BehanVox: Keeping Bonbibi Alive
This week in BehanVox: victim blaming in the Bengal rape case, 20 years of the RTI Act, and more
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This week we look at the mindless and regressive responses to the rape of a medical student in West Bengal’s Durgapur that appear almost like clockwork every time. And from the same state, we have a hope driven story on how women in Sundarbans are preserving the Bonbibi worship to deal with climate change.
Story So Far
“…the girl child in the nighttime. They should not be allowed to come outside (sic). They have to protect themselves also”.
“If that girl had not gone there, this wouldn’t have happened. If she had informed someone before going or had taken a couple of friends with her, then this wouldn’t have happened.” he stated while referring to the rape of the law student.
“All attempts will be made to avoid allotting night duties to women doctors as far as possible.”
“Concocted story”.
“Love affair gone wrong.”
Going as far back as 2012, Mamata Banerjee and her administration have responded to incidents of sexual violence with victim blaming. They do this repeatedly despite criticism and pushback, seemingly impervious to women’s outrage. The latest incident of rape, again reported from a medical college in Durgapur, elicited the same reaction from Mamata. This stance is of course not exclusive to a state or its politics; similar statements, thoughtless and regressive, are commonly made elsewhere too. Recall the aftermath of the Mysuru gangrape?
You don’t need to be in the opposition to see that there is a clear problem of safety in Bengal’s institutions of higher learning. In the last three years, this is the third such case. No, it is impossible for the police to be everywhere all at once and yes it takes time to change mindsets. But the least the Mamata government can do is admit that there is a problem, pull the public into a plan to deal with it. And most importantly, not ask women to lock themselves up at night.
At BehanBox, we have been reporting consistently on how rape is a systemic issue – of power, caste and patriarchal criminal justice systems that normalise and perpetuate gender based violence. Read all our reportage here and here.
To watch Bengal’s women stand up in strength and respond to a crisis, look no further than the climate change in the Sunderbans deltaic region. This week, Rituparna Palit reports on how the women of the region, usually left behind by migrating men to care for their homes, fields and ponds, are maintaining the fragile links between the fragile coastal land and its cultural traditions.
In Raspur, a village that sits facing the Bay of Bengal at Sagar Island, there is a temple dedicated to Bonbibi, a syncretic forest guardian worshipped across the Sundarbans. Draped in a red sari and astride a tiger, she is worshipped as Bonodebi with Hindu rituals. And In Maipith and Tridibnagar, other villages of the region, she is Bonbibi worshipped by the Muslims. Beside her stands Dukhe, the boy she and her brother Shah Jangali save from the tiger-god Dakshin Rai.
Chhobi Mahal, 45, likes to visit the temple every day. “Or jonne bado maya hoye geche, or kache roj ek baar na asle bhalo lagena (I have grown so fond of her, I don’t feel happy if I don’t come to her at least once a day),” she says as she opens the door to the temple.
But the Raspur temple is perilously close to being swallowed by rising tides. Five decades ago it was a revered rock which then became a cement structure. Today the temple stands just 50 metres from the shore at low tide. Rising sea levels caused by climate change and soil erosion have led the waves almost to its rear wall.
Raspur falls under the Dhablat gram panchayat, one of Sagar Island’s fastest-eroding coastal settlements. And here, as elsewhere in the Sundarbans, especially in village shrines dedicated to Bonbibi, women often take the role of sebika (servitor). Elected by a local committee, they clean the shrines, prepare offerings, sing ritual songs, and maintain the sacred space every day.
The fishers here note how the “ulto hawa (shifting winds)” – strong winds with rains arriving late and the sea turning unpredictable – are shifting the local landscape, livelihoods and cultural practices. The northern Bay of Bengal is warming faster than the global average. Depletion in fish catch, a widely reported concern across the Sundarbans, is forcing fishers to enter deep into the forests for crab collection, risking encounters with tigers, leopards and crocodiles, we found.
In the midst of all this, women are conserving the musical and theatre practices that are tied closely to Bonbibi worship.
Read our story here.
Talking Point
Survivor First: In its upcoming manifesto for the November polls, Bihar’s Mahagathbandhan alliance will be promising first access to medical records for rape survivors to avoid “manipulation”, says an Indian Express report. Said a Congress leader: “Medical examination of rape survivors sees manipulation by powerful people under the current dispensation. We will include a promise to make available the medical report to the survivor within 24 hours. The report will not be considered a document of the local administration and the police, but will first belong to the survivor. This will ensure a fair trial in courts and speedy justice.”
Uphill Task: Beneficiaries of Maharashtra’s Ladki Bahin scheme who live in the remote hamlets of the tribal belt in Nandurbar district have to deal with a 30-minute uphill trek to complete the mandatory e-KYC process required to get the monthly payments. “More than 500 beneficiaries from the Bhamane group gram panchayat have to wait for hours to verify their credentials using a mobile phone fixed on a tree near the Narmada river,” reports the Times of India. And often this is not enough either — the report puts the success rate of these efforts at 5%.
Wild Win: Sonali Ghosh, who is the field director of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, is the first Indian to win the WCPA-Kenton Miller Award for innovation in national parks and protected area sustainability, reports the Telegraph. Sonali is of the view that captive breeding in India needs a revamp. “I feel the main objective of zoos should be only of conservation education,” she said, adding that ex-situ breeding “needs a rethink on what we are trying to achieve.” Those trying to force wild animals into unfamiliar habitats might want to listen.
Unveiled: There are growing reports that women across Iranian cities are refusing to wear the head scarf in public spaces. The Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian recently spoke out against the use of violence to force women to wear the hijab although the law still mandates conservative dressing for women.
Data Drop
Every year, 4 to 6 million Right to Information applications are filed in India. But out of these, 4,13,972 RTI appeals remain pending with the Central Information Commission as of June 2025, while thousands have been returned without being heard.
For 20 years, the Right to Information Act, 2005, has helped citizens demand answers and hold the government accountable. But now, the very system that protects this right is breaking down. A new report by Satark Nagrik Sangathan highlights these lapses
People are forced to wait years, even decades, for information that could help them access rations, pensions, housing, or justice. Many of these applications and appeals are returned without even being heard —- in Maharashtra: 95,340 appeals were returned, in Karnataka: 47,825, and in Tamil Nadu: 41,059! This is not just an “inconvenience”. It is the perpetuation of systemic injustice and silencing.
BehanVox Recommends
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Manosphere and Climate Change: What does masculinity have to do with climate change denial? In this Carbon Bros podcast, Daniel Penny, talks about how the ideologies of the Manosphere–dominion, virility, control, and anti-wokeness collide with climate change narratives. Get introduced to ‘ petro-masculinity’ and other such unheard of concepts.
A Hefty Price: Spurred by her own painful loss, Sarah Ray, an Amarillo woman, has spent two decades helping others seek compensation for cancer and other illnesses likely contracted at the Pantex plant, where nearly all of America’s nuclear arsenal are assembled, dismantled and maintained. This long read in Texas Monthly is a must read.
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