Indian minister gives brides in his state wooden bats to beat

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An Indian state has handed out hundreds of wooden bats to newly married women to use as a weapon if their husbands become abusive.

>Gopal Bargava, a Minister in the state of Madhya Pradesh, handed out the paddles, traditionally used to get dirt out of clothes in old-fashioned laundries, to around 700 brides at a mass wedding.

>The nearly foot-long paddles have messages on them that read “For beating drunkards” and “Police won’t intervene”.

>Mr Bhargava told Agence France Presse he wanted to draw attention to the domestic abuse of rural women receive from their alcoholic husbands.

>He said: "Women say whenever their husbands get drunk they become violent. Their savings are taken away and splurged on liquor.

>"There is no intent to provoke women or instigate them to violence but the bat is to prevent violence."

>He has ordered nearly 10,000 bats to distribute to newly wed women.

>The governor said he decided on the move after a woman asked him if she should beat her husband with a bat to stop him drinking.

>In the state a group of feminist vigilantes called the Gulabi Gangs, who wear pink saris and carry wooden sticks, have started a campaign to stop vendors selling alcohol and to shut down illegal moonshine operations, the Daily Telegraph reported.

>Many Indian states have launched crackdowns on alcohol in recent years by banning or restricting its sale in an attempt to prevent violence.

>In 2016 the government of Tamil Nadu state said they would introduce a ban during a state election campaign after the measure proved popular with women voters who blame alcohol for much of the state’s domestic and sexual violence.

>The has been increasing concern about widespread misogyny across India.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/india-domestic-violence-women-drunk-alcohol-abuse-husbands-madhya-pradesh-gopal-bargava-a7711056.html