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Twisha Sharma, Nikki Bhati, Manisha. These are the names of three young women who were killed because they were married into Hindu families. They were Hindu women. I write that they were killed due to marriage because, had they not married, they would very likely still be alive. Their marriage led them to their death. And I must write not simply “women” but “Hindu women” because had they not been married into Hindu households, their chances of survival might have been slightly higher.

Even as I write this, I am aware that many readers will accuse me of simplification. Some will say that out of a special hatred or hostility towards Hindus, or as they say, because of my self-hatred, I am placing excessive emphasis on the Hindu identity of these murdered women and their families. But there is a reason for doing so. For the last twelve or thirteen years, the government, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party have, in one form or another, been telling the Hindu society that they should be chosen by them as their masters to for the sake of the “safety” of their girls and women.

Hindu girls are under threat from Muslims, is what they tell us. Slogans constantly exhort Hindus to save their daughters, sisters and wives from Muslims. Ordinary Hindus have been made to believe this propaganda: if a Hindu girl forms a relationship with or marries a Muslim man, violence against her is almost inevitable. But the statistics tell another story. The greater likelihood is that Hindu women will be killed or continue to suffer violence after marrying Hindu men.

Yet, for the media, the murders or deaths of Twisha, Nikki and Manisha are........

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