Better halves be equipped with legal weapons
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: November 12, 2014 -

Justice is the end, for which law is the means. When the so called deprived and vulnerable individuals are equipped with the legal weapons, they can defend themselves from all kinds of atrocities and violence perpetrated on them.

Hence, legal awareness becomes more and more significant in controlling gender based crimes happening in the society today.

In a recent news item, a woman whose husband had published newspaper advertisement saying that ‘his wife was missing’, is set to file defamation case against her husband.

It is said that the husband has been resorting to all forms of violence on the wife since their marriage in 1997.

Mother of a son, the bold woman used to earn money to manage the poverty stricken family while the man was allegedly doing nothing worth for the family.

According to the published news, the said woman was staying at her sister’s residence for some days with the knowledge of her husband.

In the meantime, the husband lodged a complaint to police saying ‘his wife was untraceable’.

Now, the better-half becoming intolerable to the steps of her husband who has always committed atrocities on her, has decided to take legal action on her husband.

Two cases are reportedly being filed against the husband – one regarding domestic violence against the woman, another related to defamation for publishing her name in newspaper as “Mou Ama Mangkhare”.

While the man was trying to take advantage of the usual tradition of publishing “Mou Ama mangkhare” advertisements in newspapers apparently to malign the image of his wife, the woman has boldly come out to take the help of law to revolt against the husband.

Notwithstanding the facts of the allegations made by the spouses against each other, the interesting fact is that legal options are the only weapons for the thousands of aggrieved women in this society.

As a significant step towards generating legal awareness to the people particularly the housewives, the High Court of Manipur is making efforts to spread the message of legal knowledge through ‘Shumang Lila’, one of the best means of educating the general population specifically the women of Manipur.

The High Court of Manipur has proposed the Manipur State Shumang Lila Council to insert at least one legal awareness message in all the Shumang Lilas to be screened during the ensuing ‘Ningtham Kummei’ scheduled to be held in December this year or January next year.

Cash prizes are also being given to the three best Shumang Lila parties which can effectively disseminate legal awareness in their plays.

In fact, the judiciary in Manipur is trying to judiciously use the medium of Shumang Lila to generate legal awareness to the general population.

It is hoped that this endeavour will surely impart legal knowledge to the better halves of the state so that they may equipped themselves with the much-needed weapons to defend themselves from all crimes affecting them.