often try to rationalize violence against women. They include a handful of Punjabi media commentators who have always tried to find fault with the women following such incidents. In fact, a Punjabi radio commentary that tried to put blame on women for provoking males following Bhangu’s murder stirred angry reaction from the Sach Di Awaaz.
The mainstream should also take into consideration positive role played by progressive and open minded males within the Indo Canadian community instead of painting all Indo Canadian men with one brush. Howsoever small in numbers they may be, but liberal males in the Punjabi society strongly denounce violence against women and respect gender equality. Their activities generally invoke little interest of the mainstream media as bloody stories sell more than the positive stories.
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Gurpreet Singh /South Asia Post-Web Magazine-July 31,2011,
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