Spotlight: Indian minister gives laundry bats to brides for handling drunk, abusive husbands

A minister in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has given hundreds of washing paddles to newlywed brides, urging them to use them against their husbands if they abuse them or turn alcoholic.

Gopal Bhargava, the minister of social justice in Madhya Pradesh local government, handed over the "special gifts" to around 700 brides during a mass marriage organized by the local government at the weekend.

Bat shaped wooden paddles are traditionally used in Indian villages by women to rinse dirt out of clothes during washing.

"The idea behind suppling washing paddles is to boost the morale of women in their fight against social evils," Bhargava told Xinhua in a telephone interview from Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh.

"Here we have a huge problem of men taking liquor and then beating their wives, so providing bats to the newlywed brides is to encourage them to bridle their husbands."

The foot-long wooden bats have messages written in Hindi reading: "Police won't intervene" and "For use against drunkards."

According to Bhargava, there were increasing incidents of domestic violence against women across Madhya Pradesh and administration was doing little to control it.

"Here women are committing suicides because of domestic violence at the hands of alcoholic husbands and handing washing paddles is an act of providing them with self-defense," Bhargava said. "I think this will go a long way in bringing a social change in our state and at the same time it will highlight plight of rural women."

Mass weddings are organized in India to help couples from low income families to marry without having to pay for the event.

Eyewitnesses quoted Bhargava telling the brides to reason with their husbands first and in case their spouses refuse to listen, they should "let the wooden paddles do the talking."

The minister said the exercise should be seen as an effort towards "empowering" women. He said they would soon take a review of "gifting bats exercise" to see its impact.

"I have distributed 10,000 bats so far during various such events and will be distributing further ones," he said, adding that "there is no intention to instigate women to resort to violence but to prevent violence at the hands of their drunkard husbands."

Many Indian states have launched a campaign to ban or restrict sale of alcohol in a bid to curb domestic violence.

Alcohol is completely banned in the western state of Gujarat, and northern eastern states of Manipur and Nagaland. It is also partially banned in few other states.

Pledges to ban alcohol is popular among women voters. Last year, the Tamil Nadu government vowed to introduce liquor prohibition as part of its campaign to win re-election. Endit