by Syed Asma

If you are not from the glamour industry, seeing yourself on hoardings displayed on roadsides may give you an awkward feeling. Perhaps the same reason made Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to assert: “Don’t use my pictures at public places.” Possibly, some thought would have crossed her mind when she said it.

The woman CM seems cautious, fair enough!

But, was she the same when the video of a school girl from Handwara went viral on social media? She should have been careful then as well. The teenager, in the video, said things which probably were personal or should have been confined to her parents or utmost to the investigating team only. But then a video was shot, her ordeal was recorded and circulated, ending up revealing her identity. If the intention of the establishment was to “control the damage” as they justified, wasn’t it appropriate to hide the face of the girl while taking the video?

Now that the video is viral, Lady Mufti did not find it important to at least question the police personnel for the illegal act.

But it seems no issue to the cautious CM. If I am not mistaken, the lady chief has not yet even commented about the girl’s plight, let alone the video or her views of revealing the girl’s identity.

When Mehbooba Mufti was sworn-in as J&K CM, our newsroom had a discussion how different would be the state under a woman chief. Will she be able to represent and understand the fairer gender in a better way, was a common question raised.

Though, since the beginning, she was expected to be a staunch politician, trained by her father, but there was a hope that being a woman may give her politics a different taste. But alas, Handwara proved to be the sorriest stance.

We had no clue that her understanding of representing and protecting the fairer gender is limited to take women for an exclusive ride!

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Syed Asma completed her masters in journalism from the Islamic University, Awantipore, in 2010. After working with Greater Kashmir and Kashmir Times, she joined Kashmir Life in February 2011. She covered politics, society, gender issues and the environment. In 2016, she left journalism to pursue her M Phil from the University of Kashmir. She is presently pursuing PhD.

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