In the land of the Meira Paibi movement : Manifestation of social hypocrisy
- Sangai Express Editorial :: April 30, 2013 -
It is not often that the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women come to Manipur.
It is also rare that the real plight of women in Manipur are highlighted to the international audience, given the fact that this is the land which has given the Meira Paibi movement to the world as well as the Nupi Lan.
It is against this reality, the reality of a place, where women are placed on the pedestal in the public domain, but where they continue to be at the receiving end within the walls of their homes as well as face discrimination in every other aspects of life, that UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Rashida Manjoo was here on a two day visit.
The presentations of the civil society organisations have been documented and placed in the State newspapers.
What however has not come out in the public domain is how the State Government and its agencies, such as the State Commission for Women, Social Welfare Department and others gave their feedbacks to the UN envoy and her team.
Interesting it certainly would be to know what exactly were the feedbacks that Ms Manjoo and her team received from the State Government.
Falls in the realm of speculations, but presuming that the UN Envoy picked up the glaring failure of the State police in framing chargesheets in many cases of rape, how did the State police respond to any queries on this point ?
How did the Government agencies, such as the State Commission for Women and the Social Welfare Department, convey the message regarding domestic violence ?
That is if these questions were raised by the UN Envoy at all.
Not the time to adopt the Ostrich with its head in the sand posture, but domestic violence is very much a living, breathing reality.
Something which may be hard to prove at the relevant forum, but which nevertheless lurks within the four walls of almost every homes in Manipur.
Unfortunate that no one, at least no one in the press is privy to what exactly happened during the interaction that Ms Manjoo had with State Government representatives.
But it should stand that for any such visit to make any significant changes or result in positive impact, all facets of violence against women are presented before such visiting dignitaries.
Time to blow apart the social hypocrisy for as things have shown, it is the prevalence of such a social culture, which has been one of the factors for the pathetic situation that women in this land of the Meira Paibi movement find themselves in.
Rapes, murder, molestation, abduction of women are the extreme forms of violence against women.
People have publicly demonstrated their stand against these acts, which have become some sort of a trend. However there are the subtle, not publicly acknowledged practices that go unreported for most of the time.
Wife beating is more or less an accepted practise, mostly enacted within the confines of one’s home.
Eve teasing is passed off as one of the phases in the development of a young boy.
The character of girls or women being questioned at the time her modesty is outraged is one of the most ugly manifestations of today’s society in Manipur.
Everyone seems to know this, but no one seems ready to acknowledge this and accordingly act upon it.
Crimes against women in Manipur have mostly centred around the social hypocrisy that has become institutionalised and an accepted way of life.
As long as this mindset persists, women will continue to be second class citizens in this land which gave the meira paibi movement to the world. Herein lies the irony.
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